金融危机下国际生产体系对全球贸易的冲击及福利影响

从国际生产和世界贸易两个层面分析并测算了当今世界生产和贸易的最新特点和进展,揭示了两大体系的紧密联系.在外部需求下降的情况下,垂直专业化生产对国际贸易尤其是中间产品贸易造成了负面影响,金融危机通过垂直的国际生产格局对国际贸易的破坏作用放大了.由于供应链的断裂会造成价值链上多个国家进出口贸易的下降,并对深层次参与垂直专业...     

垄断企业的拆分可以改善社会福利吗?——基于一个熊彼特增长框架的分析

关于现实经济中大的垄断企业是否需要拆分一直是一个争议较大的问题。一种观点认为,拆分可以消除垄断,加强竞争,从而促进创新,这将最终有利于提高社会福利。另一种观点认为,拆分使得垄断利润减少,消除规模效应,这可能不利于创新,因而拆分对社会福利的影响是坏的。基于Aghion和Howitt(1992)的熊彼特增长模型,本文考察了拆分对创新、经济增长和社会福利的影响。拆分对研发投资规模和经济增长具有阻碍作用,企业拆分越多,研发投资规模越小,经济增长率越低;拆分对社会福利的影响是不确定的,从社会福利水平极大化的角度出发,垄断企业是否需要拆分取决于竞争性均衡经济中研发投资规模与社会最优经济中研发投资规模的对比。本文旨在运用内生经济增长框架,从社会福利水平极大化的角度出发,为垄断企业的拆分提供一些理论依据。     

金融危机下国际生产体系对全球贸易的冲击及福利影响

从国际生产和世界贸易两个层面分析并测算了当今世界生产和贸易的最新特点和进展,揭示了两大体系的紧密联系。在外部需求下降的情况下,垂直专业化生产对国际贸易尤其是中间产品贸易造成了负面影响,金融危机通过垂直的国际生产格局对国际贸易的破坏作用放大了。由于供应链的断裂会造成价值链上多个国家进出口贸易的下降,并对深层次参与垂直专业化生产的发展中国家和发达国家的福利造成损失。     

Foot‐and‐mouth disease and the Mexican cattle industry

The objective of this article is to analyze the domestic and international effects of a hypothetical foot‐and‐mouth disease (FMD) outbreak in the Mexican cattle industry. A discrete time dynamic optimization model of the Mexican cattle sector is specified, and linked to domestic and international markets. Economic consequences of FMD outbreaks are simulated over time and under different scenarios. Specific findings and general policy recommendations are provided. The study reports a range of outbreaks from localized to large scale and suggests that changes in economic surplus due to FMD range from a positive net gain of $0.89 to $1.6 billion to a net loss of about $67 billion, depending on the specific mitigation strategy and outbreak scenario.     

中国新疆与中亚五国对外经济发展水平比较

本文利用国际国内最新数据,从整体经济发展水平比较出发,通过进出口、外国直接投资、国际旅游等三方面指标,比较中国新疆与中亚五国的对外经济发展水平,并通过经济外向度综合指数做出进一步比较分析。总体而言,新疆经济对外开放水平与中亚五国相比有较大差距,需要在政策措施上加大力度,提高对外开放水平,特别是加快向西开放的步伐。     

Measuring the consumer benefits of improving farm animal welfare to inform welfare labelling

Policy makers in the European Union are envisioning the introduction of a community farm animal welfare label which would allow consumers to align their consumption habits with their farm animal welfare preferences. For welfare labelling to be viable the market for livestock products produced to higher welfare standards has to be sufficiently segmented with consumers having sufficiently distinct and behaviourally consistent preferences. The present study investigates consumers’ preferences for meat produced to different welfare standards using a hypothetical welfare score. Data is obtained from a contingent valuation study carried out in Britain. The ordered probit model was estimated using Bayesian inference to obtain mean willingness to pay. We find decreasing marginal WTP as animal welfare levels increase and that people’s preferences for different levels of farm animal welfare are sufficiently differentiated making the introduction of a labelling scheme in the form of a certified rating system appear feasible.     

我国环境领域技术处于怎样的水平

针对我国环境科技发展现状与重大需求，结合理论梳理，构建了技术评价理论解释模型。在此基础上，采取专家调查方式，重点与美国、日本、德国等主要发达国家进行对比，对环境领域9个子领域技术发展趋势、技术水平和发展阶段进行了评价。结果表明，我国环境领域与国际先进水平的差距正在逐渐缩小，虽有部分技术领先，但大部分还处于跟踪前沿状态，而且原创性技术较少、产业化程度较低，环境科技支撑国家生态文明建设和持续和谐发展任重而道远。     

On the welfare costs of business-cycle fluctuations and economic-growth variation in the 20th century and beyond

The main objective of this paper is to propose a novel setup that allows estimating separately the welfare costs of the uncertainty stemming from business-cycle fluctuations and from economic-growth variation, when the two types of shocks associated with them (respectively, transitory and permanent shocks) hit consumption simultaneously. Separating these welfare costs requires dealing with degenerate bivariate distributions. Levi's Continuity Theorem and the Disintegration Theorem allow us to adequately define the one-dimensional limiting marginal distributions. Under Normality, we show that the parameters of the original marginal distributions are not affected, providing the means for calculating separately the welfare costs of business-cycle fluctuations and of economic-growth variation.Our empirical results show that, if we consider only transitory shocks, the welfare cost of business cycles is much smaller than previously thought. Indeed, we found it to be negative – −0.03% of per-capita consumption! On the other hand, we found that the welfare cost of economic-growth variation is relatively large. Our estimate for reasonable preference-parameter values shows that it is 0.71% of consumption – US$ 208.98 per person, per year.     

The implications of private tutoring on the school education in LDCs

In many LDCs, we observe that the public school teachers receive low wages, expend less than their full effort at school, and provide private tutoring to the students for a fee. To capture this institutional arrangement, we develop a theoretical model which shows that in comparison with ‘no-tutoring’, ‘tutoring’ is welfare reducing for all students in the economy. However, if the government considers only the students in the public system, then ‘tutoring’ can be welfare improving. In that case, the government would set a lower tax rate to pay wages to the teachers and let them provide tutoring to the students for a fee.     

福利危机与改革路径——20世纪90年代以来的香港社会救助

作为全球最活跃的经济体之一,香港一直坚持低税制、低福利、高发展的路线,并根据自身情况建立了一套具有香港特色的社会救助制度。但是,20世纪90年代后,经济、社会等领域发生的重大变化导致这一制度面临诸多问题。为此,香港政府进行了一系列改革,改革汲取了当代全球先进福利理念及经验,在许多方面突破了单纯强调收入援助的传统救助模式,而转向一种新的具有社会投资倾向的积极救助模式。