Measuring Productivity Gains from Deregulation of the Japanese Urban Gas Industry

The Japanese government initiated a series of regulatory reforms in the mid-1990s. The Japanese urban gas industry consists of various sized private and non-private firms. Numerous previous studies find that deregulation leads to productivity improvements. We extend the literature by analyzing deregulation, privatization, and other aspects of a regulated industry using unique firm level data. This study measures productivity to evaluate the effect of the deregulation reform. Using data from 205 firms from 1993 to 2004, we find that the deregulation effect differs depending on firm size. Competitive pressure contributes to advanced productivity. The deregulation of gas sales to commercial customers is the most important factor for advancing productivity. Copyright © 2013 by the IAEE. All rights reserved.

Productivity gains from migration: An analysis of Cape Verdean return migrants

Are return migrants more productive than non-migrants? If so, is it a causal effect or simply self-selection? Existing literature has not reached a consensus on the role of return migration for origin countries. To answer these research questions, an empirical analysis was performed based on household data collected in Cape Verde. One of the most common identification problems in the migration literature is the presence of migrant self-selection. In order to disentangle potential selection bias, we use instrumental variable estimation using variation provided by unemployment rates in migrant destination countries, which is compared with OLS and Nearest Neighbor Matching (NNM) methods. The results using the instrumental variable approach provide evidence of labour income gains due to return migration, while OLS underestimates the coefficient of interest. This bias points towards negative self-selection of return migrants on unobserved characteristics, although the different estimates cannot be distinguished statistically. Interestingly, migration duration and occupational changes after migration do not seem to influence post-migration income. There is weak evidence that return migrants from the United States have higher income gains caused by migration than the ones who returned from Portugal.

Sustained gains from a diabetes prevention program and the role of telephone support

Background
An evaluation of the sustainability of lifestyle changes was undertaken for participants completing a 12 month diabetes prevention program. This second part of the study also tested whether regular structured telephone calls could be effective in maintaining lifestyle changes.

Methods
Originally, 237 participants completed a 12 month group-based lifestyle intervention study. They were aged 40–75 years, with a moderate to high risk of developing type 2 diabetes. Participants were then randomised to telephone support (n = 107) or self-care only (n = 98) for 18 months, and re-assessed using anthropometric, clinical, psychological and general health measures.

Results
A total of 164 participants (85 telephone support and 79 self-care only) completed the follow-up. Changes between 12 and 30 months for the telephone support group were not significantly different from those found in the self-care only group. Beneficial lifestyle changes achieved by participants were generally sustained after the diabetes prevention program, with the exception of fasting plasma glucose and some psychological measures.

Conclusions
Positive outcomes achieved at 12 months were generally maintained after a further 18 months. Telephone support did not appear to produce additional benefits.

Gains from trade and measured total factor productivity

We develop and calibrate a model where diferences in factor en-dowments lead countries to trade di¤erent goods, so that the existence of international trade changes the sectorial composition of output from one country to another. Gains from trade re ect in total factor productivity. We perform a development decomposition, to assess the impact of trade and barriers to trade on measured TFP. In our sample, the median size of that e¤ect is about 6.5% of output, with a median of 17% and a maximum of 89%. Also, the model predicts that changes in the terms of trade cause a change of productivity, and that efect has an average elasticity of 0.71.

Conditions for maximizing the gains from a WHFTA

Includes bibliography

Regional integration in Latin America and dynamic gains from macroeconomic cooperation

Includes bibliography

Dynamic gains from intrarregional trade in Latin America

Includes bibliography