英、美垄断产业放松规制改革的历程及特点

垄断产业改革的重要趋势就是放松规制。20世纪70年代以来,美国、英国等成熟市场经济国家纷纷对本国垄断产业开始了放松规制的改革。从国际经验来看,垄断行业放松规制可使生产效率显著提高,服务质量不断上升,服务价格不断下降。但中国在垄断行业放松规制改革后,出现了以国际潮流相悖的现象,值得我们广泛关注。     

自然垄断产业放松规制的理论依据及政策取向

中国自然垄断产业规制改革滞后于其他改革,这影响了整体国民经济的有效运行。本文通过规制失灵、技术和需求变化、产业融合、规制理论新发展等自然垄断产业放松规制因素的逻辑分析,借鉴国际上自然垄断产业放松规制的经验,提出具有一定现实意义的中国自然垄断产业放松规制的政策建议:加快自然垄断性国有企业产权改革进程,构建有效竞争基础;完善规制法律体系,建立独立规制机构;垂直分解与剥离重组相结合,引入竞争与激励机制。     

从经济规制理论的发展演进看如何处理好政府和市场之间的关系

规制者与企业之间实际上是一种委托-——代理关系,它要解决的核心问题是双方之间的信息不对称,为此,就要设计有效的激励规制合同,既给垄断性企业以提高经营效率的激励,同时又实现消费者福利的最大化.不过,激励规制只是对传统经济规制方法的一种优化,有其局限性和有限的适用范围.放松甚至完全取消经济规制,在垄断性行业内真正引入市场竞争机制,实现从垄断市场结构向有效竞争市场结构的转变,是规制改革的大方向.     

中国自然垄断产业放松规制改革时机选择与时序设计研究

中国自然垄断产业改革的一个重要趋势是放松规制。垄断产业放松规制改革需要在恰当的时机实现阶段性突破,放松规制改革的实施需要满足放松规制改革的净收益大于补偿受损利益集团的社会成本这一硬性约束条件。同样,放松规制改革的时序设计也十分重要,不同的时序选择会导致不同的改革效果。我国自然垄断产业放松规制改革可以采取先易后难的改革战略,分阶段进行。     

我国铁路业的发展现状与政府规制改革

近20年来,放松规制、引入竞争、产权私有已成为世界各国自然垄断产业市场化改革的主导趋势。我国已开始了对电信、电力和航空等相关领域的改革,取得了显著成效,但铁路业的规制改革却迟迟未能取得实质性的进展。通过分析我国铁路部门的特殊性质和规制改革的效果论证了铁路规制改革的可行性,并建立起我国铁路规制改革的理论框架。     

论港口业务领域的分类规制政策

港口产业是国民经济的战略性基础产业和自然垄断产业改革的重要对象。对港口产业经济特性的传统认识使之长期以政府规制和公共经营为主导发展特征,但这却导致港口服务低效率和高成本。以往研究港口产业经济特性时,一般是从整体的角度来描述其自然垄断性,并认为有必要由政府施加经济规制。但实际上,对港口业务应该做进一步细分,以更准确地认识其经济特性。根据对港口不同业务领域规制需求的分析,在港口产业规制改革的具体过程中应该实行分类规制政策。为保障港口民营化改革的成功实施,基于对港口各业务环节不同经济特性的分类识别,提出了港口规制改革政策的基本模式,即在仍具有自然垄断特征的基础设施环节保持内生规制和引进接入定价规制,在竞争性环节放松或取消规制、实行竞争强化战略,在中间领域引入激励性规制。     

促进基础设施产业民营化的政府规制体系改革研究

针对基础设施产业民营化进展缓慢的现状,本文提出了促进基础设施产业民营化的政府规制体系改革建议:加强规制机构的独立性,防止规制机构对国有企业的偏袒,为民营企业提供公平的规制环境;放松基础设施产业中非自然垄断环节的进入规制,并实施有利于民间资本进入的过渡性的不对称规制;改革市政公用事业和公共产品领域的规制体系;为非自然垄断环节的民营企业正常运营提供保障,加强自然垄断环节与非自然垄断环节之间的接入规制。     

放松管制与规制重建—中国基础部门引入竞争后的政府行为分析

随着基础部门逐渐引入竞争,政府在放松管制的同时,为确保有效竞争的实现,还需要重建规制。规制重建包括两大方面,一是规制机构本身的重建,重点是要实现政企分开和保持规制机构的独立性;二是规制内容体系的完善,重点是要建立包括激励性规制、不对称规制、反垄断规制与社会性规制在内的“四位一体”的规制体系。     

美国自来水业规制体系改革与绩效分析

20世纪80年代以来,美国自来水业在进入规制、价格规制、质量规制和环境规制等方面进行了不同程度的改革,在促进公有自来水公司与私人自来水公司的竞争、节省运营费用、增加了消费者福利等方面取得了较为积极的影响,但美国的投资回报率规制在一定程度上影响了企业绩效,如产生“A—J效应”以及企业缺乏降低成本的动力等问题。     

强化规制与放松规制的动因比较：以城市公用事业为例

关于民营化涉及到的规制改革方面，放松规制与强化规制均有道理。放松规制的依据在于引入竞争可以刺激效率的提高；城市公用事业的自然垄断属性并非一成不变；传统的规制存在规制失灵的问题。强化规制的依据在于通过强化规制可以抑制垄断价格，维护分配效率；可以为有效竞争创造条件；民营化对社会性规制的要求提高。实际上，我国城市公用事业规制改革既是一个放松规制的过程，又是一个强化规制的过程，从本质上属于规制重建的过程。     

Effects of Public Infrastructure on Cost Structure and Productivity in the Private Sector

This paper examines the effects of public infrastructure on the cost structure and productivity in the private sector in Australia. Translog cost functions incorporating public capital infrastructure are estimated for the aggregate private sector as well as for seven broad industry groups using annual time series data for 1968/69–1995/96. The effects of public infrastructure on productivity are measured in terms of both cost-saving and output-augmenting measures. The empirical results suggest that public infrastructure has a positive and significant impact on productivity in private sector industries. Public capital serves as a substitute for both private capital and labour. The rates of return to public capital are significant and vary over the sample period.     

Labour hoarding,employment and unemployment in British manufacturing industry

The impact of the provision of public infrastructure on private economic activity is examined. Using a flexible functional form of a cost function with public infrastructure as an additional external input the paper estimates the shadow-price of public infrastructure services for the manufacturing, trade and transport and the construction industries. The results indicate significant cost savings that result from the provision of public infrastructure services. In addition, the paper investigates both empirically as well as theoretically, the question whether the neglect of the provision of public capital within the growth accounting framework provides an explanation for the generally observed productivity slowdown.     

THE DIVERSITY GAP IN THE PUBLIC–PRIVATE PARTNERSHIP INDUSTRY: AN EXAMINATION OF WOMEN AND VISIBLE MINORITIES IN SENIOR LEADERSHIP POSITIONS

Despite intense focus on leadership diversity in industries such as high technology, business, the media and academia, to date the infrastructure sector has not received the same level of scrutiny. This paper develops a theoretical framework to explain why leadership diversity matters in the management of complex infrastructure projects delivered through public – private partnerships, and then empirically identifies the diversity gap in senior leadership in the PPP industry worldwide. The study is based on an examination of over 2,800 public and private sector executives, board members and politicians responsible for PPPs in over 90 countries. The results show that women and racial minorities are significantly underrepresented in senior leadership roles, a pattern that is deeply entrenched and consistent globally. The paper concludes by discussing the implications of the findings for the infrastructure industry, and explores how a lack of leadership diversity can influence project management outcomes.     

State ownership,political connections and entry barriers: evidence from China

Private enterprises may encounter high industrial barriers in China because of government administrative restrictions. We analyse the effect of partial state ownership on a privately controlled company’s participation in industries with state-imposed barriers. The results indicate that state ownership in privately controlled enterprises has a significantly positive effect on participation in high barrier industries. After controlling for partial state ownership, we find that personal political identity of entrepreneurs, a previously investigated dimension of political connections, becomes less important in explaining private enterprises’ participation in barrier industries. We also find the effect of state ownership on access to barrier industries will become weaker when local economy is more developed.     

ECONOMIC PERFORMANCE AND PUBLIC INFRASTRUCTURE: AN APPLICATION TO GREEK MANUFACTURING

To comprehend the impact of public infrastructure on economic performance this paper provides a measure of productivity growth as derived from duality theory. This productivity growth is decomposed into the components of technical change, returns to scale and the effects of public infrastructure, the variable of our interest. In an application, we opt for Greek manufacturing so as to investigate whether the decline in its growth rate is partly explained by public infrastructure. Despite some variation in the estimation results of shadow shares across industries, public infrastructure asserts a cost saving effect in most industries, though it also appears that traditional labour‐intensive industries with lower level of technological advancement do not benefit from the provision of public infrastructure. The estimation results further demonstrate that while public infrastructure enhanced productivity growth over the sample period for most industries, low infrastructure investment in the 1970s and the 1980s undermined productivity growth.     

Labor Inflow Induced Wage Inequality and Public Infrastructure

By making use of a simple general equilibrium model of a small open economy, the author examines the link between labor mobility and the size of wage inequality in the presence of productive public infrastructure. The paper shows that the provision of public infrastructure plays an important part in determining the size of labor inflow induced wage inequality. Specifically, it shows that, irrespective of the relative factor intensities, a small inflow of either skilled or unskilled labor does not affect the size of wage inequality if private industries derive equal benefits from public infrastructure provision. A small inflow of skilled (unskilled) labor increases (decreases) wage inequality if skilled (unskilled) labor intensive industry derives more benefits from public infrastructure.     

基础设施产业的有效组织模式探析

有效组织模式是运输产业可持续发展的重要保障条件。运输产业的有效组织模式主要体现在3个层面：（1）国有资本和社会资本的有机匹配；（2）组织模式的选择；（3）激励性制度的设计。运输产业组织模式必须有国有资本参与，组织模式要体现公企业的特点，并匹配合适的考核制度安排。     

Benefits Of Communications Infrastructure Capital In U.S. Economy

In this paper we empirically estimate the contribution of the communications infrastructure to the growth of output and productivity at the dis-aggregate industry and at the aggregate economy levels. The estimated value of the marginal benefits or the shadow price of the communications infrastructure capital is positive in each of 34 industries representing the major industrial sectors of the U.S. economy. This effect captures network externality benefits and can be interpreted as a willingness to pay by each industry for communications infrastructure capital services over and above their direct payments for communications services. These results suggest that an increase in communications infrastructure capital services reduces cost in all the industries and as a consequence that of the entire economy. The relatively high value of estimated total marginal benefits for the aggregate economy indicates a high social rate of return to the investments in communications infrastructure.     

Water as an investment: liquid yet illiquid!

The water industry is in great need of further large investments to address existing severe water shortages worldwide which requires the participation of private sector investors. This industry is heavily infrastructure based and is therefore saddled with fixed assets-in-place or illiquid assets. This exposes the industry to what is termed as ‘illiquidity risk’, and hence, investors in this industry should be compensated for bearing this risk with an appropriate return premium (i.e. extra return). In this study, we provide evidence as to whether illiquidity risk indeed significantly affects returns in this industry. We examine the case of all 76 firms that compose the five major global water indices. After controlling for other factors that impact on returns, our results suggest that asset illiquidity is positively associated with stock returns. Specifically, water firms with a larger proportion of illiquid assets-in-place are observed to have greater stock returns than those with a smaller proportion of illiquid assets. Our results have important implications for the financing of water-related projects particularly those which involve the participation of investors from the private sector.     

基础设施互联互通对出口经济体参与全球价值链的影响

本文利用亚洲开发银行（ADB)提供的贸易增加值分解数据构建出口经济体的全球价值链参与程度模型，实证检验各经济体间基础设施互联互通水平对各经济体参与全球价值链的影响。实证结果发现：基础设施互联互通水平促进了出口经济体在全球价值链中的前向垂直专业化参与率以及垂直专业化深度。贸易双方之间的技术差距、制度质量差距等因素会影响物流质量、双边联通变量对全球价值链参与程度的边际影响。技术差距、制度质量差距的增加会降低物流质量对出口经济体在全球价值链中前向垂直专业化参与率的促进作用，但会提高双边联通对出口经济体在全球价值链中前向垂直专业化参与率的促进作用。而技术差距、制度质量差距的变化对物流质量、双边联通对出口经济体在全球价值链中垂直专业化深度的促进作用没有影响。