Return migration,rural household investment decision,and poverty alleviation: Evidence from rural Guangdong,China

Return migration has been considered advantageous to the productivity of labor and the economic development of origin regions and countries. However, how and why return migrants make their investment decisions and how such processes contribute to poverty alleviation remains unclear. This study evaluated how migration experience influences rural families' choices for productive investments and the underlying mechanism of village poverty alleviation. The result indicates that, when all are given the same monetary budgets, return migrants are more inclined to invest in single agricultural-related subjects rather than multiple subjects. A concentrated investment implies the investor's intention of expanding the production scale, which can further lead to a more organized, professional agricultural production that can be considered beneficial for community poverty alleviation. Moreover, different approaches of human capital accumulation led to varied capacity growth, among which migration experience effectively enhances the non-cognitive ability of return migrants. Based on these findings, we suggest that more returnee-preferential policies, supporting production and organization services should be established to promote agricultural entrepreneurship among the returning groups in poor rural areas.     

City Branding as a Response to Global Intercity Competition

Globalisation is dramatically changing the context of urban communities and the premises for urban development policy. In the context of global intercity competition, cities' major goal is to increase their competitiveness, in which the positioning and attractiveness of a city have a critical function. Attraction‐oriented development strategies aim at effective absorption of external resources from the global space of flows. At the core of attraction strategy are business promotion activities with appealing incentives, but it is assumed that such a competition is risky and may lead to a race to the bottom. Therefore the emphasis is increasingly on less costly and more synergistic city marketing, which utilises city branding and “city profiling” that aim at attract high value‐adding services or high‐tech firms. This paper proposes a city attraction hypothesis that states that global intercity competition is essentially about a city's ability to attract the highest possible value from global flows of values in order to promote urban development. The result of such a global intercity competition determines cities' functions and positions in the global division of labour and thus in the global urban hierarchy, and ultimately determines their ability to increase prosperity and welfare in urban communities.     

How States Augment the Capabilities of Technology–Pioneering Firms

State governments offer a variety of programs to assist technology intensive entrepreneurial firms yet there is a limited understanding of how firms use these programs. This paper provides a framework for categorizing state technology programs and uses detailed case studies to examine how these programs augment firms’ capabilities. It is concluded that firms made extensive use of state programs that provide access to university intellectual property and research facilities. In addition, firms participated in programs that provided incentives for faculty to conduct joint research with industry. Finally, state venture capital programs, though small relative to federal R&D grants or venture capital, appear to nurture firms’ development.     

Should State and Local Government Bidding for Big Businesses Be More Like eBay?

During recent decades, and especially after the economic downturn that began in the late 2000s, many U.S. state and local governments have intensified their pro‐growth efforts to promote corporate investment and jobs, including ever higher incentives (such as tax breaks and grants) in their bidding wars for big businesses. This paper draws an analogy—between bidding for big businesses and bidding on eBay—to highlight the drawbacks of high‐profile bidding wars among governments given that the large corporations establish the bidding rules in their favor. The main consideration raised is whether state and local government bidding for big businesses, which operates analogously to an auction, should be more like eBay, whose rules are fair not only for sellers but also for bidders.     

Tourism and transitional geographies: Mismatched expectations of tourism investment in Vietnam*

Abstract: The Vietnamese state's interaction with international capital has been influenced by the Communist Party's strategy to develop a ‘socialist market economy’ which aims to maintain the leading role of the state and its one party dominance while implementing economic reforms. This is at odds with alternatives proposed by neo‐liberal institutions such as the IMF and World Bank who favour a progression towards a more fully‐fledged market economy coupled with political pluralism. As a result, foreign investors and the Vietnamese government have had a turbulent relationship over the past decade stemming in large part from differing perceptions of a market economy and what foreign investment should entail. This paper depicts the principal issues that lay behind the restrictive policies toward foreign tour operators through a case study of their management and regulation in Vietnam throughout the 1990s. It is argued that foreign tour operators and Vietnamese tourism authorities perceive the role of international capital in tour operations quite differently. Over‐regulation has provided little space for foreign tour businesses to operate in a manner that has met their expectations, while government policies have been intent on ensuring that profits remain in the country. This paper also illustrates how social networks undermine top‐down government policy directives and allow foreign tour businesses to continue operating, albeit in a complex and insecure environment.     

湖南省森林旅游区民生特征研究

为深入了解湖南省开展森林旅游对当地居民民生效应的影响状况及其呈现出的民生特征,以张家界国家森林公园、大围山国家森林公园、莽山国家森林公园所在地及周边村庄为研究对象,于2013年8月20日至25日采用问卷调查和访谈法获取相关数据,应用SPSS 17.0软件对这3个国家森林公园所在地及周边村庄民生特征进行研究。结果表明:(1)森林旅游区居民家庭结构稳定,劳动力较强,健康状况良好,受教育程度偏低,就业渠道较窄,宗教信仰少;(2)森林旅游区居民收入与当地旅游收入呈显著正相关关系,人均消费高于同期湖南省农村居民平均水平;(3)社会保障事业比较完善,基础设施得到明显改善,娱乐、健身设施比较缺乏;(4)森林旅游区生态和社会环境局部遭到破坏,社会不安定因素增多,资源有效利用率显著提高。     

Governing climate change in Hong Kong: Prospects for market mechanisms in the context of emissions trading in China

Hong Kong continues to struggle over which environmental governance approach is in its best interest while fulfilling its environmental obligations. With regard to climate change, Hong Kong's approach is characterised by a passive form of governance that is highly dependent on China's national policy directions. This is reflected, for example, in Hong Kong having not set its own mitigation targets. Market mechanisms have received little attention in developing a city‐wide climate change strategy. A transformative impulse, China's national emissions trading scheme, may provide momentum to a market‐based approach. However, the necessary conditions for such a market mechanism to be successfully implemented in China remain relatively undeveloped. This raises question about early participation by Hong Kong. Direct benefits are likely to be limited, due to Hong Kong's economic structure and weak demand for emissions reduction. Besides, there are regulatory barriers to enforcing emissions targets and/or recognising emissions allowances and credits from China. We therefore argue that nationwide emissions trading may, at this time, present more challenges than opportunities for Hong Kong to leverage its efforts on climate change mitigation. An alternative is to promote voluntary emissions trading that will require active involvement and leadership by businesses.     

Economic development incentive program deadweight: The role of program design features,firm characteristics,and location

This paper examines the effectiveness of state economic development incentive programs in stimulating new business activity. It reviews literature that identifies factors that potentially influence the effectiveness of incentives. Empirical work draws on a 2018 survey of approximately 150 firms that received at least one award for startup, expansion, or relocation purposes during the period SFY2010–SFY2016 from a state economic development incentive program (i.e., grant, tax credit, loan, equity investment) offered by the Commonwealth of Virginia. The paper evaluates the role of program design features (e.g., discretionary vs. automatic, relative size of incentive), firm characteristics (e.g., size of firm, industry), and locational variables (e.g., state boundary location, rurality) on firm assessments of the role of incentives in business growth decisions. It finds that firms that receive up-front or discretionary program awards and undertake multistate site searches are less likely to report that the incentive was not needed for their project to succeed. These results suggest that automatic, back-loaded award programs, and programs that fund noncompetitive projects are less likely to affect firm location and expansion decisions.     

The Impact of Tax Incentives: Do Initial Economic Conditions Matter?

Do the returns to business tax incentives differ according to the initial economic conditions of the area providing tax relief? Past research studies have provided conflicting answers to this question. Bartik (1991) concluded that rates of return to business tax incentives are likely to be greater for less affluent areas than for wealthier areas offering equivalent incentives. In contrast, Fisher and Peters (1998) determined that tax incentives tend only to offset higher taxes on businesses located in low income areas. This study examines this issue using a unique data set that allows for a fresh look at this issue. We find that the returns to subsidized investment are greater in lower unemployment and higher income areas. This suggests that tax incentives reinforce pre‐existing economic differences across areas.     

Poverty and Local Governments: Economic Development and Community Service Provision in an Era of Decentralization

Social scientists have given substantial attention to poverty across U.S. localities. However, most work views localities through the lens of population aggregates, not as units of government. Few poverty researchers question whether governments of poorer localities have the capacity to engage in economic development and service activities that might improve community well‐being. This issue is increasingly important as responsibilities for growth and redistribution are decentralized to local governments that vary dramatically in resources. Do poorer communities have less activist local governments? Are they more likely to be engaged in a race to the bottom, focusing on business attraction activities but neglecting services for families and working people? We bring together two distinct literatures, critical research on decentralization and research on local development efforts, that provide contrasting views about the penalty of poverty. Data are from a unique, national survey of county governments measuring activity across two time points. The most consistent determinants of activity are local government capacity, devolutionary pressures, and inertia or past use of strategies. Net of these factors, levels and changes in poverty do not significantly impact government activity. There is no evidence the nations' poorest counties are racing to the bottom. Findings challenge views that poverty is a systematic structural barrier to pursuing innovative economic development policies and suggest that even poorer communities can take steps to build local capacity, resources, and networks that expand programs for local businesses and low‐wage people.     

Monetary policy and regional economic performance in Mexico: A structural panel VAR approach

The aim of this article is to investigate the dynamic effects of monetary policy shocks on economic activity and aggregate price levels across Mexican states. To do this, a recursive structural panel VAR model is implemented as proposed by Pedroni which allows for regional heterogeneity and structural identifying restrictions of common monetary policy shocks. Empirical evidence suggests a common monetary policy shock to short‐term interest rates induces significant cross‐state variation in prices and output level responses. Additional analysis indicates that structural features, such as the industry mix and the small versus large firm mix, are possible sources of the observed cross‐state variation influenced by interest rates and credit channels. We conclude that the observed differentiated regional impacts are sufficiently important to justify rethinking Mexico's current monetary policy framework in order to explicitly consider a regional view.     

Disparities and Divided Growth: Ethnic Entrepreneurship in the Greater Los Angeles Area, 1980–2015

This study employs a multilevel research design to examine business ownership across ethnic groups in the greater Los Angeles area. It finds significant divide between white and non‐white businesses along the labor market hierarchy. The entrepreneurial environment, ethnic residential communities, ethnic business spatial clustering, ethnic concentration in particular niche sectors, and ethnic diversity in local areas are all related to business ownership and disparities across ethnic groups. The results suggest that ethnically diverse neighborhoods and co‐ethnic business communities could provide a conducive institutional environment and resources for minority businesses to start. However, in contrast to white owned businesses, ethnic minority businesses' concentration in the low‐end and easy‐entry sectors may reinforce their disadvantages and hinder upward economic mobility. This study provides policy implications for community regional development through entrepreneurship especially when race and ethnicity are concerned.     

Does Land Use Planning Slow the Conversion of Forest and FarmLands?

Land use planning often is implemented to control development on forests and farmland, but its impact on land use remains untested. Previous studies evaluating such programs have relied on anecdotal evidence rather than on data describing actual land use change. A model of land use is specified as a function of socioeconomic factors, land rent, and landowners' characteristics, to examine how well Oregon's land use planning program has protected forests and farmland from development. The empirical model describes the probability that forests and farmland in western Oregon and western Washington were developed to residential, commercial, or industrial uses, before and after Oregon's land use planning program took effect. Land use data are provided by the USDA Forest Service's Forest Inventory and Analysis program. Results suggest that Oregon's land use planning program has concentrated development within urban growth boundaries since its implementation, but its success at reducing the likelihood of development on resource lands located within forest use and exclusive farm use zones remains uncertain.     

Dynamics of Adjustment and the Social Division of Labor in the Tsubame Cutlery Industry

This paper examines the Tsubame cutlery industry as an example of one of Japan's community-based industries (CBI's). CBI's are localized, closely inter-linked concentrations of small businesses which manufacture and export a distinctive product on the basis of a social division of labor. To demonstrate the dynamic nature of the social division of labor in CBI's we outline the origins and evolution of the cutlery industry in Tsubame and then we analyze in more detail how the industry has adjusted to deteriorating cost conditions since 1970, especially during the late 1980s. The discussion is based on published studies and on field work which investigated the strategies and operations of entrepreneurs as summarized in terms of employment, subcontracting and product trends. We find that the Tsubame cutlery industry has successfully adapted its social division of labor to changing circumstances and that it appears to be in another transition stage at the present time.     

城镇化下留守农民社会资本培育的困境及化解

在城镇化持续推进下,人力资本与社会资本丰富的农民大量流向城市,致使留守农民社会资本急剧下降,在农村形成了一个巨大的社会资本缺口,加剧了留守农民贫困化,严重制约着农村全面发展。为此,培育留守农民社会资本,提高其运用社会资本能力以脱贫,是妥善解决三农问题与新农村建设的根本思路之一。但是,城乡发展对资源的争夺、留守农民自身资源的不足以及民间组织与农村精英的自利,使得培育与开发留守农民社会资本陷入诸多困境。为有效培育留守农民社会资本,宏观上,应进行城乡发展统筹规划,且重点向农村统筹;微观上,通过各类学校教育、基础设施建设、民间组织组建等各种途径,加强有利于社会资本培育的基础平台建设。     

The Impact of Migration on Social Capital: Do Migrants Take Their Bowling Balls with Them?

Questions surrounding the impact of population migration on social capital is the focus of this study. Putnam observed that “for people as for plants, frequent repotting disrupts root systems. It takes time for a mobile individual to put down new roots.” However, because of a trending decrease in mobility over time, Putnam rules out migration as an explanation for the long‐term decline in social capital that was the subject of his widely read 1995 book Bowling Alone: America's Declining Social Capital. This study undertakes an empirical examination of the impact of migration on county‐level social capital, which in tribute to Putnam one might view as an attempt to answer the question—do migrants take their bowling balls with them when they move? The potential for county‐level migration of population to impact social capital levels at particular locations in space arises from the conventional argument that social capital promotes trust and cooperation among agents. This trust increases socially efficient collective action but requires investment in relationships and commitment of scarce resources to build social capital. It seems plausible that migration of population might have a negative impact on the stock of social capital by interfering with trust and cooperation among agents. However, it is also possible that migrants may take their social capital with them to new places of residence. In other words, the propensity to join social and civic organizations might reflect inherent traits of individuals who are willing to make commitments of their resources to building social capital in any community where they reside.     

Did incentives help municipalities recover from the Great Recession? Evidence from Midwestern cities

This study assesses the impacts of local business incentives in the largest urban areas of Illinois, Michigan, and Wisconsin, three Midwestern states that share similar histories and settings. We assembled a unique dataset combining information on two types of incentives, tax increment financing districts and tax abatements, together with socio‐economic, geographic, fiscal, and spatial competitive characteristics for all of the municipalities in six metropolitan areas. The outcome measures include employment growth, establishment formation, and business relocation. The analysis extends knowledge of the effects of economic development incentives in two ways. First, we improve upon previous research by incorporating key factors in municipal decisions to offer incentives. Second, we add to limited empirical evidence concerning local incentives following the Great Recession. Variation in the use of incentives reflects not only local decision‐making but also differing fiscal capacities and situations of adaptation to adverse economic conditions, with some governments pulling back on incentives and others initiating new approaches to retain or lure businesses.     

An Analysis of Impacts of Financial Engineering on Corporate Capital Structure

After reviewing the capital structure theories briefly,the paper researches the impact of financial engineering on corporate capital structure .The model analysis shows that financial engineering can decrease the cost of capital, then improve the financing capacity and effect the rate of debt.Executive Stock option improves managerial incentives and is a challenge to capital structure managerial incentives theory.     

基于多项Logit模型的牧户生计资本对生计策略选择影响的实证研究

为探究牧户生计资本对生计策略影响,识别牧户生计策略转化的关键生计资本和生计资本指标,以便引导牧民调整生计结构,提高草原治理能力。以内蒙古自治区5种草原类型15个旗（县）848户牧户为样本,运用熵值法评估牧户生计资本,建立多项Logit回归模型,识别影响牧户生计策略转化的关键生计资本。研究区牧户生计资本值为1.428;4类生计策略牧户生计资本存量为纯牧性>牧兼性>兼牧性>非牧性,P< 0.01;5种草原类型牧户生计资本存量为草甸草原>典型草原>荒漠草原>沙地草原>草原化荒漠,P<0.01。牧户以牧业收入和政府转移收入为主,纯牧性生计策略为首选的策略;金融资本存量是影响生计策略转化的关键生计资本,对牧户由纯牧性向牧兼性、兼牧性和非牧性生计策略转化均具有显著负向影响。牧户家庭承包草地资源、使用草地资源和家庭总收入是影响生计策略转化的关键生计资本指标。     

Openings in the body of ‘capitalism’: Capital flows and diverse economic possibilities in Kiribati

Much of the post‐development agenda is concerned with decoupling Eurocentric imaginings of development from development practices in ‘remote’ regions and exploring new forms of economy that can enhance local well‐being. In the South Pacific (and elsewhere), small peripheral economies have confronted globalisation in varying ways. Some places, such as the Micronesian island state of Kiribati, have engaged directly with the global economy by investing capital generated locally in international financial markets rather than in domestic industries. Kiribati's trust fund, the Revenue Equalisation Reserve Fund, maintains a balanced portfolio of international equity and fixed income assets that produces a financial return, helping to augment Kiribati's other national income sources. In this paper we explore the results of capital flowing from Kiribati to global financial markets, noting that this alternative development practice can enhance local well‐being.