Chia-Hung Sun

ASYMMETRIC INFORMATION AND RETURNS TO REPUTATION IN ONLINE AUCTIONS

In this paper, we explore whether seller reputation can help alleviate asymmetric information in Internet online auctions, using Taiwanese data. This study reveals that the influence of seller reputations on prices is statistically significant, indicating little cultural difference in online auction behaviors, especially the attitude towards seller reputation. Although negative scores do not affect auction prices in full sample regressions, the impact of negative scores becomes statistically significant in the separated sample (low-reputation auctions). Bidders are cautious about sellers who have not built enough reputation.

The Determinants of Price in Online Auctions: More Evidence from Quantile Regression

This study explores how seller reputations affect auction prices, and concludes that earlier findings may be biased due to the misspecification of seller reputation. This paper contributes to the literature by offering significant empirical evidence using Taiwanese Internet auction data. Our study reveals that the influence of seller reputations on auction prices is significant, irrespective of the assumptions of linear and non-linear relationships with price. However, failure to consider the non-linear setting of seller reputation would have led us to overestimate the impact of reputations on prices because marginal returns to an incremental increase in reputation declines rapidly for sellers who have more than 15 scores. In addition, using quantile regression, this study finds evidence of considerable differences in their impact on auction prices dependent on the distribution of price levels.

The determinants of price in online auctions: more evidence from unbalanced panel data

This study provides an alternative approach that takes account of the unobserved effects of each seller under a sample selection framework while using online auction data. We use data collected from Yahoo! Kimo Auction (Taiwan) to demonstrate that earlier empirical results of online auction studies may be biased due to violating the assumption of independence of the error terms between sample observations. Empirical findings show that seller reputation is no longer as the most important factor for buyers to bid on items, while the sample data confirm the unobserved heterogeneity of sellers and sample selection problem.

Taiwan's trade imbalance and exchange rate revisited

This article applies the recently developed econometric method of autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) model to re-examine the relationship between the exchange rate and bilateral trade imbalance for Taiwan and its several trading partners: China, Hong Kong, the US, Japan, South Korea and Malaysia. The implication of this issue is critical to policy makers, particularly after China and Taiwan joined the World Trade Organization (WTO) in late 2001 and early 2002, respectively. The empirical evidence shows a stable long-run relationship of bilateral trade balance and real exchange rate between Taiwan and its trading partners except Japan. Other findings indicate that except for the US, there is no specific pattern supporting the J-curve phenomenon for these trading partners.

Economic interdependence and bilateral trade imbalance across the Taiwan Strait

Purpose - Despite a growing interest in research, no existing study explores the nature of, and the relationship between, the real exchange rate and trade imbalance between Taiwan and China. These economies were admitted to the World Trade Organization in late 2001 (China) and in January 2002 (Taiwan). This study aims to redress this deficiency. Design/methodology/approach - Using Johansens cointegration approach and bilateral trade data, the study reveals overwhelming evidence of a stable long-run relationship of the real exchange rate and bilateral trade balance between Taiwan and its trading partners: China, the USA, Japan, Korea, Hong Kong and Singapore. Findings - The evidence indicates that the currency depreciation of the New Taiwan dollar improves Taiwans bilateral trade balance, except with China. Originality/value - The findings imply that Taiwan cannot resolve the cross-Strait trade imbalance alone via the currency depreciation, and macroeconomic adjustments, including application of the WTO rules, currency exchange and imports of Chinese goods, need to be negotiated on both sides of the Taiwan Strait.

Economic integration, efficiency change and technological progress

This article examines the forces driving output growth in 21 manufacturing industries at the 3-digit level in Hong Kong during the period 1976 to 1997. A varying frontier coefficients model is adopted that relaxes the assumption of homogeneous application of the best practice production technology. The varying coefficients frontier approach allows the decomposition of output growth into factor contributions, technological progress and efficiency change. Following the decomposition framework, it facilitates the investigation of the relative roles of the three components of output growth and of the manner in which technical efficiency changed over time. The article finds evidence of moderate annual TFP growth of 2.7% in Hong Kong manufacturing attributed mainly to technological progress. This implies technical efficiency gained through learning-by-doing has been insignificant, reflecting the loss of skilled labour associated with manufacturing relocation to mainland China.

The Conundrum of Economic Miracle: Manufacturing Growth without TFP Growth

The findings of low or even negative total factor productivity (TFP) growth in Singapores manufacturing industries by Young (1995) and many others has been a controversial issue in view of its crucial role in the future sustainability of Singaporean manufacturing. This paper applies the varying coefficients frontier model to re-examine productivity growth in Singapores manufacturing at the 3-digit industry level over the period 1970–1997. The results indicate that Singapores manufacturing has on average experienced a –0.8 percent TFP growth per annum although the extent of TFP growth improved slightly in the 1990s. The decomposition of TFP growth into technical efficiency change and technological progress, found technological regress is responsible for the negative TFP growth. Factor accumulation remains the principal contributor to the economic miracle of Singapores manufacturing industries.