基于财政分权视角的低碳城市建设研究

低碳城市建设需要新的视角、新的思路.长期以来,人们一直把建设低碳城市作为政府不可推卸的责任.然而大多数与此相关的政策建议,要么只是直接提出问题的严峻性和采取行动的必要性;要么忽视各个级次政府对于实现低碳城市建设目标的作用,只讲责任而不顾能力和激励;要么把能力和激励问题视作理所当然的前提,忽视激励机制的重要性.这样的讨论是片面的、不完整的,缺乏有针对性的建议.文章从多级次政府的现实出发,说明财政分权对于低碳城市建设的重要性,深入分析了政治激励与财政激励对低碳城市建设的巨大影响,并给出了具体的对策建议.     

The Political Economy of Chinese “Federalism”: New Analytical Directions

Abstract

Decentralized politico-administrative structures may be dissected and assessed by employing a variety of conceptual tools. In the case of China, researchers have displayed a distinct preference for operating within a framework grounded in political sociology. Substantial insights have been generated in the process, but it may be argued, and empirically demonstrated, that a complementary approach, seeking inspiration from political economy, may shed additional light on the functioning of the Chinese quasi-federal system.     

Autonomy and improved performance: lessons from an NHS policy reform

Autonomy is currently seen by policy-makers in many countries as a possible mechanism for enhancing public sector performance. The authors examine a service reform (the National Health Service in England) in which more autonomy was given to better performing hospitals. Drawing on data from interviews with senior managers, the research suggests that despite being enmeshed in a politicized culture of regulations and guidance, autonomy is increasingly perceived positively and appears to depend on the extent to which organizations have the incentives and the capacity to respond to increased autonomy. The article presents findings that will be of value to policy-makers in many countries.     

For Better or for Worse? Local Impacts of the Decentralization of Indonesia’s Forest Sector

This paper quantifies the local impacts of mechanized logging on forest-dependent communities in Indonesia, before and after decentralization. A conceptual framework incorporates financial, social, enforcement, rent-seeking, and environmental impacts. Using data from 60 communities in East Kalimantan, the empirical results suggest that significantly more households received financial and in-kind benefits after decentralization compared to before. Many communities engaged in self-enforcement activities against firms both before and after decentralization. Post-decentralization, a significantly higher proportion of households perceived community forest ownership. There were few significant differences in perceived environmental impacts. Little evidence exists of a post-decentralization trade-off between environmental and financial contractual provisions.     

Cointegration and causality in international agricultural economics research

A review of literature on applications of Granger causality to problems in international agricultural economics research is summarized. The review relates to cointegration theory, and it identifies the areas where recent econometric developments may be of value. Testing procedures are outlined, and a discussion is provided on questions such as non-stationarity and asymptotic distribution of non-causality tests, the relationship between cointegration and causation, the relative merits of various testing procedures, and concerns about testing bivariate causality in higher dimensional models. Finally, a recent econometric development is discussed and its future use in applied research is discussed.     

Externalities do not necessarily require larger message spaces for realizing pareto-efficient allocations

Classes of economies with consumption externalities and decisive, nonwasteful, and informationally decentralized allocation mechanisms on classes including these classes of economies are constructed. The informational size of the message spaces is shown to be minimal among the message spaces used by any allocation mechanisms with the same properties on the same class of economies. The message spaces are shown to be as large as n(l- 1)n(\ell - 1) -dimensional Euclidean space, where n is the number of economic agents and l\ell is the number of commodities. The presence of consumption externalities does not necessarily require larger message spaces for realizing Pareto-efficiency.     

财政分权、社会保障支出与城乡居民收入差距的实证分析

基于1998～2012年各省的面板数据,利用动态广义矩(GMM)和面板门槛模型实证分析财政分权、社会保障支出对城乡收入差距的影响,结果显示:由于中国城乡二元经济的特殊性,财政分权、人均社会保障支出与城乡居民收入差距均成正相关性.但社会保障支出对城乡收入差距的影响存在基于财政分权的双门槛效应,当财政分权水平较低时,社会保障支出的增加加剧了城乡收入差距;当财政分权高于一定水平时,社会保障支出有助于缩小城乡收入差距.     

经济转轨、财政分权与预算软约束

我国正处于经济转轨时期，预算软约束问题普遍存在。财政分权在通过地区竞争逐步缓解国有企业预算软约束问题的同时，却使政府预算软约束愈演愈烈。解决的办法在于规范财政分权。     

分权还是集权?——中国企业授权与激励现状调查

分权和集权两种管理模式的选择一直是企业管理的难题。近年来,分权管理模式受到理论界更多的重视,但是在中国实践的情况如何尚不清楚。文章通过调查问卷,试图探讨中国企业授权管理的现状及其差异来源,特别是与激励制度的关系。调查发现,企业人事权、经营管理权授权的程度与地区、产权结构有关,企业的激励制度主要还是作为授权的补偿而不是成本考虑的。