Manufacturing Output Research Articles

De-industrialization and entrepreneurship under monopolistic competition

This article offers a new mechanism to explain de-industrialization in response to a price increase of the manufactured good. In our trade model, one sector (agriculture) is perfectly competitive whilst the other (manufacturing) is monopolistically competitive. Both industries use skilled and unskilled labour as inputs. Entry into manufacturing requires a fixed cost in terms of skilled labour only. A rise in the market price for the differentiated goods raises both marginal revenue and the price of skilled labour, which affects the marginal cost of production and the entry cost. When short-run profits increase so that new manufacturing firms enter, fewer skilled workers are available for production purposes. This in turn may then lead to a decline in total manufacturing output. Our theoretical mechanism is jointly consistent with recent empirical observations on premature de-industrialization characterizing several Latin American and Asian countries and productive diversification as observed in various developing economies.

Spillovers from universities: Evidence from the land-grant program

This paper estimates the short- and long-run effects of universities on geographic clustering of economic activity, labor market composition and local productivity and presents evidence of local spillovers from universities. I treat the designation of land-grant universities in the 1860s as a natural experiment after controlling for the confounding factors with a combination of synthetic control methods and event-study analyses. Three key results are obtained. First, the designation increased local population density by 6 percent within 10years and 45 percent in 80years. Second, the designation did not change the relative size of local manufacturing sector. Third, the designation enhanced local manufacturing output per worker by $2136 (1840 dollars; 57 percent) in 80years while the short-run effects were negligible. This positive effect on the productivity in non-education sectors suggests the existence of local spillovers from universities. Over an 80-year horizon, my results indicate that the increase in manufacturing productivity reflects both the impact of direct spillovers from universities and general agglomeration economies that arise from the increase in population.

An Assessment of Leadership Styles and Employee Performance in Small and Medium Enterprises in Yola, Adamawa State, Nigeria

Background: SMEs are generally regarded as an important engine driving the growth of many economies as well as providing opportunities for job creation and rural development, which accounts for 10 % of the total manufacturing output and 70% of employment in Nigeria. In view of the importance of SMEs, a sector that has the potential for solving Nigeria’s unemployment and poverty problems, it is important to understand and critically examine the factor(s) impeding its growth to be able to proffer solutions that would identify the strengths and weaknesses, analyze and assess problems in the SMEs and provide information on the effects leadership has on employee job performance. Some of the advantages claimed for SMEs include encouragement of entrepreneurship, greater likelihood for SMEs to utilize labour intensive technologies positively impact on employment generation. As argued by some researchers, the actual influence of leaders on organizational outcomes is overrated and romanticized as a result of biased attributions about leaders. Study Design: This quantitative cross-sectional study in the form of survey, administered questionnaire to randomly selected participants. The sample size for the quantitative component was 100 comprising of 21 management staff and 79 employees from the five selected SME firms in Yola, Adamawa State. In-depth interview involving 12 personnel (4 management staff and 8 employees) was also used. Results: Results were presented using both descriptive and inferential statistics. It was evident that the predominant type of leadership in the enterprises studied is participative democracy, and that leadership styles have effect on the performance of employee. This was supported by the fact that results of the computed Chi square test (24.55 and 17.39) for the first and second hypotheses (at P≤0.05, df = 95) are greater than the tabulated (0.078 and 0.136) (at P≤0.05, df = 95). Conclusion: This research was able to show that leadership styles have effect on the employee performance and also the leadership style in use is participative democracy.

The LCA of portland cement production in China

Cement production is associated with a considerable environmental load, which needs to be fully understood before effective measures can be taken. The existing literature did not give detailed life cycle assessment (LCA) study of China and had limited potential for investigating how best available techniques (BATs) would provide a maximum benefit when they are applied in China. Japan was selected as a good example to achieve better environmental performance of cement production. We identified potentials for reducing emissions and saving energy and natural resources in Chinese cement industry through the comparative analysis. This paper follows the principal of Life Cycle Assessment and International Reference Life Cycle Data System (ILCD). The functional units are “1 t of portland cement” and with 42.5 MPa of strength grade. The input (limestone, sandstone, ferrous tailings, coal, and electricity) and output (CO2 from limestone decomposition and coal combustion, NOx, PM, and SO2) of cement manufacturing were calculated by use of on-site measurements, calculation by estimated coefficients, and derivation by mass and heat balance principle. The direct (cement manufacturing) and indirect (electricity production) LCI are added to be total LCI results (cement production). The impact categories of global warming potential (GWP), acidification potential (AP), eutrophication potential (EP), photochemical oxidant formation potential (POCP), and human toxicity potential (HTP) are used to calculate environmental impact. Only in GWP of cement manufacturing China has advantage. Japanese cement industry shows remarkable superiorities in the environmental impacts of AP, POCP, HTP, and EP due to advanced technologies. SO2 emissions make the corresponding AP and HTP. PM emissions result in part of HTP. The NOx emissions are the major contributors of POCP, AP, EP, and HTP in China. China emits fewer CO2 emissions (2.09 %) in cement manufacturing than Japan but finally makes higher total GWP than Japan due to more GWP of electricity generation in power stations. The waste heat recovery technology can save electricity but bring more coal use and CO2 emissions. The alternative fuel and raw materials usage and denitration and de-dust technologies can relieve the environmental load. Using the functional unit with the strength grade, the life cycle impact assessment (LCIA) results are affected. LCA study allows a clear understanding from the view of total environmental impact rather than by the gross domestic product (GDP) unit from an economic development perspective. In an LCA study, the power generation should be considered in the life cycle of cement production.

A global sustainability perspective on 3D printing technologies

Three-dimensional printing (3DP) represents a relative novel technology in manufacturing which is associated with potentially strong stimuli for sustainable development. Until now, research has merely assessed case study-related potentials of 3DP and described specific aspects of 3DP. This study represents the first comprehensive assessment of 3DP from a global sustainability perspective. It contains a qualitative assessment of 3DP-induced sustainability implications and quantifies changes in life cycle costs, energy and CO2 emissions globally by 2025.3DP is identified to cost-effectively lower manufacturing inputs and outputs in markets with low volume, customized and high-value production chains as aerospace and medical component manufacturing. This lowers energy use, resource demands and related CO2 emissions over the entire product life cycle, induces changes in labour structures and generates shifts towards more digital and localized supply chains.The model calculations show that 3DP contains the potential to reduce costs by 170–593 billion US $, the total primary energy supply by 2.54–9.30EJ and CO2 emissions by 130.5–525.5Mt by 2025. The great range within the saving potentials can be explained with the immature state of the technology and the associated uncertainties of predicting market and technology developments. The energy and CO2 emission intensities of industrial manufacturing are reducible by maximally 5% through 3DP by 2025, as 3DP remains a niche technology. If 3DP was applicable to larger production volumes in consumer products or automotive manufacturing, it contains the (theoretical) potential to absolutely decouple energy and CO2 emission from economic activity.

Manufacturing Output in Romania: an ARDL Approach

This paper empirically investigates manufacturing output function for Romania by using the quarterly time series data during the period 2000q1-2013q4. Research variables are manufacturing production index, labor cost index, producer energy price index, interest rate, exchange rate and a time dummy variable measuring the effect of Romania’s participation to European Union. Long-run and short-run elasticities of variables were examined using the bounds testing cointegration method proposed by Pesaran et al. (2001). Results of the analysis show that Romania has a long run cointegration. The dynamic error correction model for Romania is found and subsequently long-run and short-run elasticity coefficients are explored by using ARDL model. It is detected that logs of energy price index, labor cost index and interest rates have a substantial long-run effect on the log of manufacturing production index with respective long-run elasticity coefficients of -0.51% (LNEPI), 0.57% (LNLCI) and -0.05% (for LNINR). Log of exchange rates does not have a long-run effect on the log of manufacturing production index. Causality test using the Toda and Yamamoto (1995) Granger non-causality procedure was employed in order to examine Granger causalities between variables and unidirectional Granger causalities as (LNLCI→LNMPI) , (LNINR→LNMPI), (LNEXR→LNINR) and (LNEPI→LNMPI) are detected. CUSUM and CUSUMSQ stability tests on hypothesized manufacturing output function were also implemented. DOI: 10.5901/mjss.2014.v5n22p342

Surveillance Capitalism: Monopoly-Finance Capital, the Military-Industrial Complex, and the Digital Age

The United States came out of the Second World War as the hegemonic power in the world economy. The war had lifted the U.S. economy out of the Great Depression by providing the needed effective demand in the form of endless orders for armaments and troops. Real output rose by 65 percent between 1940 and 1944, and industrial production jumped by 90 percent. At the immediate end of the war, due to the destruction of the European and Japanese economies, the United States accounted for over 60 percent of world manufacturing output. The very palpable fear at the top of society as the war came to a close was that of a reversion to the pre-war situation in which domestic demand would be insufficient to absorb the enormous and growing potential economic surplus generated by the production system, thereby leading to a renewed condition of economic stagnation and depression.… Postwar planners in industry and government moved quickly to stabilize the system through the massive promotion of a sales effort in the form of a corporate marketing revolution based in Madison Avenue, and through the creation of a permanent warfare state, dedicated to the imperial control of world markets and to fighting the Cold War, with its headquarters in the Pentagon. The sales effort and the military-industrial complex constituted the two main surplus-absorption mechanisms (beyond capitalist consumption and investment) in the U.S. economy in the first quarter-century after the Second World War.This article can also be found at the Monthly Review website, where most recent articles are published in full.Click here to purchase a PDF version of this article at the Monthly Review website.

Paradoxes and Challenges for China's Forests in the Reform Era

AbstractChina's relatively recent dramatic increase in forest area has been hailed domestically and globally as one of the world's few environmental success stories, but significant problems remain in China's reforestation efforts. We describe the challenges that China still faces if it is to meet its laudable – but sometimes contradictory – goals for its forest sector: improving rural livelihoods, sustaining and restoring ecosystem services, and increasing output of the forest product-dependent manufacturing and construction sectors. We do so while pointing out the unintended consequences of implementing these policy goals: overstatement of the quantity and quality of the forest recovery, domestic human and ecological costs of the reforestation, and externalization of China's continually growing demand for timber and forest products in the form of increased imports from vulnerable forests in other parts of the world.

Structural change, marginal land and economic development in Latin America and the Caribbean

Empirical evidence indicates that in Latin America and the Caribbean, households on less favored, or marginal, agricultural land form a “residual” pool of rural labor. Although the modern sector may be the source of dynamic growth through learning-by-doing and knowledge spillovers, patterns of labor, land and other natural resources use in the rural economy matter in the overall dynamics of structural change. The concentration of rural populations on marginal land is essentially a barometer of economy-wide development. As long as there is abundant marginal land for cultivation, they serve to absorb rural migrants, increased population, and displaced unskilled labor from elsewhere in the economy. Moreover, the economy is vulnerable to the “Dutch disease” effects of a booming primary products sector. As a consequence, productivity increases and expansion in the commercial primary production sector will cause manufacturing employment and output to contract, until complete specialization occurs. Avoiding such an outcome and combating the inherent dualism of the economy require both targeted polices for the modern sector and traditional agriculture on marginal land.

US Manufacturing: Understanding Its Past and Its Potential Future

The development of the US manufacturing sector over the last half-century displays two striking and somewhat contradictory features: 1) the growth of real output in the US manufacturing sector, measured by real value added, has equaled or exceeded that of total GDP, keeping the manufacturing share of the economy constant in price-adjusted terms; and 2) there is a long-standing decline in the share of total employment attributable to manufacturing. The persistence of these trends seems inconsistent with stories of a recent or sudden crisis in the US manufacturing sector. After all, as recently as 2010, the United States had the world's largest manufacturing sector measured by its valued-added, and while it has now been surpassed by China, the United States remains a very large manufacturer. On the other hand, there are some potential causes for concern. First, though manufacturing's output share of GDP has remained stable over 50 years, and manufacturing retains a reputation as a sector of rapid productivity improvements, this is largely due to the spectacular performance of one subsector of manufacturing: computers and electronics. Second, recently there has been a large drop in the absolute level of manufacturing employment that many find alarming. Third, the US manufacturing sector runs an enormous trade deficit, equaling $460 billion in 2012, which is also very concentrated in trade with Asia. Finally, we consider the future evolution of the manufacturing sector and its importance for the US economy. Many of the largest US corporations continue to shift their production facilities overseas. It is important to understand why the United States is not perceived to be an attractive base for their production.

FEATURES OF THE LITHUANIAN MANUFACTURING INDUSTRY DEVELOPMENT IN THE CONTEXT OF GLOBALIZATION

The main features of the current period of globalization are the formation of integrated markets on the regional and global level, the dissemination of information due to the development of information technology, technology diffusion on a global level, intense development of multinational firms in different countries and decreasing barriers for movement of goods, services, capital and people. Due to the influence of these processes, global trade is growing faster than global output and the flow of foreign direct investment is growing even faster than international trade.The Lithuanian economy, influenced by the globalization process, is becoming increasingly integrated into the global economy. The structure of the Lithuanian economy has undergone drastic changes over the past two decades, and manufacturing is becoming more and more important. Assessing the impact of the manufacturing sector on the country’s economy in terms of generated value added or employment in the sector is under-estimated. Many other sectors are closely related to the manufacturing sector – many are involved in international integration processes of manufacturing indirectly but through an interface with the products of manufacturing.Globalization processes of the manufacturing industry directly and indirectly influence the country's economic development and globalizing trends. Therefore, it is important to evaluate the peculiarities of the development of Lithuanian manufacturing in a context of the modern global economy.In order to evaluate the development of Lithuanian manufacturing and to highlight its features, the analysis of economic indicators reflecting the sectors development - added value, gross output, number of employees, labour productivity, foreign direct investment and international trade indicators, is presented in this article.The analysis of economic indicators has presented the trends in the globalization process in Lithuanian manufacturing, which manifests itself differently in different sectors of manufacturing. Lithuanian manufacturing was the most important factor in the country's economic recovery and growth after the global financial crisis, which had shocked the Lithuanian economy and caused a massive decline in production. The impact of different sectors of manufacturing on the country's economic development is varied, but it can be stated that such a large part of the gross output of manufacturing has never been exported, in other words, international trade has never made up such a large portion of total manufacturing output.DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5755/j01.em.18.4.5846

Про принципи правового регулювання обмежень у здійсненні виробничо-господарської діяльності сільськогосподарських товаровиробників

In the article the principles of legal regulation in the sphere of restrictions on industrial and economical activity of agricultural commodity producers are formulated. Among these principles is primarily the principle of optimal harmonizing of public and private interests while imposing restrictions on fulfilling of industrial and economical activity of agricultural commodity producers. Only the balance between public and private interests under imposing the specified restrictions enables various subjects to achieve their respective aims while realizing industrial and economical activity. Another principle applied under establishing restrictions on industrial and economical activities of agricultural commodity producers is the principle of legality. Restrictions such as prohibitions, terms and obligations are determined by legal rules and embodied in the respective legislative acts. As they are worded in rules of law such legislative prescriptions are binding upon all participants of agricultural legal relationships among which agricultural commodity producers have a significant place. Under establishing restrictions on fulfillment of industrial and economical activities of agricultural commodity producers the principle of the priority of the environmental safety requirements is of great importance. Such requirements under fulfillment of industrial and economical activities by agricultural commodity producers must take priority, since it concerns the protection of life and health of an individual. In the case of abridgement of agricultural commodity producers’ rights to carry out their activities connected with output of agricultural commodity, processing of domestic manufacture output and sales of products first of all it is necessary to secure the respective public interests. These interests lie in the necessity for ensuring safety and quality of output. The given restrictions are imposed on a pro rata basis with regard to agricultural commodity producers having the same legal status (agricultural enterprises or entrepreneurs, specialized agricultural enterprise) or carrying out the same kind of industrial and economical activity (in the crop production or animal breeding). Therefore the principle of symmetry (commensurability) in the case of imposing restrictions on carrying out industrial and economical activity of agricultural commodity producers was distinguished. Key words: industrial and economical activity, the principles of agricultural law, restrictions on carrying out economical activity, agricultural commodity producers.

A latent information function to extend domain attributes to improve the accuracy of small-data-set forecasting

In the current highly competitive manufacturing environment, it is important to have effective and efficient control of manufacturing systems to obtain and maintain competitive advantages. However, developing appropriate forecasting models for such systems can be challenging in their early stages, as the sample sizes are usually very small, and thus there is limited data available for analysis. The technique of virtual sample generation is one way to address this issue, but this method is usually not directly applied to time series data. This research thus develops a Latent Information function to analyze data features and extract hidden information, in order to learn from small data sets considering timing factors. The experimental results obtained using the Synthetic Control Chart Time Series and aluminum price datasets show that the proposed method can significantly improve forecasting accuracy, and thus is considered an appropriate procedure to forecast manufacturing outputs based on small samples.

Does Regular Economic News from Emerging Countries Move Markets? Evidence from Chinese Macro Announcements

We examine the effect of scheduled macroeconomic announcements made by China on world financial and commodity futures markets. All announcements related to Chinese manufacturing and industrial output move stock markets, energy and industrial commodities as well as commodity currencies. News about Chinese domestic consumption leaves most markets unaffected, suggesting that market participants view the announcements primarily as a signal of the state of the global economy rather than merely of China’s domestic economy. The market response to unexpectedly strong output announcements is not consistent with investors being concerned about tightening of Chinese macroeconomic policy; instead, the world markets view strong Chinese output as a rising tide that lifts all boats.

The Impact of Banks Loan to SMEs on Manufacturing Output in Nigeria

This study examines the impact of banks loan to SMEs on manufacturing output in Nigeria for the period spanning 1992 to 2010. The study employed an error correction modeling technique and observed that banks loan to the SME sector had insignificant impact on manufacturing output both in the long and short run. Based on the findings, the study recommended the need for greater deliberation and conscious effort by the government in ensuring that loans are given to ultimate users. There is also the need for moderation of collaterals and interest rate attached to banks loan to SMEs, to make it more attractive to stakeholders in the SMEs sector.

GregoryKing and the economic structure of early modernEngland: an input–output table for 1688

This article presents an input–output table forEngland andWales for the year 1688 which is based on the extensive dataset compiled byGregoryKing in the 1690s, together with other contemporary and modern material relating to the end of the seventeenth century. As well as showing the inter‐relationships between the different parts of the economy, the data in the table can be used to compute national income and the shares of different sectors such as agriculture, manufacturing, and services in total value added. Further, the approach used to compile the table provides a way to subjectKing's data to as much independent assessment as is possible given alternative sources of information. Sensitivity analysis is used to assess the impact on national income and sector shares of alternative estimates of the grain harvest, metal manufacture, and service sector output.

Meteorological and environmental effects on manufacturing in Jiangsu, China

This paper studies the border effects and sensitivity of the economic output of manufacturing in Jiangsu, China, caused by meteorological and environmental factors. The meteorological data, environmental data and annual manufacturing data of Jiangsu from 1993 to 2011 are used as input for this paper. Based on the Douglas production function and the grey correlation analysis method, this paper discusses the typical relationship among meteorological disaster factors, environmental regulations and the economic output of manufacturing in Jiangsu, China. The empirical analysis shows that the development of typical manufacturing in Jiangsu, China, is influenced by meteorological and environmental factors.

Dutch Disease in the Post-Soviet Countries of Central and South-West Asia: How Contagious is it?

This study seeks to determine the extent to which the former communist states of Central and South-West Asia are “infected” by the Dutch Disease. We take a detailed look at the functioning of the transmission mechanism of the Dutch Disease, i.e. the chains that run from commodity prices to real output in manufacturing. We complement this with two econometric exercises. First, we estimate nominal and real exchange rate models to see whether commodity prices are correlated with the exchange rate. Second, we run growth equations to analyse the possible effects of commodity prices and the dependency of economic growth on natural resources.

Industrialization and the Demand for Mineral Commodities

What drives the long-term demand for mineral commodities? This paper provides empirical evidence on the long-run demand for mineral commodities since 1840. I extend the partial adjustment model to account for country-specific structures and technological change. I find that a one percent increase in manufacturing output leads to a 1.5 percent increase in the demand for aluminum and a one percent increase in the demand for copper. The estimated manufacturing output elasticities of demand for lead, tin, and zinc are far below one. The estimated price elasticities of demand are highly inelastic for all mineral commodities in the long run. My results suggest that industrialization in China, for example, will cause the consumption of aluminum and copper to increase at a considerably higher rate than the one of lead, tin, and zinc. All variables adjust slowly to equilibrium, which helps to explain the extended fluctuation in these markets.

Stabilisation and control of configurable product manufacturing through Biased Decision Feedback decoupling

Mass Customisation Manufacturing (MCM) attempts to deliver efficient manufacturing outputs, initiated by unique design input into a configurable product platform. In this paper, customers’ selection behaviour in terms of product configuration is characterised and metrics thereof used in presenting a new manufacturing flow control method. The novel setup scheduling and flow control method, termed Biased Decision Feedback (BDF), is tested in a simulation study of a custom fly fishing reel manufacturing facility. Also, BDF is shown to posses an operating point when the statistical behaviour of customers’ selections is stable.