Artificial Intelligence,Structural Change and Labor Income Share

Artificial intelligence(AI)is a strategic technology that leads a new round of technological revolution and structural transformation.This paper studies the effects of AI on structural change and factor income shares.As a general purpose technology and new infrastructure,AI may substitute either labor or capital and its application has differential prospects across sectors.With a multi-sector general dynamic equilibrium model,we find that AI services or AI-specific technologies will reallocate factors between sectors.The direction of the reallocation depends on sectoral differences in the output elasticity of AI and in the elasticity of substitution between AI and traditional modes of production.The process of structural change will in turn change the labor income share.This paper presents the theoretical conditions for the direction of these changes and the underlying economic mechanism.We derive policy implications about how to promote high-quality development with AI.

SPECIAL ISSUE： DISTRIBUTION OF NATIONAL INCOME IN A TRANSITIONAL ECONOMY Labor income shares （LIS） in economic development： an empirical study based on China＇s sectoral-level data

Empirical study of sectoral-level change in LIS in China reveals that change in industry structure is synchronous and positively correlated with LIS in different sectors of the economy, intensifying overall LIS fluctuations. Our analysis of LIS based on data from the major sectors of China＇s economy show that, relative to 1993, the increase in LIS in 1996 was largely due to the increased proportion of LIS in secondary industry. Relative to 1996, the fall in LIS in 2003 was closely related to the fall in the proportion of primary industry in the overall economy. The year 2004 was unusual in that it witnessed a dramatic fall in overall LIS level. The primary reason for the fall was a change in statistical definition that led to a significant reduction in LIS in the secondary and tertiary sectors. There were huge variations in LIS level among different regions. However, with the passage of time, the regional disparities are gradually being reduced. This is also closely connected to changes in industry structure and within-sector LIS fluctuations.

Why Does China＇s Labor Income Share Tend to Decline？- From the Perspective of Population Age Structure Change

Using a theoretical model, this article concludes that age structures influence people＇s propensity to save and thereby influence their capital intensity. In the context that capital and labor are in a substitutional relation, increased capital intensity may lead to a drop of labor income share. We perform empirical research with provincial-level data from 1990 to 2007 and have proved that the rising of the old dependency ratio and the decrease of the children dependency rate both contribute to the fall of labor income share. This assumption still holds true after the authors control the influences of other potential factors that may influence labor income share

Effects of Commodity Trade Structure Variations on Labor' s Share of Income in China——An Empirical Study Based on Data of Production Industry Sectors

Proceeding from trade structure variations,this paper provides a new perspective on the study of the share of labor income in China.China's commodity trade structure has experienced a step change in recent years.According to theoretical analysis,trade exerts not only a direct effect on the share of labor income through international division of labor and specialization but also an indirect effect through factor intensity variations and technology progress bias.Empirical study discovered that export has a significant negative effect on the share of China's labor income while import has a positive effect.Import and export have different levels and directions of effect on sectors with different factor intensity.

Measuring Labor＇s Share of Income in China： 1993-2008

Accurately measuring labor＇s share of income is of great importance for China ＇S national policies, particularly its labor compensation policies during the 12th Five Year Plan period. This paper first analyses the measurement problems of labor＇s share of income from the perspectives of definition and data and their influences on the accuracy of the measurement results. Then it sums up and appraises several adjustment methods for existing measurement problems. Finally, the author estimates the operating surplus of private, unincorporated enterprises （OSPUE） in China using data from Urban household survey （UHS）, Rural household survey （RHS） and population survey, and further makes a correction to labor＇s share of income in China from 1993 to 2008 with data from flow of funds accounts. Finally, the author conducted trend analysis and international comparisons using the results obtained from the first part of the paper.

Income Inequality in Mountain Areas: The Case of Agroforestry Farming Systems in Uluguru Mountains, Tanzania

Land degradation due to use of unsustainable agricultural practices has affected many communities in rural mountain areas rendering them to be more vulnerable to income poverty and inequality. In this case, agroforestry systems promise to offer great solutions as they can be developed in unfavourable conditions where other production systems would either rapidly degrade the land or otherwise would not be possible. However, little is known whether agroforestry can address issues of income inequality in mountain areas. Hence, we conducted a study to investigate the nature and determinants of income inequality in Uluguru Mountains, Tanzania. Specifically, we used the cross-sectional research design and we calculated the income percentile shares, Gini coefficients and the coefficient of variation (CV), to pinpoint the nature of income inequality in the study area. The determinants of income inequality were analysed using the step by step multiple linear model. The results of analysis suggested prevalence of income inequality. Crop production was the main source of income in the agroforestry systems of the study area. Earnings from crops and timber were decreasing income-inequality amongst smallholder farmers. Our disaggregated analysis showed that off-farm income was also decreasing income-inequality for farmers with farmlands located close to homestead, for female-headed households, for farmers who did not access extension services, and those who were members of community-based financial institutions. Estimated incomes increased with household assets, size of farmland, and age of household head. However, the same decreased with household size. We found gender disparity to be one of the key issues that need attention in formulating future policies to reduce inequality. We recommend promotion of livelihood diversification as well as the designing and implementation of tailor-made training and farm financing mechanism to help the less resource-endowed farmers in mountain areas to raise their economic portfolios and social status and combat income poverty and inequality.

Employment Structure,Lewis Turning Point and the Labor Share of Income:Theoretical and Empirical Analysis

In the context of the labor market segmentation in China and its reaching the Lewis turning point,this paper interprets the changing trend of the labor share of income in China from the changing perspective of the employment ownership structure.The theoretical analysis reveals that the labor share of income follows a U-shaped curve when the agricultural labor force gradually moves into the private and self-employed sectors.Using the Chinese provincial-level panel dataset between 1990 and 2016,our empirical study finds that there is a critical threshold.When the share of agricultural labor force is above this threshold value,the impact of the increase in the employment share of the urban private sector on the labor share of income is negative.In contrast,the impact becomes positive when the share of the agricultural labor force is less than or equal to this threshold value.Moreover,the impacts of other variables of employment ownership structure don’t show this kind of feature on both sides of this threshold value.The increase in the employment share of the urban private sector accounted for about 29.37%of the growing labor share of income between 2007 and 2016.This paper provides policy implications in the following four areas:institutional guarantee improvement,harmonious labor relations establishment,redistribution policy imposition and economic development pattern transformation.

Fiscal pressure and local economic growth--An experiment from China income tax sharing system reform

In this paper,we construct an“as-if”DID model on the basis of the 2002“Income Tax Sharing System”reform and evaluate the changes in local fiscal pressure based on an exogenous shock that redefines the tax sharing rules between the central government and local governments.By using the DMSP/OLS satellite data at the city-level,we empirically examine the impact of fiscal pressure on the economic growth.We find that fiscal pressure significantly increase the satellite lighting.Furthermore,we obtain the findings as follows.Firstly,the incentive effects of fiscal pressure effects are less profound in cities that receive considerable intergovernmental transfers from high levels of governments.Secondly,the local governments are more likely to help the growth of real estate industry,which can reciprocally bring them considerable sales taxation.However,this homogenized growth pattern might be detrimental for economic diversification and finally enhance the risk of economical fluctuation.Finally,the fiscal pressure created by the reform restricts the extent to which jurisdictions compete with each other.However,the tax competition still exists because local governments are able to lower the tax rate once they gain enough revenues from land-sales.This paper provides a new explanation for China’s high-speed growth in addition to expenditure decentralization or administration decentralization.It also offers extra evidence for exploring the growth incentives of local government within the framework of China’s decentralization.

Blockchain-as-a-Service and Blockchain-as-a-Partner: Implementation options for supply chain optimization

Smart contracts show a high potential to make supply chain management strategies epochally leap towards higher levels of productivity,not only in the functioning of production processes but also in terms of product innovation and overall economic returns.This article illustrates the principle of Income Sharing as a highly performing economic strategy for supply chains with a natural implementation in blockchain smart contracts.It proposes a blockchain-based architecture that uses smart contracts to implement various algorithmic versions of the Income Sharing principle among companies participating in a supply chain.The formation of the total income and its consequent redistribution are calculated taking into account the role of the technological platform automating these procedures,which therefore becomes a party to the inter-company business project of a supply chain in the alternative roles,as feasible in business practice,of Blockchain-as-a-Service and Blockchain-as-a-Partner.The approach is implemented on Hyperledger Fabric,the most widespread platform for private and consortium blockchains.We compare and justify this design choice with the alternative given by public blockchains,with specific attention to Ethereum.