Siren Voices on 'Reflation'

The growth in government spending and its resistance to reform can be explained through the activities of interest groups. Barry Craven (right), of the Newcastle-upon-Tyne Polytechnic, offers local experince to reinforce the argument of Rosalind Levaćić pp.4–8.     

Centralisation is no Solution

Although the US structure of government encourages the activity of presure groups more than in the UK, argues Rosalind Levaćić of the Open University, orchestrated campaigns to put pressure on government have spread in Britain, especially in education and health, where they will now prevent direct central government control of resources from being as effective as decentralising control to individual consumers/voters.     

Eliciting the socially optimal allocation from responsible agents

We consider designing a mechanism to allocate objects among agents without monetary transfers. There is a socially optimal allocation, which is commonly known by the agents but not observable by the designer. The designer possibly has information about the existence of responsible agents. A responsible agent, when indifferent between his objects at two different allocations, prefers the first allocation to the second if the first allocation is closer to the optimal allocation than the second, in the sense that all the agents who are allocated their optimal objects in the second allocation are allocated their optimal objects also in the first allocation, and there is at least one more agent in the first allocation receiving his optimal object. We show that, if the designer knows that there are at least three responsible agents, even if the identities of the responsible agents are not known, the optimal allocation can be elicited.     

混合所有制改革是否有助于缓解人力资本配置扭曲

将人力资本在所有制企业间的配置扭曲（错配）理解为技术配置扭曲和规模配置扭曲两个方面,基于1998—2013年中国工业企业数据库的相关数据,探讨国有企业混合所有制改革影响人力资本配置扭曲的内生机理,结果表明：混合所有制改革鼓励非国有资本通过参股、控股和并购等方式参与到国有企业的生产决策中,这有助于完善国有企业的公司治理结构和利润分配机制,进一步缓解人力资本的技术配置扭曲和规模配置扭曲程度;相对于非行政垄断行业,行政垄断行业中国有企业混合所有制改革对于人力资本配置扭曲的缓解作用较小。     

Sample Design and Allocation for Random Digit Dialling

Sample design and sample allocation methods are developed for random digit dialling in household telephone surveys. The proposed method is based on a two-way stratification of telephone numbers. A weighted probability proportional to size sample allocation technique is used, with auxiliary variables about the telephone coverage rates, within local telephone exchanges of each substrata. This makes the sampling design nearly “self-weighting” in residential numbers when the prior information is well assigned. A computer program generates random numbers for the local areas within the existing phone capacities. A simulation study has shown greater sample allocation gain by the weighted probabilities proportional to size measures over other sample allocation methods. The amount of dialling required to obtain the sample is less than for proportional allocation. A decrease is also observed on the gain in sample allocation for some methods through the increasing sample sizes.     

Political Bargaining: Bricks, Bluff and Blackmail

The market does not always work well but, argues Rosalind Levačić of the Open University, neither does its alternative – jostling for advantage by interest groups. She draws on a case study to demonstrate that the bluff and blackmail of political bargaining leads to results that should be examined as closely as market failure.     

Uniform allocation and reallocation revisited

Thomson (1995a) proved that the uniform allocation rule is the only allocation rule for allocation economies with single-peaked preferences that satisfies Pareto efficiency, no-envy,one-sided population-monotonicity, and replication-invariance on a restricted domain of single-peaked preferences. We prove that this result also holds on the unrestricted domain of single-peaked preferences. Next, replacing one-sided population-monotonicity by one-sided replacement-domination yields another characterization of the uniform allocation rule, Thomson (1997a). We show how this result can be extended to the more general framework of reallocation economies with individual endowments and single-peaked preferences. Following Thomson (1995b) we present allocation and reallocation economies in a unified framework of open economies. Received: 20 February 1999 / Accepted: 15 February 2000     

Communication complexity and stability of equilibria in economies and games

The theory of decentralized allocation mechanisms introduced by Leonid Hurwicz enabled economists to analyze the implications of requiring an allocation mechanism to perform well over a range of possible economic environments. One of the earliest major results in this theory was the formalization and proof of Hayek’s famous assertion that the competitive market mechanism minimizes the communication needed to achieve Pareto efficient allocations. The informational efficiency theorem spawned a large literature on communication complexity in allocation mechanisms. This paper provides an exposition of some results on the communication required to make equilibria locally stable, and the possibility of eliciting the required communication in allocation mechanisms and games.     

Institutional perspectives on cost allocations: integration and extension

The debate on cost allocations in the management accounting literature has been dominated by a largely rationalistic perspective primarily informed by economic theories. However, there is growing evidence of institutional factors influencing cost allocation practices in organizations. This paper draws on neo-institutional sociology (NIS) and attempts to integrate prior research evidence of the institutional influence on cost allocation practices into an analytical framework. The core of our argument hinges on the observation that most cost allocations generate some degree of ambiguity. We argue that the implementation of various cost allocation techniques (in terms of their coupling to operating control) reflects differences in management of such ambiguity, but that this is conditioned by the patterns in which cost allocation techniques diffuse across organizations. We also address some pertinent criticisms of the NIS literature by discussing how certain intra-organizational factors and aspects of the organization's technical environment might interact with external institutional pressures in the implementation of cost allocation techniques. We advance six research propositions reflecting how such external institutional pressures and interaction effects influence the coupling of cost allocation practices to operating control.     

中国工业化、城镇化进程中的土地配置特征

基于已有的研究成果,通过系统的理论归纳与统计分析,提出了当前中国工业化、城镇化进程中土地资源配置的主要特征:第一,从部门配置角度看,表现为农业用地大规模非农化;第二,从产业配置的角度看,城乡用地结构快速转变;第三,从空间配置的角度看,土地利用的区域不均衡;第四,从功能配置的角度看,重经济效益轻生态效益。     

A Comparative Analysis of Regulatory Strategies in Accounting and their Impact on Corporate Compliance

Gabi Ebbers, Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang, Europäischer Verlag der Wissenschaften, 2001, e45.50, 263pp. ISBN: 3-631-38245-6     

金融发展、金融市场化与实体经济资本配置效率

在对Wurgler的资本配置效率估算模型进行修正的基础上,实证检验了我国金融发展和金融市场化水平对实体经济资本配置效率的影响,研究表明：金融市场化显著优化了我国实体经济资本的配置,而我国以银行信贷为主体的金融体系的发展虽然促进了实体经济资本配置效率的提高,但效果不明显。研究还发现：在所引入的控制变量中,经济发展水平对资本配置效率的影响显著较大。进一步分区域回归结果显示,经济越发达的地区,金融市场化程度越高,其优化作用越显著,但随着地区经济发展,经济发展水平自身对资本配置的优化作用在减弱。     

REVISITING THE ORIGINAL GHOSH MODEL: CAN IT BE MADE MORE PLAUSIBLE?

We reconsider in this paper the alleged implausibility of Ghosh's model and we do so reformulating the model to incorporate an alternative closure rule. Our proposed closure rule is in line with the original allocation rules defined by A. Ghosh. The closure solves, to some extent, the implausibility problem that was pointed out by Oosterhaven, for then value-added is correctly computed and responsive to allocation changes resulting from supply shocks. Some numerical examples illustrate the sectoral and aggregate consistency of the allocation equilibrium.     

金融资产配置、金融杠杆与现金流风险

金融资产会计安排是企业执行金融工具准则的重要环节,具有显著的经济后果。基于实体企业金融化现象,研究金融资产配置与现金流风险关系,分析金融杠杆的调节功能,探讨非效率资本配置的传导作用,研究发现：金融资产配置与现金流风险之间存在U型关系;金融杠杆能够调节金融资产配置与现金流风险的关系,使关系曲线拐点右移与扁平化。区分金融资产配置类型后发现：交易类金融资产与现金流风险呈U型关系;委托贷款等新兴金融资产负向影响现金流风险;投资性房地产和长期金融股权投资未显著影响现金流风险。考虑企业生命周期后发现,成长期与衰退期企业金融资产配置与现金流风险呈U型关系,成熟期企业金融资产配置负向影响现金流风险;按照产权性质分组检验发现,金融资产配置与现金流风险的关系以及金融杠杆的调节效应在非国有企业中更显著;机制检验发现,非效率资本配置在金融资产配置影响现金流风险的过程中发挥中介作用。     

On the asymptotic behavior of stochastic economic processes : Two examples from intertemporal allocation under uncertainty

Some of the recently developed models to deal with economic problems involving uncertainty are based on simplifying assumptions on the nature of the stochastic law of the environment influencing economic decisions. Relying on the theory of martingales, we derive some general results on the asymptotic behavior of two dynamic processes that are of interest in the theory of intertemporal resource allocation. The first example is related to the ‘turnpike’ theory of optimal allocation. The second is addressed to the question of allocation of a scarce resource by using prices when the supply of the resource is random.     

How Does Childbirth Alter Intrahousehold Resource Allocation? Evidence from Japan*

Exploiting unique panel data that include direct measurements of resource allocation within households, we investigated the impact of childbirth on intrahousehold allocation for married Japanese couples. Based on a collective model of the household, we developed reduced‐form and structural‐form estimation equations that allow us to focus on private goods to track the changes in intrahousehold resource allocation. We found one additional child is associated with a reduction in the wife's private expenditure share by at least two percentage points. This may be because she substitutes more say in decisions on the children for her own private expenditure share.     

Bank of England: Servant or Master?

The developing discipline of the economics of politics examines the behaviour of bureaucrats and politicians as maximisers of self-interest like anybody else. The insights derived from this analysis can be applied to other forms of governmental activity, not least in the Bank of England. Rosalind Levačić assesses the extent to which the Bank's officials maximise their own well-being instead of implementing Government policy.     

Emission abatement induced value changes

Emission abatement by economic activities induces fundamental changes in an optimum emission resource allocation. These changes involve the social value of emissions, the comparative advantage of certain activities as efficient polluters, the potential redundancy of certain environmental policies, and the comparative basis for levying emission eligibility fees and for evaluating incoming activities. In this paper I analyze these changes in the context of a linear model of resource allocation.     

Property appraisal in high-rises: A cooperative game theory approach

The construction of the higher stories in a building is utterly contingent upon the construction of the lower ones, while the construction of lower stories does not require the construction of the higher ones. This rationale underlies our adoption of a cooperative game theory methodology for examining the value of units based on the cost approach of land appraisal. Particularly, we propose the Shapley value solution to examine the allocation of the land and construction cost among the stories of the building. We explore the allocation mechanism and derive several closed-form properties by which the value pattern of stories in a building is rationalized. The proposed cost allocation may, among other things, generate values when comparable market prices are unobservable (consistent with the cost approach); may be used by courts in order to compute compensations in cases of disputes regarding expansions and redevelopments of existing structures among co-owners; and may determine the rent cost allocation in an organization with several profit centers located on different floors of a building.     

多式联运条件下集装箱空箱调运问题研究

阐明了集装箱空箱调运的内涵以及多式联运条件下集装箱的流转过程,深入分析了集装箱空箱的产生原因。然后指出,为实现以最低成本进行空箱调运的目标,在综合考虑调运空间、调运数量以及租箱决策三要素的基础上,给出空箱调运成本表达式,并建立空箱调运模型。通过数学规划求解lingo软件,带入相应数据,并对运行结果进行分析,得知该模型是有效的和可行的。