Factors Influencing the Competitiveness of Cocoa Export of Ghana and Its Implication on Ghana’s Economy

This study examines the competitiveness of Ghana’s cocoa by assessing the performance and determinants of cocoa export from Ghana. Competitiveness of the country in cocoa exports was assessed using the Pearson's Correlation model and Linear Regression model using SPSS and STATA respectively. Time series data on Ghana’s cocoa production and exports and GDP from 2000 to 2014 were collected and analyzed using Pearson Correlation Statistics that were adopted in SPSS. The first analysis was to find the relationship between total cocoa products exports in US$(including raw cocoa beans and processed cocoa products) and factors such as the real world prices of cocoa (US$/MT) between 2000 and 2014, the gross domestic product of Ghana, the amount of Cocoa beans produced (in tonnes) and processed cocoa exports. The outcome of the analyses revealed that Ghana has comparative advantage in the exportation of cocoa, that Ghana is highly competitive in exports of cocoa beans, total cocoa products and processed cocoa exports. In spite of improvements observed in the country’s export performance over the past three decades, there is potential for further improvement, based on the SPSS and STATA results. The study proceeds to propose measures eminent in ensuring robust cocoa production and consequential exports. Keywords：Competitiveness, cocoa export, determinants, real world price, gross domestic price. DOI: 10.7176/JESD/10-6-05 Publication date:March 31st 201

The Impact of Purchase Subsidy on Enterprises’ R&D Efforts: Evidence from China’s New Energy Vehicle Industry

Purchase subsidy has been adopted to accelerate the diffusion of New Energy Vehicles (NEVs) in China. With a Multi-stage Difference-in-Differences (DID) method, this research investigates the impact of purchase subsidy on Research and Development (R&D) efforts of NEV enterprises. The results indicate that purchase subsidy for NEVs has a positive and significant impact on R&D efforts of NEV enterprises. The impact increases when the purchase subsidy rate decreases. When considering the influences of government procurement and exemption on purchase tax, the positive impact of purchase subsidy still remains significant. The policy implications are that the purchase subsidy rate should be reduced, and stricter technological requirements should be set to couple with the purchase subsidy

The Effectiveness of Government Subsidies on Manufacturing Innovation: Evidence from the New Energy Vehicle Industry in China

Manufacturing innovation is of strategic importance to China in its effort to reshape future technology. This study explores the impact of government subsidies on the research and development (R&D) intensity of China’s new energy vehicle (NEV) enterprises. The dynamic relationship between government subsidies and R&D intensity is tested with a panel regression model and a threshold regression model. We find that government subsidies have a significantly positive impact on R&D intensity when considering the sample group as a whole, but market profit does not contribute to R&D intensity. As for the sub-sample, government subsidies have a significantly positive impact on R&D intensity in assembly enterprises but are insignificant in supporting enterprises. Two threshold values are also identified with the logarithm of government subsidy. We find that government subsidies have a significant crowding in effect on the R&D intensity of NEV enterprises. With the increasing of government subsidy, the crowding in effect weakens gradually. The policy implication is that the structure of government subsidies should be optimized. More demand-oriented policy instruments should be adopted to cultivate the market. The government subsidies should be reduced gradually until full withdrawal