Journal of Asian Economics最新文献

This paper replicates Kehrig and Vincent (2021) using Japanese data and tests whether the overall labor share decline is led by an increase in low-labor-share firms. The results can be summarized as follows. First, although the labor share of median firms did not rise while the overall labor share was declining, the rate of decline in the labor share of the median firm was slower than the overall rate of decline. Second, the value-added share of firms with a low labor share increased while their salary share did not increase when the overall labor share declined. Third, entry and exit are not important to the decline in overall labor share, as in the United States. Fourth, the role of firms with an extremely low labor share, say under decile, which is a good explanation of the change in labor share in the United States, is limited in Japan. Fifth, the change in actual labor share is very similar to $\sum {\omega }_{i,initial}{\lambda }_{it}$, the product of the initial value-added share and labor share at the time. Sixth, firms that increased their value-added share tended to decrease their labor share.

Using the Slack Based Measure model and the globally referenced Malmquist-Luenberger index, the green total factor productivity at the enterprise level is calculated from 2002 to 2013 in this paper. Based on this, the fixed effects model, system Generalized Method of Moments, and instrumental variable method are used to examine the impact of export trade on green transformation of enterprises from two perspectives: export density and export domestic value-added rate. The results show that the increased export density and export domestic value-added rate have greatly promoted the green development of enterprises. The internal mechanism is mainly reflected in the domestic market competition channels, management channels and terminal treatment channels. Heterogeneity analysis finds that the increase in export density has a significant promoting effect on the green transformation of coastal enterprises, enterprises engaged in general trade and comprehensive trade. The green effect of increasing the domestic value-added rate of exports on private enterprises and enterprises engaged in comprehensive trade is particularly evident. Both have a strong effect on improving green total factor productivity for enterprises established less than 40 years ago. The research conclusions provide important theoretical support for the coordinated and effective promotion of the development of open economy and green transformation.

This paper uses a unique firm-level data set from China’s two most developed regions, the Yangtze River Delta (YRD) and the Pearl River Delta (PRD), to examine the effects of environmental regulations on innovation. Variations in air and water pollution reduction plans under the Total Emissions Control Policy from the 10th to the 12th Five-Year Plans (2001–2015) are explored to measure the stringency of environmental regulations faced by industrial firms. To alleviate endogeneity concerns, we calculate city-level fair pollution reduction volumes which rely only on each city’s contribution to national pollution emissions in the base years and use them as instrumental variables of reduction plans. The two-stage least square estimations reveal that while air pollution regulation (APR) motivates industrial firms to innovate, water pollution regulation (WPR) hinders firm innovation. We confirm the opposite effects by estimating the impact on entrepreneurs’ perceptions of the importance of innovation in industrial firms’ development. Heterogeneity effect analysis shows that APR also hinders innovation in heavily air-polluting industries and state-owned firms, and WPR produces a decreasing innovation-hindering effect over time, which is larger in the YRD region than in the PRD region. We interpret the opposite impacts with the fact that water pollution discharges are more equally distributed across industries than air pollution emissions, resulting in more pervasive and stringent WPR.

Despite the crucial role of fathers’ parenting activities in early child development and the increasing global attention to fathers’ parenting behaviors, these is a paucity of knowledge regarding paternal parenting in rural China. Using a rich dataset of 1145 infants from rural China, we described the prevalent paternal parenting behaviors in the sample area and explored the correlations between fathers’ parenting behaviors and children’s cognitive outcome and socio-emotional development. To assess children’s cognitive development, we utilized various scales based on their development stages: the Bayley Scales of Infant Development-Third Edition (BSID-III) for ages 6–24 months and the Wechsler Preschool and Primary Scale of Intelligence-Fourth Edition (WPPSI-IV) for ages 52–85 months. Our overall findings revealed positive correlations between paternal behaviors and developmental outcomes of sampled children, including cognitive skills and social-emotional development. Fathers’ parenting behaviors in rural China are insufficient and need to be improved. Specifically, less than a quarter of fathers reported engaging in activities such as telling stories using picture books, singing songs, or playing with toys with their children in the past three days. Based on our findings, we recommend that local government provide additional parenting instructions to heighten fathers’ awareness and participation in parenting activities, especially in rural low-income areas. Additionally, creating more employment opportunities in their hometowns for fathers with young children could substantially benefit these children.

Over the past decade, many developing nations have adopted inflation targeting within their monetary policy strategy, with varied approaches to exchange rate flexibility. This paper investigates if monetary policies in economies with high trade openness should integrate exchange rate movements in setting interest rates. Conventional micro-founded models suggest limited benefits from including exchange rates in policy rules. However, using a dynamic stochastic general equilibrium framework focused on Thailand, a small open economy with high trade openness, we find that responding to exchange rate changes with policy rates enhances welfare, more so than disregarding these fluctuations. Additionally, we observe that increased trade openness leads to a flattening of the Phillips curve and hence requires a stronger policy response to deviations from the inflation target. Our findings highlight the critical role of considering exchange rate movements and the degree of trade openness in formulating monetary policies.

Pesticides are important agricultural inputs, which can effectively reduce crop growth risk, but irrational use of pesticides also brings major challenges to the green development of agriculture. This paper constructs a theoretical framework of the effect of crop insurance on pesticides usage. Then using family farm survey data in East China, we measure the marginal value cost ratio (MVCR) of pesticides use through the improved damage abatement production function (DAPF), and empirically analyze the impact of crop insurance on MVCR of pesticides use by employing the endogenous treatment effect model (ETEM). The results show that 42.6% of family farms in the sample area purchased crop insurance, and almost all family farms overused pesticides, but the degree was relatively lower among the family farms with crop insurance. Crop insurance has a significantly positive effect on the MVCR of pesticides use, which indicates that it can optimize farmers’ pesticides use behavior. This conclusion is also confirmed by several robustness checks. Thus, the promotion of agricultural insurance can play the role of promoting the green development of agriculture to a certain extent.

As the pursuit of sustainable development goals has become an increasingly prominent component of urban governance in recent years, compliance with sustainability agendas is now an essential consideration in public investment decisions. Although government spending on the construction of intelligent buildings can help the government achieve its sustainability objectives, steady funding for these projects may not be possible during budget cuts. Demonstrating the added benefits of sustainability-focused, government-funded construction projects can help to justify budgeting for intelligent buildings. This paper explores the externalities of a community sports center constructed to intelligent building specifications in New Taipei City, Taiwan, measured by the willingness to pay for proximal residence and accessibility to the community sports center. By comparing this smart community sports center with one designed and constructed along traditional lines, the paper finds that the effect of positive externalities is more significant in the community sports center housed in intelligent buildings. The paper highlights the importance of community sports centers by showing the price premiums for houses near them. It indicates that directing public investment toward sustainable public infrastructure will likely provide added benefits. The evidence provides support for emerging markets to propose policies that are consistent with sustainability goals.

Facing the challenge of population aging and labor force shrinking, the Chinese government has been trying to reform its family planning policy since 2015. This paper analyzes the impacts of China’s Two-child policy on economic growth and industrial structure from 2020 to 2060 using a dynamic Computable general equilibrium (CGE) model. This paper constructs an effective labor input index accounting for changes in educational attainment and labor force participation rates by age and sex to simulate the effects of the demographic changes on labor supply and economic growth, rather than using simple working-age measures. This paper sets two policy scenarios, the One-child policy and the Two-child policy, to simulate the changes in the employment structure, industrial structure, and main macroeconomic indicators under different population policies. The main finding is that under the Two-child policy, the average GDP growth rate is expected to be 0.3% and 1.0% points higher than the One-child policy in the period of 2015–2030, and 2045–2060; the employment growth rates of the manufacturing and service industries are higher than that under the One-child policy; the shift of industrial structure from manufacturing to service industry will be slightly slower than the One-child policy. The positive impacts of the Two-child policy on China’s economic growth are not significant in the short run. From the perspective of the quantity, structure and quality of labor supply, this paper reveals how a more relaxed family planning policy will affect labor supply, and ultimately affect economic structure and growth in a long run.

The macro-finance literature provides conflicting views on how movements in housing price affect firms’ capital spending or R&D. We further explore this issue by analyzing a comprehensive international firm-level data set. We use the housing price component independent of firms’ investment opportunities and credit supply shocks. The results support the collateral channel as housing price and firm investment exhibit a positive relationship. This collateral channel is more distinct for capital expenditure than R&D, and in housing downturns when firms’ credit constraints bind. Nevertheless, housing appreciations are negatively associated with R&D and large housing booms are also detrimental to capital investment, which suggests a possible resource reallocation from the production sector to the housing sector during those phases. Small firms and firms with stronger investment opportunities respond more sensitively to housing price. Countries that rely more on bank financing and collateralized lending display a larger collateral effect in capital expenditure.

A neutral interest rate is a key indicator of the monetary policy stance. This study estimates South Korea’s neutral interest rates and their determinants. Based on the results, we investigate the prior monetary policy patterns of the Bank of Korea (BOK) and evaluate its stance. We adopted a time-series model approach, with a Bayesian econometric strategy. We can summarize the empirical findings as follows. First, the neutral interest rate has continued to fall, and it tends to fall sharply during downturns, such as the global financial crisis and COVID-19 pandemic. Second, the fall over the past two decades is largely attributable to population aging and the neutral US interest rate. Meanwhile, the recent rebound in the neutral interest rate seems to be due to the increase in the net issuance of government bonds. Finally, the BOK responded substantially to aggregate demand shocks over recent decades. In particular, the BOK’s current monetary policy stance is contractionary because of its active response to inflation rather than real activity.