Environmental Taxation and Vertical Cournot Oligopolies: How Eco-industries Matter

This article specifies what an optimal pollution tax should be when dealing with a vertical Cournot oligopoly. Polluting firms sell final goods to consumers and outsource their abatement activities to an environment industry. It is assumed that both markets are imperfectly competitive. Thus, the tax is a single instrument used to regulate three sorts of distortions, one negative externality and two restrictions in production. Consequently, the optimal tax rate is the result of a trade-off that depends on the firms’ market power along the vertical structure. A detailed analysis of Cournot-Nash equilibria in both markets is also performed. In this context, the efficiency of abatement activities plays a key-role. It gives a new understanding to the necessary conditions for the emergence of an eco-industrial sector.      

Competition Policy: What are the Costs and Benefits of Measuring its Costs and Benefits?

Summary  Competition authorities are increasingly measuring the effects of their enforcement actions, seeking a robust justification for the proliferation of competition policy. We highlight the importance of identifying the right counterfactual against which to measure effects, and set out the relevant categories of costs and benefits. We then explore how a balance can be struck between the benefits and inherent limitations of these measurement exercises. Relatively crude analyses of cartel action benefits can be sufficient to achieve public legitimacy for competition policy. Assessing the effects of merger and conduct inquiries is often ambiguous, but could be used to improve decision-making processes. Director and Managing Consultant, respectively, at Oxera, Oxford and London. The valuable comments of Fod Barnes, Kerry Hughes and an anonymous referee are gratefully acknowledged. The opinions expressed in this article are those of the authors alone.     

Determinants of Current Account Imbalances in 16 OECD Countries: An Out-Of-Sample Perspective

We employ panel data as well as country-specific models to uncover empirically the determinants of current account imbalances. We find evidence of slope heterogeneity likely rendering the fixed-effect estimator inconsistent. Mean group estimation is followed to overcome the latter difficulty. Both estimation techniques are evaluated by means of in- and out-of-sample criteria. The mean group estimator outperforms the fixed-effect approach and, moreover, only three economic variables are found to impact on the current account balance significantly. These are the government budget balance, the domestic output gap and the changes of the terms of trade. We finally propose a parsimonious dynamic model of the current account, including only these variables and illustrate that it has similar predictive accuracy as country-specific benchmark models. JEL no. F32, C23, C53     

浅谈旅游景区危机管理体系构建

旅游景区是旅游产品的核心。研究旅游景区的危机,构建我国旅游景区危机管理体系,有利于防范和减少景区公共安全事故,提升景区管理水平。本文通过分析目前我国旅游景区存在的主要危机类型,提出相应的危机管理体系构建措施,指导旅游景区健康、快速发展。     

武威市凉州区农业种植结构调整的双目标优化

该文分别从经济效益最大化和生态效益最大化的目标出发,以土地资源、农作物用水量、区域各类农作物需求量和农业生产直接投入为约束条件,基于线性规划方法建立武威市凉州区农业种植业结构优化的经济效益模型和生态效益模型,并对两个模型的优化结果进行对比分析,认为以草地生态农业为生产模式的生态效益模型是凉州区实现农业可持续发展较为理想的模型。     

Tourism as an alternative source of regional growth in Portugal: a panel data analysis at NUTS II and III levels

The role of tourism is of vital economic importance, particularly for small countries with a privileged geographical location and favourable weather conditions. This paper examines the importance of tourism as a conditioning factor for higher regional growth in Portugal by employing the conditional convergence hypothesis of Barro and Sala-i-Martin, associated with the endogenous growth theory. The panel data estimation approach provides evidence of the positive impact of tourism (through the accommodation capacity) on the growth in per-capita income among the Portuguese regions, increasing the rate of convergence. Therefore, tourism can be considered as an alternative source for stimulating higher regional growth in Portugal, if the supply characteristics of this sector are improved.     

城市轨道交通项目融资的偿债能力分析

城市轨道交通项目融资的贷款人并不是项目所有者,不可能从项目的投资中获得股本收益。因此,当贷款人在考察是否为采用项目融资方式建设的城市轨道交通项目提供融资时,所关心的重点是项目未来的偿债能力。本文在分析偿债资金来源的基础上,构造城市轨道交通项目的现金流模型,并从贷款偿还期、债务覆盖率、利息覆盖率、债务承受比率等方面,对城市轨道交通项目融资的偿债能力进行分析。     

中国金融开放的内外失衡问题——基于政治学视角的金融生态链分析

本文针对中国金融开放中内外失衡问题,结合中国金融开放的现实态势从政治学的视角分析了政府进行如此政策选择的原因,并对于现有外国战略投资者的行为特征进行了阐述,指出其中可能存在的隐患,同时在此基础上对于金融开放中优先对外开放的国际案例作了评析,指出其成败得失;而后结合金融生态链理论用中国企业融资渠道的实证数据分析了中国的现实金融需求,指出目前的金融制度供给不适应现实需求的发展,因此加快对内开放,完善金融生态链是现实的迫切需要,并结合国内外"民间金融"发展的成功经验提出相应的政策主张.