The relationship between financial sector development and savings mobilisation in South Africa: An empirical study

This article examines the link between financial sector development and savings mobilisation in South Africa for the period 1980–2012. Taking the life-cycle hypothesis as our theoretical background and using Johansen co-integration that allows for hypothesis testing, the empirical results revealed a long-run relationship between savings, interest rates and financial sector development. We find an inverse relationship between the interest rate and savings, implying that South Africans are net borrowers because the income effect overwhelms the substitution effect. This in part explains the low level of savings in recent time. Important policy lessons for boosting the national savings rate are discussed.     

居民货币需求的“结构性流动陷阱”及其对我国物价变动影响之研究

由于当前经济改革中的一些结构性问题使我国居民存在对货币需求的"结构性流动陷阱"."结构性流动陷阱"是我国近年来城乡居民储蓄存款高速增长的根本原因,也是对我国自1997年以来物价变动产生重要影响的一个基本因素.文章首先对当前转型期我国存在的居民货币需求"结构性流动陷阱"形成原因进行分析,其次,依据这个观点对我国近年来出现的通货膨胀和通货紧缩的基本原因和特点进行深入的分析和系统的研究,并就我国未来短期内物价走势进行分析和预测.     

Credit Risk in Two Institutional Regimes: Spanish Commercial and Savings Banks

Although credit risk is an important factor that financial institutions must cope with, the determinants of bank problem loans have been little studied. Using panel data, we compare the determinants of problem loans of Spanish commercial and savings banks in the period 1985–1997, taking into account both macroeconomic and individual bank level variables. The GDP growth rate, firms, and family indebtedness, rapid past credit or branch expansion, inefficiency, portfolio composition, size, net interest margin, capital ratio, and market power are variables that explain credit risk. However, there are significant differences between commercial and savings banks, which confirm the relevance of the institutional form in the management of credit risk. Our findings raise important bank supervisory policy issues: the use of bank level variables as early warning indicators, the advantages of bank mergers from different regions, and the role of banking competition and ownership in determining credit risk.     

Pareto Optimal Trade in an Uncertain World: GMOs and the Precautionary Principle

Optimal trade policy in an uncertain world is examined. Decision-maker attitudes toward uncertainty are represented in terms of the Gilboa–Schmeidler (1989) maximin expected-utility (MMEU) model. The central result is that in a two-country, general-equilibrium setting with both trading partners possessing an MMEU preference structure, Pareto optimality can require one trading partner to absorb all uncertainty in the economy if its set of priors is a subset of its trading partners. An immediate corollary is that autarky is Pareto optimal if the trading partner with the more inclusive set of priors either chooses or is endowed with a nonstochastic technology.     

日本民生部门低碳社会建设的举措及启示

近年来,节能减排、建设低碳社会已成为发展潮流,日本在此方面走在了前列.本文首先介绍了日本能源消费与二氧化碳排放和低碳社会建设的基本情况;其次,重点分析了日本民生部门建设低碳社会的举措,如:天然气的深度利用、热泵和太阳能的推广应用、零能耗建筑的建设等;最后,从日本建设低碳社会的经验中得到:建设低碳社会将会带来巨大商机、清晰明确的发展目标与路线图和企业技术创新的重要作用、应由点到面再到发展“智能能源网络”的策略等启示.这些举措将对我国推进低碳社会的建设有所帮助.     

服务社会:陈光甫经营管理思想的核心

陈光甫以"服务社会"为经营宗旨,以仅有微薄资本的"小小银行"成长为中国近代第一大私人商业银行,创造了中国金融史上多个"第一"。陈光甫的"服务社会"思想,表现为在存款上银元与银两并用,吸收小额储蓄,创办礼金储蓄等;在贷款上,不仅注重工商业的放款,而且还积极创办对农业和个人小额信用的贷款,全方位支持国家各行业、各阶层的金融需要。     

我国城镇职工基本医疗保险个人账户公平性研究

本文采用保险精算模型研究城镇职工基本医疗保险个人账户的不公平性,结果显示:个人账户确实造成了门诊医疗服务分配的不公平,工资收入在社会平均工资90%以下的人群不能很好地享受门诊医疗服务,而且收入越高,个人账户结余额越高。最后,本文提出了相应的政策调整方案以缩小人群之间的不公平程度。     

论人民币升值与资本账户的开放

由于中国是一个有着高储蓄率“优势”的国家,国内储蓄远远大于国内吸收,因而存在巨额储蓄盈余并表现为持续且庞大的经常项目顺差。国际收支常处于不平衡状态,人民币面临越来越大的升值压力。如果给定国内储蓄大于国内投资,那么就必须为国内盈余的资金寻找出路。若一味依靠人民币升值的办法硬性求得中国外部平衡,从长期看必然牺牲内部平衡,其结果将可能是危险甚至是灾难性的。更明智的做法应该是鼓励资本输出并逐步开放资本账户,同时实行有管理的浮动汇率。当然,还应该加快金融制度改革的步伐并逐步开放金融市场。     

Income and distance elasticities of values of travel time savings: New Swiss results

This paper presents the findings of a study looking into the valuation of travel time savings (VTTS) in Switzerland, across modes as well as across purpose groups. The study makes several departures from the usual practice in VTTS studies, with the main one being a direct representation of the income and distance elasticity of the VTTS measures. Here, important gains in model performance and significantly different results are obtained through this approach. Additionally, the analysis shows that the estimation of robust coefficients for congested car travel time is hampered by the low share of congested time in the overall travel time, and the use of an additional rate-of-congestion coefficient, in addition to a generic car travel time coefficient, is preferable. Finally, the analysis demonstrates that the population mean of the indicators calculated is quite different from the sample means and presents methods to calculate those, along with the associated variances. These variances are of great interest as they allow the generation of confidence intervals, which can be extremely useful in cost-benefit analyses.     

Asymmetric preference formation in willingness to pay estimates in discrete choice models

Individuals when faced with choices amongst a number of alternatives often adopt a variety of processing rules, ranging from simple linear to complex non-linear treatment of each attribute defining the offer of each alternative. In this paper we investigate the presence of asymmetry in preferences to test for reference effects and differential willingness to pay according to whether we are valuing gains or losses. The findings offer clear evidence of an asymmetrical response to increases and decreases in attributes when compared to the corresponding values for a reference alternative, where the degree of asymmetry varies across attributes and population segments.