Is Abe's Fiscal Policy Ricardian? What Does the Fiscal Theory of Prices Mean for Japan?

The second arrow of Abenomics is flexible fiscal policy. However, it does not mean just fiscal stimulus as the Abe administration decided on the fiscal consolidation target of achieving a primary surplus by fiscal year 2020. Improving the primary balance implies making government debt more sustainable. Although the consumption tax rate was raised from 5% to 8% in April 2014, the Abe administration has decided twice to postpone increasing the consumption tax from 8% to 10%. In addition, a fiscal stimulus package was implemented. We use a Fiscal Stance Index to examine fiscal policy from the viewpoint of fiscal sustainability and a Markov switching model to examine fiscal policy from the viewpoint of the fiscal theory of the price level, and find that the Abe's fiscal stance is not Ricardian.     

Sustainability of Monetary-cum-Exchange Rate Policy in China

This paper theoretically considers the long-run sustainability of China’s monetary-cum-exchange rate policy under the impossible trinity. Two different models are examined: One sterilizes current net foreign assets (NFAs) and the other focuses on NFAs realized in the previous period. Under the de facto opening of financial flows, sterilization yields a negative risk premium in uncovered interest parity (UIP) that triggers a feedback increase among capital inflows. Here, stability depends on the magnitudes and the combination of structural and policy parameters. It is shown that if current capital inflows are sterilized, the monetary-cum-exchange rate policy in China offers a sustainable solution for exchange rates that are relatively stringently managed. However, such a solution can be obtained for relatively flexible or moderately managed rates if sterilization policy is implemented on the previous period’s inflows.     

国家治理现代化框架下中国财政改革实践和理论建设的再认识

40年的改革进程中,财政作为国家治理的基础和重要支柱,不仅有效发挥了以"政"领"财",为实现国家改革战略提供根本保障的基础作用,而且积极履行因"财"施"政",根据改革需求优化财政结构,提升财政效率,对建立现代财政制度、实现国家治理体系和治理能力现代化提供了重要的制度支撑。在总结40年财政改革实践的经验、逻辑和特征的基础上,对具有中国特色的财政本质、功能和规律进行深化认识和理论归纳,对于形成中国特色社会主义财政规律的基本认识,明确新时代我国财政发展面临的形势与任务,思考新时代中国特色社会主义财政理论建设的基本方向,都是非常重要的。本文通过对40年中国财政改革实践和理论建设的思考,对上述问题进行探索。     

垂直财政不对称与收入不平等——基于转移支付依赖的门槛效应分析

收入分配不平等是现阶段我国社会的主要矛盾之一。本文实证考察了分税制改革以来政府间纵向财政分配体制对居民收入差距的影响。结果显示,垂直财政不对称提高总体上未起到缩小居民收入分配差距的作用。转移支付依赖度较低时,垂直财政不对称提高有助于降低居民收入不平等;而转移支付依赖度超过某个阈值时,垂直财政不对称提高反而加剧居民收入分配不均衡。在一般性转移支付的门槛效应中,垂直财政不对称提高会降低收入不平等;在专项转移支付的门槛效应中,垂直财政不对称对收入不平等的影响呈现“U型”关系。这意味着政府间财政分配关系改革应合理控制转移支付规模,进一步提高一般性转移支付的比重。     

我国煤炭电子交易市场的整合路径研究

全国煤炭电子交易市场的整合是一项系统工程,需要实现交易、物流、融资等多项服务功能的协同发展,整合路径选择的恰当与否将直接影响我国煤炭市场化改革的进程。文章首先对我国煤炭电子交易市场的基本格局和突出问题进行了分析,结果表明：目前我国区域性煤炭电子交易市场基本形成、地方性煤炭电子交易市场迅速发展、全国性煤炭电子交易市场正在酝酿。煤炭交易市场发展中存在的突出问题主要涉及交易、物流、金融三个方面,具体表现为：交易服务核心功能发挥不利、物流服务配套功能面临瓶颈、金融服务支撑功能亟需完善。在此基础上,文章结合相关政策,凝练和提出了全国煤炭电子交易市场的整合路径示意图,建议应从交易、物流、金融三条服务主线入手,协调推进,助推煤炭交易市场的快速发展,最终实现全国煤炭电子交易市场的整合目标。最后,基于市场整合的难点,对不同参与主体提出了针对性的建议。     

Why Greater Cash Holdings and Short-Term Debt Simultaneously Persist? The Case of Transition Economy

This study observes and explores a puzzle in Chinese firms whereby both cash holdings and short-term debt simultaneously account for more than 20% of total assets for at least two consecutive years over the sample period. This phenomenon conflicts with the principle of corporate value maximization, and is not clearly explained by the classical theories in corporate finance. Based on the implications in the extant literature and discussions of institutional constraints of the transition economy in China, this paper develops four hypotheses that are involved with agency conflicts between the largest shareholders and creditors and the formation of this puzzling financial structure. The empirical analyses suggest that the largest shareholders with tunneling motives seek to hold more cash to serve their private interests and/or the consequent operational deficit of the listed corporations. To the ends, these corporations tend to manage the timing of short term debt financing to increase cash reserves temporarily at the end of year. Essentially, greater cash holdings on the balance sheet of these corporations related with the puzzle become a misleading signal for potential creditors, possibly contributing to the refinancing of short-term debt of these listed firms for the following year. Hence, the puzzling financial structure is connected with the timing of debt financing and adverse selection of creditors. This study enriches the stream of literature on cash holdings and debt maturity, and provides new evidence on the impact of agency problems of the largest shareholders on the association between cash holdings and debt maturity in the context of a transition economy.     

股票价格具有货币政策指示器功能吗——来自中国1997～2006年的经验证据

本文运用VAR模型考察了以股票价格为代表的金融资产价格对我国通货膨胀的影响。实证分析表明,我国股票价格的变动对产出缺口存在一定的正向影响,但是这种影响不太稳定,说明我国股票价格通过总需求渠道对未来通货膨胀产生的影响比较微弱。同时,我国股票价格的变动能引起未来CPI和WPI的同向变化,尤其与CPI的关系非常稳定,说明股票价格在一定程度上包含了我国未来通货膨胀的信息。因此,我国股票价格可以作为一个帮助判断未来经济走势和通货膨胀变动趋势的货币政策指示器。     

从我国土地征用制度的变迁论土地征用制度的完善

文章在回顾和总结我国土地征用制度变迁的基础上,总结出我国土地征用制度具有实行相当补偿原则、补偿金额较低、重视安置责任等特点。并针对以上特点,从严格土地征用制度、有条件实行完全补偿原则等方面提出了完善土地征用制度的对策建议。     

货币从紧政策下央行票据的货币调控效果探析

我国目前的货币政策工具中占主要地位的是央行票据。它的发行引起了社会的广泛关注。它代表了中央银行对目前宏观经济的调控方向。本文从它收缩市场上流动货币的能力及它与各项经济指标的关联性入手,分析它在货币政策调控中的效果。     

经济学向何处去——金融危机以来的经济学反思

自2008年全球金融危机爆发以来,经济学界有关经济学的反思一直不断。理论方面,宏观经济理论和模型以及“有效市场假说”的有效性成为争论的焦点;政策领域,关于财政政策的有效性和通胀目标的设定出现了重大分歧;研究方法上,围绕着数学与经济学之间的关系以及经济学模型化方法纷争不断。然而,反思中也呈现出共识因素,从而揭示了经济学未来可能的发展方向。理论上,金融因素及更为现实的市场缺陷和摩擦因素将更多地被纳入经济学理论和模型中进行讨论,并且处理这些因素的模型也将更趋多元化;政策上,亟须发展出一套理论框架为财政政策和更为广泛的货币政策提供理论依据,货币政策将回归到数量工具、价格工具和其他工具并用的传统;方法上,超越数学的更为广泛意义上的多样化技术工具将积极发挥作用,模型会向更具现实性因而也更为复杂化的方向发展。除了危机的外部冲击外,经济学的这种路径转向可能还需要该学科内部制度性激励结构的相应变革。