Beneficial Inequality in the Provision of Municipal Services: Why Rich Neighborhoods Should Get Plowed First

This paper provides an explanation for the common observation that higher income neighborhoods typically receive better public services compared with lower income neighborhoods. Intuitively, one might expect that lower income groups, which usually form the voting majority of cities, would object to an unfair allocation of this nature. Wealthy individuals, however, have the option of moving to the suburbs. As we learn from the tax competition literature, mobile factors are generally able to command a premium. Since institutional constraints prevent regressive taxation and public goods are by definition consumed in equal quantity by all agents, only public services remain as an instrument for municipalities to use to keep wealthy agents in their tax base. We show that both rich and poor agents benefit from this differential access to public services and explore how factors like the ratio of rich to poor and the differences between their incomes affect the equilibrium allocation.     

Habits and Durability in Consumption,and the Effects of Tariff Protection

Some recent empirical findings are used to motivate employing a model in which consumption exhibits durability, and habits develop over the flow of services provided by them, in order to study the effects of tariff protection on the current account. Durability leads to adjacent substitutability in consumption, while habits are assumed to lead to adjacent complementarity. If durability effects are dominant in the short run, and habit effects in the long run, then tariffs will lead to a current account surplus, which will be followed by a deficit. In the opposite case, a deficit will be followed by a surplus.     

Population aging,consumption budget allocation and sectoral growth

This paper assesses the heterogeneous effects of population aging on personal budget allocation across sectors. Using China's household survey data, we break down each household expenditure component into its constituent members. We find consistent and robust age profiles of the composition of personal consumption expenditures. Young people spend larger proportions of their budget on food and education, culture, and recreation services. The middle-aged spend significantly more on clothing and transportation and communication. Lastly, the elderly spend substantially more on food and health care and medical services. After controlling for period and cohort effects as well as other socio-economic factors, we still find age to be a fundamental driver of consumption budget allocation. We also incorporate the estimated results into the population forecast data and predict the evolution of China's consumption budget allocation patterns driven by demographic change.     

The impact of financial development on the income and consumption levels of China’s rural residents

In this paper, we investigate the impact of financial development on rural residents’ income and consumption levels in China. We discover that the development of traditional financial services has little impact on the income and consumption levels of rural residents. In contrast, the development of emerging financial services has a significant positive impact on the income and consumption levels of rural residents. Traditional financial services, as is well known, require collateral and high expected future cash flows from customers, making financial inclusion difficult. Emerging financial services in China are special financial services promoted by financial regulators to support technological innovation, cultural development, environmental protection, and rural development. Our findings suggest that these emerging financial services are effective in increasing the income and consumption levels of rural residents. Interestingly, while emerging financial services that directly target rural development have no significant impact on rural residents' income and consumption, financial support for technological advancement and cultural development appears to be more effective in increasing rural residents' income and consumption.     

金融公共服务与农村信贷市场“使命漂移”的政策纠偏——基于门槛效应的理论与证据

农村金融市场借贷双向信息不对称导致的"使命漂移"及衍生的锚定效应,使贫困农户长期遭遇正规部门的金融排斥。基于社会公平考虑,政府可通过信息公共服务的"扶持之手"来弥补信贷市场失灵,使贫困农户得以跨越"门槛效应"而参与金融市场,促进金融普惠。使用农户问卷数据进行的实证研究结果表明：在"银行（贷）→农户（借）"层面,基于信息不对称的公共服务能降低信息门槛,使金融产品更好地服务于贫困农户;在"农户（借）→银行（贷）"层面,基于自我认知的公共信息服务,有利于诱导农户参与正规金融市场。综合效果是：公共金融服务可以降低财富（收入）水平的门槛要求、纠偏使命漂移,从而使金融产品能更好地瞄准于贫困农户而不是被误置于富裕农户。     

Can equalization of public services narrow the regional disparities in China? A spatial econometrics approach

Regional disparities that challenge the economy and public administration must be confronted by the governments and public in developing countries. As the extensive mode of economic growth has caused many problems in China, it is necessary to find other ways to promote the development of poor areas to narrow regional disparities in the country. This paper measures the equalization of public services and residents' living standards in China, based on a provincial panel data for the period 2001–2013, to analyze the impact of the equalization of public services on China's regional disparities. The empirical results, based on spatial econometrics models, show that the equalization of all types of public services can promote the regional equality of incomes and consumptions. There is also evidence suggesting that the regional disparities are affected by other economic and social factors.     

The Impact of Informal Financial Groups on Socio‐economic Development in Tanzania

Financial deepening is universally considered to be one of the vital means to trigger inclusive growth, in economies the world over, Tanzania being no exception. However, the lack of traditional collateral among the poor has made it virtually impossible for them to have access to financial services particularly in the formal financial institutions. It is in this context that the informal financial groups (IFGs) are so crucial in filling the financial inclusiveness gap among the poor in Tanzania. It is thus crucial that the efficacy of IFGs in improving the well‐being of the poor is assessed. It is in this context that the present study employs a quasi‐experiment mixed methodology to answer research questions. Findings have categorically shown that membership to IFGs has a positive and significant impact on various socio‐economic variables. Efforts to intensify education and training activities in IFGs, and their access to loans are some of the key recommendations that this paper suggests. It is hoped that the newly promulgated 2017 National Microfinance Policy shall be implemented to that effect.     

The impact of proposals to develop the king's cross railway lands

If the British Rail proposal for the King's Cross Railway Lands is approved, the scheme will go ahead just as the latest round of local authority legislation begins to bite. By the time builders are on site, new laws and regulations governing the provision of housing, education, services, local authority finance and land use controls will all be in place. In this context, the King's Cross scheme will act as a great Trojan horse unleashing huge changes in a highly concentrated form on a community whose guardians have already been disarmed. This article describes some of the likely effects of this unequal contest —on the local authority involved (Section I) and on the surrounding local communities (Section II). It argues the need for other local authorities to rethink their conceptual and corporate approach to future large-scale planning applications well in advance of their arrival at the Town Hall.     

What has happened to small business investment spending?

Conclusions Thoughtful citizens are rightfully concerned about the apparent sluggishness of total investment spending. Perhaps they should also be worried about who is doing the investing; the evidence presented in this paper indicates that in manufacturing there has been an increasing dominance by the largest 1000 firms during the last 15 years. This is due to an increasing share for the larger firms in total sales and to their relatively easier access to credit. While the regression results are significant, much more work needs to be done if we are to have an entirely satisfactory explanation of this phenomenon. If these results are confirmed, they will raise serious issues for public policy. Our nation's leadership in economic affairs and the high standard of living enjoyed by its citizens are largely a result of high productivity and technical change. No doubt our national mythology ascribes too important a role to the individual entrepreneur, but it is important that this avenue to progress be kept open. The largest firms have impressive talent and facilities, but they are not omnicient: Western Union was not interested in the telephone, and Kodak initially passed up instant photography. We will all pay if the economic or financial structure of the economy fails to offer support to those individuals, rare though they may be, who possess profound ideas but only modest finanial resources.     

Mobilizing non-conventional budgetary resources in Asia in the 21st century

The 21st century will be characterized by the curtailment of tax policy autonomy and high locational elasticities for economic activities. Resource mobilization tasks for Asian governments will therefore be far more complex. With respect to traditional taxes, base broadening and modernization of tax administration will have to be primary instruments of raising additional revenue rather than rate increases.The paper suggests that Asian countries will need to substantially enhance their capacity to benefit from innovative instruments of resource mobilization. These include public asset restructuring, treasury management, and revenue from creation of property rights, regulatory levies and more effective use of cost recovery and user charges. Resource mobilization and delivery of public services will have to be increasingly linked. An Asia wide tax forum to address common concerns, such as tax avoidance will need to be considered.     

Nelspruit and Dolphin Coast: Lessons from the first concession contracts

South Africa's first two long‐term concession contracts for water and sanitation were signed in early 1999. These complex public‐private partnerships (PPPs) in Nelspruit and Dolphin Coast will use private sector management expertise, as well as huge amounts of private capital investment, to address service delivery challenges in both areas. Especially important will be the extension of essential services to previously disadvantaged residents of both municipalities. The processes of preparing and negotiating these deals have been long and difficult. Councillors and officials have had to overcome a series of obstacles on their way to closing the deal, including fundamental misunderstandings about how such projects work on the part of unions, the general public, other government officials and even some members of South Africa's financial services community. This article provides an account of how and why these PPP projects were developed, and offers some of the key lessons learned regarding how to improve the process in the future.     

Energy demand and population changes

During the post World War 2 years energy consumption has grown 136% while population grew about 51%; per capita consumption of energy expanded, therefore, about 60%. For a given population size, demographic changes mean an increase in energy needs; for instance the larger the group of retirement age people, the smaller their energy needs than are those for a younger group. Estimates indicate that by the year 2000 the energy impact will be toward higher per capita consumption with 60% of the population in the 19-61 age group of workers. Rising female labor force participation will increase the working group even more; it has also been found that income and energy grow at a proportional rate. The authors predict that gasoline consumption within the US will continue to rise with availability considering the larger number of female drivers and higher per capita incomes. The flow of illegal aliens (750,000/year) will have a major impact on income and will use greater amounts of energy than can be expected. A demographic change which will lower energy demands will be the slowdown of the rate of household formation caused by the falling number of young adults. The response of energy demand to price changes is small and slow but incomes play a larger role as does the number of personal automobiles and social changes affecting household formation. Households, commercial space, transportation, and industry are part of every demand analysis and population projections play a major role in determining these factors.     

小微企业融资：风险、机遇与未来

让金融更好地服务小微企业和实体经济是我国金融改革和发展的基本方向。要做好这项工作,金融服务机构就必须转变观念,紧紧围绕小微企业的经营特征和融资需求来设计产品、提供服务、管理风险。融资服务机构要和小微企业建立起互信、互利、持久的平等合作关系,在小微客户出现困难时,要多做加法,少做减法。银行和非银行融资服务机构之间、大金融和小金融之间应该是合作、共赢、共生的关系。中国目前正处于历史上第三次金融发展机遇期,谁能判明大势、勇于创新、善于整合资源,谁就能在这个难得的历史机遇期,占得先机,成就事业。     

失地农民就业问题的经济学思考

随着我国经济的快速发展,在项目建设中政府征用了大量的土地,由于农村的社会保障体系不完善,农民失去了惟一的保障途径——土地,导致大量失地农民转化为城市贫民。而且随着城市化建设力度的加大,土地征用仍然不可避免,失地农民队伍将越来越大,失地农民的生活和出路问题也会越来越多。所以失地农民就业问题已经成为政府及经济学界亟待研究的重点课题。本文针对我国失地农民就业问题进行了经济学分析。     

浙江城乡结合部地区流动客户公话消费研究

近年来,农村通信状况普遍落后,农村与城市之间的"数字鸿沟"在拉大,缩小"数字鸿沟"、促进协调发展是建设信息社会的根本所在。在城市的公用电话已日趋饱和和农村市场未能得到有效开发背景下,充分开发农村电信市场可能成为各电信企业考虑的焦点。因此,本文将以浙江省城乡结合部地区流动人口的公用电话通信消费行为为研究的切入点,从电信运营商的角度对城乡结合部的公用电话消费的相关问题进行理论分析和实证研究。     

Revisiting wage subsidies: How pro-poor is a South African wage subsidy likely to be?

Wage subsidies have been used in both developed and developing countries to raise employment. After a decade of deliberation, the South African Government recently announced the introduction of a wage subsidy scheme. Given the intrinsic link between unemployment and poverty in South Africa, the belief is that a wage subsidy programme sufficient in scope will also make inroads into poverty. However, the way in which jobs are distributed among poor and non-poor jobseekers is crucial. Our general equilibrium microsimulation model confirms the expectation that a higher wage elasticity of labour demand is associated with larger reductions in poverty. We also find that a greater proportion of new jobs accrue to poor jobseekers when the elasticity is high. While youth-targeting does not improve the poverty-reducing effect of the policy, sectors such as textiles, accommodation, and construction services with their pro-poor employment profiles are good candidates for targeting.     

The terms of trade between the public and private sector

Summary Budgetary policy mostly deals with the short run, during which period technology and factor endowments change only slightly. In the longer run, however, the capital-labour ratio may rise systematically and the productivity of the resources may increase due to technical progress. Consequently prices and outputs change and the real wage rate will increase. As public services are labour-intensive the relative price of public expenditure will also be leveled up. If, furthermore, the volume of public expenditure grows at the same rate as the national income, an increase of the, relative size of the public sector becomes unavoidable.     

Lights out? COVID-19 containment policies and economic activity

This paper estimates how strongly COVID-19 containment policies have impacted aggregate economic activity. We use a difference-in-differences methodology to estimate how containment zones of different severity across India impacted district-level nighttime light intensity, as well as household income and consumption. From May to July 2020, nighttime light intensity was 9.1 % lower in districts with the most severe restrictions compared with districts with the least severe restrictions, which could imply between 5.8 % and 6.6 % lower GDP. Nighttime light intensity was only 1.6 % lower in districts with intermediate restrictions. The differences were largest in May during the graded lockdown, and tapered in June and July. Lower house-hold income and consumption corresponding to zone-wise restrictions corroborate these results. Stricter containment measures had larger impacts in districts with greater population density, older residents, and more services employment. The large magnitudes of the findings suggest that governments should carefully consider the economic costs of country-wide pandemic containment policies while weighing the trade-offs against public health benefits. Keywords: Containment policies, COVID-19, Nighttime lights, India     

影响资本账户开放策略选择的因素——金融稳定的视角

金融稳定下影响资本账户开放策略选择的关联因素分析是目前国内外文献的研究热点。本文构建一个包含资本账户开放、金融稳定、国内储蓄率、对外债务履约状况、公众对金融体系的信心、金融深化以及消费不均等程度等诸多因素组成的系统分析框架,采用理论模型和实证方法探讨影响新兴市场经济体金融开放的相关因素。综合研究成果表明,资本账户开放在某种程度上会导致金融风险的上升。一国较低的储蓄率以及对外债务状况的恶化则会加剧开放引致的金融风险,而金融深化与消费水平不均等程度的改善以及公众对金融体系信心的提升在一定程度上都会有效增强开放进程中经济体的金融稳定程度,进而实现占优策略均衡。值得注意的是,本文提出了中国存在针对金融开放进程进行重新再思考的现实必要性。     

A Tale of Two Gate-Sharing Plans: The National Football League and the National League, 1952-1956

Do professional sports leagues design revenue-sharing rules primarily to help financially weaker teams, or do such organizations view revenue-sharing rules as ways to reward teams for being competitive? Baseball's National League and the National Football League provide evidence from the 1950s that revenue-sharing plans may have surprising effects. If strong teams draw well on the road, revenue-sharing plans may provide modest succor to teams in smaller cities and may benefit teams in larger cities. The two leagues' experiences also suggest that owners are willing to enact regressive aspects in their revenue-sharing plans, possibly to forestall moral hazard possibilities arising from automatically helping teams that remain poor draws or that fail to improve.