Specificity and the Macroeconomics of Restructuring

Specificity and the Macroeconomics of Restructuring PDF Author: Ricardo J. Caballero
Publisher: MIT Press
ISBN: 0262033623
Category : Asset specificity
Languages : en
Pages : 349

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Book Description
A proposal that the notion of specificity -- the idea that factors of production are not interchangeable -- can provide a unified framework to analyze and understand a wide variety of macroeconomic phenomena stemming from the transactional environment and microeconomic restructuring. The core mechanism that drives economic growth in modern market economies is massive microeconomic restructuring and factor reallocation -- the Schumpeterian "creative destruction" by which new technologies replace the old. At the microeconomic level, restructuring is characterized by countless decisions to create and destroy production arrangements. The efficiency of these decisions depends in large part on the existence of sound institutions that provide a proper transactional environment. In this groundbreaking book, Ricardo Caballero proposes a unified framework to analyze and understand a wide variety of macroeconomic phenomena stemming from limitations, especially institutional, that hinder these adjustments. Caballero argues that macroeconomic models need to be made more "structural" in a precise sense and can not be maintained on the assumption that decisions are fully flexible. What is needed, he proposes, is the notion of specificity -- the idea that factors of production are not freely interchangeable. Many of the major macroeconomic developments of recent decades, he argues, fit naturally into this perspective, including the transition problems of Eastern Europe, the heavy weight of labor regulations in Western Europe, the emerging market crises of the 1990s, the prolonged expansion of the U.S. economy, and Japan's stagnation following the collapse of its real estate bubble. After describing the basic arguments of the book and developing models to illustrate two different kinds of specificity (relationship specificity and technological specificity), Caballero analyzes a variety of aspects of inefficient restructuring and revisits perennial business cycle patterns such as the cyclical behavior of unemployment, investment, and wages. Finally, he looks at the endogenous response of political institutions and technology to opportunistic exploitation of relationship specificity. Economists working on macroeconomics, development, growth, labor, and productivity issues will find Caballero's conceptual framework applicable to phenomena in their fields.

Job Creation, Job Destruction, and International Competition

Job Creation, Job Destruction, and International Competition PDF Author: Michael W. Klein
Publisher: W.E. Upjohn Institute
ISBN: 0880992727
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 212

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Book Description
Looks into the costs and benefits of labour-market reallocation of US manufacturing industries. Includes a review of the literature on implications of gross flows for the costs of labour adjustment to international factors. Concludes that gross job flows may influence gross worker flows, and therefore, human capital investment, wages and worker welfare.

Specificity and the Macroeconomics of Restructuring

Specificity and the Macroeconomics of Restructuring PDF Author: Ricardo J. Caballero
Publisher: MIT Press
ISBN: 0262033623
Category : Asset specificity
Languages : en
Pages : 349

Get Book Here

Book Description
A proposal that the notion of specificity -- the idea that factors of production are not interchangeable -- can provide a unified framework to analyze and understand a wide variety of macroeconomic phenomena stemming from the transactional environment and microeconomic restructuring. The core mechanism that drives economic growth in modern market economies is massive microeconomic restructuring and factor reallocation -- the Schumpeterian "creative destruction" by which new technologies replace the old. At the microeconomic level, restructuring is characterized by countless decisions to create and destroy production arrangements. The efficiency of these decisions depends in large part on the existence of sound institutions that provide a proper transactional environment. In this groundbreaking book, Ricardo Caballero proposes a unified framework to analyze and understand a wide variety of macroeconomic phenomena stemming from limitations, especially institutional, that hinder these adjustments. Caballero argues that macroeconomic models need to be made more "structural" in a precise sense and can not be maintained on the assumption that decisions are fully flexible. What is needed, he proposes, is the notion of specificity -- the idea that factors of production are not freely interchangeable. Many of the major macroeconomic developments of recent decades, he argues, fit naturally into this perspective, including the transition problems of Eastern Europe, the heavy weight of labor regulations in Western Europe, the emerging market crises of the 1990s, the prolonged expansion of the U.S. economy, and Japan's stagnation following the collapse of its real estate bubble. After describing the basic arguments of the book and developing models to illustrate two different kinds of specificity (relationship specificity and technological specificity), Caballero analyzes a variety of aspects of inefficient restructuring and revisits perennial business cycle patterns such as the cyclical behavior of unemployment, investment, and wages. Finally, he looks at the endogenous response of political institutions and technology to opportunistic exploitation of relationship specificity. Economists working on macroeconomics, development, growth, labor, and productivity issues will find Caballero's conceptual framework applicable to phenomena in their fields.

Trade and Employment

Trade and Employment PDF Author: Bernard M. Hoekman
Publisher: World Bank Publications
ISBN:
Category : Commerce
Languages : en
Pages : 37

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Book Description
"The substantial literature investigating the links between trade, trade policy, and labor market outcomes-both returns to labor and employment-has generated a number of stylized facts, but many open questions remain. This paper surveys the subset of the literature focusing on trade policy and integration into the world economy. Although in the longer run trade opportunities can have a major impact in creating more productive and higher paying jobs, this literature tends to take employment as given. A common finding is that much of the shorter run impacts of trade and reforms involve reallocation of labor or wage impacts within sectors. This reflects a pattern of expansion of more productive firms-especially export-oriented or suppliers to exporters-and contraction and adjustment of less productive enterprises in sectors that become subject to greater import competition. Wage responses to trade and trade reforms are generally greater than employment impacts, but trade can only explain a small fraction of the general increase in wage inequality observed in both industrial and developing countries in recent decades. A feature of the literature survey is that the focus is almost exclusively on industries producing goods. Given the importance of service industries as a source of employment and determinants of competitiveness, the paper argues that one priority area for future research is to study the employment effects of services trade and investment reforms. "--World Bank web site.

New Perspectives on Structural Change

New Perspectives on Structural Change PDF Author: Ludovico Alcorta
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0192590375
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 688

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Book Description
New Perspectives on Structural Change is a comprehensive edited volume that outlines both the historical roots and state-of-the-art debates on the role of structural change in the process of economic development, including both orthodox and heterodox perspectives and contributions from prominent scholars in this field. The volume consists of four main sections. The first section covers the theoretical foundations of the structural change literature. The second section presents an empirical overview of the major trends of structural change, using up-to-date data sources and methods. The third section presents a broad ranging empirical analysis of the drivers of structural change. The fourth section examines how processes such as inclusive growth, poverty reduction, productive employment, the global income distribution, and environmental sustainability are affected by structural change, and how they can be influenced by policy.

Policy Matters

Policy Matters PDF Author: Jose Antonio Ocampo
Publisher: Zed Books
ISBN: 9781842778364
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 372

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Book Description
In 2000, UN member states pledged to halve world poverty by 2015, among other Millennium Development Goals (MDG's). But progress has been elusive since. The chapters in this volume address disparate problems in achieving the UN Development Agenda, from the complex effects of trade and financial liberalisation to the realities of development aid, itself a central pillar of the MDGs. The unifying theme is one of economic and social integration, and an emphasis on long-term strategic investments in education, health and infrastructure.

Policy Priorities for International Trade and Jobs

Policy Priorities for International Trade and Jobs PDF Author: OECD
Publisher: OECD Publishing
ISBN: 9264180176
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 450

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Book Description
Launched and co-ordinated by the OECD, the International Collaborative Initiative on Trade and Employment (ICITE) is a two-year old joint undertaking of ten international organisations. This book brings together some of the results of ICITE's research.

Job Loss from Imports

Job Loss from Imports PDF Author: Lori G. Kletzer
Publisher: Peterson Institute
ISBN: 9780881322965
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 148

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Book Description
In this study of the medium-term effects of trade displacement on American workers, Kletzer uses worker-level data from the US Displaced Worker Surveys to examine the pattern of reemployment following trade-related job loss. She also analyzes regional and local labor market variations, and concludes by exploring the implications of her findings for US policy on linking the labor market and international trade.

International Journal of Environment, Workplace and Employment

International Journal of Environment, Workplace and Employment PDF Author:
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Environmental responsibility
Languages : en
Pages : 366

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Book Description


Job Creation in Latin America and the Caribbean

Job Creation in Latin America and the Caribbean PDF Author: Carmen Pag s
Publisher: World Bank Publications
ISBN: 0821380257
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 484

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Book Description
More than a decade has passed since the introduction of comprehensive macroeconomic stabilization packages and trade, fiscal, and financial market reforms in Latin America and the Caribbean. However, growth prospects remain disappointing; labor markets show lackluster performance, with low participation rates, high and persistent informality, and, in some cases, open unemployment. Creating viable and lasting employment is vital to reduce poverty and spread prosperity in the region. The failure to create more and more productive and rewarding jobs carries substantial political, social, and economic costs. 'Job Creation in Latin America and the Caribbean: Recent Trends and Policy Challenges' provides a thorough examination of the labor market trends in the region in recent decades and assesses the role that labor demand and labor supply factors have played in shaping these outcomes.

The Economics and Finance of Commodity Price Shocks

The Economics and Finance of Commodity Price Shocks PDF Author: Mikidadu Mohammed
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1000485188
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 226

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Book Description
The behaviour of commodity prices never ceases to marvel economists, financial analysts, industry experts, and policymakers. Unexpected swings in commodity prices used to occur infrequently but have now become a permanent feature of global commodity markets. This book is about modelling commodity price shocks. It is intended to provide insights into the theoretical, conceptual, and empirical modelling of the underlying causes of global commodity price shocks. Three main objectives motivated the writing of this book. First, to provide a variety of modelling frameworks for documenting the frequency and intensity of commodity price shocks. Second, to evaluate existing approaches used for forecasting large movements in future commodity prices. Third, to cover a wide range and aspects of global commodities including currencies, rare–hard–lustrous transition metals, agricultural commodities, energy, and health pandemics. Some attempts have already been made towards modelling commodity price shocks. However, most tend to narrowly focus on a subset of commodity markets, i.e., agricultural commodities market and/or the energy market. In this book, the author moves the needle forward by operationalizing different models, which allow researchers to identify the underlying causes and effects of commodity price shocks. Readers also learn about different commodity price forecasting models. The author presents the topics to readers assuming less prior or specialist knowledge. Thus, the book is accessible to industry analysts, researchers, undergraduate and graduate students in economics and financial economics, academic and professional economists, investors, and financial professionals working in different sectors of the commodity markets. Another advantage of the book’s approach is that readers are not only exposed to several innovative modelling techniques to add to their modelling toolbox but are also exposed to diverse empirical applications of the techniques presented.