Accounting and taxation: Conjoined twins or separate siblings?

This paper explores the relationship between accounting and taxation through the recent proposals for curbing corporate tax avoidance advanced by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and the European Union (EU). The OECD is content to tweak pricing and fails to address the faultlines of accounting. The EU is promoting ‘unitary taxation’ and advocates a major reform of the way taxable profits are to be calculated. As IFRSs have reduced the usefulness of accounting numbers for taxation purposes, the EU has sought to recalibrate basic elements of accounting. This has considerable implications for the development of accounting.     

大学科技园影响高校科技成果转化机制研究—基于管理机构人员视角

高校科技成果转化是支撑我国创新驱动发展战略的重要环节,大学科技园为科技成果转化提供了对接市场的平台。本文基于2008~2018年113所211、省部级共建高校数据以及31个省、直辖市大学科技园数据,运用固定效应模型,实证研究大学科技园管理机构人员及学历背景对高校科技成果转化绩效的影响及内在机制。研究发现,大学科技园管理机构人员及学历背景在一定程度促进高校科技成果转化,且最终呈倒U型关系。进一步分析发现,大学科技园管理机构人员及学历背景对处于不同经济带、不同专业背景以及不同办学层次高校的影响存在异质性。因此,需要根据高校本质特征及所处环境,建设具有针对性的大学科技园及管理人员团队。本文为完善高校科技成果转化体系提供了经验证据。     

UNDERSTANDING MEMBER CHARACTERISTICS AND COOPERATIVE PRICE EFFECTS: THE CASE OF THE ARGENTINEAN DAIRY SECTOR

Since the 1990s, Argentinean dairy‐processing cooperatives have lost considerable amounts of members and market share. We analyse their current role by investigating the characteristics of farmers who continue delivering to them and price differentials between cooperatives and investor‐oriented firms (IOFs). A probit regression model applied to 917 farmers suggests that cooperative farmers are more disadvantaged than farmers delivering to IOFs in terms of education, farm size and productive technology. Moreover, t‐tests applied to data representing 70 per cent of national volume indicate that farmers delivering to cooperatives are between 11 per cent and 29 per cent smaller than those delivering to IOFs, depending on province. A hierarchical multilevel regression model applied to 9,720 transactions among farmers and processors shows that, after controlling for quantity and quality, cooperatives pay lower (3.5%) but more stable prices than IOFs. In a context of rapid structural change, we observe a market in which larger farmers deliver to IOFs and smaller farmers deliver to cooperatives and conclude that, at the expense of paying lower prices, cooperatives may act as buyers of last resort for otherwise disadvantaged farmers.     

北京低收入村“引智帮扶”研究——以通州区西集镇耿楼村为例

低收入村及低收入农户帮扶工作是北京市落实中央战略部署、打好三大攻坚战的一项重点任务,是北京率先全面建成小康社会必须完成的硬任务。本文以通州区西集镇耿楼村为例,结合首都功能定位、区域资源优势和消费需求,提出建设生态环保、自然景观、文化特色的集农业种植销售、农业采摘观光、亲子娱乐、特色餐饮、休闲住宿为一体的农业体验园区规划构想,并提出具体的实施建议。     

Structural transformation and productivity growth in India during 1960–2010

In this paper, we examine the role of structural change and sectoral productivity growth in explaining the aggregate productivity of India relative to the United Sates during 1960–2010. We set up a simple two sector general equilibrium model and calibrate it to fit the structural transformation of United States. Our calibrated model for India highlights the relative importance of agricultural productivity growth in explaining its slow process of catching up in terms of aggregate productivity. We show that India could have progressed at a much faster rate and closed a substantial part of its aggregate productivity gap if its agricultural sector had grown at a rate at par with the United States. It is India's relative productivity growth in the non-agricultural sector that explains all the recent success in its closing the aggregate productivity gap with the United States. We also found that an elimination of relative distortion in agriculture in India could result into a modest improvement in the aggregate labour productivity.     

Consumption,welfare, and stochastic population dynamics when technology shocks are (Un)tied

The impact of uncertainty on consumption and welfare seems obvious; because of the precautionary saving motive, higher uncertainty reduces consumption, and subsequently, deteriorates welfare. Recent several studies, however, find that this intuitive narrative is not necessarily true. This paper provides the analytical underpinnings for this. In the absence of technological progress, I find that the larger demographic shocks always reduce consumption, but improve the welfare of households. Moreover, when demographic shocks are negatively tied to technology shocks, there emerges an inverted-U relationship between the size of two shocks and consumption, and a U-shaped relationship between the size of two shocks and household welfare. These results are all characterized analytically in the framework of the stochastic two-sector growth model featuring the correlated Brownian motion process. The findings suggest that demographic policies should not be implemented with no reference to the state of technology.     

RETURNS TO DEBT AND EQUITY IN FARM PRODUCER ORGANIZATIONS

While the capital structure irrelevance proposition is the point of departure in corporate finance, it is unknown if debt‐or‐equity decisions matter to farm producer organizations. To inform decisions of capital acquisition, a panel study is conducted to estimate the relationships of different types of debt (current, long‐term) and equity (allocated, unallocated) to the financial performance of 707 farm producer organizations in the United States during the 2005–2011 period. Using 3,120 observations, the panel analysis indicates net sales in period t is increased by $1.97, $9.59, and $4.01 with an addition of $1 in current debt, allocated equity, or unallocated equity in period t_‐1. Furthermore, the magnitude of the positive relationship of an additional dollar of allocated (unallocated) equity to net income is estimated at $0.32 ($0.14). We thus reject the notion managers and directors of farm producer organizations should decide to use debt or equity with a coin toss.     

财税政策、工农业分工与农业生产率——理论分析与经验证据

本文基于动态分工演进,以自给自足的自然经济为起点,将秩序服务和财税政策纳入一个理论框架,结合超边际决策分析和一般均衡分析,考察在此过程中各个经济人的最优决策在市场上相互作用而内生的各种变化,揭示了财税政策作用于工农业分工和农业生产率的内在机制。然后,使用中国改革开放以来的数据对相关结论进行实证检验。模型分析表明,政府财税政策的实施在促进工农业分工水平提高的情况下,会扩大粮食生产的迂回化经济程度,进而推动粮食部门的农地生产率提升。就长期而言,单位面积的财政支农支出对农地生产率的提高有显著正向影响,在其他农业生产要素既定情况下,单位面积的财政支农支出每增加1%,农地生产率增加3.23%;从短期来看,单位面积财政支农支出对农地生产率的作用较弱,但在反向修正机制的作用下,最终会达到有效提高农地生产率的长期稳定均衡。另外,财政支农支出的增加促进了分工水平的提高,而分工水平的提高又推动了农业生产率的提升。     

Design of Digital Agricultural Extension Tools: Perspectives from Extension Agents in Nigeria

Given the marked heterogeneous conditions in smallholder agriculture in Sub-Saharan Africa, there is a growing policy interest in site-specific extension advice and the use of digital extension tools to provide site-specific information. Empirical ex-ante studies on the design of digital extension tools and their use are rare. Using data from a choice experiment in Nigeria, we elicit and analyze the preferences of extension agents for major design features of ICT-enabled decision support tools (DSTs) aimed at site-specific nutrient management extension advice. We estimate different models, including mixed logit, latent class and attribute non-attendance models. We find that extension agents are generally willing to use such DSTs and prefer a DST with a more user-friendly interface that requires less time to generate results. We also find that preferences are heterogeneous: some extension agents care more about the effectiveness-related features of DSTs, such as information accuracy and level of detail, while others prioritise practical features, such as tool platform, language and interface ease-of-use. Recognising and accommodating such preference differences may facilitate the adoption of DSTs by extension agents and thus enhance the scope for such tools to impact the agricultural production decisions of farmers.     

The Evolving Structure of Chinese R&D Funding and its Implications for the Productivity of Agricultural Biotechnology Research

China’s research and development (R&D) policy has changed considerably over recent decades, and great changes occurred in 2006 when the main programme objective of China’s R&D changed from the 863 Programme and 973 Programme to the National Science and Technology Major Project. One topic that has drawn extensive attention is whether the investment reform improved R&D productivity in China. Using a unique panel dataset from 160 universities, this paper examines the effect of the investment reform on productivity improvement in China’s agricultural biotechnology sector. We use a panel count data model with a dynamic feedback mechanism to model the knowledge production process. Strong evidence indicates that the investment reform greatly contributes to knowledge output production in China’s agricultural biotechnology sector. We also find that the input quality is more important than the absolute quantity; human research capacity exhibits the greatest contribution to the output of patents; past knowledge accumulation helps produce more patents; and entry barriers to patent production exist in China’s agricultural biotechnology sector. Moreover, the patent explosion in China may have been largely caused by improvements in the human capital input quality.