Greening the Danes? Experience with consumption and environment policies

Consumer-oriented environmental policies came high on the political agenda during the 1990s. Internationally, consumers were assigned a key role in environmental policies; also in Denmark, political initiatives were taken to promote sustainable consumer behaviour. In this article, the results of Danish policies related to consumption and environment are assessed by considering first, the environmental impacts of the political measures, and second, whether the policies have succeeded in addressing the dynamics behind increasing consumption. The study combines a theoretical understanding of consumption as an inseparable part of daily practices with empirical analyses of three fields of consumption: housing, transportation, and information and communication technology. It is pointed out that policies to promote sustainable consumption are successful only when technological development, economic structures, and information are all in accordance with each other, and this is the case only when sustainable consumption does not conflict with economic growth. A more fundamental critique thus concerns the failure of Danish consumer-oriented environmental policies to address consumption growth and the rising standards for “normal consumption.”     

德国政府扶持中小企业发展的举措及启示

德国政府高度重视中小企业的发展,通过立法、政策优惠、融资支持以及建立社会化服务体系等提供全方位的支持。经过几十年的持续努力,形成了一系列的法律法规、扶持政策等促进措施,使本国中小企业得到快速发展,促进了经济增长和社会繁荣。我国中小企业的发展,虽然取得了不少成绩,但也存在诸多问题。借鉴德国的成功经验,制定和完善我国中小企业政策,对进一步加快我国中小企业的发展有一定的积极作用。     

稳中求进 整合提升 促进我国物流业持续健康发展——2011年我国物流业发展回顾与2012年展望

2011年,在经济持续较快增长与一系列政策措施的推动下,我国物流业发展呈现出许多新的特点,取得了许多新的进展,支持物流业发展的政策集中出台,物流业发展环境受到广泛关注,物流市场需求发生了深刻变化,物流经营模式经历了新的变革,物流企业整合提升步伐加快,物流区域集聚趋势明显,物流基础设施建设投资增速放缓,物流行业管理基础性工作日臻完善,为国民经济平稳较快运行提供了有力支撑,为推动发展方式转变发挥了重要作用。2012年,受国内外各种因素影响,我国物流业发展增速将放缓趋稳,物流需求层次提升,物流市场竞争加剧,物流企业面临新的选择,涉及民生的物流领域更受关注,物流新技术加快应用,多业联动的经营模式逐步形成,物流政策逐步落实。2012年,我国物流业要把握好稳中求进的总基调,切实减轻物流企业税收负担,加大物流业土地政策支持力度,使物流车辆便利通行,加快物流管理体制改革,鼓励物流设施资源整合,推进物流技术创新和应用,加大对物流业的投入,优先发展农产品物流业,加强组织协调,在扩大内需中发挥支撑和保障作用,在推进产业结构优化升级中发挥促进作用,在提高经济增长的质量和效益中发挥重要作用。     

Export Specialisation and Local Economic Growth

This paper aims to provide empirical evidence on whether export specialization or diversification is better for local economic growth. Using export data from 354 magisterial districts of South Africa for 1996 and 2001 we estimate spatial growth regressions that include measures of the degree of export specialization and diversification. Overall, exporting regions outperform other (less or non‐) exporting regions. Also, we find that export specialisation, rather than export diversification, has been associated with local economic growth; with specialization in mining and agriculture being especially beneficial. Our results support the view that specialization in a locality’s area of comparative advantage is good for local economic development. We also find that localities with higher initial levels of human capital, and higher subsequent population growth, performed better. This is consistent with the belief that policies aimed at strengthening human capital and improving agglomeration economies, will enhance local economic development.     

发达国家中小企业税收政策对我国的启示

发达国家非常重视中小企业,采取种种税收鼓励措施扶持其发展。我国没有建立起规范的中小企业税收制度,政策优惠力度不足,增值税制不完善,需要进一步建立与完善有利于中小企业发展的税收政策体系,提高税法级次,调整现行政策,加大对中小企业的税收支持力度,促进中小企业的快速发展。     

Industrial policy,structural transformation and economic growth: Evidence from China

Industrial policy is an important means for governments to promote industrial development and accelerate economic growth. This paper mainly uses the Chinese Law and Regulation Database as the source of the relevant laws and regulations of China’s industrial policies from 2003 to 2015. On this basis, it empirically examines the impact of industrial policies on economic growth. The study finds that China’s industrial policy has significant positive effects on economic growth and that industrial structure rationalization is an important channel of industrial policy to improve economic growth. The findings are also valid under a series of robustness tests and endogenous corrections. The results of heterogeneity tests confirm that there are heterogeneous effects pertaining to industrial policy on economic growth among different subregional areas, administrative levels, industrial development stages, and industrial policy types. Overall, this paper supports the hypothesis that industrial policy has positive effects on economic growth and, accordingly, provides a basis for industrial policy implementation.     

Unconventional economic policies and sentiment: An international assessment

This paper estimates, using Bayesian and global VARs, the spillover effects of unconventional fiscal and monetary policies implemented in the United States and in the Eurozone during the last decade. Consumer confidence and investor sentiment indicators are introduced in the models in order to highlight the signalling channel in the responses to economic policy innovations in times of crisis. Our results reveal that consumer and investor perceptions of innovative economic measures are relevant to study the pass-through of economic policies to the real sector in times of crisis and zero lower bound interest rates. In particular, the signalling channel plays an important role in successful unconventional economic policies. Moreover, if unconventional economic policies have an impact abroad, the effects are similar to those measured in the domestic country/region. Consequently, coordination and transparency are a prerequisite for ensuring short-term growth after a global financial crisis.     

“新技术民族主义”还是“技术霸权主义”

本文在准确分析全球技术贸易的格局及中国所处地位的基础上,力图从理论上探讨“新技术民族主义”的合理性,进而深刻地认识基于WTO规则下的技术贸易和技术发展的实质和特征,借鉴美国、欧盟等发达国家推进自主创新的政策及其措施,以促进中国的科技进步及其经济增长。     

Modeling economic growth with tourism for small open economies

The purpose of the paper is to develop an economic growth model and analyze the impact of changes in tourists’ income on the growth of tourism dependent small open economies. We use a general theoretical construct to answer the question of how the price elasticity of tourism demand, income elasticity of tourism demand, and the concentration in the service sector influence the economic development of small economies. One of the main results is that the policy planners in small open economies may consider specific policies to influence the strength of market competition. An ensuing effect of such policies is that the labor incomes will increase. The approach provides a microeconomic foundation for macroeconomic modeling which can be used for applied research, and the model can be easily extended to examine other dimensions of economic development.     

成都市统筹城乡发展模式的社会经济效应分析

统筹城乡经济发展是全面建设小康社会的基本要求。作为西部地区综合改革配套试验区的成都市，就积极实施了“三个集中”的发展模式，并同时制定了相应的配套政策与措施。这一发展模式的实施，产生了产业协同、内生增长和土地流转效用递增等经济效应，同时还产生了整体规划、公共资源集中配置、体制改革、制度保障、扩大就业与市场需求等社会效应，为我国统筹城乡发展提供了可资借鉴的宝贵经验。     

论幼稚产业理论在发展我国大飞机工业上的运用

我国发展大飞机工业符合幼稚产业理论的坎普标准,即该产业具有外部经济效应,大飞机的研制能够有力拉动我国产业升级和技术进步,对我国经济社会发展具有巨大的推动作用。因此,我国应该对该产业予以扶持和保护,并采取财政、税收、金融等方面的优惠政策和支持措施。     

Stock market development and economic growth: Evidence from seven sub-Sahara African countries

The paper examines the long run and causal relationship between stock market development and economic growth for seven countries in sub-Saharan Africa. Using the autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) bounds test, the study finds that the stock market development is cointegrated with economic growth in Egypt and South Africa. Moreover, this test suggests that stock market development has a significant positive long run impact on economic growth. Granger causality test based on vector error correction model (VECM) further shows that stock market development Granger causes economic growth in Egypt and South Africa. However, Granger causality in the context of VAR shows evidence of bidirectional relationship between stock market development and economic growth for Cote D’Ivoire, Kenya, Morocco and Zimbabwe. In Nigeria, there is a weak evidence of growth-led finance using market size as indicator of stock market development. Based on these results, the paper argues that stock markets could help promote growth in Africa. However, to achieve this goal, African stock markets need to be further developed through appropriate regulatory and macroeconomic policies.     

Stock Market Development and Long-Run Growth in Nigeria

Abstract

The study empirically assessed the relationship between stock market development and long-run economic growth in Nigeria for the period 1980 to 2000. The study used secondary data while four models of multiple regressions were specified. The regression results, which were obtained using the Ordinary Least Square (OLS), show that measures of stock market development statistically have no significant effect on economic growth in Nigeria during the period 1980 to 2000. The major implication of the findings is that if the Nigerian Stock Market is to significantly contribute to rapid economic growth, policies must be fashioned out to eliminate those factors that blur the effectiveness of the vehicle or transmission mechanism through which stock market activities influence economic growth.

Based on the findings, it was recommended that there should be an improvement in the attractiveness of the market as a major source of raising capital. This will entail improvement in the physical infrastructure, more efficient share transfer and delivering system and provision of adequate and timely information on the market. Also, there should be improvement in the institutional regulation, environment and legal framework such that a balance is maintained between the soundness and safety of the market. And finally, there is the need to internationalize the stock market to improve the flow of savings. This willgive the market the advantages of risk diversification, improve information flow and encourage corporate control through investment in equity.     

我国现代物流政策体系的缺位与构建

新兴的、复合型的现代物流产业发展需要国家政策的扶持和引导。近几年,我国在物流政策环境建设方面出现了良好的发展势头,陆续出台了一系列与现代物流发展相关的政策法规,对维护传统物流业的基本经济秩序发挥了一定的作用,但在促进现代物流业的发展上仍存在不少政策层面的制约因素,急需按照市场经济规律和现代物流发展的客观要求进一步加以完善。制定全国物流发展纲要等促进现代物流发展的综合性政策;初步建立现代物流发展政策体系;制定一部促进现代物流发展的综合性法律《物流法》,用法律形式引导和规范现代物流的发展。     

Financial policy in developing countries

The present financial policies of the developing countries are hardly likely to create favourable conditions for economic growth. A change can only be brought about if the financing of development projects and the imports of consumer goods can be successfully integrated in an overall plan for economic growth and the generation of new sources of revenue for the state.     

New impetus for EU taxation policy

The financial crisis has exposed all EU Member States ??to different degrees ??with a double economic policy challenge: to foster sustainable economic growth and to consolidate public finances. Can the governments in the EU afford to forego the benefits of targeted tax measures at EU level ??tapping the growth potential of the internal market by reducing tax obstacles and improving tax collection on cross-border activities within the EU? This paper provides a short review of the varying tax structures in the EU Member States, discusses the interdependencies as well as the EU dimension of their tax policies and gives an overview on current and future tax initiatives at EU level.     

外国直接投资与中国区域经济发展的实证分析

20世纪90年代以来FDI对中国经济发展影响越来越大。本文利用1991-2003年时间序列和横断面数据,就FDI对中国区域经济发展的短期效应和长期效应进行实证分析。结果表明在这段时间里FDI对中国区域经济非均衡发展有显著的影响,FDI促进中国区域经济发展,但是在区域间的非均衡分布又加剧了区域经济的非均衡发展。最后提出吸引更多的FDI到中西部地区、缩小区域经济差距、促进区域经济均衡发展的政策建议。     

Economic growth,financial market,and twin crises

In this study, we look not only to provide empirical evidence to investigate the direct impact of financial crises on economic growth, but also to examine the roles of insurance development, financial liberalization, financial institution, and crisis intervention policies on the relationship between the two. We employ a panel data framework from 50 countries by applying the dynamic panel generalized method of moments model. Our main empirical results show that financial crises do have a significantly negative impact on economic growth. In addition, governments or authorities are encouraged to further enhance their insurance sector in order to help spur economic growth when financial crises arise. The government intervention policy choice is also an important factor influencing economic growth during crises.     

中国促进低碳经济发展的财政政策研究

财政政策是政府促进低碳经济发展的重要手段。本文分析了中国支持低碳经济发展的财政政策措施、成效及当前面临的主要问题,提出了“十二五”期间我国运用财政政策支持低碳经济发展的目标,在此基础上,重点围绕节能降耗、清洁能源发展、发展低碳城市等支持低碳经济发展的主要方面具体深入地探讨了财政政策选择。     

Financial Integration and Economic Growth in the COMESA and SADC Regions

Abstract

This study used panel data methods to examine the relationship between financial integration and economic growth in the COMESA and SADC regions. Using Foreign direct investment (FDI) and portfolio flows as a share of GDP, Chinn-Ito index of financial openness and debt flows as measures of financial integration, the study found that the relationship between financial integration and growth is largely insignificant in the combined sample of COMESA and SADC regions. However, the relationship changes when the two regions are separated. Whereas two of the indicators of financial integration are significant in the COMESA region, only one indicator of financial integration is significant in the SADC region implying that financial integration is more important in the COMESA region than in the SADC region. The results support the growth retarding theories of financial globalization and the convergence hypothesis in the COMESA region while the neoclassical trade theories find strong support in the SADC region. These results imply, first, that financial integration has different growth effects for different regional groupings and thus integration policies should not be universally applied. Second, these results imply that further enhancement of trade integration policies offer more promising outcomes for economic growth in the SADC region than financial integration policies while the converse is true for the COMESA region.