Existence and specific characters of rentiers: a savers-spenders theory approach

Summary. Using the savers-spenders theory developed by Mankiw (2000, AER), we propose microfoundations to the existence of rentiers in macroeconomic growth models. From an OLG model which acknowledges the great heterogeneity of consumer behavior apparent in the data, we capture the dynamic considerations of potential rentiers as a natural consequence of intertemporal utility maximization and we analyze realistic characteristics (proportion, wealth, propensity to save) of rentiers.JEL Classification Numbers: E13, D64, J22.This paper is adapted from the fourth chapter of my Ph.D Thesis. Then, I thank Alain VENDITTI, my Ph.D Supervisor and Antoine dAUTUME and Pierre PESTIEAU my Ph.D Referees. Earlier version of this paper were presented at the International conference: New perspectives on (un)stability: the role of heterogeneity at Marseille, June 7-9, 2001 and at the X-th Spring School of the Associated European Laboratory (CNRS-FNRS/CORE-GREC-GREQAM) at Aix, 2001. I thank conference participants, in particular Olivier CHARLOT, Christian GHIGLINO, Kiminori MATSUYAMA and Philippe MICHEL for suggestions, helpful comments and discussions. I also thank a referee of this journal for his constructive comments.     

收入分配不平等与经济增长:回到库兹涅茨假说

本文运用一个政治经济模型,研究在财政支出同时具有生产性和消费性,同时进入总生产函数和代表性个人的效用函数时收入分配不平等对经济增长的影响。本文的分析表明:在经济均衡时,增长率与税率呈倒U型关系。随着税率增加,经济增长率先升后降;在政治均衡时,收入分配越不平等,实际资本税率就越高,因此收入分配不平等与经济增长间存在一定程度的库兹涅茨倒U型关系     

The dangers of extended, but incomplete, accounting for measures of economic performance in a world of imperfect knowledge

The conventions currently employed by national statistical agencies for income and wealth accounting leave out many things relevant to economic performance and human well-being. This has lead to proposals for, and attempts at, more comprehensive accounting. Fully comprehensive accounting is impossible, and the question addressed in this paper is whether a fuller, but incomplete, accounting is guaranteed to be nearer to the truth than the conventional accounting. The answer to this question is ‘no’. In general, for example, we cannot be sure that ‘genuine saving’ would be more accurately measured by extending the list of assets that it covers. The paper sets out the conditions under which greater accuracy would be assured.     

公允价值对收入确认及利润的影响分析

本文从公允价值的涵义出发,着重探讨了新准则中公允价值在收入确认中的应用,以及公允价值对利润的影响分析。通过这一分析,我们可以明确地发现公允价值所提供的信息能够更全面地反映企业在生产经营过程中存在的一些问题,有助于会计信息使用者做出正确的分析、预测和决策。     

外贸增长方式转变滞后原因及路径展望

中国的外贸增长并没有带来相应外贸增长方式的优化。外贸增长方式转变滞后的原因复杂,主要归于指导理论的不适用、市场不完善与政府政策失调等三大方面。我国外贸增长方式转变滞后有一定的客观必然性,实现此种转变是个长期过程。只有在解决了制约外贸增长方式转变滞后的问题之后,外贸增长方式的路径研究才有意义。     

Causality between income and emission: a country group-specific econometric analysis

Empirical studies of the Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC) examine the presence or otherwise of an inverted U-shaped relationship between the level of pollution and the level of income. Customarily, in the diagram of EKC the level of income is shown on the horizontal axis and that of pollution on the vertical axis. Thus, it is presumed that the relationship between income and pollution is one of unidirectional causality with income causing environmental changes and not vice versa. The validity of this presumption is now being questioned. It is being asserted that the nature and direction of causality may vary from one country to the other. In this paper, we present the results of a study of income–CO₂ emission causality based on a Granger causality test to cross-country panel data on per capita income and the corresponding per capita CO₂ emission data. Briefly, our results indicate three different types of causality relationship holding for different country groups. For the developed country groups of North America and Western Europe (and also for Eastern Europe) the causality is found to run from emission to income. For the country groups of Central and South America, Oceania and Japan causality from income to emission is obtained. Finally, for the country groups of Asia and Africa the causality is found to be bi-directional. The regression equations estimated as part of the Granger causality test further suggest that for the country groups of North America and Western Europe the growth rate of emission has become stationary around a zero mean, and a shock in the growth rate of emission tends to generate a corresponding shock in the growth rate of income. In contrast, for the country groups of Central and South America, Oceania and Japan a shock in the income growth rate is likely to result in a corresponding shock in the growth rate of emission. Finally, causality being bi-directional for the country groups of Asia and Africa, the income and the emission growth rates seemed to reinforce each other.     

Community income distributions in a metropolitan area

We extend de Bartolome and Ross [C.A.M. de Bartolome, S.L. Ross, Equilibrium with local governments and commuting: Income sorting vs. income mixing, Journal of Urban Economics 54 (2003) 1–20] to the case when the income distribution in the metropolitan area is a continuous distribution. In particular, we consider a circular central city surrounded by a suburban community. All households must commute to the metropolitan center and public service levels differ in the two jurisdictions. There is intra-jurisdictional and inter-jurisdictional capitalization. Our model has an equilibrium in which the income distributions of the central city and of the suburban community do overlap. Our finding contrasts with the traditional finding of Alonso–Mills–Muth-type models of spatial sorting and of Tiebout-type models of fiscal sorting, both of which have been shown to predict that the income distributions of the two communities do not overlap. In addition, the model explains the fixedness in jurisdictional boundaries.     

中国1978～2002年的财政制度、经济增长与转轨:理论与事实

本文在回顾中国经济转轨的历史上，运用动态最优化和博弈论研究了财政制度对中国经济增长和经济转轨的影响，并结合1978～2002年的数据进行描述性分析和统计检验。本文结论认为：中央政府的经济改革从国有企业开始源于经济增长和财政两个方面的原因；在1986-1993年中央政府长期背负财政赤字是1990-1993年通货膨胀的根本原因；“分税制”改革最直接的结果是中央政府宏观调控能力的提高，也影响着货币政策和国有银行改革。     

经济增长因素分析模型:对索洛模型的一个扩展

决定经济增长的两个直接因素分别是生产要素投入量的增长和全要素生产率的增长，索洛增长核算方程清晰而又简明地表达了这一思想，但其过于严峻的假设条件大大降低了该模型对经济增长事实的解释力和政策含义。本文对索洛模型的假设条件进行了分析和放松，并在借鉴内生增长理论的基础上对索洛模型进行扩展，从而得出一个具有较强适用性的经济增长因素分析模型。     

Decentralization and economic growth revisited: an empirical note

Although it is theoretically expected that decentralization leads to efficient provision of local public services and stimulates economic development, there is a mixed picture of the decentralization effect on economic growth across earlier empirical studies. Using the instrument variables (IV) technique with the latest cross-country data for the period from 1997 to 2001, this paper found that fiscal decentralization has a significant positive impact on per capita GDP growth. Therefore, when the focus is placed on the latest information on the economic situation in the latter 1990s, decentralization, particularly on the fiscal expenditure side, is instrumental in economic growth.