欧盟统一市场的间接税协调

间接税协调是欧盟统一市场在发展过程中的一个重要问题,其协调的重点是增值税与消费税。在协调过程中,各成员国基于自身利益所发生的争议以及由此所采取的抵制行为在很大程度上阻碍了间接税协调的进程。展望未来,欧盟间接税协调依然面临着许多难以克服的困难,协调的结果将主要取决于各成员国彼此之间能够做出多少妥协和让步。     

Sources of the stock price fluctuations in Chinese equity market

This paper proposes a latent factor approach based on a state–space framework in order to identify which factor, if any, dominates price fluctuations in the Chinese stock markets. We also illustrate the connection of such stock price decomposition with several general equilibrium asset pricing models and show that the decomposition results can potentially offer useful insights with regard to the empirical relevance of asset pricing models. We use quarterly data of the Chinese A-Share equity market over the period 1995Q3–2011Q1 and find that the estimates of the state–space model suggest that the expected return is the primary driving force behind price fluctuations in the Chinese stock market. We show that the time-varying expected returns appear to be counter-cyclical and this result seems to be consistent with the habit formation model of Campbell and Cochrane [1999. By force of habit: A consumption-based explanation of aggregate stock market behavior. Journal of Political Economy 107, no. 2: 205–51.]. However, we also note that there is a great deal of uncertainty with respect to this variance decomposition due to the resulting small signal-to-noise ratio in the estimated state–space model.     

欧盟税收管辖权的现状与趋势

欧盟有关税收问题的规定,约束了成员国的税收立法内容,并且已经超越成员国的独立税收管辖权,导致成员国税收管辖权部分转移,出现超越国家的税收管辖权现象。欧盟法律制度的主要目标之一就是消除统一市场的人为和制度障碍,促进共同市场内部的商品、劳动力、资本和服务流动。欧盟在处理与成员国之间的税收管辖权问题上已经取得了有益的进展,但是,税收管辖权由国家向国际组织行使的转变仍然任重道远。     

Income Inequality,Growth, and the Enlargement of the European Union

This study investigates the relation between income inequality and economic growth, namely, the Kuznets curve, in the context of EU enlargement. The results have implications regarding how the latest enlargement of the European Union affects the relationship between income inequality and growth, for both EU member countries and the European Union as a region. Estimation results show that there is no evidence of a significant original or reverse Kuznets curve for any of the groups of countries in this study. Therefore, empirical results suggest that the latest enlargement, and a possible future accession of the candidates, may not change the fact that a Kuznets curve does not exist for the European Union.     

Factors influencing the profitability of domestic and foreign commercial banks in the European Union

Using bank level data this paper examines how bank's specific characteristics and the overall banking environment affect the profitability of commercial domestic and foreign banks operating in the 15 EU countries over the period 1995–2001. The results indicate that profitability of both domestic and foreign banks is affected not only by bank's specific characteristics but also by financial market structure and macroeconomic conditions. All the variables, with the exception of concentration in the case of domestic banks profits, are significant although their impact and relation with profits is not always the same for domestic and foreign banks.     

The dynamic interaction between volatility and returns in the US stock market using leveraged bootstrap simulations

One of the most important stylized facts in finance is that stock index returns are inversely related to volatility. The theoretical rationale behind the proposition is still controversial. The causal relationship between returns and volatility is investigated in the US stock market over the period 2004-2009 using daily data. We apply a bootstrap test with leveraged adjustments that is robust to non-normality and ARCH. We find that the volatility causes returns negatively and returns cause volatility positively. The policy implications of our findings are discussed in the main text.     

Alcohol taxation and regulation in the European Union

This article surveys alcohol consumption, taxation and regulation in the European Union (EU). It uses the estimates of cost-of-illness studies to gauge the external costs of harmful alcohol use. In all but one member state, the costs exceed alcohol excise duty collections. An optimal alcohol excise is difficult to design, because the welfare gains from a reduction in socially costly heavy drinking must be balanced against the welfare loss from a fall in moderate drinking. This suggests that while an alcohol excise increase may be efficiency improving, complementary regulatory measures, which focus on specific problem groups, should be an important element of the policy package. A case can also be made for reducing wasteful cross-border shopping by raising the minimum duties on wine, beer and spirits, preferably in line with their relative alcohol content.      

欧洲银行联盟的设想、争论及前景

2012年以来,欧洲银行联盟作为欧洲应对欧债危机的重要举措被提出,并在几个月内取得显著进展,但目前,围绕欧洲银行联盟作用及相关制度设计还存在较多争论与分歧。文章详细回顾了欧洲银行联盟设想的细化与改进过程,以及各方对重大争议问题的相关看法,指出欧盟各国将会努力推动银行联盟建设,但由于涉及问题的复杂性和艰巨性,银行联盟建设只能分步进行,其长期作用有待观察。     

Debating Proposed Reforms of the Taxation of Corporate Income in the European Union

This paper reviews the European Commission's latest proposals (European Commission, 2002) for the co-ordination of corporation taxes within the EU. It provides a brief summary of the report, and then investigates the nature of the tax obstacles identified by the Commission, the conceptual basis of the location of taxation, and the relatively novel lack of attention to the integration of corporate and personal taxes.     

The European Union,the Euro,and equity market integration

We use industry valuation differentials across European countries to study the impact of membership in the European Union as well as the Eurozone on both economic and financial integration. In integrated markets, discount rates and expected growth opportunities should be similar within one industry, irrespective of the country, implying narrowing valuation differentials as countries become more integrated. Our analysis of the 1990–2007 period shows that membership in the EU significantly lowered discount rate and expected earnings growth differentials across countries. In contrast, the adoption of the Euro was not associated with increased integration. Our results do not change when the sample is extended to include the recent crisis period.     

The Effects of Liberalisation on Market and Currency Risk in the European Union

This paper investigates the effects of liberalisation on the pricing of market and currency risk for a number of financial markets in the European Union (EU). An International Asset Pricing Model with a multivariate GARCH‐in‐Mean specification and time‐varying prices of risk is used for the four markets with the largest capitalisation in the EU. Only one price of market risk exists and international investors are rewarded for their exposure to currency risk. The evidence shows that all prices of risk are time‐varying and have been decreasing during the process of liberalisation. There is also evidence that markets react to period of uncertainty in the process toward the completion of liberalisation. In addition, the operation of the European Monetary System has generated lower covariances. As a consequence, total risk premia have declined in the last decade.     

A Proposal to Improve the VAT Treatment of Housing in the European Union*

The treatment of housing is one of the most difficult issues under the VATs in the EU. Ideally, rents and rental values should be taxed just like other consumer goods and services, but doing so would present formidable practical and political difficulties. Under a second‐best approach, the value of newly created residential (and other) property is taxed as a proxy for the VAT that should be payable on the flow of housing (building) services. This implies, however, that future increases (and decreases) in the value of the exempt property are left out of the VAT base. To remedy this defect, this paper recommends taxing the increases (refunding the tax related to decreases) realised at the time of sale of the exempt used property. This VAT should replace the current transfer, registration and stamp duties, which are highly distortionary. Beyond that, the VATs in various member states can be improved by limiting the exemption for all used immovable property to housing, by taxing land and by applying the standard rate more widely than is currently the case.     

The wealth effects of takeover bids regulation in the European Union

We investigate the wealth effects of the Takeover Bids Directive, enacted by the European Union (EU), on mergers and acquisitions. The directive aims at protecting target minority shareholders by restricting antitakeovers provisions and preventing managerial entrenchment. We test the regulation impact using a treatment sample of EU public acquisitions and a control sample from outside the EU. Our results suggest diverse effects of the regulation across treatment countries: acquirers from countries with better shareholder protection engage in more value-enhancing acquisitions postregulation that could otherwise be too costly. The regulation also increases the likelihood of firms becoming targets and raises market value.     

Consistent valuation of project finance and LBOs using the flows‐to‐equity method

The flows‐to‐equity method is used to value transactions where debt amortizes according to a fixed schedule, requiring a formula that links the changing leverage with a time‐varying equity discount rate. We show that extant formulas yield incorrect valuations because they are inconsistent with the basic assumptions of this method. The error from using the wrong formula can be large, especially at currently low interest rates. We derive a formula that captures the effects of a fixed debt plan, potentially expensive debt, and costs of financial distress. We resolve an important issue about what to use as the cost of debt.     

Corporate Tax Consolidation and Enhanced Cooperation in the European Union*

We assess the economic impact of introducing consolidation with formula apportionment in the European Union and consider alternative enhanced cooperation agreements. We find that the consolidation is likely to yield a small aggregate welfare gain in Europe. However, not all countries benefit. A coalition of winning countries reduces the welfare gain and may induce a process of adverse selection which destroys the possibility of cooperation. We find that a coalition of similar countries (in terms of the size of their multinational sector) is more feasible in achieving agreement and is actually preferred by those countries over a Europe‐wide reform.     

Testing the Purchasing Power Parity Hypothesis for the New Member and Candidate Countries of the European Union: Evidence from Lagrange Multiplier Unit Root Tests with Structural Breaks

This paper investigates the validity of purchasing power parity (PPP) for the eleven Central and East European transition countries and three market economy countries, Cyprus, Malta, and Turkey. Unlike previous studies on PPP, this study uses Lagrange multiplier (LM) unit root tests that incorporate structural breaks in the data series. The findings indicate that in cases of one and two structural breaks, for a U.S. dollar-based real exchange rate series, there is little evidence supporting the validity of PPP. For a deutsche mark-based real exchange rate series, for the cases of both one and two breaks, there is evidence of stationarity of real exchange rates for eight sample countries, which is consistent with PPP. The results also indicate that the estimated half-life of a shock to the real exchange rate ranges from 1.25 (15.05 months) to 2.72 (32.72 months) years across countries. The empirical findings may provide direction for policy makers to coordinate monetary policies for the process of European monetary integration.     

Labor market reform and price stability: An application to the Euro Area

Central bankers frequently suggest that labor market reform may be beneficial for inflation management. This paper investigates this topic by simulating the effects of reductions in firing costs and unemployment benefits on inflation volatility in the Euro Area, using an estimated New Keynesian model with search and matching frictions. Qualitatively, changes in labor market policies alter the volatility of inflation in response to shocks, by affecting the volatility of the three components of real marginal costs (hiring costs, firing costs and wage costs). Quantitatively, we find, however, that neither policy is likely to have an important effect on inflation volatility, due to the small contribution of hiring and firing costs to inflation dynamics.     

论欧盟农业国内支持制度的演进及晚近发展趋势

欧盟农业国内支持法律制度的历史演进与“共同农业政策”(CAP)密切相关.为了适应WTO农业规则及欧盟农业发展的需要,CAP已历经多次改革,“促进农业发展、提升农产品竞争力”是其改革主线.CAP改革从“价格支持”到“与生产挂钩的直接支付”,再到“与生产脱钩的直接支付”,不过是从“黄箱”转到“蓝箱”再到“绿箱”的过程,是支持方式的改变,高额国内支持并未“实质性削减”.CPA2020新一轮改革延续了历史惯性,继续向“农业、农村可持续发展”的“绿箱化”支持推进,并兼顾“可靠的粮食安全、平衡的区域发展”的政策目标,使得CAP结构更为合理,重点更为突出,效果更为明显.CAP演进与改革,对于我国优化农业补贴结构、启动亲环境型补贴项目、强化农业支持的规范化、法制化,具有重要现实意义.