Fiscal competition and regional differentiation

Regions can benefit by offering infrastructure services that are differentiated. Competition between regions over potential investors is then less direct, allowing them to realize greater benefits from external investors. The two polar cases of full and incomplete information about investors' needs are studied. In both cases, there is regional differentiation. However, fiscal competition is efficient in the former case but not in the latter. Finally, it is shown that free entry in the location market calls for some regulation because of the excessive number of competing regions that would prevail in equilibrium.     

Investment in public infrastructure with spillovers and tax competition between contiguous regions

Two contiguous regions compete to attract a population of heterogeneous firms. They choose infrastructure levels in a first stage and compete in taxes in a second stage. We study the properties of Subgame Perfect Nash equilibria in this stage game depending on the extent to which the benefits of infrastructure spill over from one region to the other. First, we show that the presence of inter-regional spillovers allows jurisdictions to control for the intensity of tax competition and therefore affects the optimal levels of infrastructure selected at equilibrium. Second, by comparing the non-cooperative and cooperative outcomes, we show that the extent to which regions overinvest in infrastructures negatively depends on the intensity of the spillovers.     

Public input competition and agglomeration

This paper analyzes the impact of public input competition in a New Economic Geography framework. It is shown that regional competition yields an overprovision of public inputs if trade costs are sizable while it leads to underprovision if regions are highly integrated. Moreover, public input competition assures a dispersion of industry as long as trade costs are high but induces agglomeration even for ex ante identical regions if trade costs have fallen below a certain value. Finally, a trade-off between regional convergence and efficiency arises since the efficient distribution of regional infrastructure requires full agglomeration for sufficiently low trade costs.     

我国货币财政政策存在区域效应的实证分析

货币财政政策是现代国家干预经济的两个最重要的宏观调控政策，关于它们的研究文献数不胜数，但是长期以来一直没有对两政策实施后的区域效应给予足够的重视。本文结合目前我国东中西三大经济地带的经济发展已经存在明显差距的现实，通过两地区的简约化模型对1978-2004年间我国货币政策与财政政策在东部和中西部两个样本地区的作用进行了实证分析，结果表明，我国货币财政政策确实存在区域不对称效应，特别是货币政策，具有明显的区域影响差异。     

基于公共政策导向的区域规划研究——兼论中国区域规划的改革方向

文章剖析了公共政策与区域规划的涵义,指出区域规划是一种公共政策,并建立了两者之间的关系.文章分析了我国区域规划缺乏公共政策属性的有关方面,在解析、借鉴国外区域规划的基础上,探讨了对我国区域规划基于公共政策导向的改革建议.     

完善公共文化服务体系的财政政策研究

公共文化服务体系作为"十二五"规划的重中之重,是现代政府公共服务体系的重要组成部分,同时也关系着我国经济社会和人的全面发展。建立健全公共文化服务体系,增强公共文化产品供给和服务能力,不断满足人民群众日益增长的精神文化需求,是政府职能在公共文化领域的具体体现,也是服务型政府的历史使命。本文在深刻阐述公共文化服务体系与政府责任的基础上,通过对政府运用财政手段支持公共文化服务体系建设现状的分析,提出建立和完善公共文化服务体系的财政政策,以期推动社会主义文化大发展大繁荣。     

Fiscal Policy and Economic Growth

This paper surveys the literature on fiscal policy and economic growth. We present a unifying framework for the analysis of long run growth implications of government expenditures and revenues. We find that several tax rates and expenditure categories exhibit a direct impact on the growth rate of the economy. In a creative synthesis we have assigned the relevant literature to the twelve introduced policy variables. Due to the equivalence of some policy variables we are left with six degrees of freedom, where we need four to internalize the model's intrinsic externalities, leaving two instruments to conduct short run fiscal policy.     

PRODUCTIVE GOVERNMENT EXPENDITURE AND ECONOMIC GROWTH

Abstract.  We provide a comprehensive survey of the recent literature on the link between productive government expenditure and economic growth. We show that an understanding of the core results and the ensuing contributions can be gained from the study of their respective Euler equations. We argue that the existing literature incorporates many relevant aspects; however, policy recommendations tend to hinge on several knife-edge assumptions. Therefore, future research ought to focus more on idea-based endogenous growth models to check the robustness of policy recommendations. Moreover, the inclusion of hitherto unexplored types of government expenditure, e.g. on the 'rule of law', would be desirable.     

WHAT HAVE WE LEARNED FROM THREE DECADES OF RESEARCH ON THE PRODUCTIVITY OF PUBLIC CAPITAL?

The last three decades have witnessed a great deal of research effort devoted to measuring the private output elasticity of public capital. The wide range of available estimates have precluded any consensus so far, however. This paper reconciles the empirical findings of the literature by quantitatively analyzing a sample of 578 estimates collected from 68 studies for the 1983–2008 period. Using meta‐regression analysis, we show how study design characteristics and publication bias can explain a large fraction of the variation across estimates. We find a short‐run output elasticity of public capital supplied at the central government level of 0.083, which increases to 0.122 in the long run. If, in addition, only core infrastructure at a regional/local level of government is considered, these estimates are almost doubled. The average output elasticity of public capital amounts to 0.106. Our results suggest that public capital is undersupplied in OECD economies.     

区域间公共基础设施溢出效应研究

运用中国各省(市、自治区)1990-2008年的面板数据,通过建立空间计量模型,对区域问基础设施投资的空间外溢性进行检验.研究结果显示.公共基础设施投资对区域经济的增长不仅在本区域内具有外部溢出效应,在区域间也存在显著的外部溢出效应.这表明莱一地区的公共基础设施投入不仅可以提升本地区的产出,也会对相邻区域的经济增长产生...     

欧洲货币一体化中的财政约束研究——基于价格水平的财政理论(FTPL)视角

随着目前欧元区财政经济状况的整体恶化,稳定与增长的矛盾凸显,欧盟《稳定与增长公约》框架下的财政约束条款再度引发诸多争议。基于价格水平的财政理论(FTPL)视角,本文试图论证为实现欧元区物价稳定和欧元汇率稳定的双重目的,欧盟《稳定与增长公约》框架下的财政约束有其必要性。     

FINANCING URBAN INFRASTRUCTURE: KNOWNS,UNKNOWNS, AND A WAY FORWARD

Improved urban infrastructure is widely believed to be essential in facilitating economic growth and in improving the lives of urban dwellers, both in developed and in developing countries. This paper focuses on several dimensions of urban infrastructure finance: finance for major infrastructure improvements in major economic centers, finance for expansion of basic municipal services in secondary cities and towns, and intergovernmental systems for financing investments with impacts beyond jurisdictional limits. It reviews what is “known” about current practices in these areas, using international evidence and case studies and summarizing international best practices. It also indicates areas in which knowledge gaps remain. Despite these “unknowns,” there are avenues by which our understanding of infrastructure schemes can be enhanced, and some suggestions for a research agenda on financing urban infrastructure are offered in the concluding section.     

Reprint to: Infrastructure provision and macroeconomic performance

This paper studies the differences between private and government provision of infrastructure. Capital utilization decisions and their differential role in determining market prices for capital goods under the two regimes of infrastructure provision serve as a critical transmission mechanism for fiscal policy. A subsidy to private providers of infrastructure is preferable to direct government provision irrespective of how the subsidy or expenditure is financed. The case for private provision is much stronger in economies characterized by high levels of congestion. The choice between private and government provision also has a crucial effect on the design of optimal fiscal policy.     

Infrastructure provision and macroeconomic performance

This paper studies the differences between private and government provision of infrastructure. Capital utilization decisions and their differential role in determining market prices for capital goods under the two regimes of infrastructure provision serve as a critical transmission mechanism for fiscal policy. A subsidy to private providers of infrastructure is preferable to direct government provision irrespective of how the subsidy or expenditure is financed. The case for private provision is much stronger in economies characterized by high levels of congestion. The choice between private and government provision also has a crucial effect on the design of optimal fiscal policy.     

On the incentives to experiment in federations

Conventional wisdom has it that policy innovation is better promoted in a federal rather than in a unitary system. Recent research, however, has provided theoretical evidence to the contrary: a multi-jurisdictional system is characterized—due to the existence of a horizontal information externality—by under-provision of policy innovation. This paper presents a simple model that introduces political competition for federal office and emphasizes that such competition plays an important role in shaping the incentives for experimentation. For, in this case, political actors use the innovative policies to signal ability to the electorate. This effect may offset the effect that arises from the incentive to free ride, and so a federal system may generate more innovation than a unitary one.     

中国财政政策规则及其体制稳定性分析

本文构建了内生捕捉我国财政政策体制变化的财政规则,并对产出缺口稳定动机和债务稳定动机反应进行了分析。基于马尔科夫转换财政政策反馈规则的实证估计表明,不同体制下,财政赤字与政府债务和产出缺口之间存在不同的政策反应关系;与基于不变参数识别的规则相比,体制转换财政规则能更好地追踪我国财政赤字的时间序列行为。这意味着,假定财政政策体制总是固定的货币政策规则研究以及基于不变财政体制框架VAR度量财政政策冲击高频率效应的实证研究都应慎重。     

财政金融政策对中国民营经济发展的影响效应研究

当前中国民营经济正处于转型发展期,分析影响中国民营经济发展的因素显得尤为重要。本文运用向量误差修正模型实证研究了财政金融政策与中国民营经济发展的关系。结果显示,财政政策、金融政策都会正向长期地促进中国民营经济发展,金融政策对中国民营经济发展的影响效应明显比财政政策大,且财政金融政策均为中国民营经济发展的单向因果原因。在此基础上,提出了促进中国民营经济转型发展的相关财政金融政策建议。     

一般性转移支付:能否促进基本公共服务供给?

财力事权不匹配被广泛认为是制约地方政府供给基本公共服务的主要原因,长期的政策是增加一般性转移支付规模和比重,但是本文的实证结果发现一般性转移支付对基本公共服务的供给的影响极其微弱。这一结论的得出基于2000余个县级样本,同时运用FE-OLS和GMM估计方法估计,分别将教育、医疗、社会保障三项支出作为基本公共服务供给的度量指标。政策含义为,虽然专项转移支付有诸多弊端,但就基本公共服务供给而言,更应依靠专项转移支付,中央通过增加一般性转移支付来促进基本公共服务供给的政策需要改变。