How gradualist are Chinese reforms? Evidence from rural income determinants

Gradualist reform (GR) is a strategy that implements partial and incremental reforms at the beginning but gradually deepens the reforms over time. Using income determinants in rural China as the measure of the GR hypothesis, this paper provides a direct test of the widely accepted claim that China has followed a GR strategy. In the sense that reform deepens, production factors should become more important income determinants over time. Our difference-in-difference analysis, based on a large panel dataset from fixed-site rural surveys conducted between 1986 and 2002, shows that the efficiency of return to production factors deteriorated over time instead. Households that had more production resources, such as land and labor, or that devoted more labor and time to entrepreneurial activities experienced better income growth in the 1980s, but households with better political status did so in the 1990s. Further difference-in-difference analyses show that these income patterns are related to an inefficient credit allocation due to government interference in the 1990s compared to market mechanisms in the 1980s. Overall, the empirical evidence on the income determinants and on rural finance does not support the GR hypothesis on China's reform path.     

Distributional Effects of Price Reforms in the Italian Utility Markets*

In this paper, we analyse some distributional effects of the reforms to water and energy services in Italy. We first document the new regulation setting in these services, illustrating the dynamics of utility prices and of household expenditure in the period 1998‐2005. We then propose a way to measure the affordability of public utilities, in order to investigate how many households would incur a potentially excessive burden if they consumed a minimum quantity of utility services. Finally, we calculate this index on data from the Survey on Family Budgets (Indagine sui consumi delle famiglie). Our results show how the affordability of utility bills varies from region to region depending on climate, income, family endowment and family size. The analysis ‐ also based on a counterfactual exercise ‐ finds that so far, utility reforms do not seem to have produced any negative effects on weaker households.     

Modelling the Distributional Impact of the COVID-19 Crisis*

The COVID-19 emergency has had a dramatic impact on market incomes and income-support policies. The lack of timely available data constrains the estimation of the scale and direction of recent changes in the income distribution, which in turn constrains policymakers seeking to monitor such developments. We overcome the lack of data by proposing a dynamic calibrated microsimulation approach to generate counterfactual income distributions as a function of more timely external data than are available in dated income surveys. We combine nowcasting methods using publicly available data and a household income generation model to perform the first calibrated simulation based upon actual data, aiming to assess the distributional implications of the COVID-19 crisis in Ireland. Overall, we find that the crisis had an equalizing real-time effect for both gross and disposable incomes, notwithstanding the significant hardship experienced by many households.     

新农保最低缴费档次“受宠”原因及对策分析——基于对辽宁省阜新市彰武县400户农户调查的研究

新型农村保险制度根据农民收入水平的差异性将缴费水平设计为5个档次,农民可根据自身经济情况和未来养老消费预期选择相应的缴费档次。辽宁省彰武县400户农户新农保调查显示,该县自新农保试点以来,新农保最低缴费档次格外"受宠",通过定性和定量分析表明,主要是由于信任问题、心理问题、政策设计问题导致的。政府应当从制度本身和农民角度出发,树立公信力、完善政策设计、简化参保程序、加大宣传力度等,引导农户合理选择缴费档次。     

湖南省城乡居民收入差距测度研究

通过运用泰尔指数的分解计算发现：随着中国各方面体制改革的深入,湖南省城乡居民收入差距在近三十年期间经历了缩小——扩大——再缩小——再扩大的过程。湖南是一个农业大省,政府需加大财政支农比例,建立并落实各项支农惠农政策,帮助各地区选择发展路径,提高农村居民收入,缩小城乡居民收入水平差距。     

Household Income, Termination Risk and Mortgage Pricing

The premium embedded in home mortgage loans to compensate investors for their exposure to prepayment risk is a significant component of the cost of home mortgage lending. Moreover, there is some reason to believe that prepayment risk may be lower for loans to lower-income housing borrowers, especially those that are first-time home owners. If so, investor recognition of this advantage should facilitate greater willingness to acquire portfolios of lower-income housing loans, and encourage more competitive pricing in this segment of the market. This study investigates the possibility of differential mortgage prepayment behavior between lower-income home owners and non-low income home owners. The investigation relies on samples of the American Housing Survey spanning ten years of experience from 1985 to 1995. We find no significant difference between the termination or refinancing behavior of non-low income and low-income households. This result is robust to a number of alternative specifications such as restricting the low-income test group to non-moving households and to first-time owners. The same conclusions are derived from both aggregate prepayment rates and from analysis of individual household prepayment behavior.     

农村家庭消费需求调查分析——以辽宁省沈阳市为例

为了解当前沈阳市农村居民家庭的收支水平、收入来源结构、消费支出构成及其变化趋势,尤其关注价格变化对农村居民消费的影响程度,本文选取120户农村居民家庭进行了实地问卷调研。调研显示:样本家庭生活环境进一步改善,生活便利程度提高,收支盈余比例增加,收入同比基本持平;样本家庭支出同比持平,其中日常生活支出及农业生产支出占总支出比重增加;样本家庭大宗消费品普及,新型大宗消费品增加,农业生产资料价格对消费影响程度较大,计划消费的意愿低迷;农村金融服务水平明显提高,农民贷款需求基本得到满足,新型农村金融机构支持"三农"的作用尚未体现。     

金融市场现代化背景下金融发展影响文化产业的实证分析

运用中国1995-2012年的时间序列数据,实证检验金融发展对文化产业的影响。结果显示,金融发展对文化产业规模有显著的正向影响,城镇居民可支配收入对文化产业规模有显著的负向影响,农村居民家庭人均纯收入对文化产业规模有显著的正向的影响,城镇居民恩格尔系数对文化产业规模有显著的正向影响。     

Immigration and equity home bias

Why do investors hold such large positions in domestic equity when there are gains to be made from international diversification? This equity home bias puzzle has received considerable attention in the literature, with asymmetric information on domestic and foreign assets (whether by individual choice or by market imperfection) emerging as the most plausible explanation. What happens when we consider a subset of investors whose information sets are closer to investors in foreign countries? I assess the relationship between immigration and equity home bias and find that inward migration is positively correlated with increased foreign equity positions and reduced home bias. Looking across income groups, outward migration reduces home bias for relatively rich countries, but may actually increase home bias when migration occurs to or from a developing country. These results suggest that immigration generates a positive externality of increased information flows for developed countries, but not for developing nations. The effects of immigration on investment are strongest within the Euro-Zone, suggesting that this positive externality of immigration is largest when barriers to portfolio diversification (such as currency risk) are lowest.     

我国农村居民消费制约因素及破解途经——基于山东省的实证研究

本文利用农户调查数据及山东省统计数据，主要从收支角度分析了农村消费问题，发现收入水平低、支出负担重、收支预期不确定等因素是制约农村居民消费的主要原因，因此促进农民增收、拓宽就业渠道、增强消费信心、提高城镇化率是刺激农村消费市场的有效措施。     

医疗服务体系的满意度评价——基于2557个城乡不同收入家庭的调查

目的：了解我国城乡居民对目前医疗服务体系的评价。方法：对城乡不同收入家庭进行了问题调查,共计发放问卷2610份,收回有效问卷为2557份,采用SPSS18.0、Excel软件建立数据库并进行数据分析。结论：城乡家庭对目前医疗服务的评价不高;不同收入、年龄、城乡群体的评价有所差别。建议：加强医疗机构尤其是基层医疗机构的能力建设;提高医护人员的技术水平和职业道德;加强医疗卫生领域的监督管理;加强医疗服务模式创新。     

Decomposition analysis of distributive policies using behavioural simulations

For policy makers and analysts, it is important to isolate the redistributive impact of tax-benefit reforms from changes in the environment in which policies operate. When actual reforms are motivated by work incentives, it is also crucial to evaluate behavioural responses and the distributional consequences thereof. For that purpose, I embed counterfactual simulations in a formal decomposition framework to quantify the relative roles of (i)?direct tax-benefit policy changes, (ii)?indirect policy effects due to labour supply responses to the reforms and (iii)?all other factors affecting income distribution over time. An application to the UK shows that the redistributive reforms of the 1998–2001 period have offset much of the rise in market income inequality and contributed to a strong decline in child poverty and poverty amongst single parent households. In the latter group, a third of the headcount poverty reduction (and half of the reduction in the depth of poverty) is on account of the very large incentive effect of the policy changes.     

Labor Income Risk and Car Insurance in the UK

Microeconomic theory shows that only under certain conditions higher background risk increases the propensity to insure against independent marketable risks. We provide empirical evidence for the case of labor income risk and car insurance in the UK. The main result is that households with higher labor income risk spend more on insurance. This finding is consistent with microeconomic theory if the utility function is of the HARA type. Moreover, we find that households spend more on insurance if they participate in the stock market.     

Should the Power to Redistribute Income be (De-)Centralized? An Example

This paper deals with two questions which have recentlyreceived considerable attention in both the political debateand the academic literature: First, are fiscal programs largeror smaller when they are (de-)centralized? Second, should suchprograms be (de-)centralized? We answer these questions withina politico-economic model in which voters choose the parametersof a linear income tax taking into account how taxes affect laborsupply and migration decisions. It is shown that a decentralizedpolitical system may lead to a smaller government budget. Theconcept of a veil of ignorance is used to analyze the desirabilityof a decentralized system. It is argued that a decentralizedsystem is preferred under the veil of ignorance only if individualsare not too risk-averse and the income distribution is not toopolarized.     

Migration,wages and income taxes

We analyze labor migration flows between two countries (regions) with different-sized populations and different levels of productive efficiencies to determine the effects of such flows on income taxation. The residents are heterogeneous because they incur different migration costs, although they are otherwise identical. Each resident compares her post-tax revenue at home with that obtained abroad, including migration costs, and each country’s government maximizes tax receipts. We study the existence of an equilibrium for any configuration of wages and for any difference in the relative sizes of the countries (regions). Then, we compute and characterize the equilibrium, whenever it exists, for any set of parameters, sizes and wage differentials. Finally, we show that equilibrium migration flows affect the level of income taxation in both the origin and destination countries.     

中国城镇家庭的资产配置与消费行为:理论与证据

根据流动性资产和非流动性资产的配置组合,家庭可以分为P-HtM(贫穷月光族)、W-HtM(富裕月光族)、P-nHtM(贫穷非月光族)和W-nHtM(富裕非月光族)四类,他们表现出各自不同的消费特征。利用中国家庭金融调查2011年至2017年四轮数据,我们发现中国城镇家庭中四种类型的占比分别为6.8%、36.7%、6.6%和49.9%;在消费—收入弹性上,P-HtM和W-HtM家庭显著高于W-nHtM家庭,而P-nHtM家庭显著低于W-nHtM家庭;在暂时性收入冲击的边际消费倾向上,P-HtM和W-HtM家庭大于W-nHtM家庭,而P-nHtM家庭小于W-nHtM家庭。这些发现意味着,若要取得更好的消费刺激效果,需要更加精准的消费刺激政策。     

Estimation and Explanation of Time-Varying Weights in Chinese CPI

The time-varying weights in the Chinese consumer price index (CPI) are estimated using a time-varying coefficient model, which is shown to be useful for testing the CPI’s “weighting biases” and adjustment problem. The empirical results show that China’s CPI has “weighting biases,” in which the time-varying intercept reveals negative adjustment of the CPI. This means that people pay less for food and more for medical care, education, and housing. By comparing the weights between urban CPI and rural CPI, the extended examination suggests a widening income gap between urban and rural households.     

Can fintech innovation promote household consumption? Evidence from China family panel studies

Using data from the China Family Panel Studies (CFPS) and the digital inclusive financial index (DFI), this paper explores the relationship between fintech innovation and household consumption. The results show that fintech innovation can significantly promote household consumption at the nationwide level. Further mechanism tests show that entrepreneurship and increasing income are the two main transmission channels. Besides that, we further conduct heterogeneity tests. The tests present that the promoting effects in the eastern region, urban households, and wealthy households are higher than that in the western region, rural households, and low-and middle-income groups. The phenomenon shows that the Chinese government should positively guide the development of fintech in order to enable people to enjoy the benefits brought by scientific progress. In addition, the conclusions have great reference value for developing countries.     

农户正规借贷行为研究

本文基于中国家庭金融调查数据,描述农户经营性的正规借贷需求并探讨农户家庭正规借贷需求可得性的决定因素,包括家庭特征、户主的年龄结构、承包的土地面积。研究结果表明：农户正规借贷需求与正规贷款可获得性均主要取决于其生产经营方面的收入水平。     

The Demand for Life Insurance: An Application of the Economics of Uncertainty

Financial economists typically assume that capital income uncertainty, derived from investments in uncertain returned marketable securities, represents the major source of household consumption uncertainty. But, for many households, if not most, labor income uncertainty dominates capital income uncertainty. This study analyzes households optimal reactions to labor income (human capital) uncertainty that is derived from the possibility of their wage earners' non–survival. By introducing a risk resolution mechanism—an insurance market—and allowing for the possibility that future tastes may be state–dependent, simple demand–for–insurance equations are mathematically derived to explicitly describe households optimal responses to human capital uncertainty.