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Standard-Nutzungsbedingungen:Die Dokumente auf EconStor dürfen zu eigenen wissenschaftlichen Zwecken und zum Privatgebrauch gespeichert und kopiert werden.Sie dürfen die Dokumente nicht für öffentliche oder kommerzielle Zwecke vervielfältigen, öffentlich ausstellen, öffentlich zugänglich machen, vertreiben oder anderweitig nutzen.Sofern die Verfasser die Dokumente unter Open-Content-Lizenzen (insbesondere CC-Lizenzen) zur Verfügung gestellt haben sollten, gelten abweichend von diesen Nutzungsbedingungen die in der dort genannten Lizenz gewährten Nutzungsrechte. Exploiting a representative panel covering the period of the China's miracle, we find that HG firms outperform other firms, showing higher productivity, higher profitability, larger investment intensity, higher sales from product innovation, lower interest expenses and lower leverage. HG firms are also relatively young, larger in size, more often exporters and more concentrated in non-State-controlled companies. Terms of use: Documents inHowever, regression analysis suggests that none of the indicators of structural characteristics and performance considered above displays any statistical association with the ability to persistently replicate high-growth over time. The results speak against the long-run effectiveness of policies supporting the creation and backing of high-growth firms.JEL codes: D22, D24, L26

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The aim of this study is to evaluate the antibacterial activity and urease inhibitory effects of patchouli alcohol (PA), the bioactive ingredient isolated from Pogostemonis Herba, which has been widely used for the treatment of gastrointestinal disorders. The activities of PA against selected bacteria and fungi were determined by agar dilution method. It was demonstrated that PA exhibited selective antibacterial activity against Helicobacter pylori, without influencing the major normal gastrointestinal bacteria. Noticeably, the antibacterial activity of PA was superior to that of amoxicillin, with minimal inhibition concentration value of 78 µg/mL. On the other hand, PA inhibited ureases from H.pylori and jack bean in concentration-dependent fashion with IC50 values of 2.67 ± 0.79 mM and 2.99 ± 0.41 mM, respectively. Lineweaver-Burk plots indicated that the type of inhibition was non-competitive against H.pylori urease whereas uncompetitive against jack bean urease. Reactivation of PA-inactivated urease assay showed DL-dithiothreitol, the thiol reagent, synergistically inactivated urease with PA instead of enzymatic activity recovery. In conclusion, the selective H.pylori antibacterial activity along with urease inhibitory potential of PA could make it a possible drug candidate for the treatment of H.pylori infection.

This work explores the dynamics of the 'virtuous circle' driving the impressive Chinese catching-up and growth by investigating the micro relationships linking productivity, profitability, investment and growth, based on China's manufacturing firm-level dataset over the period 1998-2007. Interestingly and somewhat puzzlingly, we find that productivity variations, rather than relative levels, are the prevalent productivity-related determinant of firm growth. Moreover, the direct relation between profitability and firm growth is much weaker and its contribution to the explanation of the different rates of firm growth is almost negligible. The only visible profitability-growth relationship is mediated via investment. Firm's contemporaneous and lagged profitabilities display positive and significant effect on the probability to report an investment spike, and, in turn, investment activities are related to higher firm growth.

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This paper highlights new findings on the wage-productivity nexus in the World Factory Economy. After presenting the long-run macro-elasticity characterizing the phase of Chinese economic development since the eighties, we look at the wage-productivity nexus from a micro level perspective using a detailed firm-level dataset covering the period of ownership restructuring (1998-2007). A few results are quite robust under different estimation strategies. First, throughout the impressive Chinese economic miracle, elasticities of real wages to productivities-that is the ratios of rates of variations of the former to the latter-are always positive both under pooled and longitudinal estimates, both at firm-and sectoral-levels. Second, such elasticities are dramatically low, and falling in many distinct phases since the late seventies. That is, even in the manufacturing sector, the distribution of gains from the impressive labour productivity growth appears to be markedly uneven. Finally, third, governance institutions seem to matter a lot, with the majority of ownership types exhibiting firm-specific wage determination processes. The low elasticities of wages to productivity are plausibly the consequence of the massive flow of migrant workers from the rural areas to the coasts, somewhat resembling the early phase of the English Industrial Revolution with the pattern of enclosure in the countryside and massive migrations to the industrial towns.