Direct Government Research Articles

Does public subsidy promote sustainable innovation? The case of Chinese high-tech SMEs.

Government public support is an important policy tool to support enterprises in carrying out innovation and R&D in China. However, there is a lack of systematic research on the effect of direct and indirect government support on the innovation ability of Chinese high-tech enterprises, especially the relatively weak SMEs. This paper aims to explore the impact of public support on sustainable innovation by SMEs in China and identify the differences, if any, between direct and indirect support. By using the survey data of 2600 Chinese SMEs, we found that government support significantly and positively impacts both innovation input and output. In particular, we found that R&D intensity acts as a mediator between direct government support and innovation output; however, indirect support did not exhibit a significant mediating effect. Additionally, it was found that innovative sales can promote innovation investment by alleviating financial constraints; this is known as sustainable innovation.

User Behavior and Market Developments Towards Data Protection

Contrary to most articles that have been recently written about data protection and dominant technology firms, this paper suggests that no direct government intervention is needed. Market forces are empowering the users who really care about their privacy rights; now users have privacy-oriented alternatives to the apps they were historically dependent upon, and they have been taking advantage of those alternatives. Firms have realized that privacy is a non-price dimension of competition and they can attract users by offering more privacy: the privacy features implemented in the new versions of Apple iOS and Google Android are good examples. Also, privacy-oriented apps have been able to capture users who are not satisfied with the data handling practices of dominant firms, with those dominant firms being a channel for the expansion of their privacy-oriented rivals. Those market developments, which indicate a potential creative destruction, should not be disregarded by legal scholars and policymakers. This article discusses recent trends towards data protection and applicable legal and public policy implications.

Making sense of firms for ocean governance

Making sense of firms for ocean governance

Unpacking competitiveness of agricultural farms in Bulgaria

Abstract. Despite its importance and continouing debates, there is still no consensus on what is the competitiveness of farms, how to measure the competitiveness of different organizations in agriculture, what is the absolute and comparative competitiveness of different types of farms, which are the critical factors for increasing the competitiveness at the current stage of development, etc. This study tries to fill the existing gap by applying a holistic approach and assessing the competitiveness of Bulgarian farms as a whole and with different specializations. The multi-criteria assessment found that the level of competitiveness of farms in the country is at a good level, with low adaptive potential and economic efficiency to the greatest extent contributing to lower competitiveness. More than a third of all agricultural holdings have a low level of competitiveness. The most competitive are the farms specialised in the beekeeping, followed by field crops, mixed animal husbandry and mixed crops production, and the lowest for farms in grazing livestock. Most significant factors for increasing the competitiveness of Bulgarian farms are market conditions (supply and demand, prices, competition), direct government subsidies, access to knowledge, advice and counseling, participation in government support programs, available information , financial opportunities, and opportunities for benefits in the near future.Proposed approach should be improved and applied more widely and periodically, increasing accuracy and representativeness. The latter requires close cooperation with producer organizations, advisory service and other stakeholders, and improvement of the agricultural information collection system in the country. Keywords. Competitiveness, Agricultural holdings, Specialsiation, Bulgaria. JEL. Q12, Q13, Q15, Q18 .

Good Governance and Economic Growth in South European Countries

Economic growth is a prerequisite for economic development. However, there is no “recipe” for countries to create an environment of prosperity and to achieve high rates of economic growth. Many researchers have examined the drivers of economic growth and find that economic growth depends on many economic and institutional variables. In this context, the main objective of this paper is to examine the role of good governance on economic growth in piicgs countries (Portugal, Ireland, Italy, Cyprus, Greece, and Spain). The database was collected from many sources and the empirical analysis is based on a 2SLS (two-stage least squares) technique. In our empirical results, we find that trade openness, gross capital formation, inflation, political stability, rule of law, debt rule, budget balanced rule, and the combination between debt rule/budget balanced rule with political stability and combination between debt rule/budget balanced rule with rule of law are significant drivers of economic growth in piicgs countries while foreign direct investments, government effectiveness, voice and accountability, regulatory quality, fiscal rule index and expenditure rule are insignificant. However, the results may be different if we use other sample groups and/or different periods.

COVID-19, financing and sales decline of informal sector MSMEs in Senegal.

Using the survey data collected on informal sector MSMEs in Senegal, this study performs logit and propensity score matching (PSM) both to examine the determinants of access to credit, the decline in sales, and the business growth prospect in the 12 months following the COVID‐19 pandemic and to assess the impact of credit on the MSMEs sales decline. We find that being a male manager and aged 46–55 years old reduces the likelihood of a decline in sales, whereas those who are 25–35 years present a high probability of experiencing a decrease in sales due to COVID‐19. Being between 25 and 35 and 36–45 years old with a formalized MSME increases the probability of having access to loans. MSMEs that undertake manufacturing businesses appear more pessimistic about the future. More importantly, PSM findings show that MSMEs with loans have a higher average treatment effect of sales decline than their counterparts. This suggests that the greater the access to credit, the greater the difference in sales decline between MSMEs with credit and their counterpart without. The policy implications underline the importance of extended maturities and direct government financial support—not debt—to help the most affected informal sector MSMEs recover from the COVID‐19 pandemic adverse effects.

Economic assessment and regional adaptability analysis of CCHP system coupled with biomass-gas based on year-round performance

The combined cooling, heating and power system (CCHP) coupled with biomass-gas could meet energy consumption stably and have favorable thermal performance with a renewable energy contribution rate of 72.11%. The economic benefits of biogas-fueled CCHP system based on annual performance and regional adaptability are studied. Three government subsidy policies: direct government investment, electricity price subsidy for biomass power generation and government discount are selected to assess the effects of economic performance under different proportions. Net present value (NPV), investment payback period (PP) and internal rate of return (IRR) are used as economic evaluation indicators. Without policy subsidies, the NPV, PP and IRR in the cold area are 36,300 yuan, 12.26 years and 5.19%, respectively. Under the limitations of technology, the system is more suitable for areas with uniform cooling and heating load currently. Sensitivity analysis showed that the anaerobic fermenter and biogas slurry price have the greatest impact on the economic benefits. Based on electricity price subsidy (0.47 yuan/kWh), supplemented by direct government investment (20%) are suggested (PP is 8.0 years). It is proposed to form a unified mechanism of government lead, policy incline, enterprise investment and resident support for making the CCHP system coupled with biomass-gas develop vigorously.

The effects of FDI and government expenditures on environmental pollution in Korea: the pollution haven hypothesis revisited.

This paper uses the pollution haven hypothesis (PHH) to examine the effects of foreign direct investment (FDI) and government expenditures on environmental quality in Korea. For this purpose, we conducted autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) bounds testing for the period 1970-2018. Empirical results indicate that in Korea, increased FDI, per capita gross domestic product (GDP), energy use, and imports have led to increased per capita carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions, while government expenditures, renewable energy, and exports have led to decreased per capita CO2 emissions. Empirical results also reveal an N-shaped relationship between per capita GDP and per capita CO2 emissions. Moreover, the PHH is valid in Korea to a moderate degree, and the detrimental effect of FDI on environmental quality is relatively limited. Furthermore, government expenditures improve environmental quality. These empirical findings support Korea's leading role in implementing comprehensive green growth initiatives.

The Determinants of Economic Growth: Empirical Study of 10 Asia-Pacific Countries

The purpose of this research to examine influence several independent variables, especially corruption, foreign direct investment (FDI), population growth, and government expenditure on the economic growth of 10 Asia-Pacific countries, and prove the hypothesis of the sand wheels theory whether corruption causes a decline and a slowdown in economic growth. This study uses panel data. The results showed that the variables of corruption have a negative impact on economic growth, foreign direct investment (FDI), and government expenditure have positives that significantly affect the level of economic growth in 10 Asia-Pacific countries. However, population growth does not significantly affect economic growth. The result implies that corruption has a negative effect on economic growth in 10 Asia-Pacific countries. Such an outcome provides evidence and confirms the hypothesis that corruption can sand the wheel of an economy. Countries must eradicate all forms of corruption and maintain a conducive investment climate so that there is a level of trust, especially in the Asia-Pacific countries, to create productive economic growth.JEL Classification: O47, D73, C12How to Cite:Nasir, M. S., Wibowo, A. R., & Yansyah, D. (2021). The Determinants of Economic Growth: Empirical Study Of 10 Asia-Pacific Countries. Signifikan: Jurnal Ilmu Ekonomi, 10(1), 149-160. https://doi.org/10.18752/sjie.v10i1.15310.

Spatiotemporal changes in efficiency and influencing factors of China's industrial carbon emissions.

The industrial sector is the backbone of China's national economy. The industrial carbon emission efficiency (ICEE) of China is directly related to the achievement of carbon emission reduction targets. This paper reports on the use of the minimum distance (min-SBM) method to determine the ICEE of 30 provinces in China during 1998-2015, as well as the use of a spatial econometric method to investigate the convergence and influencing factors of the regional ICEE. The results indicate significant regional differences in the ICEE. The provinces with higher average values of ICEE are located in the eastern coastal areas, whereas the provinces with lower average values of ICEE are located in the central and western inland regions. The results of the spatial autocorrelation index reveal that China's inter-provincial ICEE exhibits significant spatial autocorrelation characteristics, and its spatial distribution demonstrates a certain regularity. The local indicators of spatial association diagram further illustrate that most provinces in China have high and low agglomeration values. With the introduction of the spatial effect, the absolute and conditional convergence rates increase. In addition to the non-significant industrial structure effect, the level of economic development, foreign direct investment, technological progress, and government intervention demonstrate a positive impact on the ICEE convergence, whereas the energy consumption structure has a negative impact. This work investigates the cause for the regional gap in China's current ICEE. Suggestions for improving the efficiency of China's industrial carbon emissions and narrowing the regional gap are provided, which serve as a reference value for China to achieve the peak of carbon dioxide emissions before 2030.

Do FDI and Public Investment Crowd in/out Domestic Private Investment in the SADC Region

Our study examines the crowding-in/out effect of foreign direct investment and government expenditure on private domestic investment for 15 members of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) for the period 1991–2019. The study employed the panel Pool Mean Group (PMG)/ARDL technique in estimating the short-run and long-run cointegration relationships between FDI, government capital expenditure and domestic private investment and adds three more variables for control purposes (interest rate, GDP growth rate and trade openness). For the full sample, FDI crowds-in domestic investment whilst government crowds-out domestic investment. However, in performing a sensitivity analysis, in which the sample was segregated into low and high income economies, both FDI and government investment crowd-in domestic investment whilst government expenditure crowds-out domestic investment in lower income SADC countries with no effect of FDI on domestic investment. Policy implications are discussed.

Foreign Direct Investment and Employment Creation in Nigeria

This study investigated the impact of foreign direct investment on employment creation in Nigeria for the period of 35years (1985-2019). The study used five regressors (foreign direct investment, trade openness, government expenditure, infrastructural development, and exchange rate) and one explained variable (employment rate). The data were culled from the World Bank Development Indicators and analysis was carried out using unit root test, ordinary least square and granger causality test. The findings revealed that there is negative and insignificant relationship between trade openness, government expenditure, infrastructures and employment rate. However, positive relationship exists between foreign direct investment, exchange rate and employment but statistically insignificant at 5% level of significance. Based on the f-statistic result, the study concluded that foreign direct investment played a crucial role in creating employment for the citizens of Nigeria. It was therefore recommended among others that government should improve the state of infrastructures and security in the country as the present economy is characterized by terrorisms, kidnapping and robbery and this may drive out the investors in the country and discourage the potential ones.

The COVID-19 Pandemic, the Empowering Olympic, Paralympic, and Amateur Athletes Act, and the Dawn of a New Age of U.S. Olympic Reform

In the fall of 2020, Congress enacted the first substantive changes in the governance of the Olympic Sports system in over four decades. The new law, The Empowering Olympic, Paralympic and Amateur Athletes Act, was passed in the wake of sexual abuse scandals that rocked certain sport governing bodies. In amending the 1978 Amateur Sports Act, the new law grants Congress the power to decertify the United States Olympic bodies, mandates greater athlete representation in governance, and increases funding to protect athletes through greater support of the U.S. Center for SafeSport. Aside from the decertification power, the most significant provision of the new law is the establishment of a Commission on the State of U.S. Olympics and Paralympics to review the governance of the United States Olympic and Paralympic Committee (“USOPC”) and make proposals for change. The Commission’s creation comes at a crucial time in U.S. Olympic governance. Due to the governance scandals, uncertain funding and the general national sports upheaval caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, this article advocates for more significant changesto the Olympic structure that the commission should consider, such as direct or indirect government funding for the USOPC and the sport governing bodies in return for adherence to more stringent transparency and ethical rules. Ideas that the Commission could consider include mandatory disclosure of information such as sponsorship agreements as well as compensation and bonus limitations for those in key leadership positions, the appointment of an inspector-general, and greater athlete involvement in the U.S. Olympic movement. The article also proposes more statutory changes such as a limited antitrust exemption and the end of special trademark protections for the USOPC.

An Investigation Into the Effects of Central Bank Regulation on Exchange Rate Case Study of Zimbabwe From 1980–2019

Foreign exchange interventions as a possible tool needs to be assessed taking into account both the design and implementation of monetary policy for this reason, the forms of foreign exchange intervention and their effectiveness in achieving exchange rate ,since there were limited foreign exchange restrictions and less direct government controls in the foreign exchange market before (Rossini et al (2013). During the period 1991 to July 1994, a two-tier exchange rate system was used one quoted by the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) and the other one determined in by inter-bank market. Following the demise of the Auction System, the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe announced the Tradable Foreign Currency Balances System (TFCBS) on 24 October 2005.Initially foreign currency was only accessed from banks and was later decentralized resulting in the licensing of several Bureau de Changes across the country in 2002 to 2013 era. There were several policy revisions, reversals and even de-licensing bureau de change.

Place-based techno-industrial policy and innovation: Government responses to the information revolution in China

This paper examines the impact of pilot zones for integrating informatization and industrialization (PZIIs), a novel place-based techno-industrial policy for innovation. Combining quality-adjusted invention patent data, we find that PZIIs have a significant and positive impact on urban innovation. Direct or indirect government support plays a vital role in mediating policy effects. The higher the government's fiscal self-sufficiency rate, or the more economic resources it has, the stronger the policy effects. Moreover, policy effects are amplified in pilot zones that incorporate PZII performance into local government performance assessments and span multiple prefectural administrative units. Indirect government support is reflected in the promotion of market-oriented reforms. Policy effects are greater in pilot zones with a higher degree of marketization. Further, based on firm data, we show that PZIIs effectively guide firms to increase R&D investment, indicating that PZIIs create innovation incentives. Our paper facilitates understanding the role of government in accelerating the penetration of new technology into industrial upgrades.

The Case of Zelman v Simmons-Harris and the Shifts in American Secularism

Through the lenses of the case of Zelman v Simmons-Harris(2002), this article discusses the American concept of secularism. Unlike the direct government aid to religious activities in various European and Turkish political systems, the American government supports religious instruction only indirectly. Even though the government programs providing financial aid for religion has always faced rigorous examination in the Supreme Court, the current case law of the Court opens the door for a significant amount of unspecified cash flow to religious schools. Thanks to this constitutional pass, it is possible for future politics and legislative endeavors to reshape the contours of state-religion relations in the field of education. Thus, the distinct feature of American secularism based on separation between church and state might bend further.

FINANCIAL PERFORMANCE FOR LOCAL COMPANIES : POLITICAL EVENT STUDY IN SURABAYA

The purpose of this research is to determine the differences of financial performance and market performance before, as at, and after direct election for local government executive. This research picks 28 Surabaya based listed companies as samples based on purposive sampling method with several criteria during local government election. Method of hypothesis testing uses multivariate analysis of variance (manova) and Kruskal Wallis test with three groups of periods, which are before, as at, and after the direct election for local government executive. The results show that there is no significant financial performance of local based company in Surabaya caused by direct local government election measured by current ratio, working capital turnover ratio, debt to asset and return to asset ratio. The market performance test shows that the there is significant difference of company’s abnormal return before, as at, and after the direct election for local government executive. Furthermore, the abnormal return after the direct election for local government executive was significant higher than as at the election year.

Taxation, government spending and economic growth: The case of Bulgaria

The objective of this article is to estimate the impact of three fiscal instruments (direct taxes, indirect taxes, and government expenditure) on Bulgaria’s economic growth. The study employs an autoregressive distributed lag model (ARDL) and Eurostat quarterly seasonally adjusted data for the period 1999–2020. Four control variables (the shares of gross capital formation, household consumption, and exports in GDP as well as the economic growth in the euro area) are included in the model to account for the influence of non-fiscal factors on Bulgaria’s real GDP growth rate. The empirical results indicate a long-run equilibrium relationship between Bulgaria’s economic growth and the independent variables in the ARDL. In the short term, Bulgaria’s real GDP growth rate is affected by its own past values and the previous values of the shares of direct tax revenue, exports, government consumption, and indirect tax revenue in GDP. In the long term, Bulgaria’s economic growth is influenced by its own previous values and the past values of the share of household consumption in GDP and the euro area’s real GDP growth rate. Fiscal instruments can be used to stabilize Bulgaria’s growth in the short run but they are neutral in the long run. The direct tax revenue, government consumption, and indirect tax revenue are highly effective and can be used as tools for invigorating and stabilizing Bulgaria’s economic growth in the short run. However, in the long term, the real GDP growth rate can be hastened only by encouraging domestic demand (final consumption expenditure of households) and promoting exports. This research cannot answer the question of whether flat income taxation stabilizes the economy or not, since it does not separate the impact of tax rate changes from the influence of tax base modifications.

Fiscal policy and economic growth: Evidence from Central and Eastern Europe

This study aims to estimate the impact of three fiscal instruments (direct tax revenue, indirect tax revenue and government consumption expenditure) on the economic growth of ten new European Union member states from Central and Eastern Europe– Bulgaria, Czechia, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia. We examine the hypothesis about the effect of expansionary fiscal policy on economic growth. The study employs a vector autoregression and annual Eurostat data for the period 2007–2019. Four control variables (the shares of gross capital formation, household consumption, exports in GDP, and the economic growth in the euro area) are included in the model to account for the influence of non-fiscal factors on economic growth. The empirical results indicate that the real output growth rate in the ten new member states of the European Union is negatively affected by direct tax revenue, while economic growth in the euro area, exports and gross capital formation are positively related to economic growth. The results also imply that government consumption and indirect tax revenue have no significant impact on the growth rate of real output of the ten studied countries from Central and Eastern Europe. It may be inferred that policymakers in the new European Union member states can raise economic growth by encouraging exports and investment and by lowering the share of direct tax revenue in GDP. From the three analyzed fiscal instruments (direct taxes, indirect taxes and government consumption expenditure), only one has proven to be effective in the case of the new member countries.

Дискримінація як інструмент корупційних схем у публічних закупівлях

The article characterizes the current state of organizational and legal support for the functioning of the public procurement system, taking into account the novelties of legislation; both the inter-sectoral and the protective principles of bidding, which are closely interrelated and form a single system, are analyzed; the role of the principle of «prevention of corruption actions and abuse», which has a comprehensive influence on the entire mechanism of implementation of the norm-setting innovations, is defined; a number of factors that cause corruption risks and distort the effect of basic principles in the sphere of procurement are distinguished (in particular: dishonest behavior of officials; discretion in making legally significant decisions; insufficient professionalization of bidding; imperfect system of internal control over conduct of tenders and execution of contracts); the concept of discrimination is singled out and its role as an instrument for the implementation of corruption schemes in public procurement is defined. Based on the analysis of the effective practice of appealing by the AMCU, a number of ways of using discriminatory elements by customers at the initial and final stages of bidding are systematized, namely: establishing obvious and hidden excessive requirements in the tender documentation; manipulation of technical and qualitative conditions to the subject of procurement; unjustified disparate approach to participants with the similar errors in the preparation of tender offers. Practical measures to counteract discriminatory violations in the sphere of procurement activities are generalized, which involve the use of the capabilities of the digitized systems «ProZorro» and «DoZorro» with active participation in this process by direct procurement participants, non-governmental organizations, and government authorities.