Personal Income Tax Reform in China in 2018 and Its Impact on Income Distribution

In the context of personal income tax (PIT) reform in China in 2018, this paper examines some of the major issues of concern regarding the reform and income distribution. Using the China Personal Income Tax Micro‐simulation model, the paper compares the differences between the 2011 and 2018 PIT systems, and finds that residents relying on different income sources may face a large degree of real tax rate change. Once the tax system is altered to PIT 2018, the coverage of PIT for wage earners will decrease from 46.9 to 23.4 percent, the income redistributive effect will drop from 1.95 to 1.22 percent and the PIT's role in fiscal revenue will also be negatively affected. Nevertheless, if individual income continues to grow, the share of PIT in fiscal revenue is expected to return to the 2018 level in 2022, but its income redistribution function is difficult to recover in the short term. The paper finds that the effect of PIT on income distribution depends on the tax structure. Gradual transition to an “entirely comprehensive” tax system when conditions are appropriate will achieve better income redistribution results at a lower average tax rate.     

The determinants of commercial banking profitability in low-, middle-, and high-income countries

Using a broad bank-level dataset and the GMM estimator technique described by Arellano and Bover (1995), this paper analyses how bank-specific characteristics, macroeconomic variables, and industry-specific factors affect the profitability of 10,165 commercial banks across 118 countries over the period from 1998 to 2012. Grouping the countries according to three income levels, we show that the determinants of bank profitability included in our model can explain existing profitability differences among commercial banks in low-, middle-, and high-income countries. The profitability determinants vary quite widely across the different levels of income in terms of significance, sign and size of the effect. The level of income has thus an important impact on the determinants of bank profitability.     

企业应对劳动力成本增加的品牌战略研究

我国城乡居民人均收入将于2020年翻一番，由此引发的问题是劳动力成本的快速提高。文章在品牌经济学的框架下，分析指出通过品牌战略建设提高产品溢价能力，是企业应对劳动力成本上升的有效手段。通过构建引入选择成本的需求函数，证明了品牌溢价能力与其品牌信用度呈正比关系。在理论分析的基础上，文章提出了应对收入倍增的品牌战略路径，主要包括自主品牌-自主品牌、自主品牌-他人品牌、他人品牌-自主品牌、他人品牌-他人品牌等四种方式。企业可根据实际情况，选择合适路径实现从无品牌到弱势品牌，再到强势品牌的转变。     

土地经营规模对农户种粮收入的影响分析——以吉林省公主岭市为例

土地是财富之母,土地作为农民进行农业生产的基本生产资料,是农民收入来源的重要依托。家庭联产承包责任制实施至今虽然取得很大成就,但是以家庭经营为主的传统经营方式弊端日益显现,农民种粮收入难以实现有效增长。[目的]为了达到农村土地适度规模经营,调整农村产业结构、促进农民增收、加快小城镇建设等目的。[方法]通过选取产粮大县公主岭市为研究对象,利用实地调研数据对不同土地经营规模下的种粮成本及利润水平进行比较,并运用c-D生产函数对数据进行多元线性回归分析。[结果]从种植成本来看,5~20hm~2中等经营规模投入的综合成本低于5hm~2以下小规模和20hm~2以上大规模经营;从利润来看,5~20hm~2中等经营规模无论是自有承包地还是转包地所获得的每667m~2平均利润均高于小规模和大规模的经营规模。[结论]公主岭市农户土地经营面积为5~20hm~2的中规模优于其他土地经营规模。同时运用多元线性回归模型分析其对农户种粮收入的影响程度,进一步证实土地经营规模对农民种粮收入具有积极促进作用。从而提出推进公主岭市土地适度规模经营的对策建议。     

Internal Migration of Blacks in South Africa: An Application of the Roy Model

This study investigates the internal migration of black males in South Africa over the period after the formal end of Apartheid using the 1996 census data. The two issues of our primary interests are the following: (i) whether migration patterns of black individuals are consistent with the income‐maximising hypothesis as related to the destination choice; and (ii) whether the redistribution of human capital is detected in internal migration. The results from conditional logit regressions on choices among individuals in 318 districts show that individuals prefer districts with higher expected wages, conditional on other regional characteristics. In addition, there exist differing preferences on the share of population with post‐secondary education by individuals with commensurate educational attainments. Black individuals with post‐secondary education tend to migrate into areas with a higher share of population with post‐secondary education and vice versa, which confirms the divergence of human capital levels across districts.     

Capital in the Twenty-First Century: Reinterpreting the fundamental contradiction of capitalism

At a theoretical level this article discusses Piketty’s hypothesis that the distribution of income and wealth tends to become more concentrated over time when the rate of return on capital is greater than the growth rate of real output. We develop a post Keynesian model of growth and distribution showing that once capital is differentiated from wealth, the increase in income and wealth concentration actually occurs when the rate of valorization of financial and real estate assets is greater than the growth rate of real output, and that this situation may be triggered by financial liberalization.     

Favouritism towards the poor and a discontinuous tax structure

This article aims to theoretically clarify two points. First, even though the government shows favouritism to the poor and wants to exempt low-income taxpayers and to secure the necessary income tax revenue by taxing only high-income taxpayers, the government nevertheless ends up taxing the poor. This is in opposition to favouritism and arises because of the government’s inability to observe the individual taxpayer’s income levels. Second, even without observing each taxpayer’s income level, if favouritism is sufficiently strong, then the government can discontinuously resolve such unintentional taxation.     

以政府职能转变推动收入分配改革

收入和财富分配的不平等一直是中国改革发展中的重要问题。针对中国经济的特点,可以从政府改革的角度来研究如何更好地进行收入分配改革。地方政府主导推动地方经济的做法对收入不平等的扩大起了重要作用,加快政府职能转换,是使收入分配改革真正落到实处的破局之处,也是实现收入分配合理化可行的第一步。要改变地方政府的经济职能,降低它直接参与基础设施的程度,改革地方土地财政,建立垂直管理机构,以分散它的一部分经济管理职能,为收入分配改革打开空间。     

Adaptive learning and distributional dynamics in an incomplete markets model

Recent research shows that several DSGE models provide a closer fit to the data under adaptive learning. This paper extends this research by introducing adaptive learning in the model of Krusell and Smith (1998) with uninsurable idiosyncratic risks and aggregate uncertainty. A first contribution of this paper establishes that the equilibrium of this framework is stable under least-squares learning. The second contribution consists of showing that bounded rationality enhances the ability of this model to match the distribution of income in the US. Learning increases significantly the Gini coefficients because of the opposite effects on consumption of the capital-rich and of the capital-poor agent. The third contribution is an empirical exercise that shows that learning can account for increases in the income Gini coefficient of up to 25% in a period of 28 years. Overall, these findings suggest that adaptive learning has important distributional repercussions in this class of models.