The Telecommunications Act at three years: an economic evaluation of its implementation by the Federal Communications Commission

The competitive free-for-all that Congress envisioned in the 1996 Telecommunications Act has for the most part not appeared. The Act calls for two forms of regulatorily-assisted entry into local markets: lease of network elements and resale. The FCC has decreed that the charges for those elements and the resale discounts must emulate the costs of an ideally-efficient firm. This standard is in fact not efficient, and the FCC’s attempt to jump-start the entry of competitors in this way has short-circuited the competitive process itself and jeopardized achievement of the goals of the Act.     

Efficiency wages and union-firm bargaining with private information

We consider efficiency wage effects in a union-firm bargaining model with private information. We show that an increase in the efficiency wage effects does not necessarily increase the wage level at equilibrium, even when the wage bargaining with private information is close to one with complete information. However, if it is commonly known that the firm is stronger than the union and the demand is sufficiently elastic, then an increase in the efficiency wage effects increases for sure the wage at equilibrium.JEL Classification: J41, J50, J52We thank Juan Dolado and two anonymous referees for valuable comments. Vincent Vannetelbosch is Chercheur Qualifié at the Fonds National de la Recherche Scientifique. The research of Ana Mauleon has been made possible by a fellowship of the Fonds Européen du Développement Economique Régional (FEDER). Financial support from the Belgian French Communitys program Action de Recherches Concertée 99/04-235 (IRES, Université catholique de Louvain) is gratefully acknowledged.     

Achieving efficiency with manipulative bargainers

Two agents bargain over the allocation of a bundle of divisible commodities. After strategically reporting utility functions to a neutral arbitrator, the outcome is decided by using a bargaining solution concept chosen from a family that includes the Nash and the Raiffa–Kalai–Smorodinsky solutions. When reports are restricted to be continuous, strictly increasing and concave, it has been shown that this kind of “distortion game” leads to inefficient outcomes. We study the distortion game originated when agents are also allowed to claim non-concave utility functions. Contrasting with the previous literature, any interior equilibrium outcome is efficient and any efficient allocation can be supported as an equilibrium outcome of the distortion game. In a similar fashion to the Nash demand game we consider some uncertainty about the opponent's features to virtually implement the Nash bargaining solution.     

论按劳分配与按生产要素分配的结合

按劳分配与按生产要素分配之间既有差别，也存在共同之处。其差别主要体现在两种分配方式依据的理论以及二背后的所有制和经济体制不同。在我国当前的经济运行过程中，两种分配方式所依托的体制差异已不存在，并且传统的按劳分配所依据的理论在我国当前的体制下并不完全适用，两种分配方式也都承认劳动是人的谋生手段，劳动对劳动拥有所有权。因此，按劳分配与按要素分配之间的差别正在逐步消失，二之间能够相互渗透和兼容。从收入分配的目标来看，只有实行按劳分配与按生产要素分配的有机结合，才能实现高收入水平上的公平。     

Standard Business Reporting in Australia: efficiency,effectiveness, or both?

The benefits of using eXtensible Business Reporting Language (XBRL) as a business reporting standard have been widely canvassed in the extant literature, in particular, as the enabling technology for standard business reporting tools. One of the key benefits noted is the ability of standard business reporting to create significant efficiencies in the regulatory reporting process. Efficiency‐driven cost reductions are highly desirable by data and report producers. However, they may not have the same potential to create long‐term firm value as improved effectiveness of decision making. This study assesses the perceptions of Australian business stakeholders in relation to the benefits of the Australian standard business reporting instantiation (SBR) for financial reporting. These perceptions were drawn from interviews of persons knowledgeable in XBRL‐based standard business reporting and submissions to Treasury relative to SBR reporting options. The combination of interviews and submissions permit insights into the views of various groups of stakeholders in relation to the potential benefits. In line with predictions based on a transaction‐cost economics perspective, interviewees who primarily came from a data and report‐producer background mentioned benefits that centre largely on asset specificity and efficiency. The interviewees who principally came from a data and report‐consumer background mentioned benefits that centre on reducing decision‐making uncertainty and decision‐making effectiveness. The data and report consumers also took a broader view of the benefits of SBR to the financial reporting supply chain. Our research suggests that advocates of SBR have successfully promoted its efficiency benefits to potential users. However, the effectiveness benefits of SBR, for example, the decision‐making benefits offered to investors via standardised reports, while becoming more broadly acknowledged, remain not a priority for all stakeholders.     

县域金融支农效率的实证研究——基于浙江省部分县域2005-2009年数据

本文主要运用DEA模型,利用2005-2009年的数据对浙江省县域金融支农的技术效率、纯技术效率及规模效率进行实证研究,结果表明三农贷款的效率与金融要素的投入有关,县域金融对三农支持倾斜政策所产生的效率较为显著,金融资源投入要素的配置更趋合理,规模效率逐步提高,但尚有一定的发展空间.在此基础上,提出了改进金融支农效率的相关政策建议.     

Public sector reforms, privatisation and regimes of control in a Chinese enterprise

The Chinese economic reform has recently become a major focus of attention around the world. The underlying rationale for the Chinese government's privatisation and public sector reforms is the view that reformed state enterprises and privately managed firms will demonstrate superior management control and better performance, and hence encourage economic growth and employment. There are very few intensive case studies published in English journals studying whether firms privatised in China have reversed previous losses and introduced better management controls, leading to increased investment, productivity, and overall organizational effectiveness and efficiency. The researchers do not seek to deny the control problems of Chinese SOEs, but question the consequences of the new controls installed during the post-privatisation period. The paper also reveals a declining tendency in employment; altered distributions of wealth – especially to the state – and labour, and a lack of improvements in the accountability of privatised companies. Overall, the paper argues, the aims of reform policies in China, including better control, increased profitability and an improved working life for Chinese people, have not materialized. The paper calls for more research on the above issues in the Chinese context.     

Financial networks,bank efficiency and risk-taking

Networks with a core–periphery topology are found in many financial systems across different jurisdictions. Though the theoretical and structural aspects of core–periphery networks are clear, the consequences that core–periphery structures bring for banking efficiency stand as an open question. We address this gap in the literature by providing insights as to how the structure of financial networks can affect bank efficiency. We find that core–periphery structures are cost efficient for banks, which is a characteristic that encourages the participation of banks in financial networks. On the downside, we also show that core–periphery structures are risk-taking inefficient, because they imply higher systemic risk levels in the financial system. In this way, regulators should be aware of the excessive risk inefficiency that arises in the financial system due to individual decisions made by banks in the network.     

论我国政府绩效审计的内涵

审计署2008至2012年审计工作发展规划提出要全面推进绩效审计,提高财政资金和公共资源配置、使用、利用的经济性、效率性和效果性。到2012年,每年所有的审计项目都开展绩效审计。可见,政府绩效审计是在财政财务收支审计发展到一定阶段推出的又一新的审计领域,对推动政府审计工作、建立节约性政府、创建和谐社会具有很好的现实意义。本文着力论述了政府绩效审计的必要性,对经济性、效率性、效果性的内涵做了相应的探讨。