Kwok Tong Soo

Zipf's Law and urban growth in Malaysia

This paper performs a test of Zipfs law (the size distribution of cities follows a Pareto distribution with shape parameter equal to 1) using data for Malaysian cities from five population censuses (1957, 1970, 1980, 1991 and 2000). For the full sample, Zipfs law is rejected for all periods except 1957, in favour of a city size distribution that is more unequal than would be predicted by Zipfs law. Results at the upper tail, where the distribution fits the Pareto distribution better, are more favourable to Zipfs law. Evidence is also found against Gibrats law of proportional growth: smaller cities grow faster, as do state capitals and cities in the states of Sabah and Selangor.

Does anyone use information from university rankings

This paper estimates the effect that the league table published in the Sunday Times University Guide has on perceptions of the quality of universities by head teachers and academics, and on Home, EU and Overseas student applications, using data from 2005 to 2009 and a System GMM model for dynamic panel data. Our main result is that university rankings influence the perceptions of head teachers and academics, but have no statistically significant impact on student applications. There is evidence of persistence in perceptions and applications, suggesting the importance of reputational factors. Perceptions of head teachers and academics of pre-92 and post-92 universities are influenced by different criteria.

From Licence Raj to Market Forces: The Determinants of Industrial Structure in India after Reform

This paper explores the relationship between factor endowments, technology and industrial structure, using a panel data-set of Indian industries across states, industries and time. Factor endowments and technology are found to be significantly related to industry shares, and this is robust to controlling for the slow adjustment of industrial structure. I also consider the impact of the liberalization of the Indian economy beginning in 1985 and 1991 on the relationship between these variables. While industrial structure is always positively related to technological advantage, factor endowments play an increasingly significant role after liberalization.

Grades across universities over time

This paper examines the determinants of degree outcomes in a sample of UK universities from 2004 to 2012. We use stochastic frontier methods to account for differences in efficiency across universities and over time. The quality of the student intake and the university’s research performance are the main determinants of degree outcomes. There is no evidence of grade inflation. Decomposing the determinants of degree outcomes, we find that good entry grades yield a higher return in traditional universities than in new universities. Although high quality universities award more good degrees, we find little evidence that universities of different quality differ in their propensity to inflate grades over time.

Endogenous Economic Policy and the Structure of Production: Theory and Evidence

This paper develops and tests a model that predicts a positive relationship between absolute levels of capital stock and how favourable are policies toward capital. The theoretical model we use is a model of campaign contributions and electoral competition, extended to consider the implications for factor mobility and hence the structure of production. There are two main predictions. First, countries with more capital stock tend to implement more pro-capital policies. Second, in a two country model, the country that initially has more capital will be able to attract capital infows from the other country. Given additional assumptions on the production side, this yields the prediction that the more different are countries.policies, the more different will be the set of goods which they produce. These predictions of the model are confrmed using panel data on cross-state differences in policies and economic outcomes in India.

The Impact of MBA Programme Attributes on Post-MBA Salaries.

ABSTRACT This paper explores the impact of various Master of Business Administration (MBA) programme attributes on the average post-MBA salary of graduates, contributing to the literature on the returns to an MBA degree, which to date has instead focused predominantly on the impact of individual student traits. The analysis uses a new panel dataset, comprising MBA programmes from across the world. Results indicate that pre-MBA salary and quality rank of programme are key determinants of post-MBA salary.

Country size and trade in intermediate and final goods

This paper documents a negative relationship between country size and the share of final consumption goods in total exports. A model is developed, based on the division of labour and comparative advantage, to explain this relationship. Labour is used to produce traded intermediate inputs which are used in the production of traded final goods. Large countries gain relatively more from comparative advantage than from the division of labour, while the opposite is true for small countries. As in the data, large countries export a smaller share of final goods and a larger share of intermediate goods than small countries. It is shown that the model developed in the paper yields the same results as a model based on monopolistic competition.

International trade and the division of labour

This paper develops a model of international trade based on the division of labour under perfect competition. International trade, by eliminating the duplication of coordination costs, leads to a greater variety of intermediate goods, each produced at a larger scale than in autarky. The greater variety of intermediate inputs implies greater division of labour and hence gains from trade. Similarly to models of international trade under imperfect competition, the volume of trade depends on the relative sizes of the trading partners. Extending the model to two factors of production yields the additional result that if the two countries are sufficiently similar in their relative endowments, then both factors of production can experience gains from trade.

Innovation across cities

This paper examines the distribution of patenting activity across cities in the OECD, using a sample of 218 cities from 2000 to 2008. We obtain three main results. First, patenting activity is more concentrated than population and GDP. Second, patenting activity is less persistent than population and GDP. Third, patenting exhibits mean-reversion, and is positively associated with GDP, the fragmentation of local government, and population density. Our results suggest that policymakers can influence the amount of innovative activity through the use of appropriate policies.

Intra-industry trade: A Krugman–Ricardo Model and Data

This paper develops a model of international trade with a continuum of countries and sectors, which combines Ricardian comparative advantage and increasing returns to scale. Trade consists of both inter‐ and intra‐industry trade. The model predicts that the trade‐weighted Grubel–Lloyd index of intra‐industry trade is positively related to the number of exported sectors, and is negatively related to the number of imported sectors. Empirical evidence from a panel of countries using the UN Comtrade database supports these predictions, and the model fits the data better for non‐OECD than for OECD countries.