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Focused Research
Area
Productivity
Analysis of the Chinese Economy
Coordinator
Dr.
Hing-Lin Chan, Department of Economics, School
of Business
(E-mail: hlchan@hkbu.edu.hk)
Objectives
To many developing countries,
China presents one of the most interesting
cases for studies. Although the country was
able to make significant economic progresses
in many important sectors, the process of
transformation is by no means a smooth one.
In particular, the country has still needed
to tackle a number of difficult problems.
Against this background, it is therefore interesting
to study the experience of China in reforming
its economy.
In order to evaluate this
experience, we have chosen to study the productivity
change in China. In particular, we are interested
in examining a number of interesting questions
pertinent to the reform. First, has China
been able to make significant improvement
in its productivity performance? Second, in
what sectors the productivity performance
has been most successful? Third, what are
the determining factors behind the change
of productivity? In our opinion, these studies
will allow us to know more about the causes
of economic progress in China.
Activities
Held
Professor C.A. Knox Lovell
from the University of New South Wales visited
the School during May 10-14, 1999, and conducted
two seminars on "A growth maximizing
tax structure for New Zealand" and "Yet
another Malquist Productivity Index Decomposition".
Dr. Yanrui Wu, Lecturer at Department of Economics
in University of Western Australia, visited
the School in June 1999, and conducted two
seminars on "Accounting for China's Growth:
the Role of Productivity" and "Regional
Integration, Productivity and Growth: Evidence
from the Economies of Taiwan, Hong Kong, Guangdong
and Fujian".
Dr. George Battese, Associate Professor at
Department of Econometrics in University of
New England, visited the School during 9-14
September 1999, and conducted a seminar on
"Stochastic Production Frontier Analysis".
Professor Subal C. Kumbhakar, Department of
Economics, University of Texas at Austin,
conducted two seminars on "Incorporating
exogenous influences of efficiency" and
"Estimation of firm specific technological
bias, technical change and total factor productivity
growth: A dual approach" in December,
1999.
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Seminar Title : |
Marginal cost and price over the business
cycle: comparative evidence from Japan
and the United States |
Speaker : |
Professor Bob Hart, Department of Economics,
University of Stirling, United Kingdom.
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Time : |
2:30 p.m.- 4:00 p.m.; 3rd April, 2000
(Monday). |
Abstract : |
We estimate marginal
cost over the cycle for Japan and the
U.S., concentrating on the intensive margin
of the firm's activity. Estimation is
undertaken for sixteen 2-digit industries
over a 30-year period to the early 1990s.
Costs movements consist of changes in
the nominal wage, movements along the
marginal wage schedule, and changes in
total hours per unit of output. Marginal
cost implications of variations in the
proportion of overtime/total hours and
in marginal overtime premiums are accommodated.
We also provide estimates of the cyclical
behaviour of price-cost mark-ups. Marginal
cost is found to be counter-cyclical in
both countries although stronger in the
U.S [Nb Labour hoading and productivity
feature very strongly in this paper.]
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Seminar Title : |
Pro-cyclical
Labour Productivity: a closer look at
a stylised fact
Speaker : Professor Bob Hart, Department
of Economics, University of Stirling,
United Kingdom. |
Speaker : |
Professor Bob Hart,
Department of Economics, University of
Stirling, United Kingdom. |
Time : |
2:30 p.m.- 4:00 p.m. 5th April, 2000
(Wednesday). |
Abstract : |
At 4-digit U.S. manufacturing
industry level, we find evidence suggesting
that the stylised fact of pro-cyclical
labour productivity should be treated
with great caution. We use the NBER Manufacturing
Productivity database to investigate the
relationship between labour productivity
and real output for four hundred and fifty
industries for the years 1958 to 1991.
Labour productivity is significantly pro-cyclical
in 63 per cent of industries and acyclical
in 36 per cent. In the latter respect,
a high proportion of investment goods
industries display acyclical productivity.
Cross-section regressions are carried
out that seek to explain the inter-industry
distribution of cyclicality. The analysis
attributes an important role to variations
in materials costs, as a proxy for fluctuation
in factor utilisation. |
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