Moral hazard and the composition of transfers: theory and evidence from cross-border transfers

We study how a donor can use restricted transfers to control the moral hazard behavior of a recipient and how the composition of unrestricted and restricted transfers is adjusted in response to changes in the moral hazard behavior of the recipient. Under certain conditions, our game-theoretic model predicts that the donor reduces the proportion of restricted transfers in total transfers as the moral hazard behavior of the recipient declines. Using foreign aid transfers (i.e., project aid and program aid) and panel data covering the period 1991–2007, we find econometric support for the prediction of the model. Our results suggest that some variables that affect the size of foreign aid may have no effect on the composition of aid.     

Donors and domestic politics: Political influences on foreign aid effort

The vast majority of scholarship on foreign aid looks at either the effectiveness of foreign aid or why particular countries receive aid from particular donors. This paper takes a different approach: what are the domestic sources of support for foreign aid? Specifically, how does the donor's domestic political and economic environment influence ‘aid effort’? This paper uses a time-series cross-sectional data set to analyze the influence of changes in political and economic variables. As governments become more conservative, their aid effort is likely to fall. Domestic political variables appear to influence aid effort, but only for aid to low income countries and multilaterals while aid effort to middle income countries in unaffected. This suggests that models solely emphasizing donor economic and international strategic interests as determinants of donor aid policy may be mis-specified. These results also suggest sources of aid volatility that might influence recipient growth prospects.     

TAX REVENUE-FINANCED PUBLIC ABATEMENT AND WELFARE: A CONSUMPTION TAX CASE

This paper develops a model of public abatement financed either by a pollution tax or by a consumption tax. It shows that consumption tax revenue-financed public abatement raises welfare more than pollution tax revenue-financed public abatement does when the pollution tax rate rises. This result is worthwhile for environmental protection policy makers when they are determining the revenue source of public abatement.     

Coalition-enhancing fiscal policies in an open economy: A CES framework of Gale’s transfer paradox

The motivation of our paper comes from David Gale’s seminal work in 1974. He constructed an example of the “transfer paradox” based on three Leontief functions. The transfer paradox is that when there is a set of agents in the home country and that the home country is trading with other countries, then certain public lump-sum tax transfer plans could make all agents in the home country better off. Our contributions are as follows. First, we show that such an example can be constructed with three smooth CES utility functions. Second, we establish the three crucial conditions for the existence of the transfer paradox: (1) the donor (a taxpayer) has stronger preference for the foreign good than the recipient; (2) the donor is ex-ante wealthier than the recipient; (3) the elasticity of substitution of the foreign country’s preference is strictly less than one.     

中国横向税收竞争如何影响雾霾污染——基于环保支出中介效应的研究

分税制改革以来，省级政府间税收竞争激化带来的环境污染问题正在逐步凸现。在此背景下，首先从理论层面分析了税收竞争、环保支出及雾霾污染的关系，并提出假说；其次建立空间杜宾模型测度了税收竞争对雾霾污染的直接效应、间接效应和总效应，并利用中介效应方法实证检验了税收竞争通过环保支出对雾霾污染的作用路径。研究结果表明，税收竞争显著加剧了本地区雾霾污染，但是其间接效应和总效应并不显著；此外，环保支出是税收竞争影响雾霾污染的一个主要中介变量。     

REINVENTING FOREIGN AID FOR INCLUSIVE AND SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT: KUZNETS,PIKETTY AND THE GREAT POLICY REVERSAL

This survey essay reviews close to 200 papers in arguing that in order to achieve sustainable and inclusive development, foreign aid should not orient developing countries toward industrialization in the perspective of Kuznets but in the view of Piketty. Abandoning the former's view that inequality will fall with progress in industrialization and placing more emphasis on inequality in foreign aid policy will lead to more sustainable development outcomes. Inter alia: mitigate short‐term poverty, address concerns of burgeoning population growth, train recipient governments on inclusive development, fight corruption and mismanagement and avoid the shortfalls of celebrated Kuznets’ conjectures. We discuss how the essay addresses post‐2015 development challenges and provide foreign aid policy instruments with which discussed objectives can be achieved. In summary, the essay provides useful policy measures to avoid past pitfalls. ‘Output may be growing, and yet the mass of the people may be becoming poorer’ (Lewis). ‘Lewis led all developing countries to water, proverbially speaking, some African countries have so far chosen not to drink’ (Amavilah). Piketty has led all developing countries to the stream again and a challenging policy syndrome of our time is how foreign aid can help them to drink.     

TRADE LIBERALIZATION, PUBLIC ABATEMENT, AND WELFARE

This paper discusses public abatement financed by pollution tax revenue or tariff revenue and investigates the welfare consequences of a tariff. The main result of this paper is that under certain conditions a tariff reduction results in an improvement in welfare through an increase in public abatement and a decrease in pollution. This result may guide policy for countries that wish to harmonize trade liberalization and the environmental protection demonstrated by both the private and the public sectors.     

Joint production national income definitions and pricing in linear environmental models

Economic activity is explicitly modelled as a set of joint production processes encompassing the generation of environmental pollution. Particular results of Leontief, generalized by Lowe, which would finance environmental protection through a number of tax or pricing schemes, are shown to be inconsistent with strictly correct definitions of national income. Qualified use of linear joint production environmental models is accepted, where these use efficiency prices and recognize data limitations. Such models can aid understanding of the costs, in terms of other goods and services foregone, of attaining particular standards of environmental protection.     

Environmental policy and stable collusion: The case of a dynamic polluting oligopoly

We show that the imposition of a Markovian tax on emissions, that is, a tax rate which depends on the pollution stock, can induce stable cartelization in an oligopolistic polluting industry. This does not hold for a uniform tax. Thus, accounting for the feedback effect that exists within a dynamic framework, where pollution is allowed to accumulate into a stock over time, changes the result obtained within a static framework. Moreover, the cartel formation can diminish the welfare gain from environmental regulation such that welfare under environmental regulation and collusion of firms lies below that under a laissez-faire policy.     

A NOTE ON THE EFFECT OF TRADE LIBERALIZATION VIA OPTIMAL POLLUTION TAX

This paper reexamines the environmental consequences of trade liberalization in a general equilibrium model of a small open economy facing trade and environmental distortions. I show that, under certain conditions, trade liberalization achieved by reducing trade barriers increases the amount of pollution through change in the optimal pollution tax. This result is worthy of consideration in regard to countries that pursue trade liberalization, and the subsequent environmental cleanup.     

上海市税收增长与环境污染关系的实证研究:1985-2010

以1985年-2010年度上海市税收收入为税收增长指标,以工业固体废弃物产生量、工业废水排放量和工业废气排放量为环境污染指标,通过建立VAR模型,得出了上海税收增长与环境污染水平之间的长期均衡关系和动态影响机制。实证结果表明,上海税收增长依赖工业固体废弃物产生量和工业废气排放量的增加,并推动了工业固体废弃物产生量的增加,同时,税收增长与工业废水排放量之间存在良性互动。     

The Dynamics of Humanitarian Aid Decisions

Humanitarian aid can be seen as a political investment motivated by altruism or by economic benefits for the donor. Uncertainty in the returns to this investment may generate hysteresis effects and inertia in aid allocations. I model the allocation decisions of the three largest humanitarian aid donors: the US government, the UK government and the European Commission, finding evidence that allocations depend on both recipient need and donor economic interest. Some donors exhibit more inertia than others, and some are more influenced by the decisions of other donors. Despite being a relatively small donor, the UK is particularly influential.     

Cultural values and public policy: The case of international development aid

This paper investigates whether the quantity and character of aggregate expenditures on foreign aid by donor governments are related to the cultural values held by the people of the donor countries. In particular, we study whether any association exists between three measures of donors’ foreign aid expenditures and two dimensions of culture. We find that the shares of national income governments spend on aid, the proportion of total aid provided in the form of grants, and the proportion of aid directed to humanitarian relief are all related in statistically significant and quantitatively important ways to the location of the cultural values of people in the donor countries on two continua, one from “traditional” to “rational” beliefs about social organization and authority, and the other from “survival” to “self-expression” as the focus of individual aspirations. These results contribute to our understanding of the political economy of aid, and to a growing literature on how culture shapes economic policies, institutions, and performance.     

Effects of Environmental Regulations on Trade Flow in Manufacturing Sectors: Comparison of Static and Dynamic Effects of Environmental Regulations

This study analyzes environmental regulations and trade performance in manufacturing sectors under static and dynamic conditions. We investigate environmental innovation induced by environmental regulations and the spillover effect on manufacturing sectors, determine whether the spillover effect offsets any negative effect found under static conditions and analyze environmental regulations on the import side. For this, we formulate a trade model that incorporates the environmental innovation equation. We analyze environmental tax, energy tax and the Emissions Trading System (ETS) using strong, balanced panel data from 19 OECD countries for 1996–2009. The results reveal that the static effect of energy tax on exports is negative, but the dynamic effect is positive; however, the positive effect does not offset the negative effect. In short, environmental tax and energy tax decrease the international competitiveness of the manufacturing sectors. Environmental tax and energy tax limit imports, especially in the high‐energy consumption group. The analyses of the ETS further complicate the overall picture. It shows that the further research on the effects of ETS on manufacturing firms' competitiveness over their foreign competitors in the global is required. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment     

Effects of foreign aid on the recipient country’s economic growth

We introduce an infinite-horizon endogenous growth framework for studying the effects of foreign aid on the economic growth in a recipient country. Aid is used to partially finance the recipient’s public investment. We point out that the same rule of aid may have very different outcomes, depending on the recipient’s circumstances in terms of development level, domestic investment, efficiency in the use of aid and in public investment, etc. Foreign aid may promote growth in the recipient country, but the global dynamics of equilibrium are complex (because of the non-monotonicity and steady state multiplicity). The economy may converge to a steady state or grow without bounds. Moreover, there are rooms for the divergence and a two-period cycle. We characterize conditions under which each scenario takes place. Our analysis contributes to the debate on the nexus between aid and economic growth and in particular on the conditionality of aid effects.     

What is the potential impact of a taxation system reform on carbon abatement and industrial growth in China?

Economists have long argued that market-based environmental policy such as an environmental tax is beneficial to abate pollution emissions. This study aims at investigating the impact of carbon tax levy on carbon dioxide (CO₂) abatement and industrial growth in China. To this end, the marginal abatement cost (MAC) of industrial CO₂ emissions is estimated as the benchmark of setting the carbon tax rate by using the directional distance function (DDF). This paper employs the polynomial dynamic panel model to forecast the impact of carbon tax levy on target variables such as sectoral value-added and CO₂ intensity. The results reveal that the levy of a CO₂ tax has a negative impact on industrial output only in the short term. In the long term, the impact of CO₂ tax levy on output will become positive. The levy of a CO₂ tax is always beneficial to reduce CO₂ intensity. Corresponding policy suggestions for an environmental taxation system reform are given in the concluding section.     

USAID,official development assistance and counter terrorism efforts: Pre and post 9/11 analysis for South Asia

The 9/11 terrorist attacks in United States and the subsequent declaration of war on terror have upturned worldwide issues including terrorist attacks, fatalities, disbursement of foreign aid and development assistance. Since 9/11 attacks, US economic and military aids and official development assistance have played a vital role in the South Asian region. Present study is the pioneer to examine the reaction of different types of foreign aid toward counter-terrorism policies. For this purpose, the paper used annual data of studied factors for the period 1991 to 2016 and employed three models as preferred and full specification, pre and post 9/11 analysis and financial crisis analysis. For econometric estimations, the study used quantile regression method, negative binomial regression, system GMM and two stage IV regression techniques with different control variables. Accordingly, the study documented that all types of foreign aid namely; development assistance, economic aid, military aid fuels terrorism in recipient countries, due to institutional problems or ongoing civil conflicts. We also find evidence that military expenditures and media freedom tends to have negative relationship on terrorism.     

环境税收:解决城市环境问题的有效途径

伴随着工业化、城市化过程而产生的城市环境污染 ,已经越来越成为经济发展的限制性因素 ,探索解决城市环境问题的有效途径显得尤为迫切。环境经济学界普遍认为造成环境污染的经济学原因是外部不经济 ,而课征环境税收可以使外部性成本内部化 ,通过实证分析 ,这种基于市场的方法对治理我国城市环境污染也是有效的     

外国直接投资的环保技术溢出途径研究--基于2004年中国工业企业普查数据的实证研究

减排技术的国际传播可以通过外国直接投资水平溢出和垂直溢出来实现。本文通过tobit模型实证研究,发现外国直接投资对减少污染排放的水平溢出比较有效,而垂直溢出方面总体较差,企业规模和所有制形式都是影响环保技术垂直溢出的主要因素。扩大外资的环保技术扩散效应,需要在全国执行更加严格的环保标准。     

外商投资企业在华社会责任比较研究

本文综合运用统计分析与问卷调查方法,从员工利益、纳税责任、环境责任、客户与供应商关系、社会公益责任等方面比较外商投资企业、国有企业和其他(民营、乡镇、改制)企业在华履行社会责任的状况。结论认为,外商投资企业在华社会责任总体表现优于国有企业和其他企业。