Differences In Endowments Research Articles

Occupational Choice in the Urban Labor Market in Congo (DRC): Can Gender Disparities Be Identified?

The purpose of this study is to quantify the disparities between men and women in occupational choice and particularly in the choice of employment status and to identify the factors that contribute to explaining them. The results thus found confirm the general consensus on the importance of the three groups of explanatory factors (individual characteristics, household characteristics and those of the state of the labor market) of the choice of self-employment status. The decomposition analysis shows that the estimated average probabilities of self-employment are 73.51% for women and 38.46% for men and the total gender gap in self-employment is 35.05 percentage points. It emerges that this difference is explained at 48.76% by the differences between men and women in the endowments. Taking into account the different characteristics shows that the differences in human capital endowments (Eduction) represent 1.428% to 4.190% of the gender gap in access to salaried employment and that other characteristics such as those related to the social as well as those of the state of the labor market would contribute to accentuate the gender gap in the occupational choice. However, the very high nature of the gender gap unexplained by unobservable factors would intuitively imply that other factors not taken into account in the equations could have substantially explained this gap in self-employment.

Coevolution of Economic and Industrial Linkages within the Land-Sea Industrial Structure of China

The joint development of continental and marine economies has become an important driving force for the upgrading of industrial structures. However, because of the differences in resource endowment and development potential, developing industrial structures and the quality of economic development are uneven among regions. In this study, the added values of three land-sea industries in the three marine economic circles of northern, eastern, and southern China, were employed to clarify the evolutionary behavior of the industrial structure of these three circles on the land and sea; the synchronization, lag, equilibrium, and dislocation of developing the industrial structure were also explored which a gray relational model based on convex judgment and gray time difference analyses were used to construct a relational model from the static and dynamic aspects of the system, and the internal and external linkages of the industrial structure of the three circles were analyzed from the perspective of industrial correlation. The results show that: (1) Correlations among the linkages of the three economic circles in the marine industrial structure, both including and without temporal and spatial differences, and the marine feedback driver, differ markedly. (2) The effects of feedback for marine industrial development from the Eastern Marine Economic Circle were stronger, whereas those of the Southern Marine Economic Circle were weak and those of the Northern Marine Economic Circle were ambiguous. (3) A significant difference was observed in the degree of coevolution among the land-sea industrial structures of these areas. The Northern Marine Economic Circle exhibited a slightly higher degree of coevolution than the other two economic circles, showing a stable trend of coevolution and wide spatial development. The eastern and southern circles displayed high degrees of coordination in developing their industrial structures. The research results provide a reference for regional adjustment and optimization of industrial structure.

Factors Affecting New Agricultural Business Entities’ Adoption of Sustainable Intensification Practices in China: Evidence from the Main Apple-Producing Areas in the Loess Plateau

The unsustainability of China’s agricultural production requires an urgent shift from traditional to more sustainable practices; however, the acceleration thereof remains challenging. New agricultural business entities (NABEs) lead agricultural modernization and strongly guide the application of innovative agricultural technologies and models. Thus, an understanding of the factors that influence NABEs’ adoption of sustainable intensification practices will promote their widespread adoption. We developed a model based on innovation diffusion theory and the technology–organization–environment framework, which can both distinguish the influencing factors at different adoption stages and identify the influencing factors of technology adoption from a multidimensional perspective. The results indicate that differences in regional agroecological endowments emerge as the most important influencing factor. Relative advantage, perceived barriers, and agricultural extension services have a significant effect on adoption intention and decision, but a smaller effect on intention. Management and risk response capacities have a significant positive effect on adoption decisions, but no effect on intention. Meanwhile, organizational size has no effect on adoption intention or decision. Adoption intention significantly positively influences, but only partially explains, adoption decisions. Our findings provide a basis for technology promoters to categorize potential adopters by technology adoption stage and provide targeted strategies to stimulate technology demand.

Exposing the Effects of Environmental Regulations on China’s Green Total Factor Productivity: Results From Econometrics Analysis and Machine Learning Methods

With the increasingly obvious restriction of the ecological environment on economic development, environmental regulations are widely used to achieve “green production,” that is, to improve green total factor productivity (GTFP). First, through the econometric model, it can be concluded that command-based environmental regulations could improve GTFP, while market-based environmental regulations have no significant impact on GTFP. Unlike traditional econometric models, machine learning has no specific data requirements and research assumptions. We use Lasso regression to verify the above results by obtaining the optimal tuning parameter. Furthermore, considering that the leap of China’s economy is inseparable from foreign direct investment (FDI), we use FDI as a threshold variable. The threshold model results showe that when the intensity of FDI in China ranges between 1.2492 and 1.588, both types of environmental regulations can significantly promote GTFP. These conclusions passed the robustness test. Given the differences in economy and resource endowment among different regions in China, a regional heterogeneity test is conducted. The results show that the current environmental regulations in eastern and central China have no significant impact on GTFP. However, when the intensity of FDI in central China is greater than 3.6868, environmental regulations have a significant promoting effect on GTFP. In western China, when FDI intensity ranges between 1.3950 and 1.5880, market-based environmental regulations can significantly promote GTFP. Further, the path test of the mediation effect model reveals that command-based environmental regulations reduce GTFP by reducing FDI. The above conclusions provide empirical data for the intensity of FDI in different regions of China to improve GTFP.

Health endowments, schooling allocation in the family, and longevity: Evidence from US twins

We analyze data from the Minnesota Twin Registry (MTR), combined with the Socioeconomic Survey of Twins (SST), and new mortality data, and contribute to two bodies of literature. First, we demonstrate a beneficial causal effect of education on health and longevity in contrast to other twin-based studies of the US population, which show little or no effect of education on health. Second, we present evidence that is consistent with parental compensation through education for differences in their children’s endowments that predict health, but find no evidence that parents reinforce differences in endowments that predict earnings. We argue that there is a bias towards detecting reinforcement both in this paper and in the literature. Despite this bias, we still find statistical evidence of compensating behavior. We account for observed and unobserved confounding factors, sample selection bias, and measurement error in education.

State‐ownership and corporate cash holding: Evidence from China

AbstractWith a background of the recent reform of Chinese state‐owned enterprises (SOEs), how the state ownership affects the behaviour of corporations is an important research topic. Using a dataset of 2,908 listed nonfinancial firms in China from 2007 to 2017, we innovatively employ the Blinder–Oaxaca decomposition method to investigate the endowment and state‐ownership effects on corporate cash holdings. We find that the cash reserve level in SOEs is statistically significantly lower than that in non‐SOEs, whereas 78.98% of the difference can be explained by endowment differences, and only the remaining 21.02% is a distortion of state ownership. Moreover, the dynamic decomposition shows the state‐ownership effect on SOEs' cash holdings changes from positive to negative, meaning that credit discrimination has become more serious than soft budget constraints in recent years.

The socioeconomic gradient in child health and noncognitive skills: Evidence from the Czech Republic

We investigate the presence of a socioeconomic status (SES) gradient in children’s health and noncognitive skill development, and its evolution with child age using cohort data from the Czech Republic. We show that family SES are positively associated with better child health. These effects start to emerge at age 3 and are persistent for all subsequent ages. We find a modest strengthening of the gradient as the children grow older. Similarly, at the lowest distribution of average family income, children lag in their noncognitive skills. We find evidence that children enter school with substantial differences in noncognitive skill endowments based on family SES. This correlation persists when controlling for poor health at birth, the roles of specific and chronic health problems, housing conditions, and partner characteristics. Maternal health status explains some of the association between family income and child noncognitive skills. We account for the endogeniety of SES and non-linearities in measures.

Exploring unemployment differentials between former and non-former homeland areas in South Africa: A decomposition approach

ABSTRACT This study decomposes the unemployment rate gap between former and non-former homeland areas in South Africa. We apply the Oaxaca–Blinder [1973] decomposition technique to the 2011 population census community profiles at the main place level. Results indicate that former homeland areas suffer from relatively higher rates of unemployment compared to non-former homeland areas. The 24%-point difference is primarily explained by differences in former homeland area main place endowments. Interventions that improve educational attainment in former homeland areas and those that are sensitive to the labour market challenges faced by black South African youth and women are essential to alleviate the spatial gap.

Operational Strategy and User Price Preference Analysis of China’s Microgrids: Based on An Evolutionary Game Model

As an effective supplement to the power grid, microgrid systems can make full use of renewable energy and solve the problem of grid connection and absorption of renewable energy. However, microgrid faces the challenges of benefit fluctuation caused by fixed pricing mode with unstable renewable energy supply and changing user’s demand. A well-designed pricing mode is necessary while yet to be fully discussed. To solve this problem, this paper introduces flexible operational strategies and pricing mechanism due to the regional differences in resource endowment, microgrid technology mix, user demand and electricity price of external grid. The evolutionary game method is used to explore the operational strategy and pricing mechanism applicable to microgrids with different characteristics and users with different demands, so as to provide valuable reference for pricing standardization of microgrids in China. Based on the theoretical model, we deduce the equilibrium strategy of microgrid facing stable users and flexible users, and discusses the operational strategy and pricing mechanism of microgrid facing different user demands by using numerical simulation method. The results indicate that: (1) Considering the technical characteristics and economic performance, most of the microgrids tend to be connected to the grid and use real-time pricing mode. (2) The initial price between the microgrid and the user, the proportion of independent power generation when the microgrid is connected to the grid, and the tariff of the external grid are the key factors affecting the equilibrium point of the game between the microgrid and the users.

Will Environmental Regulation Narrow the Gap in Regional Economic Growth?

Empirical studies have shown that China's Air Pollution Prevention and Control Law (APPCL2000), as an environmental regulation, has significantly alleviated the air pollution problem and improved the TFP of air polluting enterprises. However, few scholars have studied the regional heterogeneity of this policy. To study this issue, this manuscript introduces the "Hu Line" from the perspective of regional resource endowment differences and divides China into a resource advantage area (A area) and a resource disadvantage area (B area). Subsequently, this manuscript uses the triple difference model and big data of Chinese industrial enterprises to verify. The results show that under environmental regulations, the TFP of air polluting enterprises in B area has increased more than in A area, and the rapid decline in the proportion of low-efficiency air polluting enterprises in B area is the main mechanism. It shows that environmental regulation is beneficial to narrow the gap of regional economic growth and realize economic catch-up in resource-disadvantaged areas.

Innovation, gender, and labour productivity: Small and medium enterprises in Vietnam

• This study finds that innovation increases firm labour productivity in Vietnamese SMEs. • Female-controlled firms are not significantly less productive than male-controlled firms. • Female-controlled firms are less likely to innovate than male controlled firms. • Government assistance does not directly improve firm productivity. • Government assistance does enhance firm productivity indirectly by increasing the probability of innovation. This study undertakes an empirical analysis of the links between gender, innovation and firm labour productivity in Vietnamese Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs). Specifically, we analyse whether female-controlled firms are more or less productive, than male-controlled firms. We also analyse whether female-controlled firms are more or less innovative than male-controlled firms. The present study goes further than most others in this area by allowing for endogenous selection into innovation, and by decomposing the productivity differential between innovators and non-innovators into the parts due to the differences in endowments and in technology. We show that while female-controlled firms are less likely to innovate, they are not less productive than male-controlled firms, once the role of innovation is controlled for. We also show that innovators are about 23% more productive than non-innovators, with over three quarters of this gap being due to innovators possessing better technology. An important contribution of our analysis is therefore to show that innovators are more productive than non-innovators mainly due to the use of different technology, not because they have better endowments. As the number of females starting or running new businesses is higher than males in developing countries, including in Vietnam, it follows that female entrepreneurship plays an important role in economic growth in emerging economies. Our analysis of the gender gap in business performance and innovation provides insights that assist with formulating entrepreneurship-related polices to assist this economic growth.

Measurement of Investment Potential and Spatial Distribution of Arable Land among Countries within the “Belt and Road Initiative”

The belt and road initiative (BRI) is a mutual development approach projected by China, which delivers exceptional opportunities for multi-phased communication and cooperation across Asia, Africa, and Europe. It opens ample opportunities for China to easily invest in overseas arable land. Based on the macro data of 119 countries in 2010 and 2016 before and after the BRI, the study comprehensively uses fuzzy C-means clustering and the entropy method to evaluate the potential of arable land investment from four dimensions, which existing literature has not fully grasped. Moreover, the study uses the exploratory spatial data analysis methods (ESDA), kernel density estimation, and trend surface analysis to study the spatial pattern characteristics. The results show that: (i) there are noticeable regional differences in the investment potential of arable land in BRI countries. Asian countries, led by Kazakhstan and Indonesia, and African Unions, led by Ethiopia, South Africa, and Tanzania, generally have higher investment potential. However, South America and European countries are relatively lower. (ii) Resource endowment and production conditions significantly impact overseas arable land investment potential. Asia and Africa have advantages in resource endowment and production conditions, while European countries generally have better economic and political environments. (iii) From the perspective of time evolution, the investment potential in 2016 is generally higher than in 2010, and the negative correlation and dispersion are lower than in 2010. Based on these findings, it is recommended that Chinese enterprises should comprehensively consider the differences in resource endowments and agricultural development levels in various countries, optimize investment layout, and reduce investment risks. Chinese companies should collaborate with host nations on modernization and promote the long-term viability of arable land investments.

Energy endowment, industrial structure upgrading, and CO2 emissions in China: Revisiting resource curse in the context of carbon emissions

The green transformation of energy-rich areas plays a crucial role in the process of low-carbon sustainable development. It is necessary to integrate energy endowment, industrial structure upgrading and carbon emissions into the same research framework for comprehensive analysis. Using panel data of 30 provinces in China from 2003 to 2017, this study uses the spatial Durbin model to investigate the effects of energy endowment and industrial structure upgrading on carbon emissions. According to the empirical results, energy endowment has significantly promoted carbon emissions, and the phenomenon of ‘resource curse’ exists in the context of carbon emissions from a provincial perspective. Energy-dependent industrial structure is positively correlated with carbon emissions, which has a partial mediating effect on the influence of energy endowment on carbon emissions. In addition, the upgrading of industrial production factors and industrial level all have a negative moderating effect on the impact of energy endowment on energy-dependent industrial structure, which indirectly reducing carbon emissions. Furthermore, given the obvious regional differences in China's energy endowment and industrial structure, the impact of energy endowment on carbon emissions is higher in the eastern and western regions, and the mechanism of mediating effect exists in the eastern and western regions, but not in the central region. Therefore, the efficient use of energy sources and speeding up the industrial structure upgrading are crucial measures to reduce carbon emissions in energy-rich areas. The findings enrich ‘resource curse’ theory in the environmental field, and provide theoretical guidance for building a resource-saving and environment-friendly society.

Storming the Beachhead: An Examination of Developed and Emerging Market Multinational Strategic Location Decisions in the U.S.

Entering a foreign market is challenging given the fierce competition posed by local incumbents. The literature suggests that when entering a foreign market, it is advantageous to locate where there are agglomeration benefits. Given the dynamic nature of regional development, foreign firms have multiple location options. While the literature has primarily focused on developed country multinationals’ (DMNEs) location decisions, emerging market multinationals (EMNEs) are increasingly becoming influential in high-tech industries. Due to differences in DMNE and EMNE resource endowments, they may consider alternative options when locating abroad and, thus, we examine these nuances. Using multinomial logistic regression, we investigate domestic and foreign location patterns of firms within the U.S. biopharmaceutical industry as of 2018. We constructed a unique dataset of 19,962 U.S. locations and examined the location patterns of DMNEs and EMNEs from 61 countries and territories. Given the heterogeneity of regional development in the U.S., we developed a typology that stratifies regions into four categories (developed, growth, transitioning, and nascent). Counterintuitively, we find that foreign multinationals are more likely to be attracted to less developed regions than domestic firms and have different location patterns, not only compared to domestic firms, but also with respect to each other.

A framework for calculating the net benefits of ecological restoration programs in China

Information about the costs and benefits of the land use changes that occur during the implementation of ecological conservation programs is still scarce. To obtain more information on these consequences, it’s necessary to compare the costs and benefits before and after project implementation. We have proposed a modification of the framework for calculating this change in the net benefits of ecological engineering, using implementation of China’s primary conservation programs to demonstrate the framework. We found that the annual net benefits created by the Three North Shelter Forest System Project, Natural Forest Conservation Program, and Grain for Green Program in 2017 were 461.7 × 109, 2930.5 × 109, and 530.1 × 109 RMB, respectively; these are equivalent to net benefits per unit area of 6.5 × 103, 17.6 × 103, and 18.2 × 103 RMB·ha−1·yr−1. These values represent rates of return equal to 29.3, 328.9, and 77.0%, respectively, compared with the costs of these investments. Due to the large differences in socioeconomic conditions and resource endowments among China’s diverse regions, it is necessary to account for these regional differences in the design of ecological restoration strategies to ensure that the programs are tailored to local conditions and produce the maximum net benefit. This approach can help governments find an optimal combination of land use and ecological conservation to improve the economic impacts of their restoration programs.

Evaluating the ability of transformed urban agglomerations to achieve Sustainable Development Goal 6 from the perspective of the water planetary boundary: Evidence from Guanzhong in China

Differences in water resource endowment and socio-economic development of transformed urban agglomerations (TUAs) lead to differences in the ability of cities to achieve Sustainable Development Goal 6 (SDG6), which inevitably underestimates the possibility of water crises. This study employs the water footprint (WF) and reduced water planetary boundary (WPB) as absolute environmental sustainability indicators and uses a drive-pressure-state-impact-response (DPSIR) framework to describe the spatio-temporal differences and evolutionary characteristics of the ability of a TUA to achieve SDG6. This study takes the Guanzhong urban agglomeration (GUA) in China as a case. The WF of GUA increased from 19.55 billion m3 to 23.44 billion m3 in 2007–2018, but it increased initially and then fell. The proportion of the ecological environment WF increased by 1.41%, which is in line with SDG6.4 and SDG6.6. However, WF is larger than WPB. The water deficit was within the interval of [6 billion m3, 23 billion m3]. The pressure subsystems in Tongchuan and Weinan were as high as 28.80%, and the response subsystems in Xi'an and Baoji had the highest weights of 33.79% and 25.84%, respectively. Thus, GUA is under severe water pressure. Causal chain relationships between the socio-economic activities of each city in the water resource system were not the same, reflecting a spatial difference in the ability to achieve SDG6. To this end, this study proposes the potential value and policy implications of reducing the differences in the ability of cities to achieve SDG6 to avoid water crises in TUAs.

Extending the Kitagawa–Oaxaca–Blinder decomposition approach to panel data

The Kitagawa–Oaxaca–Blinder decomposition approach has been widely used to attribute group-level differences in an outcome to differences in endowment, coefficients, and their interactions. The method has been implemented for Stata in the popular oaxaca command for cross-sectional analyses. In recent decades, however, research questions have been more often focused on the decomposition of group-based differences in change over time, for example, diverging income trajectories, as well as decomposition of change in differences between groups, for example, change in the gender pay gap over time. We review five existing methods for the decomposition of changes in group means and contribute an extension that takes an interventionist perspective suitable for applications with a clear before–after comparison. These decompositions of levels and changes over time can be implemented using the xtoaxaca command, which works as a postestimation command for different regression commands in Stata. It is built to maximize flexibility in modeling and implements all decomposition techniques presented in this article.

Convergence in road transport CO2 emissions in Europe

In Europe, the transport sector accounts for more than 27% of total CO2 emissions and, within this sector, road transport is by far the largest polluter. This fact has placed road transport emissions abatement firmly on the agenda of global alliances. In this paper, we examine the convergence in per capita road transport CO2 emissions in a sample of 22 European countries over the 1990–2014 period. We find evidence that European countries converge to one another but depending on certain structural factors (conditional convergence), and that the convergence speed has increased over time. Our results show that this conditional convergence process has led to undesirably high levels of emissions since a large part of the laggard (less polluting) countries have caught up with the leaders (more polluting) countries. We then estimate a conditional convergence dynamic panel data model to examine the structural factors affecting the convergence process and its influence on the convergence speed. Given that in our sample road transport CO2 emissions depend almost exclusively on (fossil) fuel consumption, we focus on the determinants channelled through the use of energy in the sector. By using alternative econometric approaches (pooled-OLS, fixed-effects and instrumental variables), our results show that the convergence process is conditioned by factors such as economic activity and fuel prices, and that some of these factors have a significant effect on the convergence speed. Our results imply that the European transport policy should reduce the differences in structural factor endowments among countries to enable the absolute convergence towards a lower level of emissions in a reasonable period of time.

Economic Persistence Despite Adverse Policies: Evidence from Kyrgyzstan

Abstract We study the long-run persistence of relative economic well-being under adverse government policies using a combination of historical and contemporaneous data from Kyrgyzstan. After controlling for unobservable local effects, the economic well-being of Kyrgyz households in the 2010s correlates with the early twentieth-century average wealth of their tribes. Inequality at the tribe level in the 2010s correlates with wealth inequality in the early twentieth century. The likely channels of persistence are the inter-generational transmission of human capital, relative status, political power and cultural traits. Transmission of material wealth, differences in natural endowments or geographic sorting cannot explain persistence.

Long-run analysis of regional inequalities in the US

AbstractWe consider the regional differences in economic development across the United States, which have been a unique feature of American economic history. The paths of both convergence and divergence by region have been driven by a complex mix of differences in resource endowments, demographic differences, international and internal migration patterns, and variation in the scope and impact of government policies at the local, state, and federal level. We show that the development of a national and fully integrated economy have accelerated and decelerated over time, and these features are driven by unique sets of historical circumstances and policy choices.