Resource mobilisation,institution and inclusive growth in Africa: Evidence from spatial analysis

This study accommodates spatial effects in the nexus between tax resource mobilisation (TRM) institutions and inclusive growth using panel data from 48 African countries. By adopting the spatial Durbin-fixed effect model, the study shows that spatial dependence and interaction matter when modelling TRM, institutions and inclusive growth relationships. It is also explicit that various disaggregated and aggregated tax components have not played significant roles in increasing inclusive growth in Africa, except property tax. The result suggests the need to harness the role of property tax for revenue generation in stimulating inclusive growth in view of its growth benefits over its distortions. Further evidence shows that all individual proxies of African institutions dampen inclusive growth. These results also pinpoint the weak governance structures that constitute huge constraints on the participatory tendencies of economic growth and reflect the institutional exclusiveness inherent in Africa. Regarding the interactive effects of institutions and TRM on inclusive growth, findings further reveal that existing institutions in Africa weaken the tax administration structures in propelling TRM to actualize inclusive growth. The study informs policy implications.     

经济发展不同阶段金融机构数量及管理政策研究

在普通金融内生增长模型的基础上,通过考虑金融机构经营的专业化经济和规模经济,对金融部门融资成本进行比较动态分析.研究结果表明:市场内生的金融机构数量一般是无效的,社会管理部门可以通过对金融机构的数量进行调整来提高金融部门的效率,促进经济的增长.然而具体是扩大金融机构规模、减少金融机构数量,还是发展专业性金融机构、增加金融机构数量,要根据经济发展的不同阶段进行选择.     

Does Balance Among Areas of Institutional Quality Matter for Economic Growth?

Countries with better institutions, as measured by the Economic Freedom of the World index, have greater prosperity, growth, and well-being. However, the previous literature has ignored interrelationships among the subareas, instead implicitly assuming substitutability and independence. We hypothesize that when some areas are weak, better scores in other areas are not a simple substitute. We find that including a simple measure of the within-country standard deviation among coexisting area scores results in a meaningfully significant improvement in the empirical growth specifications. Based on our findings, this should become routine practice in future empirical work. We also explore interactions among areas and find ones with legal system and property rights most important to include. These findings suggest a need to reconsider the implicit assumption of independence among area scores, as well as a balanced approach to institutional reform in practice. Improving the worst areas is more beneficial to growth.     

Institutional differences as sources of growth differences

Until recently, most studies investigating the determinants of growth failed to incorporate the importance of institutions into the empirical analysis. This paper highlights the importance of institutions on growth and development and evaluates the empirical results on the effect of institutions on growth and investment. It provides ample evidence that the institutional environment in which an economic activity takes place is an important determinant of economic growth. This paper uses alternative measures of institutional quality to capture the role of institutions in explaining growth differences across countries. When these institutional variables are incorporated into the core regression equations as additional explanatory variables in two different sample periods, both samples yield similar results. The empirical results reveal that countries with high levels of economic growth are characterized by high levels of economic freedom and judicial efficiency, low levels of corruption, effective bureaucracy, and protected private property.     

中国林业产权研究热点与变迁趋势——基于CiteSpace和VOSviewer的可视化分析

利用科学知识图谱方法梳理国内林业产权领域研究的热点主题及其变迁趋势,厘清林业产权领域研究的逻辑脉络。综合运用CiteSpace和VOSviewer软件,对中国知网(CNKI)学术期刊数据库中2001—2023年收录的1 540篇相关文献进行知识图谱分析。研究发现：自2001年开始,该领域发文量呈现逐年渐进式增长,至2009年达到顶峰后趋于稳定,但领域内作者和发文机构之间的合作较为松散,且国内林业产权领域研究的发文机构相对集中于高校;结合林业产权领域的研究热点,可大致将该领域的研究内容归纳为关于林业产权制度、碳汇、林业产权交易和中国森林资源产权的研究;结合林业产权领域研究的历史脉络与演化趋势,可以将该领域研究分为3个阶段,包括探索阶段、横向拓展阶段和纵向延伸阶段。未来研究应把握“双碳”新特征,以此推进林业产权领域研究深入发展。     

税制与产权界定——一个文献综述

税制与产权界定是相互关联的问题。对这个问题的深化认知可以帮助我们分析什么样的税制是最优的(在一定的约束条件下);产权边界是否是现有约束条件下最能发挥激励效益的。更进一步可以帮助我们认识:政府和市场有效率的边界。但在现有的文献涉及这一问题的较少,只能在有限的文献基础上做一粗陋的归纳。     

The Increasing Selectivity of Foreign Aid, 1984–2003

The Monterrey Consensus includes the idea that foreign aid is more effective when targeted to countries with sound institutions. We examine the extent to which foreign aid, bilateral and multilateral, is “selective” in terms of democracy and property rights/rule of law. We find that multilateral assistance is more selective than bilateral aid in targeting countries with good rule of law. “Selectivity” is a new phenomenon. During 1984–89, both bilateral and multilateral aid had significant negative relationships with rule of law; by 2000–03 this had shifted to a significant positive relationship for multilateral aid, and a positive but statistically insignificant relationship for bilateral aid.     

Financial development,institutions and industrialization in sub-Saharan Africa

Using a panel data covering more than 100 countries worldwide, we have estimated a dynamic panel model to investigate the relationship between financial development and manufacturing industries’ growth. More specifically, we have estimated the effect that institutional quality might have in this relationship in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). The results show that lower quality institutions in SSA are a hindrance to the role financial development plays in the growth of the manufacturing industrial sector, as compared with developed countries. These findings are robust when a quantile regression model is used. Furthermore, the results confirm that the relationship between per capita GDP and industrialization is nonlinear. Finally, in SSA, the abundance of natural resources has an adverse effect on the manufacturing industrial value added, providing more evidence for the Dutch disease hypothesis.     

Thirty years of legal and economic reform in China: growth,institutions, and laws

China's impressive economic growth over three decades has seemingly occurred in the absence of a strong legal system. This paper views China's reform process over the past three decades as one that has entailed a gradual introduction of market forces into areas of the economy, which requires both dismantling the structure of the centrally planned economy and developing market-oriented institutions. This paper argues that China's transition is premised on a set of informal, and increasingly formal, institutions that provided incentives during the process of gradual liberalization. Therefore, institutional developments were not absent. The exploration of the interplay between growth and institutions leads to the conclusion that continued economic growth in China will depend on implementing legal reforms better suited to the nature of the decentralized economy, hastened by the introduction of international economic laws and rules with greater global integration.     

Intergenerational income mobility and economic freedom

Numerous studies have found that income inequality reduces the chances of upward relative mobility (i.e., climbing up the income ladder). However, most of this work ignores the role played by institutional quality (namely, economic freedom) in determining mobility and increasing the individual's set of choices. We fill this gap by empirically testing the direct and indirect (through economic growth) impacts of economic freedom on intergenerational income mobility. We find that economic freedom has both direct and indirect effects on intergenerational income mobility, while income inequality is a strong predictor of downward income mobility. When we incorporate findings about the purely mechanical relationship between inequality and intergeneration income mobility, we find that the legal system and property rights component of economic freedom matters more than inequality. These results suggest that good institutions can increase intergenerational income mobility.     

知识产权保护、东道国特征与出口贸易

本文以发展中国家1976～2000年的样本数据为基础,利用贸易引力方程实证考察了知识产权保护对美国向发展中国家出口影响的市场扩张效应和市场势力效应。国家和行业层面的面版数据的估计结果显示:知识产权保护对美国向发展中国家出口的效应受到进口国的经济发展水平和模仿能力等东道国特征变量的制约。对于高收入国家和低收入国家而言,知识产权保护对出口贸易的影响以市场势力效应占主导;对于中等收入国家而言,知识产权保护对出口贸易的影响以市场扩张效应占主导。知识产权保护对强模仿能力国家行业出口贸易的影响以市场扩张效应占主导;知识产权保护对弱模仿能力国家出口贸易的影响以市场势力效应占主导。     

中国经济中的私人产权保护和经济增长:资源配置视角

既然中国一直缺少保护私人产权的正式制度,为什么私营企业和外商敢于在中国大规模投资而不担心产权会遭受侵犯?本文建立了一个政府、官员、百姓和外商之间的动态博弈模型,在一个一般均衡框架内考察了国内资源分配格局与产权保护以及均衡产出之间的内生关系,并尝试性的解释了:(1)中国为什么要维持一个低效率而庞大的国有部门;(2)私有部门是如何陷入"融资困境"的;(3)中国的外资部门为什么这么庞大;(4)中国独特的经济结构是如何造就二十多年的高速经济增长的。     

Is Per Capita Growth in Africa Hampered by Poor Governance and Weak Institutions? An Empirical Study on the ECOWAS Countries

Abstract: This paper proposes an empirical study of the links between poor governance, weak institutions and the growth of per capita income in the countries that belong to the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS). We estimate a conditional beta‐convergence model using panel data. We find that variables such as the rule of law, property rights, the regulatory burden, political violence, and government ineffectiveness hinder growth in these countries. An interesting question is then the following: what can the countries do to improve their situations? To answer this question, we give several examples (Ghana, Nigeria and the NEPAD) of measures that are undertaken in order to strengthen the institutions and improve governance.     

强化地权能够促进农地流转吗?

2004年以来,中国的农地流转率一直在快速提升。但以2009年为转折点,随后进入减速阶段,这显然与新一轮农地确权的政策预期并不一致。学界不仅对此缺乏解释,对于农地确权与农地流转的关系也尚未达成基本共识。文章将农民地权强化分为"还权松管"、"赋权强能"两种形式,借鉴税收与经济增长的理论模型,并将农地确权的收入效应区分由"还权松管"引致的农地流转收益、由"赋权强能"引致的农地生产性收益和在位控制权收益,由此阐明地权强化的不同方式对农地流转的差异化影响。利用2006-2016年中国省级面板数据,并使用同时处理组内自相关与组间同期相关的FGLS模型的估计结果表明,以"还权松管"和"赋权强能"表达的产权强化分别促进和抑制了农地流转。随着农地流转的管制放松以及产权强化程度的不断提高,进一步的"赋权强能",尤其是农地确权的实施,不仅无益于促进农地流转,反而抑制了农地流转。文章认为,农地的"人格化财产"属性决定了农地确权并不能因为单纯的经济收益而激励流转,禀赋效应的强化也是确权的必然结果。因此,以促进农地流转为主线的农地制度安排,应该做出重要调整。     

Sweet equality: Sugar,property rights,and land distribution in colonial Java

This article exploits a unique district-level dataset to investigate the relationship between sugar cultivation, property rights systems and land distribution in colonial Java around the turn of the twentieth century. We demonstrate a negative and statistically significant relationship between sugar cultivation and the landholder Gini. An IV strategy, employing a newly computed index of sugar suitability as instrument, suggests that this effect is causal. It is argued that sugar production in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries stimulated the expansion and persistence of communal landholding. This communal landholding consequently led to more equally distributed plots among landholders in the early twentieth century. We emphasize the importance of local property rights institutions in mitigating the effects of export production on socioeconomic outcomes.     

Cooperation between China and Tanzania on ICT: fish,fishing tackle or fishing skills?

Tanzania has ambitions of moving from a mere consumer of information and communication technologies to a designing and manufacturing base. This paper aims to assess the role of public–private partnerships with Chinese institutions in the achievement of this goal. Through an in-depth case study, this paper examines the contributions of three Chinese multinationals in terms of technology transfer and technological capacity building in local firms in Tanzania. The analysis contrasts the organisation of improvements on the manner of technology transfer and capacity building in these partnerships with prior Sino-Tanzanian partnership efforts in technology and industry. The Chinese multinationals had a labour localisation rate of 60% on average, with some training services provided to Tanzanian nationals and supply of services and equipment to Tanzanian firms. However, the overall level of technology transfer continues to be weak. Observed barriers to technology transfer include weak incentives for collaboration between Chinese and Tanzanian firms and low-level technology embedded in activities offshored by the Chinese multinationals to Tanzania.     

ON THE PATH TO ECONOMIC GROWTH,DO REMITTANCES HELP? EVIDENCE FROM PANEL VARs

Despite the emergence of remittances studies, knowledge about their effect on economic development is still ambiguous. This paper investigates the impact of remittances at macroeconomic level in developing countries controlling for endogeneity problems with the use of panel vector autoregression (panel VAR). The findings suggest that remittances have a positive, albeit small, impact on economic growth even without considering the role of institutions. When institutions are included, the pattern of response remains unaltered. A distinction between low versus high remittances participation in economic activity evidences that, although the impact of remittances on growth is similar, appreciation of the exchange rate occurs in economies with high remittances participation. Finally, a distinction by geographical region reveals that Eastern European economies receive the greatest benefit from these flows, followed by the Americas and Asia; however, African economic growth does not appear to have a statistically significant impact.     

Effects of Knowledge Spillovers on Knowledge Production and Productivity Growth in Korean Manufacturing Firms

Using Korean firm‐level data, this paper studies the effects of knowledge spillovers on knowledge production and productivity growth. Data from 213 Korean firms for the years 1985 to 2007 are used, and the number of patent applications is used as a proxy variable for knowledge. The results show that all the growth rates of output, patents, and productivity are higher in high‐technology firms. Regression results show that the spillover effect on knowledge production and productivity growth is very significant, and that the spillover effect is larger in small firms than in large firms. Moreover, spillover effects on productivity growth are larger after 1995, when Korean intellectual property rights were strengthened. Our findings suggest that the effects of knowledge spillover on productivity are positively correlated with strong intellectual property rights.     

The Role of Property Rights in the Relationship between Capital Flows and Economic Growth in SSA: Do Natural Resources Endowment and Country Income Level Matter?

This paper studies the role played by the quality of property rights in the linkages of international capital flows into sub‐Saharan African (SSA) economies. Using panel data of 36 SSA countries over the period 1996–2015 and the ARDL procedure with the Pooled Mean Group regression method appropriate for non‐stationary panel data estimation, we account for the joint effects of property rights quality and openness to foreign capital flows on economic growth. We uncover the existence of a property rights quality threshold beyond which property rights either amplifies the spillovers effects or attenuates the negative effect of capital flows on economic growth. For instance, it takes a level of property rights of at least 60 to have a positive long‐term impact of capital flows on economic growth in natural resource‐poor African countries. The quality of property rights matters more to obtain spillover effects of capital flows on growth in natural resource‐poor countries than in their peer natural resource‐rich countries. Finally, with regard to the countries' income levels, capital flows have significant long‐term spillovers effects on economic growth in advanced African economies than in their low‐income peers.     

房产税改革的制度经济学解释及两个重要使命

制度经济学强调产权制度对市场的制约作用。然而,市场真正关心的是产权中的经济利益而不是法律意义。一般产品都包含有公共经济产权和私有经济产权,房产税改革的真正作用是调整房产中公共产权与私有产权之间的配置结构。土地使用权制度和小产权房制度也是房地产制度体系的重要组成部分,房产税改革有必要与这些制度进行统筹考虑。具体而言,房产税可以在商品房的土地使用权到期后开始征收,小产权房可以缴纳房产税的方式市场化。同时,解决土地使用权制度和小产权制度的改革问题,房产税改革在制度水平上才更为完整。