THE ECONOMICS OF FISCAL DECENTRALIZATION

Abstract There is no complete overview or discussion of the literature of the economics of federalism and fiscal decentralization, even though scholarly interest in the topic has been increasing significantly over recent years. This paper provides a general, brief but comprehensive overview of the main insights from the literature on fiscal federalism and decentralization. In doing so, literature on fiscal federalism and decentralization is grouped into two main approaches: ‘first generation approach’ and ‘an emerging second generation approach’. The discussion generally covers the two notions of fiscal decentralization: ‘fiscal autonomy’ and ‘fiscal importance’ of subnational governments as the background of the most recently developed index of fiscal decentralization in Vo. The relevance of this discussion to any further development of a fiscal decentralization index is briefly noted.     

数学命题在珠算硬、软件建设中的作用（上）——兼谈中进制理论的一项应用

运用珠算解决高等数学问题的关键所在，即珠算的硬软件建设。本文摒弃千年古制、万国常法，借助数学命题揭示珠算硬件、软件的内部机制，为应用数学和珠算开拓了广阔而崭新的研究领域。     

Consistency and asymptotic normality of least squares estimators in generalized STAR models

Space–time autoregressive (STAR) models, introduced by Cliff and Ord [Spatial autocorrelation (1973) Pioneer, London] are successfully applied in many areas of science, particularly when there is prior information about spatial dependence. These models have significantly fewer parameters than vector autoregressive models, where all information about spatial and time dependence is deduced from the data. A more flexible class of models, generalized STAR models, has been introduced in Borovkova et al. [Proc. 17th Int. Workshop Stat. Model. (2002), Chania, Greece] where the model parameters are allowed to vary per location. This paper establishes strong consistency and asymptotic normality of the least squares estimator in generalized STAR models. These results are obtained under minimal conditions on the sequence of innovations, which are assumed to form a martingale difference array. We investigate the quality of the normal approximation for finite samples by means of a numerical simulation study, and apply a generalized STAR model to a multivariate time series of monthly tea production in west Java, Indonesia.     

Corporate financial policy with pension accounts: an extension of the Modigliani–Miller theorem

We build a model of an incomplete market economy with a firm, which we apply to the study of corporate financial policies with pension accounts. We show that prior to ERISA, even though the sponsoring firm's integral financial policy is neutral for its market value, it may affect the economy by creating a pension call option. On the other hand, in the post‐ERISA periods, the firm's financial policy is not only neutral for its value but also has no real effect on the economy. Thus, the Modigliani–Miller theorem is valid in this sense.     

高等数学的生活化、主题式教学

本文旨在探讨数学教学中的有效方法，基于常规课堂教学，结合数学实验和数学模型讲解数学中某一个主题内容，以贴近学生的现实生活，不断沟通生活中的数学与教科书上数学的联系，丰富教学内容和教学方法，提高学生的学习兴趣，加强学生记忆。文中以高等数学中的“存在性”结论为主题，引申到方程根的存在性，并结合介值定理、零点定理攀以教学模型实例应用．构建生活化、主题式数学课堂。     

A “Super” Folk Theorem for dynastic repeated games

We analyze dynastic repeated games. These are repeated games in which the stage game is played by successive generations of finitely-lived players with dynastic preferences. Each individual has preferences that replicate those of the infinitely-lived players of a standard discounted infinitely-repeated game. Individuals live one period and do not observe the history of play that takes place before their birth, but instead create social memory through private messages received from their immediate predecessors. Under mild conditions, when players are sufficiently patient, all feasible payoff vectors (including those below the minmax of the stage game) can be sustained by sequential equilibria of the dynastic repeated game with private communication. In particular, the result applies to any stage game with n  ≥  4 players for which the standard Folk Theorem yields a payoff set with a non-empty interior. We are also able to characterize fully the conditions under which a sequential equilibrium of the dynastic repeated game can yield a payoff vector not sustainable as a subgame perfect equilibrium of the standard repeated game. For this to be the case it must be that the players’ equilibrium beliefs violate a condition that we term “inter-generational agreement.” A previous version of this paper was circulated as Anderlini et al. (2005). We are grateful to Jeff Ely, Leonardo Felli, Navin Kartik, David Levine, Stephen Morris, Michele Piccione, Andrew Postlewaite, Lones Smith and to seminar audiences at Bocconi, Cambridge, CEPR-Guerzensee, Chicago, Columbia, Edinburgh, Essex, Georgetown, Leicester, LSE, Northwestern, Oxford, Rome (La Sapienza), Rutgers, SAET-Vigo, Stanford, SUNY-Albany, UCL, UC-San Diego, Venice and Yale for helpful feedback.     

The Monty Hall problem is not a probability puzzle* (It's a challenge in mathematical modelling)

Suppose you're on a game show, and you're given the choice of three doors: Behind one door is a car; behind the others, goats. You pick a door, say No. 1, and the host, who knows what's behind the doors, opens another door, say No. 3, which has a goat. He then says to you, ‘Do you want to pick door No. 2?’ Is it to your advantage to switch your choice? The answer is ‘yes’ but the literature offers many reasons why this is the correct answer. This article argues that the most common reasoning found in introductory statistics texts, depending on making a number of ‘obvious’ or ‘natural’ assumptions and then computing a conditional probability, is a classical example of solution driven science. The best reason to switch is to be found in von Neumann's minimax theorem from game theory, rather than in Bayes’ theorem.     

Entropy concentration and the empirical coding game

We give a characterization of maximum entropy/minimum relative entropy inference by providing two 'strong entropy concentration' theorems. These theorems unify and generalize Jaynes'concentration phenomenon' and Van Campenhout and Cover's 'conditional limit theorem'. The theorems characterize exactly in what sense a prior distribution Q conditioned on a given constraint and the distribution      minimizing D(P  ‖  Q ) over all P satisfying the constraint are 'close' to each other. We then apply our theorems to establish the relationship between entropy concentration and a game-theoretic characterization of maximum entropy inference of Topsøe and others.     

经济学制度分析的源流、误识及其未来

文章的主旨是梳理当代经济学制度分析的思想史。通过文献考据文章主要论证了以下四个观点:第一,虽然凡勃伦的《有闲阶级论》通常被认为是第一部经济学制度研究著作,但是他的理论本身实际上是"反制度主义";第二,美国制度学派(旧制度经济学)内在的思想渊源之间的冲突决定了其无法建构起有效的理论体系;第三,"科斯定理"是一个被过度诠释的概念;第四,"交易成本"概念的形成是经济学内部不同研究领域之间相互影响的结果,并且正因为如此,才使得新制度经济学融入了主流理论。文章的结论是,应当抛弃以交易成本为中心的制度解释,转向"深描"的经济学制度分析。     

一种改进的基于中国剩余定理的QC-LDPC码构造方法

为增大QC-LDPC码围长的同时减少码中包含的短环,提高其纠错性能,提出了一种基于中国剩余定理（CRT）的QC-LDPC码改进联合构造方法。该方法将设计围长为g的长码长的QC-LDPC码的问题简化为设计一个围长为g的短分量码的问题,然后通过对其余分量码校验矩阵的列块进行适当置换,使得构造出的QC-LDPC码具有更少的短环和更优的性能,更适于可靠性要求较高的通信系统。仿真结果表明,与已有的CRT联合构造方法设计的QC-LDPC码相比,新方法构造的QC-LDPC码具有更少的短环,在误码率为10-6时获得了1.2 dB的编码增益。