The Journal of International Trade & Economic Development, 2004
Abstract: This paper addresses the important question of whether public investment spending on ec... more Abstract: This paper addresses the important question of whether public investment spending on economic infrastructure enhances economic growth in Mexico. It estimates a Cobb-Douglas production function that includes public infrastructure capital. Using ...
Page 1. Foreign Direct Investment in Mexico and Chile: A Critical Appraisal Miguel D. Ramirez SUM... more Page 1. Foreign Direct Investment in Mexico and Chile: A Critical Appraisal Miguel D. Ramirez SUMMARY. Increased flows of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) are a major source of capital for Latin American countries. This paper ...
ABSTRACT This article estimates whether FDI flows—and other relevant variables—have had a positiv... more ABSTRACT This article estimates whether FDI flows—and other relevant variables—have had a positive and significant effect on Latin America's private investment spending over the 1980–2002 period. It is one of the first empirical studies to investigate the complementarity hypothesis between domestic private investment and FDI flows using recently developed panel unit root and panel co-integration analysis for the period in question. The article also addresses the important issue of whether changes in the real exchange rate (expenditure-switching policies) have a contractionary effect on the economies of Latin America. The results suggest that (lagged) gross FDI, public investment spending, and real credit to the private sector have a positive and significant effect on private capital formation, while lagged changes in the real exchange rate, particularly its volatility, as measured by the period standard deviation, have a negative effect. The article also finds that net FDI flows (a variable which deducts repatriation of profits and dividends) remain significant but their impact is reduced by more than half relative to their gross FDI counterpart.
ABSTRACT This paper examines certain theoretical questions and issues relating to Marx's ... more ABSTRACT This paper examines certain theoretical questions and issues relating to Marx's conception of wages under competitive capitalism. First, it is shown that the distinction between labour and the value of labour power is critically important for understanding the source of profits in competitive capitalism. Second, the value of labour power cannot be reduced either to the classical school's bare minimum subsistence level, or a physically determined minimum. Next, the paper discusses Marx's neglected distinction between absolute and relative real wages. It is shown that the purely technical relationship between wages and labour productivity is captured by the notion of absolute real wages. Marx, however, considered relative real wages to hold the key to understanding how one class appropriated the surplus labour time of another. Finally, the paper traces the movement of absolute and relative real wages for the active part of the working class during the various phases of the industrial cycle. It is argued that Marx believed that the secular decline in the value of labour power reflecting rising social (labour) productivity would be accompanied by a relative deterioration in the social position of the members of the active working class, and an absolute immiseration of the three major components of the relatively growing industrial reserve army.
This paper addresses the important question whether public investment spending on economic infras... more This paper addresses the important question whether public investment spending on economic infrastructure enhances economic growth and labor productivity in Mexico. Following the lead of the endogenous growth literature, it presents a modified production function which explicitly includes the positive or negative externality effects generated by additions to the public capital stock. Using cointegration analysis, the paper proceeds to estimate a dynamic labor productivity function for the 1955–94 period that incorporates the impact of the growth rate in the stocks of both private and public capital (as opposed to the flows) and the economically active population (EAP) (rather than the rate of population growth). The results suggest that (lagged) increases in public investment spending on economic infrastructure—as opposed to overall public investment spending—have a positive and highly significant effect on the rate of labor productivity growth. In addition, the estimates suggest that increases in government consumption expenditures may have a negative effect on the rate of labor productivity growth, thus suggesting that the composition of government spending may also play an important role in determining the rate of labor productivity growth. Finally, the findings call into question the politically expedient policy in many Latin American countries of disproportionately reducing public capital expenditures on economic and social infrastructure to meet targeted reductions in the fiscal deficit as a proportion of GDP.
The Journal of International Trade & Economic Development, 2004
Abstract: This paper addresses the important question of whether public investment spending on ec... more Abstract: This paper addresses the important question of whether public investment spending on economic infrastructure enhances economic growth in Mexico. It estimates a Cobb-Douglas production function that includes public infrastructure capital. Using ...
Page 1. Foreign Direct Investment in Mexico and Chile: A Critical Appraisal Miguel D. Ramirez SUM... more Page 1. Foreign Direct Investment in Mexico and Chile: A Critical Appraisal Miguel D. Ramirez SUMMARY. Increased flows of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) are a major source of capital for Latin American countries. This paper ...
ABSTRACT This article estimates whether FDI flows—and other relevant variables—have had a positiv... more ABSTRACT This article estimates whether FDI flows—and other relevant variables—have had a positive and significant effect on Latin America's private investment spending over the 1980–2002 period. It is one of the first empirical studies to investigate the complementarity hypothesis between domestic private investment and FDI flows using recently developed panel unit root and panel co-integration analysis for the period in question. The article also addresses the important issue of whether changes in the real exchange rate (expenditure-switching policies) have a contractionary effect on the economies of Latin America. The results suggest that (lagged) gross FDI, public investment spending, and real credit to the private sector have a positive and significant effect on private capital formation, while lagged changes in the real exchange rate, particularly its volatility, as measured by the period standard deviation, have a negative effect. The article also finds that net FDI flows (a variable which deducts repatriation of profits and dividends) remain significant but their impact is reduced by more than half relative to their gross FDI counterpart.
ABSTRACT This paper examines certain theoretical questions and issues relating to Marx's ... more ABSTRACT This paper examines certain theoretical questions and issues relating to Marx's conception of wages under competitive capitalism. First, it is shown that the distinction between labour and the value of labour power is critically important for understanding the source of profits in competitive capitalism. Second, the value of labour power cannot be reduced either to the classical school's bare minimum subsistence level, or a physically determined minimum. Next, the paper discusses Marx's neglected distinction between absolute and relative real wages. It is shown that the purely technical relationship between wages and labour productivity is captured by the notion of absolute real wages. Marx, however, considered relative real wages to hold the key to understanding how one class appropriated the surplus labour time of another. Finally, the paper traces the movement of absolute and relative real wages for the active part of the working class during the various phases of the industrial cycle. It is argued that Marx believed that the secular decline in the value of labour power reflecting rising social (labour) productivity would be accompanied by a relative deterioration in the social position of the members of the active working class, and an absolute immiseration of the three major components of the relatively growing industrial reserve army.
This paper addresses the important question whether public investment spending on economic infras... more This paper addresses the important question whether public investment spending on economic infrastructure enhances economic growth and labor productivity in Mexico. Following the lead of the endogenous growth literature, it presents a modified production function which explicitly includes the positive or negative externality effects generated by additions to the public capital stock. Using cointegration analysis, the paper proceeds to estimate a dynamic labor productivity function for the 1955–94 period that incorporates the impact of the growth rate in the stocks of both private and public capital (as opposed to the flows) and the economically active population (EAP) (rather than the rate of population growth). The results suggest that (lagged) increases in public investment spending on economic infrastructure—as opposed to overall public investment spending—have a positive and highly significant effect on the rate of labor productivity growth. In addition, the estimates suggest that increases in government consumption expenditures may have a negative effect on the rate of labor productivity growth, thus suggesting that the composition of government spending may also play an important role in determining the rate of labor productivity growth. Finally, the findings call into question the politically expedient policy in many Latin American countries of disproportionately reducing public capital expenditures on economic and social infrastructure to meet targeted reductions in the fiscal deficit as a proportion of GDP.
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