This thesis aims to study the macroeconomic performance of China. China has been experiencing rapid economic growth and it has been changing gradually from a planned to a market economy since it initiated the well known “open door policy” combined with a “coastal development strategy” in 1978. However, rapid growth has occurred on the background of increasing regional disparity. Meanwhile, unemployment has increased significantly during last two decades, and has become one of the most pressing problems of the Chinese economy today. Moreover, another major challenge facing the Chinese economy is how to deal with various shocks, and to ensure the sustainability and balance of economic growth in the face of the increasing economic uncertainties associated with its deep reform and integration into the world trade and financial system. Based on the above concerns and literature review, this study, firstly, uses an augmented Solow-Swan model of Mankiw, Romer and Weil (1992) to assess the role FDI plays in underlying regional differences in economic growth across Chinese provinces over the reform period 1978-2008. My analysis indicates that the augmented Solow growth model appears to provide a good description of regional growth patterns in China over the period 1978-2008 and the data display conditional convergence. After controlling for FDI and other determinants of growth, provinces that were initially poor tend to grow faster and the evidence in favour of conditional convergence becomes even stronger after splitting the data into subsamples. I then focus on the study of the relationship between unemployment and growth at both national level and regional level in order to find out how unemployment affects China’s economic growth and economic reform progress overall. I find that Okun’s relationship does not hold in China universally and, furthermore, the nature of the observed relationship has changed during the transition progress. I argue that there are hump shaped relationships both between growth and unemployment and between the speed of transition and unemployment in China. The results are consistent with several theoretical and empirical studies in the literature. Finally, structural VAR methodology pioneered by Bayoumi and Eichengreen (1993) is used to identify and decompose supply and demand shocks to two variables, (the log of) output (annual real GDP) and (the log of) prices (annual GDP deflator). I then compute and discuss the correlation of such shocks across provinces and show how it has evolved over the four main sub-periods of China’s history. Moreover, I investigate which factors contribute to economic integration or divergence in the Chinese economy.

Thesis advisor: Donald Cox / This dissertation consists of two essays which address the origins of the business cycle. In particular, it asks: to what extent do behavioral or psychological effects, famously termed "animal spirits" by John Maynard Keynes, contribute to the amplification of business cycle fluctuations. The first essay, titled "The Labor Market Effects of Bad Economic News", examines the effects of economically pessimistic newspaper articles on hiring and employment patterns. Combining information on newspaper subscriptions with automated content analysis of newspaper articles, the paper reconstructs the flow of pessimistic news across the United States during the past recession on a county-by-county, quarter-by-quarter basis. This high resolution map of pessimistic news delivery is then used to estimate the causal impact of media pessimism on labor market outcomes. Exposure to negative news is found to suppress hiring and total employment during the early stages of the recession by up to 40% compared to pre-recession levels; overall, media pessimism can account for some 7% of jobs lost between 2007 and 2010. Further analysis of Google search data suggests that this contractionary effect is mediated by changes in public attitude caused by exposure to pessimistic stories in the media. Importantly, this study considers only articles which report negative news about the state of the national economy, rather than stories which focus on local events. It argues that the prevalence of such news stories affects local labor market conditions, but is unlikely to be affected by such conditions. This approach helps to address the simultaneity issues which have dogged previous research on the topic. The second essay, titled "Uncertainty and Risk Averse Firms in DSGE" a develops theoretical framework to rationalize the previous paper's empirical results. This paper solves a simple general equilibrium model in which firms are risk averse over future profits in a manner analogous to household risk aversion. It shows that response to increased economic uncertainty - particularly uncertainty with regards to future consumer demand, economies with risk averse firms are likely to undergo a business cycle contraction. This result also addresses a long standing problem in the RBC literature; namely, how to generate a contraction with a Keynesian demand side shock. In most models with risk averse utility-maximizing households, a reduction in aggregate demand due to consumer-side changes is expansionary. The paper argues that by introducing firm-side risk aversion into the model, this counter-intuitive behavior can be corrected in a realistic and parsimonious manner. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2014. / Submitted to: Boston College. Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: Economics.

Taking GDP growth and inflation as endogenous variables, this paper employs a Structural VAR from Baumeister and Hamilton (2015, 2019) to identify aggregate demand and aggregate supply shocks for Bhutan, focusing on the COVID-19 pandemic. The results suggest that 94 percent of the GDP growth plunge in 2020 is attributable to a fall in aggregate supply. The higher inflation during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 also implies a negative supply shock. Although the magnitudes differ, characterizing the COVID-19 pandemic in Bhutan as a supply shock coincides with preceding episodes that were also primarily driven by supply shocks.

Submitted by Sérgio Magalhães (lm_sergio@yahoo.com.br) on 2017-03-16T18:49:31Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Dissertação MPE_Sérgio Lemos de Magalhães_Multiplicadores Fiscais_vf.pdf: 526886 bytes, checksum: 7b7ef2399e09cafeb2990ea538927574 (MD5) / Rejected by Renata de Souza Nascimento (renata.souza@fgv.br), reason: Sérgio, boa noite Por gentileza, rever a formatação do trabalho pois não está de acordo com as normas da ABNT. Verifique o link abaixo, na opção Normas para Apresentação de Monografias, a partir da página 11 onde consta um modelo detalhado de como deve estar o trabalho. Lembramos que os trabalhos devem estar de acordo com as Normas da ABNT ou as Normas da APA: http://sistema.bibliotecas-sp.fgv.br/bkab_normalizacao Grata, on 2017-03-16T22:49:18Z (GMT) / Submitted by Sérgio Magalhães (lm_sergio@yahoo.com.br) on 2017-03-27T11:11:03Z No. of bitstreams: 1 DissertacaoSergioLemos_versão ABNT.pdf: 947842 bytes, checksum: 885e9c52e2428b7002684ff8d6311a5f (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Renata de Souza Nascimento (renata.souza@fgv.br) on 2017-03-29T16:51:16Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 DissertacaoSergioLemos_versão ABNT.pdf: 947842 bytes, checksum: 885e9c52e2428b7002684ff8d6311a5f (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2017-03-29T16:58:30Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 DissertacaoSergioLemos_versão ABNT.pdf: 947842 bytes, checksum: 885e9c52e2428b7002684ff8d6311a5f (MD5) Previous issue date: 2017-02-16 / The work evaluates the behavior of the Brazilian government spending fiscal multiplier between 1996 and 2116. Through a SVAR model, it was analyzed the behavior of the multiplier given a shock in government spending. In addition to the analysis of the standard model, it was also possible to measure, using dummy variables the impact of: the state of the economy, below and above the natural product, and given the present shock, demand or supply. As presented by the national and international literature, the results reflected better performance in the economy in times of product below its potential and in a situation of demand shock. Although it had more favorable results it still lower than 1, demonstrating low efficacy of the multiplier, in which it was pointed out structural situations of the Brazilian economy such as the high indebtedness and public spending as possible vectors of loss of efficiency. Finally, the study evidenced the behavior of the multiplier in a specific situation of negative supply shock in which we had results higher than 1, indicating that the multiplier should be analyzed in certain circumstances. / O trabalho avalia o comportamento do multiplicador fiscal brasileiro de consumo do governo entre os anos de 1996 a 2116. Através de um modelo SVAR analisou-se o comportamento do multiplicador dado um choque no gasto do governo. Além da análise do modelo padrão ainda realizou-se a criação de variáveis dummies mensurando: o estado da economia, abaixo e acima do produto natural, e dado o choque presente, demanda ou oferta. Tal como apresentado pela literatura nacional e internacional os resultados refletiram melhor desempenho na economia em momentos de produto abaixo de seu potencial e em situação de choque de demanda. Apesar de resultados mais favoráveis ainda sim foram inferiores a 1, demonstrando baixa eficácia do multiplicador, no qual foi apontado situações estruturais da economia brasileira tal como o elevado endividamento e gasto publico como possíveis vetores de perda de eficiência. Por fim, o estudo evidenciou o comportamento do multiplicador em situação específica de choque negativo de oferta em que tivemos resultados superiores a 1, indicando que o multiplicador deve ser analisado em determinadas circunstância.

Diese Dissertation besteht aus vier Aufsätzen, die einen Beitrag zur Literatur über die empirische Analyse von lokalen Arbeitsmärkten leisten. Der erste Aufsatz nutzt den Abzug eines Großteils der US-Stationierungsstreitkräfte in Deutschland seit 1990 als ein natürliches Experiment, das die Identifikation von kausalen Effekten von Nachfrageschocks in lokalen Arbeitsmärkten ermöglicht. Als Datengrundlage dient ein neu aufbereiteter Datensatz zu den regionalen Veränderungen der Personalstärke der U.S. Stützpunkte. Die empirischen Ergebnisse belegen, dass der Abzug zu einem signifikanten Rückgang der Beschäftigung in der lokalen Privatwirtschaft und einem nachfolgenden Anstieg in der lokalen Arbeitslosenrate führte. Im Gegensatz dazu weisen die Ergebnisse keine Evidenz für signifikante Anpassungen in den lokalen Löhnen oder Wanderungssalden auf. Der zweite Aufsatz vertieft die Frage der lokalen Lohnrigiditäten angesichts des Nachfrageschocks. Der Einfluss von zwei Institutionen wird als mögliche Quelle von heterogenen Lohnanpassungen in lokalen Arbeitsmärkten identifiziert. Die empirischen Ergebnisse zeigen, dass der Einfluss der beiden Institutionen isoliert mit keinen heterogenen Lohnanpassungen verbunden ist, aber das Zusammenwirken beider Dimensionen verbunden ist mit differenziellen Lohnreduktionen. Der dritte Aufsatz erweitert die Analyse der Folgen des amerikanischen Truppenabzugs um die Frage nach der Entwicklung der lokalen Kriminalitätsrate. Die Ergebnisse zeigen, dass der Truppenabzug mit einem Rückgang der Kriminalität insbesondere von Drogen- und Sexualstraftaten verbunden ist. Der vierte Aufsatz untersucht die langfristige Entwicklung der Zeitarbeit in den regionalen Arbeitsmärkten in Deutschland seit 1979. Dabei zeigt sich, dass die anfängliche Verteilung der Beschäftigungsanteile für manuelle Nicht-Routine- und Routine-Tätigkeiten eine starke Vorhersagekraft für das unterschiedliche regionale Beschäftigungswachstum von Zeitarbeit in Deutschland besitzt. / This thesis consists of four essays that contribute to the empirical analysis of local labor markets. The first essay exploits the massive withdrawal of U.S. Armed Forces in the aftermath of the German Reunification as a natural experiment that enables the identification of the causal impact of local labor demand shocks. It introduces a novel dataset that details the evolution of the U.S. manpower levels at the disaggregated regional level and thereby enables the measurement how U.S. base closures affected the demand for local non-tradable goods and services. The results from the empirical analyses suggest that the drop in local labor demand caused a significant loss of private sector employment and generated a subsequent rise in local unemployment rates. In contrast, wages and migration patterns do not exhibit any significant responses. The second essay further explores the rigidity of wages in local labor markets in response to the U.S. base closures. The presence of two types of institutions (i.e. works councils and the German Trade and Crafts Code) and their interplay are characterized as potential sources of wage heterogeneities. While in isolation these two institutions do not seem to alter the pattern of insignificant wage adjustments, their interaction is found to introduce a channel for small downward wage adjustments. The third essay is concerned with the change in local crime rates in response to the U.S. presence and withdrawal. The empirical findings suggest that the drawdown of the U.S. military presence can be related to large and significant drops in the local rate of drug and sex offenses. The fourth essay provides an empirical analysis of the diverging patterns of employment in temporary help services across labor markets in Germany over the last 30 years. The differential growth pattern both at the level of occupations and across regional labor markets are found to be related to the initial intensity of routine and non-routine manual tasks.

The objective of this thesis has been to analyze whether booms in the iron ore market has any significant effects on local labor markets in certain municipalities in Norrbotten County during the time period 2000-2016. Previous research has established that certain types of booms and busts influenced local labor markets. The analysis was done by using panel data and regression models where the results where compared over non-mining and mining municipalities. The results gave a vague response with both conclusive and inconclusive results over the variables investigated. The main conclusion is that although the mining industry is a big part of local labor markets in Norrbotten County, it is important for firms and policymakers to understand that the mining industry is not the only important factor and that decisions should not be entirely based on the mining industry and its markets. / Målet med denna uppsats var att analysera ifall booms i järnmalmsmarknaden har någon signifikant påverkan på lokala arbetsmarknader i utvalda kommuner i Norrbotten under tidsperioden 2000–2016. Tidigare forskning har fastställt att vissa booms och busts kan influera lokala arbetsmarknader. Analysen har genomförts med paneldata och regressionsmodeller där resultat jämförts mellan gruvkommuner och ickegruvkommuner. Resultaten gav otydliga resultat då vissa var konklusiva medan andra inte var konklusiva. Den huvudsakliga slutsatsen som nåtts är att även om gruvindustrin är en viktig del av de lokala arbetsmarknaderna, är det viktigt för företag och beslutsfattare att förstå att gruvindustrin inte är den enda påverkande faktorn och att framtida beslut och satsningar inte enbart ska baseras kring gruvindustrin och dess marknad.

No description available.

Im ersten Aufsatz dieser Dissertation analysiere ich, wie sich ein negativer Arbeitsmarktnachfrage-Schock auf Fertilität auswirkt. Ich analysiere dies anhand des ostdeutschen Fertilitätsrückgangs nach dem Mauerfall und nutze unerwartete, exogene, und permanente Anpassungen der Arbeitsnachfrage, welche von industriellen Restrukturierungsprozessen resultierten. Ostdeutsche Frauen, die stärker vom negativen Arbeitsnachfrage-Schock betroffen waren, haben in den 1990er Jahren relativ mehr Kinder bekommen als jene Frauen, die von dem Schock weniger stark betroffen waren. Der Schock hat somit nicht nur das aggregierte Fertilitätsniveau gesenkt, sondern auch die Zusammensetzung der Mütter beeinflusst. Der zweite Aufsatz untersucht den Einfluss staatlicher Hilfen auf den späteren ökonomischen Erfolg junger Flüchtlinge. Wir untersuchen dies anhand von ostdeutschen Flüchtlingen, die von 1946 bis 1961 nach Westdeutschland geflohen sind. Nur „politische Flüchtlinge“ hatten ab 1953 Anspruch auf Flüchtlingshilfen. Somit können wir Identifikations-Probleme adressieren, die durch Selektion entstehen. Es zeigen sich positive Effekte der Flüchtlingshilfen auf die Bildung, Jobs, und das Einkommen von Flüchtlingen, die als junge Erwachsene migriert sind. Wir finden keine vergleichbaren Effekte für Flüchtlinge, die als Kinder migriert sind. Das letzte Kapitel präsentiert Ergebnisse eines Projektes, das partiell die Lücke schließt, welche derzeit für Ostdeutsche in den deutschen Sozialversicherungsdaten existiert. Durch die Verknüpfung letzterer mit dem „Datenspeicher Gesellschaftliches Arbeitsvermögen“ der DDR von 1989 haben wir einen neuen Datensatz geschaffen, welcher Analysen von Phänomenen wie Arbeitslosigkeit, beruflicher und regionaler Mobilität ermöglicht. Der neue Datensatz kann auch dazu beitragen, das existierende Wissen über die individuellen Arbeitsmarktkonsequenzen des Mauerfalls zu erweitern. / In the first essay of this dissertation, I analyze how a negative labor demand shock impacts fertility. I analyze this question in the context of the East German fertility decline after the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989. I exploit differential pressure for restructuring across East German industries which led to unexpected, exogenous, and permanent changes to labor demand. I find that throughout the 1990s, women more severely impacted by the demand shock had relatively more children than their less-severely-impacted counterparts. Thus, the demand shock not only depressed the aggregate fertility level, but also changed the composition of mothers. The second essay explores the question of how refugee-specific aid impacts the medium-term economic success of young refugees. We address this question in the context of German Democratic Republic (GDR) refugees who escaped to West Germany between 1946 and 1961, exploiting that only the subgroup of "political refugees" was granted refugee-targeted aid, and that this only occurred after 1953. The quasi-experiment allows us to address identification difficulties resulting from the fact that refugees eligible for aid are both self-selected and screened by local authorities. We find positive effects of aid-eligibility on educational attainment, job quality and income among the refugees who migrated as young adults. We do not find similar effects of aid-eligibility for refugees who migrated as children. The final chapter of this thesis presents results of a project which partially closes a gap that currently exists for East Germans in the German social security data. By linking these data with the GDR's "Data Fund of Societal Work Power" from 1989, we have created a new data set that permits the analysis of phenomena such as unemployment, job mobility, and regional mobility. The new data set can also be used to refine existing knowledge of the individual-level labor market consequences of German reunification.