Economic impact analysis of industrial projects: An approach

A method of calculating economic impact of industrial project proposals is described. The method identifies the benefits and costs of a project to the enterprise and to government, as well as its impact on the economy as a whole, with or without government assistance or intervention in any form. Entrepreneurial and social potentials or driving forces are identified, together with potentials common to both. The analytical method, called economic fertility analysis, employs a large input-output model of the economy to generate a series of impact elements, including increased economic activity, new government revenues, trade balance effects, new capital generation, personal savings, consumer expenditures, and employment. These elements are used to calculate simple income and employment multipliers, forward and backward linkages, and cash flows through the economy resulting from the project. A method of comparing different types of investments or interventions in the economy thus becomes available.     

The inflationary effects of stochastic resource revenues in resource-rich economies with less well-developed financial markets

This article develops a simple Dynamic Stochastic General Equilibrium (DSGE) model to illustrate how economies that face restrictions in their ability to alter both government spending and taxation in the short run and cannot borrow easily (perhaps because of incomplete internal capital markets) can find external fluctuations in resource revenues producing unexpected variations in their internal money supply and ultimately in their inflation rate. The main channels for these effects run through the government budget and through the country's balance of payments position. The model is calibrated to illustrate the case of Iran.     

WELFARE COST OF AN OIL IMPORT FEE

This paper examines the impacts on the US. oil market of a $5-per-barrel tariff on imported crude oil. The analysis shows that the United States currently is a price taker in the world oil market. This means that "optimal tariff" arguments for an oil import fee have no validity. The author also argues that any economic losses that oil supply disruptions generate are better addressed with alternative policy tools. To forecast the effects of the tariff on US. production, the author uses a domestic oil supply model that she developed elsewhere. She calculates the resulting gains in producer surplus and then combines them with an estimate of consumer surplus losses and government revenues so as to yield an estimate of the tariff's welfare cost. This welfare cost amounts to approximately $17 billion (in present-value terms) over the 1988–1998 period.     

我国经济结构调整对国际收支差额的影响——基于消费、投资与外贸结构的分析

笔者利用SVAR与VEC模型研究发现,通过投资、消费、外贸结构调整对我国国际收支进行调节,在短期与长期存在差异性。短期结构调整的重点应放在提高城镇居民消费占比,适当扩大政府消费占比,有效抑制进出口增长速度等方面;长期调整的重点应集中于有效提高城镇与农村居民的消费占比上。由于我国消费和外贸结构调整对国际收支调节的作用突出,因此,需要通过显著提高居民收入水平,不断增强国内消费需求来改变消费、投资和外贸结构,以促进我国国际收支基本平衡的实现。     

Monitoring and forecasting annual public deficit every month: the case of France

In this paper we forecast annual budget deficits using monthly information. Using French monthly data on central government revenues and expenditures, the method we propose consists of: (1) estimating monthly ARIMA models for all items of central government revenues and expenditures; (2) inferring the annual ARIMA models from the monthly models; (3) using the inferred annual ARIMA models to perform one-step-ahead forecasts for each item; (4) compounding the annual forecasts of all revenues and expenditures to obtain an annual budget deficit forecast. The major empirical benefit of this technique is that as soon as new monthly data become available, annual deficit forecasts are updated. This allows us to detect in advance possible slippages in central government finances. For years 2002–2004, forecasts obtained following the proposed approach are compared with a benchmark method and with official predictions published by the French government. An evaluation of their relative performance is provided.      

The incidence of a tax on pure rent in a small open economy

This paper analyzes the effects of a land rent tax on capital formation and foreign investment in a life-cycle small open economy with endogenous labor-leisure choices. The consequences of land taxation critically depend on how the tax proceeds are used by the government. A land tax depresses capital formation, crowds out foreign investment and increases national wealth and consumption when the land tax revenues are distributed as lump-sum payments. If the proceeds from land taxation are used to finance unproductive government expenditure, the land tax will be neutral in its effects on the capital stock, nonhuman wealth and labor. When the tax revenues are used to reduce labor taxes, the land rent tax spurs nonhuman wealth accumulation and ambiguously affects the capital stock and labor.     

Public Investment and Economic Growth in Latin America: an Empirical Test

The paper analyzes the impact on economic growth of public investment spending and other relevant variables (such as human capital) for nine major Latin American nations over the 1983–93 period. The results suggest that both public and private investment spending contribute to economic growth. Overall central government consumption expenditures, on the other hand, are found to have a negative effect on private investment and growth. Finally, public expenditures on education and healthcare are found to have a positive and statistically significant effect on private capital formation and long–term economic growth. From a policy standpoint, the results suggest that indiscriminate cuts in public and private investment spending are likely to be counterproductive in the long run, and more importantly, scarce public expenditures should be channeled to the promotion of new human capital (via primary and secondary education) and the maintenance of existing human capital (through healthcare expenditures).     

The effects of oil shocks on government expenditures and government revenues nexus (with an application to Iran's sanctions)

The main purpose of this study is to investigate the dynamic relationship between government revenues and government expenditures in Iran as a developing oil export based economy. Moreover, I want to know how oil price (revenue) shocks can affect this relationship. The results of the impulse response functions and variance decomposition analysis indicate that the contribution of oil revenue shocks in explaining the government expenditures is stronger than the contribution of oil price shocks. Moreover the results of the vector autoregression (VAR) and vector error correction (VEC) models show that the strong causality is running from government revenues to government expenditures (both current and capital) in Iranian economy while the evidence for the reverse causality is very weak. Overall the results support the revenue–spending hypothesis for Iran. My results imply that those sanctions aiming to restrict the Iranian government's oil export revenues, potentially can affect the government total expenditures as an important engine for developing the Iranian economy.     

MASSIVE DIVESTITURE AND PRIVATIZATION LESSONS FROM CHILE

Between 1974 and 1989, the Chilean government privatized 550 state-owned enterprises (SOEs). Before 1974, all but a handful of major corporations were SOEs. About 50 of the largest enterprises privatized during the 1970s fell into government hands again, only to be re-privatized later. This was due partly to the economic and financial crisis affecting most Latin American countries during the early 1980s but also was a consequence of the privatization modes used. This paper analyzes that unique privatization experience so as to extract policy lessons. The analysis focuses on economic conditions, objectives of government policy, privatization modes, and the divestiture effects on employment, fiscal revenues, public sector wealth, spread of ownership, and capital market development.     

Dynamic relationships between oil revenues,government spending and economic growth in an oil-dependent economy

The aim of this paper is to empirically examine the dynamic relationships between oil revenues, government spending and economic growth in the Kingdom of Bahrain. Oil revenues are the main source of financing government expenditures and imports of good and services. Increasing oil prices in the recent years have boosted public expenditures on social and economic infrastructure. In this paper, we investigate whether the huge government spending has enhanced the pace of economic growth or not. To this end, we use a multivariate cointegration analysis and error-correction model and data for 1960–2010. Overall results suggest that oil revenues remain the principal source for growth and the main channel which finance the government spending.     

AN EXTENDED MEASURE OF GOVERNMENT PRODUCT: PRELIMINARY RESULTS FOR THE UNITED STATES, 1946–76

Expanded measures of government output include imputed values of the services of government capital, uncompensated factor services of military draftees and jurors, and net revaluations, as well as the usually included compensation of employees. The government output is allocated to consumption, capital formation and product intermediate to other sectors, on the basis of its classification in ten broad functions: defense, space research, education, health, sanitation, transportation, parks and recreation, natural resources, welfare, and general administration. Final government product in 1976, including $116 billion in defense and $125 billion in education, amounted to $450.5 billion, which was 26.5 percent of the 1976 GNP. This final government product corresponded to the BEA measure of $191.6 billion.
Total capital formation related to government is defined to include both government product which enters into capital formation in other sectors and government expenditures for its own capital accumulation. After a more rapid rate of growth in previous years, this total government capital formation in the United States in 1976 is found to exceed gross private domestic investment. A significant but only minor portion was found to be constituted by government expenditures for capital goods and change in government inventories. Investment in research and development, health and, particularly, education and training, were dominant components in capital formation related to government.     

政府公共资本投资的长期经济增长效应

本文首先建立一个包含政府公共资本投资的两部门内生增长模型,并把公共资本投资分为政府物质资本投资和人力资本投资,从而对公共资本投资的长期经济增长效应进行理论分析。结论是,两种形式的公共资本投资对长期经济增长都可能具有正效应也可能具有负效应,取决于民间经济主体消费跨时替代弹性大小。其次,我们利用向量自回归分析框架,对我国1978—2004年间公共资本投资对长期经济增长的影响作实证分析。结论是,我国两种形式的公共资本投资与经济增长之间存在着长期均衡关系,其中政府公共物质资本投资对长期经济增长的正影响更为显著,而政府公共人力资本投资对长期经济增长的正影响较小,且在短期内不利于经济增长。这一结论对我国今后科学制定财政政策和选择公共投资领域都具有重要意义。     

中国边疆少数民族地区的财政支出最优规模研究——以新疆为例

中国少数民族地区由于地处边疆,地广人稀,经济发展落后,存在着一些特殊的执政成本等原因,往往会出现人均财政支出增长速度过快,财政收支差额日益扩大,靠中央转移支付来弥补的现象。其最优财政支出规模应当是多少才合适呢?本文以新疆为例,运用计量经济学模型对此作出了回答。     

转移支付与财政支出的灰色关联分析——基于新疆自治区

改革开放三十年来中央转移支付和新疆财政支出在数量上都有比较大的变化,总体而言都成上升趋势,而中央转移支付占新疆财政支出的比重一直维持在比较高的水平。从历年数据来看,生产性财政支出、非生产性财政支出和获得的中央转移支付的量交替上升,折射出新疆的发展历程以及人们意识的改变。中央转移支付由在地方财政中的绝对比重,慢慢转变成新疆财政支出最强有力的后盾;新疆财政支出也由最初重视基础设施建设等生产性财政支出,演变成强调教育、社会保障等非生产性财政支出的重要性,致力于经济社会的协调发展。通过运用灰色关联分析后发现,中央转移支付与生产性财政支出和非生产性财政支出的关系都非常密切,但是就新疆而言主要是满足非生产性财政支出的需要,而中央政府则可以通过加大专项转移支付力度的方式加强对新疆经济建设的直接干预。     

A dynamic macroeconomic model with monopolistic behavior in the labor market

Is the monopolistic behavior of a wage setting labor union compatible, in the long and in the short run, with price stability and full employment? What is the effect, if any, of economic policies? The answers are strongly affected by the prevailing technology and by the union's objective function. With limited short run production possibilities, a short run trade-off may exist between full employment and maximum expected real wage revenues. In the long run, however, when expectations are fully adjusted, this trade-off disappears. Therefore, a labor union consistently pursuing maximum short run expected real wage revenues may not maximize long run effective real wage revenues. Price stability is granted in the long run, provided inflation is not induced by public policy. The only instrument a pure consuming government has to fight long unemployment is to reduce its share of aggregate demand.     

Economic Effects of Workfare Reforms for Single Mothers: Benefit Substitution and Labour Supply Responses*

We analyse the economic effects of nationwide Norwegian reforms on the state benefit programme targeting single mothers. Our results show that for each reduction of 100 Norwegian kroner (NOK) in benefit payments from the programme, single mothers replaced 65 NOK through benefit substitution. Their labour supply and disposable income also increased in the short term. However, the reforms doubled the poverty rate among single mothers in the long term. The reforms led to a total net gain to public expenditure of 3.6 billion NOK (449 million euros) during the 1998–2008 period, corresponding to a 14 percent decrease in total benefit payments to single mothers.     

Dynamics of Government revenues and expenditures in industrial economies

The sources of growth in government revenues and expenditures in 22 OECD countries is addressed. The question of whether the revenue constraint is binding on the growth of government expenditures, or whether the ‘displacement’ effect of expenditure growth is binding is considered. Controls for the effects of the output gap and inflation rate on government revenues and expenditures in each of the 22 countries are presented. A major conclusion is that reductions in spending are essential to reducing budget deficits and controlling government size.     

Intertemporal Budget Policies and Macroeconomic Adjustment in Indebted Open Economies

This paper analyzes the role of government intertemporal budget policies in a growing open economy including nominal assets in the presence of an upward sloping supply of debt. This introduces transitional dynamics that influence the effects of government policy instruments on economic growth and the long term fiscal liability. It is shown that capital income taxes or a combination of tax‐cum‐expenditure or government expenditure alone can balance the long term intertemporal government budget constraint. However, those results are shown to depend critically upon the extent of distortion in capital flows brought about the upward sloping supply of debt.     

BALANCED BUDGETS: ECONOMIC NIRVANA OR FISCAL CHAOS?

This paper investigates the effect of a pay-as-you-go, balanced budget policy on macroeconomic performance. It uses a simple model of the aggregate demand for money and goods, with temporary monetary equilibrium and quantity adjustments on goods markets. Within this framework, if the monetary/real interaction is strong enough, a balanced budget with sufficiently high tax rates (≡ sufficiently high government expenditures) is consistent with typical bounded fluctuations around a relatively high income, low unemployment equilibrium. Lower tax rates (≡ lower government expenditures) can trigger a sharp decline in revenues, expenditures, employment, and output.     

Fiscal Implications of Immigration—A Net Present Value Calculation

Focusing on the net fiscal effects, the gain from admitting immigrants is computed for a welfare state with large expenditures and a large tax burden (Sweden). Prices and behavior are held constant, which allows a detailed analysis of the effects of immigration. The present value of future tax revenues minus outlays is potentially large; USD 23,500 per young working‐age immigrant, but an average new immigrant represents a net government loss of USD 20,500. The dominant factors are employment rates and age. For young working‐age immigrants, the “break‐even” participation rate for which the gain would be zero is 60%, well below the empirical rate for this group.