172 research outputs found
Facts and distortions in an endogenous growth model with physical capital, human capital and varieties
This article studies a model with physical and human capital accumulation and varieties. The model includes several distortions: duplication effects, spillovers, creative destruction, surplus appropriability, and an erosion effect. We show that the duplication effect in R&D is essential to make the model replicate several stylized facts linked with R&D. We evaluate the distance to the optimal solution, comparing the strength of each distortion.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio
Uniform, Equal Division, and Other Envy-Free Rules between The Two
This paper studies the problem of fairly allocating an amount of a divisible resource when preferences are single-peaked. We characterize the class of envy-free and peak-only rules and show that the class forms a complete lattice with respect to a dominance relation. We also pin down the subclass of strategy-proof rules and show that the subclass also forms a complete lattice. In both cases, the upper bound is the uniform rule, the lower bound is the equal division rule, and any other rule is between the two
A De Facto Asian-Currency Unit Bloc in East Asia: It has Been There but We did not Look for It
Pegging in a coordinated way to a regional basket currency is considered by many as optimal for east-Asian countries. By contrast, according to existing empirical studies, these countries have most often relied on noncooperative United States dollar or G3 pegs. We show for the first time that by the late 1990s, with some reversals, a majority of east-Asian countries had already moved, de facto, away from the dollar peg and started targeting a basket, including east-Asian currencies (an Asian Currency Unit). Common-shock or market-based interpretations of such moves are ruled out since we document that, with few exceptions, countries in the region have in reality stuck to fixed exchange rates. We obtain such results using a Markov-switching estimation benchmarked against Bai-Perron structural break tests for the synthesis model of Frankel and Wei (2007), which augments the inference about currency weights in a basket with the weight on exchange-market pressure. In order to measure the latter, the forward positions of central banks in the foreign exchange market are taken into account
Employment Protection and Multinational Enterprises: Theory and Evidence from Micro Data
In this paper we show, theoretically and empirically, that stronger employment protection legislation (EPL) in a host country has important and differing effects on the various activities of multinational enterprises (MNEs). Using micro data on affiliates to Swedish multinational firms in 20 countries for the period of 19651998, we find that increased stringency in EPL is associated with fewer investments in new affiliates and lower employment in existing affiliates. We also find that it is mainly affiliate exports that are affected negatively by stronger EPL, while the impact on local sales is small. This is in accordance with our theoretical model, which predicts that the impact of EPL on the costs of competing firms is likely to put affiliates at a smaller disadvantage when selling for the local market than in the production for exports
Endogenous Product Differentiation, Market Size and Prices
Recent empirical evidence suggests that prices for some goods and services are higher in larger markets. This paper provides a demand-side explanation for this phenomenon when firms can choose how much to differentiate their products in a model of monopolistic competition with horizontal product differentiation. The model proposes that consumers love of variety makes them more sensitive to product differentiation efforts by firms, which leads to higher prices in larger markets. At the same time, endogenous product differentiation modeled in this way can lead to a positive and concave relationship between market size and entry
Institutional difference and outward FDI: Evidence from China
This paper investigates the impact of institutional difference on China’s outward foreign direct investment (OFDI) through a gravity model. Our estimations are based on a large panel of 150 countries over the period 2003-2015. The results show that the institutional differences of government effectiveness and control of corruption between China and a host country have a statistically significant negative effect on China’s OFDI. In addition, our empirical evidence suggests that the ‘One Belt One Road’ policy does not have the expected positive effect on China’s OFDI. Consistent results are obtained from a set of robustness tests. Our findings provide a reasonable guideline for countries aiming to attract Chinese OFDI or seeking factors to boost it
Parasitoid competitive displacement and coexistence in citrus agroecosystems: linking species distribution with climate
[EN] The introduced parasitoid wasp Aphytis melinus, the most widespread natural
enemy of the California red scale (Aonidiella aurantii) and the superior competitor, has
displaced the native Aphytis chrysomphali from most citrus areas of the Mediterranean basin
and other citrus areas all over the world. However, our extensive survey data on the scale
parasitoid populations collected in 2004–2008 show that in large citrus areas of eastern Spain
both parasitoids coexist. Using field data from 179 orchards spatially divided in five citrusproducing
agroecosystems, we examined the mechanisms that could explain displacement or
coexistence between both Aphytis species in relation to weather conditions. The distribution
and abundance of the parasitoid species are related to the mean summer and winter
temperatures and relative humidity of each ecosystem. The relative proportion of A. melinus is
higher during the warm months, and the abundance of A. chrysomphali increases from south
to north, being higher in the cooler northern areas. Aphytis melinus has displaced A.
chrysomphali from hot and dry areas, whereas regions with mild summer temperatures and
moderate relative humidity present the optimal conditions for the coexistence of the two
parasitoids. The more negative effects of winter temperatures on A. melinus allow the earlier
use of the available host resource in late winter and spring by A. chrysomphali and the
coexistence of both parasitoids in the same orchard via temporal niche partitioning. We
combine previous literature on the behavior of Aphytis species in the laboratory under
different temperature and humidity conditions with our field results to confirm the role of
spatiotemporal weather conditions and seasonal changes in host stages on the variation of
Aphytis relative abundance and parasitoid coexistence.We thank Eugenia Rodrigo of the Ecosistemas Agroforestales Department of the Valencia Polytechnic University (Spain) for her help with Aphytis identification, Robert Luck from the University of California ( USA) for information on the sex ratio, and Alejandro Tena and Rosa Vercher from the Instituto Agroforestal Mediterraneo (Valencia, Spain), Maria Jesus Verdu (Instituto Valenciano de Investigaciones Agrarias, Spain), Jacques Van Alphen and Joan van Baaren from the ECOBIO Institute (Rennes, France) for their recommendations and critical review. Special thanks to all the Citrus Phytosanitary Survey staff for the field trap samples and the two anonymous reviewers who provided helpful comments on the manuscript. English corrections were carried out by Centro de Lenguas of the Valencia Polytechnic University. This work was supported by the AGL2005-07155-C03-03 project of the Spanish Ministry of Education and Science.Sorribas Mellado, JJ.; RodrÃguez, R.; GarcÃa Mari, F. (2010). Parasitoid competitive displacement and coexistence in citrus agroecosystems: linking species distribution with climate. Ecological Applications. 4(20):1101-1104. https://doi.org/10.1890/09-1662.1S1101110442
The Roles of Fiscal Rules, Fiscal Councils and Fiscal Union in EU Integration
EU-level fiscal rules have not been able to prevent the large-scale accumulation of government debt in many eurozone countries. One explanation was major flaws in the rules. Some of these flaws have now been corrected. But the failure of the rules depended also on fundamental problems of time inconsistency. The same time-inconsistency problems that the rules were designed to address also apply to the rules themselves. Fiscal councils may be subject to less of such problems than rules. Still it is unlikely that a monetary union where bail-outs of governments are part of the system is viable in the long run. The sustainability of the euro may require a restoration of the no-bail-out clause and a strengthening of the banking union in ways that would allow it to cope with the financial repercussions that could arise from allowing government bankruptcies
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