INTER-COUNTRY AND INTERREGIONAL COMPARISONS OF INEQUALITY AND POVERTY

Review of Smeeding, T., O'Higgins, M., and Rainwater, L. (Ed.), Poverty, Inequality and Income Distribution in Comparative Perspective
Borooah, V. K., McGregor, P. P. L., and McKee, P. M., Regional Income Inequality und Poverty in the United Kingdom     

INFORMATION AND PRICE DISPERSION: THEORY AND EVIDENCE

Limited information is the key element generating price dispersion in models of homogeneous-goods markets. We show that the global relationship between information and price dispersion is an inverse-U shape. We test this mechanism for the retail gasoline market using a new measure of information based on commuter data from Austria. Commuters sample gasoline prices on their commuting route, providing us with spatial variation in the share of informed consumers. Our empirical estimates are in line with the theoretical predictions. We also quantify how information affects average prices paid and the distribution of surplus in the gasoline market.     

HIGH SCHOOLS AND STUDENTS' INITIAL COLLEGES AND MAJORS

We use statewide administrative data from Missouri to examine the explanatory power of high schools over student sorting to colleges and majors at 4‐year public universities. We develop a “preparation and persistence index” (PPI) for each university‐by‐major cell in the Missouri system that captures dimensions of selectivity and rigor and allows for a detailed investigation of sorting. Our analysis shows that students' high schools predict the quality of the initial university, as measured by PPI, conditional on their own academic preparation, and that students from lower–socioeconomic status high schools systematically enroll at lower‐PPI universities. However, high schools offer little explanatory power over major placements within universities. (JEL I2, J1)     

IDIOSYNCRATIC AND AGGREGATE RISKS,INEQUALITY AND GROWTH

The paper disaggregates productivity shocks at a firm level into idiosyncratic and aggregate risks, and studies their impacts on inequality, growth and welfare. It develops a growth model with human capital and incomplete insurance and credit markets that provides a closed‐form solution for income inequality dynamics. We find that uninsured idiosyncratic risks are the most important determinants of inequality, growth and welfare. They are the source of nondegenerate wealth distribution. A lower weight of these shocks leads to lower steady‐state inequality, higher growth and welfare. A redistribution of income that serves as social insurance against such risks increases welfare and decreases inequality. But, it also decreases growth by distorting individual consumption and saving decisions.     

城市化、结构变动与农业发展——基于城乡两部门的动态一般均衡分析

本文认为,地方政府和企业之间的合谋是中国经济的高增长率和高事故率并存的原因。我们刻画了最优的防范合谋契约,在该契约下地方政府和企业拥有正的信息租金,防范合谋将给中央政府带来额外的成本。在临界值以下,赔偿金具有部分地替代监督和惩罚的作用。以最优的防范合谋契约为基准,我们解释了造成当前政企合谋大量存在的若干重要原因:中央政府防范合谋的成本太高、地方政府缺乏长远预期、企业被过度抽税、第四方监督失效和惩罚不可置信等。     

城市化和城乡一体化

城市化不仅要解决劳动力向城市转移问题,还需要解决城乡一体化问题。城乡一体化是现阶段城市化的重要内容。城乡一体化,并不是城乡均质,其基本含义是通过体制一体化、城镇城市化、产业结构一体化、农业企业化和农民市民化,把城市与乡村建设成一个相互依存、相互促进的统一体,充分发挥城市与乡村各自的优势和作用,使城乡之间的劳动力、技术、资金、资源等生产要素在一定范围内进行合理的交流与组合。推进城乡一体化的核心在于强化都市圈内的中心城市的市场功能,发挥中心城市对外围区域的支配、联系和溢出等效应,促进城乡设施、产业、空间的紧密联合乃至融合。     

我国西南地区水土治理及西部大开发的实证研究

无论是从问题的实质,还是方法论的角度来讲,水土治理都是西南地区经济开发中的一项战略性工程。通过对云南省红河州具体的水土流失现状、危害和治理的紧迫性和治理中存在的主要问题的分析,提出了西南地区水土治理的总体战略设想和具体的治理措施。     

INNOVATION AND EXPORT PERFORMANCE: ADJUSTMENT AND REMAINING DIFFERENCES IN EAST AND WEST GERMAN MANUFACTURING

Abstract

The economic situation in Germany 16 years after reunification is marked by the fading out of the adjustment process between East and West. This paper refers to this context analyzing the export behavior comparing firms in West and East Germany. Our estimates confirm a strong relationship between innovations and export performance as well as structural differences between East and West German firms. East German firms are less likely to export than firms in the West. Besides, West German medium technology firms are comparable in their export behavior to high tech firms while East German firms are more similar to the low technology sector. Labor productivity turns out to be more important in East Germany. We interpret these findings as a specialization of West German firms towards technologically-driven high-quality markets, whereas East German companies are faced with higher sunk costs and seem to operate more often in less dynamic, price-sensitive markets.     

经济社会发展中的公害品: 理论、形式及其治理

网络谣言、食品安全事故、信息泄露与环境污染等公害品是困扰当代中国经济社会发展的重大问题。本文从公共经济学视角出发,在厘清公害品的内涵及其总体特征的基础上,对束缚当代中国经济社会发展的公害品进行了效应与危害分析。为了促进中国社会的可持续发展,必须构建规范我国公害品问题的法制保障体系和公共政策体系,明晰政府、市场和第三部门的权责界定,唯有如此,才能将公害品的负外部性限制在最小范围之内,我国社会经济发展才
能真正走出公害品困境。     

PUBLIC AND PRIVATE INVESTMENT AND ECONOMIC GROWTH IN MEXICO

This paper analyzes the impact on economic growth of public and private investment spending in Mexico. Public investment expenditures had a positive and significant effect on output growth. Public investment's impact on economic growth was statistically identical to the impact of private capital spending. The contribution of public investment to output expansion came at the expense of private investment as indicating a significant crowding out effect.     

笔墨华润 高洁淡雅——记山水画家袁劲中先生

袁劲中,祖籍无锡,1941年生于上海,原姓杨,因出生后不久父母双亡,由其姨母袁道英收养,故改姓为袁。他是一个典型的文人书画家,现为江苏天地龙集团特聘艺术顾问。袁劲中先生工诗善书,画艺精湛。我们现在看到的两幅(见中间插图)可称为其代表作,作品构图自然而又讲究,细笔粗笔并用,渴墨泼墨结合,亦工亦写,近取其质远取其势,平中见奇,传神地表现出山水的质感和松树的个性,尤其画中的松树,笔墨简易,笔力恣纵,设色空灵,苍凉之气溢于画外。袁劲中9岁时,便随担任上海博物馆行政干部的姨夫孙鸿文进出博物馆,因其聪明好学,被在博物馆工作的女画家江南萍…     

生态工业园及其规划设计探讨

生态工业园区是继经济技术开发区、高新技术产业园区之后的第三代工业园区建设模式,其在规划思想、规划目的、规划内容和参与人员等方面与传统的工业园区均有明显的不同。以陕西商洛生态工业园为例,综合运用工业生态学、循环经济和景观生态学原理,对生态工业园及其规划设计问题进行了比较系统地研究和探讨,并提出了一套比较完整的规划设计思路。