财政政策的相机抉择与规则约束——对当前我国稳健财政政策的理解

从我国相机抉择财政政策的实践经验、成功基础、面临挑战和财政政策的目标选择与功能归位等方面,分析当前我国实施稳健财政政策的必然性和主要内涵,得出相机抉择和规则约束必然有机结合的结论     

财政政策的相机抉择与规则约束——对当前我国稳健财政政策的理解

从我国相机抉择财政政策的实践经验、成功基础、面临挑战和财政政策的目标选择与功能归位等方面,分析当前我国实施稳健财政政策的必然性和主要内涵,得出相机抉择和规则约束必然有机结合的结论     

浅谈我国相机抉择的财政政策

相机抉择的财政整策要求政府根据一定时期的经济形势变化情况,采用不同的财政整策,我国近年来的财政政策基本上都遵循了相机抉择的反经济周期的宏观经济管理思想并且收到了显著的效果,但是同时也存在着一定的调控差.     

中国财政政策是否具有顺周期性

作为反周期工具的财政政策,调控行为及效果是研究的一个焦点之一。本文通过梳理相关理论,利用计量方法、设计相机财政统计量、检验财政政策行为特征,得出如下结论:我国财政收入受经济周期影响显著,具有较强的顺周期性。财政支出总量波动顺周期行为显著,但结构变量波动周期特征不一,从类别上分析,购买性支出变量较转移支付变量顺周期特征明显;从时间上分析,财政支出在1998年之前具有一定的顺周期特征,之后逐渐呈现出经济繁荣期的顺周期与经济萧条期的逆周期并存的非对称性特征。与其他国相比,中国相机执行了更多积极的财政刺激措施,在经济下滑时期表现出更高的逆周期性;在经济上升时期具有更高的顺周期性;相机抉择效应大于自动稳定器效应,因此具有显著的非对称性顺周期。     

把握财政政策取向 放大财政政策效应

我国自 1 998年开始实行的积极财政政策是基于实施反周期、实现宏观经济调控需要的相机抉择。四年多来 ,在扩大内需、稳定经济增长等方面取得了明显的效果 ,同时也存在一些隐患。鉴于我国目前的宏观经济环境 ,“十五”期间仍需继续实行积极财政政策 ,但应调整积极财政政策的作用方式和作用方向 ,优化积极财政政策传导机制 ,最大限度地放大财政政策的效应     

相机抉择政策、经济增长与地区产出波动

本文旨在研究地方政府的相机抉择政策对经济增长和产出波动的实际影响。本文首先从预算软约束和晋升激励的角度分析这一政策的作用方式，然后用模型测度出相机抉择政策，并以2000—2013年的省际面板数据进行实证检验。研究表明，相机抉择的确刺激了地方经济增长，但却带来了明显的产出波动。不过相机抉择政策具有明显的时滞，其真实效果集中凸显在政策实施的两年后。因此，我国应加强公共财政制度的建设，使相机抉择政策在规则的框架下更为合理地使用。     

“十二五”时期的财政政策取向

·经济全球化要求进一步加强国际间的财政政策协调。·要加快社会保障制度改革和税制结构调整,增强自动稳定器作用的发挥。·应加快相机抉择财政政策决策机制的转变进程,提高财政政策效率。·要确立财政规则,健全财政制度,为财政政策提供强有力的支撑。     

中国地方政府的“相机抉择依赖症”与地区经济波动

近年来,土地财政和地方融资平台的出现使得现有财政体制对地方政府行为的约束出现软化的迹象。在这一制度环境下,地方政府在制定相机性财政政策时更少地基于稳定地区经济考虑,而更大程度上是为了争取财政收入和地区利益。这使地方政府的财政活动长期呈现出较大的随机性特征,不利于地区经济稳定。通过对地方政府的财政政策进行分解,利用我国省级面板数据发现,地方政府的相机性财政政策对异常消费具有一定的平抑作用,但加剧了异常投资的波动。相对消费波动,投资波动是经济波动的主要来源。所以我国地方政府的相机性财政政策实际上隐含了较大的经济波动风险。这一结论为下一步财政体制改革中注重构建对地方政府经济活动的内生制度约束提供了经验支撑。     

突发事件冲击与财政政策效应的动态评价

财政政策效应具有时变性特征,适时调整财政政策工具应对突发性事件对宏观经济的冲击是当前财政政策选择的关键.运用2000年1月至2020年11月数据和时变参数结构向量自回归模型检验突发性事件冲击下不同财政政策的动态效应.研究结果表明,财政政策总体上对产出、价格水平、消费等宏观经济指标呈现时变效应,扩张性财政政策在中长期能促进经济增长,但会导致通货膨胀,并在一定程度上抑制了消费的增长;在突发性事件冲击下,财政政策的短期效应更为显著,中长期后趋于稳定.为此,政府应相机抉择,精准施策,根据经济运行状态采取相应的财政政策,增强财政政策的针对性和时效性,促进财政政策更加积极有为.     

我国财政政策作用机制与经济周期波动的相关性研究

我国积极财政政策在总需求管理过程中起到了重要作用.通过判断我国财政政策工具和财政政策规模与经济周期波动之间的关联,描述结构VAR模型中财政政策的作用和反馈过程,我们发现我国积极财政政策操作过程中体现出了一定程度的相机选择性和对经济周期阶段的依赖性,这意味着在我国经济增长已经出现"软扩张"的经济周期态势下,应当适当调整财政政策的期限结构和政策工具,加强货币政策的组合作用,继续保持积极财政政策对国内产出的作用方向.     

Institutional constraints,double imbalances and policy option—global financial crisis and China’s fiscal policy

With the enormous development of China’s economy, we re-implement the proactive fiscal policy not only to response to the global financial crisis, but also to take advantage of the opportunity to resolve the institutional constraints, transform China’s economic growth pattern, keep stability and promote the sustainable growth of the economy. So the goal of fiscal policy should weigh easing the economic crisis against long-term stability and the development of economy. The past experiences of fiscal policy practices in China indicate that the traditional simple counter-cyclical fiscal policy may be able to pull the economy out of recession, but it has little effect on automatic recovery of the economy. Therefore, the fiscal policies need to hang on the entire reform process and the whole economic structure adjustment. This paper firstly reveals the root of “double imbalances” and institutional constraints, then analyzes the paradox between such constraints, and discusses the space of positive fiscal policy.     

“机会主义”策略及其在我国财政政策规则中的运用?

财政政策既要发挥内在的自动稳定器功能,又要体现政府的政策意图,具有与“机会主义”策略一致的内涵。文章将“机会主义”策略融入财政政策规则,对我国财政政策对通胀和产出的调节是否表现出“机会主义”策略进行了研究,得到的主要结论可以概括为：我国财政政策对通胀和经济增长目标值的关注表现出较强的时变性,且其对经济增长的调节依赖于对经济增速中间目标的偏离程度。当经济增速与中间目标的偏离位于区间[-0.95%,2.85%]内时,财政政策将发挥内生的自动稳定器功能,表现出较强的惰性;而当经济增速与其中间目标的偏离位于该区间外时,财政政策则表现出较强的活性,会对经济增长产生积极的调节作用。     

Study on Medium- and Long-Term Fiscal Policies to Cope with Climate Change under the “Dual Carbon” Goals

Carbon peaking and carbon neutrality constitute an extensive, profound and systemic economic and social change. It is worthwhile to explore how fiscal policy, as a key institutional arrangement in the public policy system to cope with climate change, can play a fundamental and pillar role. Based on literatures, theories and empirical materials, this paper systematically explores the relationship between climate change and public finance. The fiscal impact of climate change will eventually be reflected in fiscal behavior, fiscal costs and fiscal relations, and the fiscal system has the adaptability of an “automatic stabilizer” and the proactiveness to enable the Discretionary Approaches function when facing climate change impacts. This implies such a governance logic of fiscal policy that is systematic, forward-looking and flexible in addressing climate change. In the future, it is necessary to further incorporate climate change or related environmental factors into the fiscal policy framework, target the two key aspects of mitigation and adaptation, and carry out a holistic, systematic and forward-looking reform of the existing fiscal expenditure policy, fiscal revenue policy, fiscal investment and financing policy, government budget system, government procurement policy and ecological compensation policy. While highlighting the “governance” function of fiscal policy in addressing climate change, Chinese government needs to strengthen the coordination and collaboration between fiscal policy tools and other public policies, and magnify the governance effectiveness of fiscal policy in the process of addressing climate change. This paper helps understand the positioning, role and influence of fiscal policy in the process of addressing climate change, provides a basis for better playing the fundamental and underpinning role of the modern fiscal system in the governance of ecological civilization, and presents an analytical framework for building a theoretical system of ecological fiscal governance.     

On the Effectiveness of Monetary Policy and of Fiscal Policy

There has been a major shift within macroeconomic policy over the past two decades or so in terms of the relative importance given to monetary policy and to fiscal policy in both policy and theoretical terms. The former has gained considerably in importance, with the latter being rarely mentioned. Furthermore, the nature of monetary policy has shifted away from any attempt to control some monetary aggregate (prevalent in the first half of the 1980s), and instead monetary policy has focused on the setting of interest rates as the key policy instrument. There has also been a general shift towards the adoption of inflation targets and the use of monetary policy to target inflation. This paper considers the significance of this shift in the nature of monetary policy. This enables us to question the effectiveness of monetary policy, and to explore the role of fiscal policy. We examine these questions from the point of view of the "new consensus" in monetary economics and suggest that it is rather limited in its analysis. When the analysis is broadened out to embrace empirical issues and evidence the clear conclusion emerges that monetary policy is relatively impotent. The role of fiscal policy is also considered, and we argue that fiscal policy (under specified conditions) remains a powerful tool for macroeconomic policy. This is particularly an apt conclusion under current economic conditions.     

Fiscal policy and the current account: are microstates different?

This article examines the empirical link between fiscal policy and the current account focusing on microstates defined as countries with a population of less than 2 million between 1970 and 2009. This article employs panel regression and Panel Vector Autoregression (PVAR) on 155 countries of which 42 are microstates. Panel regression results show that a percentage point improvement in the fiscal balance improves the current account balance by 0.4 percentage points of Gross Domestic Product (GDP). The real effective exchange rate has no significant impact on the current account in microstates but the coefficient is significant in the global sample. PVAR results show that an increase in government consumption results in real exchange appreciation, but the effect on the current account after an initial deterioration dies out quicker in microstates than in the global sample. The result implies that fiscal policy has little effect on the current account in microstates beyond its direct impact on imports. Overall, the results suggest that the weak relative price effects make the effect of fiscal adjustment on the current account much more difficult in microstates.     

财政政策:遵守规则还是相机抉择

2004年10月,诺贝尔经济学奖的颁发,又一次引发了人们对财政政策时间一致性的关注,遵守规则的政策主张似乎又一次回归主流。通过比较英、美等发达市场经济国家财政政策的变迁以及通过分析政策规则与相机抉择不同的理论假设,我认为在制定财政政策时必须两者兼顾。我国现行的稳健(中性)财政政策恰恰体现了这种思想的内涵与本质。     

Optimal monetary–fiscal policy in the euro area liquidity crisis

We build an euro-area level DSGE model featuring a liquidity shock in the sovereign bonds market to simulate the strong contraction in economic activity observed during the 2008–2009 crisis. In the model, a sudden deterioration of the liquidity property of sovereign bonds is associated with deep recession and deflation. Against this background we characterize optimal monetary and fiscal policy with full commitment. We find that the optimal policy contains three features: (i) the policy rate is lowered until hitting the zero lower bound (ZLB) and then is kept at the ZLB for more periods; (ii) a prolonged central bank’s balance-sheet expansion aimed at restoring the liquidity deteriorated; (iii) a counter-cyclical fiscal stimulus which offsets, to a large extent, the fall in private spending caused by the liquidity shock. Policy regimes involving (i), but not (ii) and (iii), are quite weak in stabilizing output gap and inflation. Monetary policy regimes such as full inflation-targeting or nominal GDP targeting perform remarkably well insofar as they are complemented with an optimally-implemented counter-cyclical fiscal policy. Our results tend to favour the view that, in case of recession, an euro-wide coordinated fiscal policy should supplement the role of the ECB in achieving its primary objective.     

论低碳经济发展视阈下的公共政策创新

在全球变暖及其所带来的一系列生态环境问题备受国际关注的时代背景下,低碳经济发展越来越受到各国政府的普遍重视。本文分别从能源安全政策、产业、财税政策、公共参与政策、人才政策以及消费政策五方面展开分析,在此基础上提出适合我国国情的低碳政策创新建议。     

Monetary and Fiscal Management, Finance, and Growth

This paper addresses three related aspects of monetary and fiscal management in Europe and elsewhere. First, I discuss the implications of economic integration for monetary and fiscal policy, especially the narrow focus on low inflation as the main objective of monetary policy. I argue that because inflation springs from several sources, monetary authorities held responsible by law for maintaining low inflation need to exercise their newfound independence by reserving the right to address all sources of inflation. In this context, I also ponder the question as to whether the increased independence of fiscal policy from short-term political interference would be desirable. Second, I present new empirical evidence of the relationship between inflation, finance, and economic growth across countries, arguing that long-run growth considerations provide an important additional justification for why price stability ought to remain a priority of independent policy makers. Third, I review some further aspects of the relationship between fiscal policy and economic growth, emphasizing the traditional three-pronged role of fiscal management: stabilization, allocation, and distribution, all of which can be conducive to growth. The argument leads to the conclusion that only the stabilization function of fiscal policy and, perhaps, some aspects of the allocation function as well could be usefully delegated in an attempt to immunize them from shortsighted and socially counter-productive political interference, but not the distribution function.     

财政支出结构与经济增长

通过构建理论模型和经验模型,我们可以得出以下结论:(1)财政支出总水平与经济增长负相关,财政生产性支出与经济增长正相关。(2)财政人力资本投资比物质资本投资更能提高经济增长率。(3)用于科学研究的支出所带来的经济增长远远高于物质资本投资和人力资本投资所带来的经济增长。这些结论对政府今后调整财政支出政策,优化财政支出结构,确定财政支出重点,具有重要的政策含义。