Previous studies have found that importing goods from R&D-intensive countries raises a country's productivity. In this paper, we investigate econometrically whether foreign direct investment (FDI) also transfers technology across borders. The data indicates that FDI transfers technology, but only in one direction: a country's productivity is increased if it invests in R&D-intensive foreign countries—particularly in recent years—but not if foreign R&D-intensive countries invest in it. Other findings of the paper are that the ratio of foreign-R&D benefits conveyed by outward FDI to foreign R&D benefits conveyed by imports is higher for large countries than it is for small ones, that failure to account for international R&D spillovers leads to upwardly biased estimates of the output elasticity of the domestic R&D capital stock, and that there are much larger transfers of technology from the United States to Japan than there are from Japan to the United States

This paper proposes a measure of dynamic comovement between (possibly many) time series and names it cohesion. The measure is defined in the frequency domain and is appropriate for processes that are costationary, possibly after suitable transformations. In the bivariate case, the measure reduces to dynamic correlation and is related, but not equal, to the well known quantities of coherence and coherency. Dynamic correlation on a frequency band equals (static) correlation of bandpass-filtered series. Moreover, long-run correlation and cohesion relate in a simple way to co-integration. Cohesion is useful to study problems of business-cycle synchronization, to investigate short-run and long-run dynamic properties of multiple time series, and to identify dynamic clusters. We use state income data for the United States and GDP data for European nations to provide an empirical illustration that is focused on the geographical aspects of business-cycle fluctuations

This paper theoretically and empirically examines ownership structure in foreign direct investment (FDI) projects. We show that in choosing an ownership structure, foreign investors, local entrepreneurs, and government consider the specific, costly-to-market assets that the participants and the country bring to the project. In equilibrium, the foreign equity share rises with the importance of foreign investor assets and declines with the contribution of local assets towards the amount of surplus generated in the project. Government policies and the institutional structure of the country also affect ownership structure

Using two decades of annual data, we explore the links between real exchange rates and employment, wages, and overtime activity in U.S. manufacturing industries. Especially in industries with lower price-over-cost markups, exchange rates have statistically significant effects on industry wages, with the magnitude of these effects rising as industries increase their export orientation and declining as imported input use becomes more important. Exchange rate implications for jobs and hours worked are smaller and less precisely measured. We find a much higher response of overtime wages and overtime hours to transitory exchange rates movements

Following monetary union with west Germany in June 1990, the median real monthly consumption wage of east German workers aged 18-54 rose by 83 in six years. The median real product wage rose by 112. On the other hand, the employment rate fell from 89 to 73 for this age group. The overall employment level, in uenced by early retirements, fell by about a third between 1989 and 1992, when it stabilized. Although east Germany's employment fall is not striking by European transition economy standards, it is an outlier in terms of wage growth, the least dissimilar country being Poland, where real product wages rose about 25 in the years following transition. 1 The east German wage rises, coming on top of the wage rise implicit in the decision to unify the currency at a one for one exchange rate, were pushed through by the powerful union structure

Estimates of the Taylor rule using historical data from the past decade or two suggest that monetary policy in the U.S. can be characterized as having reacted in a moderate fashion to output and inflation gaps. In contrast, the parameters of optimal Taylor rules derived using empirical models of the economy often recommend much more vigorous policy responses. This paper attempts to match the historical policy rule with an optimal policy rule by incorporating uncertainty into the derivation of the optimal rule and by examining plausible variations in the policymaker's model and preferences

Using a large data set, the authors find that smokers select riskier jobs, but receive lower total wage compensation for risk than do nonsmokers. This finding is inconsistent with conventional models of compensating differentials. The authors develop a model in which worker risk preferences and job safety performance lead to smokers facing a flatter market offer curve than nonsmokers. The empirical results support the theoretical model. Smokers are injured more often controlling for their job's objective risk and are paid less for these risks of injury. Smokers and nonsmokers, in effect, are segmented labor market groups with different preferences and different market offer curves.

General equilibrium models that predict a reduction in asset prices when baby boomers retire typically assume that people consume all of their wealth before they die. However, many people hold substantial wealth when they die. I develop a rational expectations, general equilibrium model with a bequest motive. In this model, a baby boom increases stock prices, and stock prices are rationally anticipated to fall when the baby boomers retire, even though consumers continue to hold assets throughout retirement. The continued high demand for assets by retired baby boomers does not attenuate the fall in the price of capital.

Previous studies that attempt to relate environmental to financial performance have often led to conflicting results due to small samples and subjective environmental performance criteria. We report on a study that relates the market value of firms in the S&P 500 to objective measures of their environmental performance. After controlling for variables traditionally thought to explain firm-level financial performance, we find that bad environmental performance is negatively correlated with the intangible asset value of firms. The average ‘intangible liability’ for firms in our sample is $380 million—approximately 9% of the replacement value of tangible assets. We conclude that legally emitted toxic chemicals have a significant effect on the intangible asset value of publicly traded companies. A 10% reduction in emissions of toxic chemicals results in a $34 million increase in market value. The magnitude of these effects varies across industries, with larger losses accruing to the traditionally polluting industries.

We measure income uncertainty at the level of U.S. states, and the extent to which it has been reduced through risksharing, using a method recently developed by Athanasoulis and van Wincoop (2000). Risk is measured as the standard deviation of state-specific income growth uncertainty, measured by using the error term of a regression of income growth on variables in the information set. Risk sharing is measured by the extent to which this standard deviation has been reduced through financial markets and federal fiscal policy. The advantage of this measure over the existing risk sharing literature is that the interpretation does not depend on many auxiliary assumptions. Our findings on the extent of risk sharing are insensitive to the only assumption we need to make, the variables that are in the information set. We find that the standard deviation of state-specific income growth uncertainty is reduced by less than half through financial markets and federal fiscal policy. We show that the extent of risk sharing would be much higher if agents held better diversified portfolios across the states.