地方政府债务风险防范研究——基于发达地区政府债务的样本分析

地方政府债务是政府债务管理中极为敏感的话题。为正确认识发达地区政府的债务风险,进而有效防范地方政府债务风险,笔者选取发达地区某市的地方政府债务数据作为样本进行分析,认为该市的债务具有隐性化、或有化、投资性和公共性并存的特征,而其债务风险并不在于财务风险、挤出风险、金融风险、经济风险等,而在于由于制度和组织设计造成的管理风险。据此,笔者从债务制度供给、债务需要约束和地方债务管理三方面提出了防范地方政府债务风险的政策建议。     

Funding advantage and market discipline in the Canadian banking sector

We employ a comprehensive data set and a variety of methods to provide evidence on the magnitude of large banks’ funding advantage in Canada in addition to the extent to which market discipline exists across different securities issued by the Canadian banks. The banking sector in Canada provides a unique setting in which to examine market discipline along with the prospects of proposed reforms because Canada has no history of government bailouts, and an implicit government guarantee has been in effect consistently since the 1920s. We find that large banks have a funding advantage over small banks after controlling for bank-specific and market risk factors. Large banks on average pay 80 basis points and 70 basis points less, respectively, on their deposits and subordinated debt. Working with hand-collected market data on debt issues by large banks, we also find that market discipline exists for subordinated debt and not for senior debt.     

Private Sector Participation in the Provision of Quality Drinking Water in Urban Areas of Ghana: What Do Households Want and Can Afford?

This study conducts a survey among households in three cities in Ghana on how water delivery should be managed. The contingent valuation method was used to estimate the willingness to pay for improved water delivery under private sector participation. Results indicate that most households will remain connected to their current water supplies if private sector is engaged to improve water delivery at higher monthly water bills. Given that the mean household monthly water bill of GH¢10.82, the results indicate that there is demand for water quality improvement, and private sector engagement is likely to provide these services. However, this policy measure marginalises the poor in terms of access to water. Therefore, private sector participation in water delivery may require a complementary programme to promote access to water.