60853 research outputs found
Sort by
Polarization in Higher Education and Technological Leadership
Get PDFThis paper highlights the role of polarization in higher education as a key factor to technological leadership as well as to labor market inequality.
Higher education polarization refers to the widening gap between elite and non-elite universities, primarily in two dimensions: institutional quality and the tightness of student recruitment. This paper introduces a model to analyze the impact of polarization and presents new indices that measure polarization within the higher education system.
The model emphasizes that disparities in university quality and recruitment tightness influence a country's technological leadership. Specifically, nations with a high "polarization gap" in higher education tend to lead in technology but also experience higher levels of inequality.
In the empirical analysis, we construct indices that measure the polarization gap both in quality and tightness of recruitment as well as an index for leadership in technology. These indices are a new contribution to the field of higher education. The findings reveal a positive correlation between the polarization gap, technological leadership, and inequality among OECD countries.
In consequence, this paper shows that a nation implementing a public education policy, which establishes a significant dichotomy between top-tier universities and standard ones, may stimulate progress and technological leadership, at the price of inequality
Has the barter theory of the origins of money been rejected?
Get PDFNo, the original barter theory of the origins of money (“the barter story” for short) has not been rejected. What has been rejected is a narrowly specific, and apparently parentless, version of the barter story based on the standard neoclassical synthesis modelling assumptions of homo œconomicus and fully-fledged market economies. As in all other myths, the myth of the rejection of the barter story contains a grain of truth, namely, that the actually lived human communities are much more complex and nuanced than assumed by the standard neoclassical synthesis economics rendition of the story. These grains of truth, as valuable and helpful as they can be for the improvement of economics, cannot change the conclusion that the original barter story remains standing
100 Quotes about central bank digital currencies
Get PDFThe objective of this article is to present some of the current thinking and arguments about central bank digital currency (CBDC) from the perspective of those who have vested interests in central bank digital currency (CBDC) and from those who are opposed to CBDC. The article gives the reader an opportunity to reflect deeply about CBDC and to make their own opinion about CBDC based on the informed insights of others. From the collection of quotes, it was found that the concept of a central bank digital currency has come to stay, and many central banks want to issue a CBDC in the distant future. It was also found that, despite the efforts of central banks and pro-CBDC enthusiasts to publicise the benefits of a CBDC for citizens, many people continue to raise daunting questions about the potential for government overreach and surveillance, loss of competitive advantages for deposit-taking financial institutions, loss of privacy for citizens, and concerns that CBDC development is an unwholesome distraction for central banks, among other concerns. There is also a perceived negative sentiment about CBDC, and this sentiment is unlikely to change anytime soon
Can Trade Integration Reduce Production Emissions? The Role of Within-Firm Product Composition
Get PDFWe develop a stylized trade model showing that lower trade costs can reduce firm-level emissions by encouraging firms to specialize in their most productive intermediate products. This mechanism operates through changes in within-firm product composition rather than industry-level reallocation. Using firm-level data from China (1998–2012), we provide empirical support for this mechanism in the context of domestic trade. Increased trade integration, driven by railway expansion, significantly reduces sulfur dioxide, carbon dioxide, and other pollutant emissions by lowering emission intensity. Consistent with our theoretical conditions for emission reduction, we find that emission reductions occur primarily in cities where a firm's productivity advantage aligns with a location-specific cost advantage, and only for firms with large within-firm productivity dispersion. A calculation based on our estimates suggests that without the 1.88% (1,203-kilometer) railway expansion in 2005—--midway through our sample period—--sulfur dioxide emissions would have been 0.43% higher at the national level
Out of sight, out of mind? Global value chains and credit allocation during a financial crisis
Get PDFWe investigate the influence of firms' global status on the allocation of credit during a financial crisis. Using data on 15,000 businesses from seven European countries, we find that firms participating in global value chains were 25% less likely to be rationed by banks during the 2009 Great Recession. We next match information on the geography of firms' value chains with data on banks' branch and subsidiary networks. We find that banks especially insulated from credit rationing
firms with supply chain relationships in the countries where banks have the largest presence. The results reveal that banks aimed at reducing spillovers on their lending and consulting activities with global chains rather than leveraging their knowledge of internationally traded products
A Decision-Theoretic Method for Analyzing Crossing Survival Curves in Healthcare
Get PDFThe problem of crossing Kaplan-Meier curves has not been solved in the medical research literature to date. This paper integrates survival curve comparisons into decision theory, providing a theoretical framework and a solution to the problem of crossing Kaplan-Meier curves. The application of decision theory allows us to apply stochastic dominance concepts and risk preference attributes to compare treatments even when standard Kaplan-Meier curves cross. The paper shows that as additional risk preference attributes are adopted, Kaplan-Meier curves can be ranked under weaker restrictions, namely with higher orders of stochastic dominance. Consequently, even Kaplan-Meier curves that cross may be ranked. The method we present allows us to extract all possible information from survival functions; hence, superior treatments that cannot be identified using standard Kaplan-Meier curves may become identifiable. Our methodology is applied to two examples of published empirical medical studies. We show that treatments deemed non-comparable because their Kaplan-Meier curves intersect can be compared using our method
Bifurcation patterns in a remote work economy: intercity impacts of remote work on spatial distribution of workers and firms
Get PDFIn this paper, we examine how the introduction of remote work affects the spatial distribution
of workers and firms in cities, social welfare, and their utilities. Developing a New Economic
Geography model that incorporates remote work, we explore how transportation costs affect
these distributions and the utility levels in equilibrium. We conduct a bifurcation analysis of
an equilibrium where all mobile workers agglomerate in the central region of a long narrow
economy where an odd number of regions are evenly distributed along a line segment. The
bifurcation mechanism, which represents the emergence of remote work after its introduction,
is elucidated. Results show that remote work can shift the equilibrium toward two types of
equilibria. In one equilibrium, remote workers reside away from the central region, while firms
operate in the center. In the other, remote workers reside in the central region, while firms that
employ them operate outside the center. In the latter case, even the utility of remote workers
declines due to the introduction of remote work
Trabajo, Empleo, Protección Laboral y Social en América Latina y el Caribe, 1994-2024
Get PDFLabour institutions and the labour market are fundamental to progress and sustainable development. Workers are the primary resource in productive processes, and labour income is the main source of household income. What happens in the world of work reflects the intersection of economic and productive policies with those of a social and institutional nature. This article reviews the labour performance of Latin America over the past three decades. During this period, the region has experienced numerous advances, but considerable challenges persist that slow down and inhibit the path to better outcomes, which would allow for greater productivity, improved working conditions and wages, and a more equitable distribution of the fruits of progress. To face the new challenges associated with demographic, technological, and environmental transitions, it is necessary to develop comprehensive policies that promote growth, the quantity and quality of jobs, along with the strengthening of labour institutions
Fertility Decisions under Coexisting Pay-as-You-Go Pensions and Unemployment Insurance
Get PDFThis study investigates the effects of increased tax rates on fertility decisions, pension benefits, and unemployment benefits in an economy with both a pay-as-you-go (PAYG) pension system and unemployment insurance. By incorporating voluntary unemployment, the model highlights how higher tax rates reduce households’ willingness to work, thereby affecting the social security system through the production channel. The analysis also reveals differing impacts of the two types of labor income taxes
Determinants of Urbanization: A Comparative Analysis Across Global Cities
Get PDFRapid urbanization has catalyzed economic growth, especially for developing nations, and their urban populations have seen a dramatic rise, hence requiring an understanding of and policymaking on socioeconomic issues. The paper presents important factors that determine the population growth in major urban agglomerations around the world with over 5 million inhabitants. The determinants of urban population size in 2020 and population growth rates from 2010-2020 were analyzed using OLS and quantile regression models based on data with geographical, environmental, demographic, political, and infrastructural variables. The main results show that proximity to transportation infrastructure, annual temperature, initial population size, population density, and the number of educational institutions are essential facilitating factors for urban populations. In contrast, port city status, annual precipitation, and CO2 emissions show negative impacts. Many of these same factors are also significant in population growth rates, though state capital status and congestion in traffic flow negatively relate to growth. The results indicate a complex variety of factors that shape global urban growth and imply some policy directions for sustainable urban development investments in education, environmental protection, and transport infrastructure. This research contributes to understanding the dynamics of global urbanization