Urbanisation and rural-urban migration: evidence from Chongqing in the period 2001 to 2011

Following the launch of the 'Develop the West' strategy in 2000, western China has undergone huge changes. Chongqing has been at the leading edge of this wave of development and its model of economic reform is particularly interesting and has also attracted public attention. This study aims to answer a series of unexplored questions about Chongqing's urbanisation and rural-urban migration. The first empirical chapter (Chapter 4) derives a simultaneous equation model from the standard theoretical framework of wage growth to estimate the determinants of wage growth of urban workers of various industries and the effects of openness. Data for 38 industries in Chongqing over the past 11 years is grouped into four sets of panel data in terms of different magnitudes of openness. The data shows that the increase in the demand for labourers is positively related to the wage' growth of urban workers. Openness, captured by industry's utilisation or non-utilisation of FDI, impels industrial sectors to use automation techniques more efficiently. The effect of productivity on wages in the group of industries which do utilise FDI is more than twice that of those in the group of industries which do not. Moreover, this chapter has not found enough empirical evidence to support the theory that the building of new cities benefits urban wage growth. The second empirical chapter (Chapter 5) examines the impacts of dynamic localisation and urbanisation externalities on Total Factor Productivity (TFP) in three sectors at the county level between 2001 and 2008, by using panel model estimates based on a modified production function. The results show that the all-industry category localisation externalities' elasticity to productivity is significantly negative and that urbanisation externalities are insignificant. The implication is that the specialisation in Chongqing is no longer able to afford the high growth of economic development; thus, the so called 'Chongqing model' lacks sufficient economic basis. The third empirical chapter (Chapter 6) is based on an in-person survey of 102 households and l38 respondents carried out by the author in 2009. The chapter assesses the determinants of transferring behaviour of the rural-urban migrant workers by using Probit and OLS estimations. A number of conclusions can be drawn from the results. For instance, income in rural areas is crucial to migrant decision-making as to whether to accept urban hukou, and manufacturing and construction workers do not receive more wages than others. The survey results suggest that the quality of Chongqing's large urban population accumulation is still at a low level

Urbanisation and rural-urban migration: evidence from Chongqing in the period 2001 to 2011

Following the launch of the 'Develop the West' strategy in 2000, western China has undergone huge changes. Chongqing has been at the leading edge of this wave of development and its model of economic reform is particularly interesting and has also attracted public attention. This study aims to answer a series of unexplored questions about Chongqing's urbanisation and rural-urban migration. The first empirical chapter (Chapter 4) derives a simultaneous equation model from the standard theoretical framework of wage growth to estimate the determinants of wage growth of urban workers of various industries and the effects of openness. Data for 38 industries in Chongqing over the past 11 years is grouped into four sets of panel data in terms of different magnitudes of openness. The data shows that the increase in the demand for labourers is positively related to the wage' growth of urban workers. Openness, captured by industry's utilisation or non-utilisation of FDI, impels industrial sectors to use automation techniques more efficiently. The effect of productivity on wages in the group of industries which do utilise FDI is more than twice that of those in the group of industries which do not. Moreover, this chapter has not found enough empirical evidence to support the theory that the building of new cities benefits urban wage growth. The second empirical chapter (Chapter 5) examines the impacts of dynamic localisation and urbanisation externalities on Total Factor Productivity (TFP) in three sectors at the county level between 2001 and 2008, by using panel model estimates based on a modified production function. The results show that the all-industry category localisation externalities' elasticity to productivity is significantly negative and that urbanisation externalities are insignificant. The implication is that the specialisation in Chongqing is no longer able to afford the high growth of economic development; thus, the so called 'Chongqing model' lacks sufficient economic basis. The third empirical chapter (Chapter 6) is based on an in-person survey of 102 households and l38 respondents carried out by the author in 2009. The chapter assesses the determinants of transferring behaviour of the rural-urban migrant workers by using Probit and OLS estimations. A number of conclusions can be drawn from the results. For instance, income in rural areas is crucial to migrant decision-making as to whether to accept urban hukou, and manufacturing and construction workers do not receive more wages than others. The survey results suggest that the quality of Chongqing's large urban population accumulation is still at a low level

Financial liberalisation and international market interdependence: evidence from China’s stock market in the post-WTO accession period

This paper studies China’s stock market with respect to financial liberalization and international market interdependence after its accession to the WTO in 2001. Using the multi-factor R-squared measure, we derive a normalized index to measure the impact of financial liberalization policies on stock market interdependence between China and the world. Some of China’s financial liberalization measures, such as QFII and exchange rate reform, are found to have played an important role in increasing market interdependence. After the US credit crunch in 2007 and the world financial crisis in the following years, some anomalies were observed as China’s stock market was more interdependent of the global market than the US stock market in some specific periods. These anomalies may have been related to the former’s overreaction and economic overheating

China's pawn-broking industry and the puzzle of losses during the global financial crisis in 2008-2009

Pawnbrokers in China, like those in many other countries, not only provide financial intermediation services to individuals and households to finance the shortfall between consumption and income in the short term, but also serve as a supplementary financing channel for private entrepreneurs and small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) that face difficulty in obtaining formal credit. This article uses first-hand 2008–2009 survey data from Zhejiang province—one of the pioneering regions in China to develop the pawnbroking business—to study the special characteristics of the pawnbroking industry and explain why it has become a viable and useful financing instrument in transitional China. It also examines the puzzle of widespread losses and serious setbacks in the industry during the 2008–2009 global financial crisis, to which the authors attributed the increased default rate of export-oriented SMEs that reduced their demand for pawnbroking loans. The pawnbroking industry’s strict regulations and low litigation efficiency in China also increased pawnshops’ operation costs of handling defaults, leading to a temporary setback of an otherwise rapidly growing pawnbroking business during the 2008–2009 crisis. However, the pawnbroking industry will continue to play an important role in financing SMEs in China in the foreseeable future

China's pawn-broking industry and the puzzle of losses during the global financial crisis in 2008-2009

In China, pawnbrokers not only provide financial intermediation services to individuals and households who need to finance their short-term gap between consumption and income like those in many other countries, but also serve as a supplementary financing channel for private entrepreneurs and small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) who face difficulty in obtaining formal credits. This paper uses the first-hand survey data in 2008-2009 in Zhejiang Province, one of the pioneering regions for developing pawn-broking business, to study the special characteristics of the pawn-broking industry and explain why it has become a viable and useful financing instrument in transitional China. Through examining why there was a serious setback and widespread loss in the industry during the global financial crisis in 2008-09, we argue that the crisis increased the default rate of export-oriented SMEs, which reduced their demand for pawn-broking loans. The strict regulations in the pawn-broking industry and the low efficiency of litigation in China also increased the operation costs of handling defaults by the pawnshops, leading to a temporary setback in an otherwise rapidly growing pawnbroking business during the crisis. However, the pawn-broking industry will continue to play an important role in financing SMEs in China in the foreseeable future

Foreign language learning as potential treatment for mild cognitive impairment

As the number of older adults increases, age-related health issues (both physical and cognitive) and associated costs are expected to increase, placing emotional and financial stress on family members and the health system. Dementia is one of the most devastating and costly diseases that older adults face. The present study aimed to determine whether foreign language learning can improve cognitive outcomes of older adults with mild cognitive impairment (MCI). The objectives are to determine whether foreign language learning is (1) effective in boosting cognitive reserve and promoting healthy cognitive function and (2) superior to other established cognitively stimulating activities such as crossword and logic puzzles

Single-molecule sequencing and optical mapping yields an improved genome of woodland strawberry (Fragaria vesca) with chromosome-scale contiguity

Background: Although draft genomes are available for most agronomically important plant species, the majority are incomplete, highly fragmented, and often riddled with assembly and scaffolding errors. These assembly issues hinder advances in tool development for functional genomics and systems biology. Findings: Here we utilized a robust, cost-effective approach to produce high-quality reference genomes. We report a near-complete genome of diploid woodland strawberry (Fragaria vesca) using single-molecule real-time sequencing from Pacific Biosciences (PacBio). This assembly has a contig N50 length of similar to 7.9 million base pairs (Mb), representing a similar to 300-fold improvement of the previous version. The vast majority (>99.8%) of the assembly was anchored to 7 pseudomolecules using 2 sets of optical maps from Bionano Genomics. We obtained similar to 24.96 Mb of sequence not present in the previous version of the F. vesca genome and produced an improved annotation that includes 1496 new genes. Comparative syntenic analyses uncovered numerous, large-scale scaffolding errors present in each chromosome in the previously published version of the F. vesca genome. Conclusions: Our results highlight the need to improve existing short-read based reference genomes. Furthermore, we demonstrate how genome quality impacts commonly used analyses for addressing both fundamental and applied biological questions.Peer reviewe

Single-molecule sequencing and optical mapping yields an improved genome of woodland strawberry (\u3ci\u3eFragaria vesca\u3c/i\u3e) with chromosome-scale contiguity

Background: Although draft genomes are available for most agronomically important plant species, the majority are incomplete, highly fragmented, and often riddled with assembly and scaffolding errors. These assembly issues hinder advances in tool development for functional genomics and systems biology. Findings: Here we utilized a robust, cost-effective approach to produce high-quality reference genomes.We report a near-complete genome of diploid woodland strawberry (Fragaria vesca) using single-molecule real-time sequencing from Pacific Biosciences (PacBio). This assembly has a contig N50 length of ~7.9 million base pairs (Mb), representing a ~300-fold improvement of the previous version. The vast majority (\u3e99.8%) of the assembly was anchored to 7 pseudomolecules using 2 sets of optical maps from Bionano Genomics. We obtained ~24.96 Mb of sequence not present in the previous version of the F. vesca genome and produced an improved annotation that includes 1496 new genes. Comparative syntenic analyses uncovered numerous, large-scale scaffolding errors present in each chromosome in the previously published version of the F. vesca genome. Conclusions: Our results highlight the need to improve existing short-read based reference genomes. Furthermore, we demonstrate how genome quality impacts commonly used analyses for addressing both fundamental and applied biological questions

Dynamic relationship between China’s inward and outward foreign direct investments

This paper studies the dynamic relationship of China’s inward and outward foreign direct investments (FDI). It first identifies the key determinants of China’s outward FDI (OFDI) in 172 host countries during 2003-09 using a partial stock adjustment model. It finds strong evidence of dynamic adjustment in China’s OFDI stock with an agglomeration effect. The dynamic adjustment and agglomeration effects are stronger in “high-tech” countries than in “low-tech” ones but indifferent in host country’s resource endowments and income levels. The empirical results suggest that there exists a substantial adjustment cost in China’s OFDI and that China’s existing OFDI stock can gradually adjust towards its long term equilibrium level, which is not only greater but also more volatile than the actual stock. Of particular interest is that we find a strong and positive relationship between lagged inward FDI (IFDI) and contemporaneous OFDI, implying that capital outflow from China has been partially induced by the countries which have invested in China