Paradigmatic Shifts in Automobile Manufacturing
ABSTRACTOne of the greatest problems facing the U.S. auto industry is the erosion of its manufacturing base. Another is the increasing challenge from Japan, which keeps building on its solid postwar accomplishments mapped out by such pioneers as Taiichi Ohno and Shigeo Shingo. Their enduring legacy includes a reliance on the firm's human resources for maintaining productivity and quality control. The Japanese paradigm thus has a built-in mechanism for self-improvement and competitiveness enhancement.The continued strife in Detroit suggests that the older American paradigm must be restructured; its top-down way of conducting business must allow labor to become a genuine partner with management instead of an adversary. The Japanese immigrant plants in the United States clearly show the way to do this. While such restructuring is frequently time-consuming, the period available for reform dwindles as the Asians keep strengthening their U.S. operations.
Japan's technology trade
Abstract Japan's heavy importation of technology is placed within a historical context and found to be highly efficient in terms of the country's economic development goals. The Asian nation's comprehensive approach in securing and importing the appropriate know-how together with the necessary investments in human resources and capital all aided the transfer and employment of the acquired technology. Statistics on education and study and the use of foreign expertise and schools are cited to illustrate the various efforts at keeping abreast of the West during the turmoil of the last century. Over the long term, these efforts have proved consistent and in the end, usually rewarding. Currently, the trade picture appears poised for a fundamental change as Japan becomes a net exporter of advanced technology. Such a shift will have worldwide consequences for science and commerce.
Speci fi cation Test for Panel Data Models with Interactive Fixed E ff ects ∗
In this paper, we propose a consistent nonparametric test for linearity in a large dimensional panel data model with interactive fixed effects. Both lagged dependent variables and conditional heteroskedasticity of unknown form are allowed in the model. We estimate the model under the null hypothesis of linearity to obtain the restricted residuals which are then used to construct the test statistic. We show that after being appropriately centered and standardized, the test statistic is asymptotically normally distributed under both the null hypothesis and a sequence of Pitman local alternatives by using the concept of conditional strong mixing that was recently introduced by Prakasa Rao (2009). To improve the finite sample performance, we propose a bootstrap procedure to obtain the bootstrap -value. A small set of Monte Carlo simulations illustrates that our test performs well in finite samples. An application to an economic growth panel dataset indicates significant nonlinear relationships between economic growth, initial income level and capital accumulation.