Central Bank Independence in Transition Economies

The paper discusses recent changes in central bank laws and the relationship between inflation and central bank independence in transition economies. Two indices of legal independence are constructed, covering political and economic aspects of independence. Most of the countries experienced high-inflation episodes in the recent past and changes introduced to the laws after, or simultaneously, with stabilization programmes strengthened the position of the central banks. In further analysis, an inverse relationship emerges between inflation and indices of central bank independence. However, the robust relationship is present only at a high level of economic liberalization. This conclusion is supported by results from regressions on time-aggregated and panel data, even after controlling for the government fiscal position and the absence/presence of an IMF stabilization package.     

Consensus among Economics Teachers from Transition Economies

The authors analyze the economic opinions of teachers and economists from the former Soviet Union who participated in economic education programs sponsored by the U.S. Department of Education under the auspices of the National Council on Economic Education from 1995–2001. They sought to determine the level of consensus on economic topics among the participants, and then analyzed their concordance with U.S. economists. They conclude that there is a significant level of consensus among the participants from the former Soviet Union, but this consensus is often at odds with the views of American economists.     

Teacher and Student Economic Understanding in Transition Economies

This study describes a new data set and uses it for an exploratory investigation of whether seminars for teachers conducted by the National Council on Economic Education through its International Education Exchange Program (IEEP) had a beneficial effect on the economic understanding of the high school students of these teachers. The data were collected using a non-equivalent control group design that sorted teachers into two groups based on whether or not they participated in an IEEP seminar. Pre- and posttests of economics were administered to the students of these teachers in Lithuania, Ukraine, Kyrgyzstan, and Poland. The exploratory results showed a larger increase in the economic understanding of students of teachers who participated in the IEEP seminars compared with students of teachers who did not. The results also showed that knowledge of economics among IEEP teachers was a factor for improving student achievement in economics. The findings should be viewed with caution because of data limitations.     

Environmental Policy in Open Economies and Monopolistic Competition

This paper analyses the implications of international trade for non-cooperative environmental policy in the case of local production externalities. A particular focus is on the potential effects of regulations on the variety of goods and the resulting international spillover caused by trade. A tougher domestic standard negatively affects the utility of the households abroad, since such a policy reduces their variety of imports (due to fewer domestic product inventions) or their consumption of each imported brand (due to higher import prices). Ignoring the negative spillover, non-cooperative governments implement inefficiently strict standards in equilibrium. In contrast to this clear-cut inefficiency result, the impact of international trade on the state of the environment is ambiguous.     

Economies of scale and scope in the European banking sector

In this article, using the data of 2008, we try to describe the impact of scale and product differentiation in 282 European banks. While evidence of the economies of scale is less clear, the results obtained using a translogarithmic function system show that significant economies of scope do exist even for new banking products like derivatives.

The Coevolution of Finance and Property Rights: Evidence from Transition Economies

The transition from communism to capitalism was necessarily accompanied by a sudden and abrupt increase in the financialization of society. This increase occurred in an environment that, even now, still has little experience with or expertise in financialization. Given that financialization occurred simultaneously with the growth and evolution of other political and economic institutions, the question arises: What was the effect on these other nascent institutions like property rights? This article empirically analyzes the relationship between financialization and property rights in transition countries. Using a unique monthly database of twenty transition countries over a period from 1989 to 2012, this article finds that the influence of financialization depends on which definition of “financialization” is used. In particular, increases in basic financial intermediation improved property rights. However, higher-order “financialization,” proxied here by the size of capital markets and the wages in the financial sector, appeared to have a negative impact on the development of broad-based property rights in transition.     

环境规制、融资约束与企业创新

2019年的中央经济工作会议指出,在经济下行压力加大的形势下,要把稳增长放在更重要的位置,而目前全球面临着日益严峻的环境形势,企业创新以及充足的资金流是保护和改善环境的关键,是实现绿色可持续发展的必经之路。基于此,选取2014—2018年沪深A股上市公司的数据,建立了回归模型来探究环境规制、融资约束与企业创新之间的关系,旨在为实现企业绿色、创新发展提供借鉴意义。研究发现:环境规制和融资约束均对企业创新有着显著的负向作用,即随着环境规制强度以及融资约束水平的提高,企业创新能力会下降,主要表现为研发投入的减少;融资约束在环境规制与企业创新的关系中存在着部分中介效应。最后根据研究结论,分别从政府、企业角度提出相关的对策建议。     

欧洲隧道项目融资的经验教训

简述了欧洲隧道的历史,并根据该项目的组织结构和融资过程,总结了在融资方面应吸取的经验教训。     

Transboundary Externalities in the Environmental Transition Hypothesis

The Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC) is a hypothesis which implies that it is possible to grow out of environmental degradation. Most theoretical models of the EKC relation have not accounted for transboundary and intergenerational externalities nor have empirical studies provided evidence that validates an inverted U shaped relation between environmental degradation and economic growth for pollution problems where the effects are far-displaced or are long-delayed.This paper integrates the theory of transboundary externalities into the most common theoretical framework applied to the EKC hypothesis. It shows that where a significant proportion of the environmental impacts of economic activity occurs outside the territories in which those activities take place, the de-linking of growth and environmental degradation is less likely to happen. This proposition is demonstrated by assuming that decisionmakers have a Nash-type non cooperative strategic behavior.     

当代环境文化建设的理论变革及其发展趋势

人类的环境文化表征着人与自然之间相互关系变迁的整个过程。面对近现代以来被扭曲和异化的环境文化,当代环境文化正在进行理论变革。必须全面推进可持续发展战略,转变工业生产方式、经济增长模式和人们生活方式,从而建立起人与自然协同进化、促进环境公平和实现生态现代化的当代新型环境文化。     

转型时期企业投资的两维度环境分析

企业投资的实现需要两个维度的宏观环境:一个是宏观的投资机会环境;另一个是宏观融资环境.宏观投资机会环境主要通过商业周期变化影响投资,但不确定性加大商业周期的变动性,加大对投资的影响.宏观融资环境通过有效的融资体系提高融资资源的有效配置.转型时期,制度的过渡性和制度缺乏使两维的宏观环境具有特殊性,影响了投资的稳定性和资源的最优配置.两维度环境相互影响,并成为宏观经济运行的行为层次上的内因.     

长三角区域一体化背景下的环保投融资创新机制研究

在对长三角地区生态环境保护投资规模、结构、地区分布、不同主体投资情况进行分析的基础上,识别当前存在的问题,包括投资总量不足、投融资渠道及规模拓展空间有限、投资效率亟待提升等。从加大财政资金保护力度、推行政府和社会资本合作模式、拓宽生态环境项目投资回报机制、创新绿色金融制度等方面提出建议,以期构建适应长三角区域一体化生态环境共保联治格局要求的环保投融资创新机制。     

Trade Structure and Trade liberalization: The emerging pattern between the EU and Transition Economies

The purpose of this study is to find empirical evidence for the assumption that trade liberalization unlocks the potential of the Transition Economies (TEs) to achieve technological upgrading, productivity progress and catching-up (in terms of income). The study examines the trade structure now emerging between the European Union (EU) and the TEs in the light of two sets of differently liberalized trade items identified by the European Agreements. The aim is to determine whether trade liberalization has helped to supersede the structures – reflected mainly in the low quality of products – inherited by the TEs from the command economy. The empirical results are interpreted in the light of the Flam-Helpman quality-cycle model. We find evidence of an ongoing division of labor between high quality products (EU) and low quality products (TEs) according to a cycle. The first stage comprises the already well established dominance of quality advantage products by EU countries producing and exporting high-quality products, which crowd out the TEs' production of similar products. The second stage is the exploitation of cost-advantages by TEs in less liberalized trade, and there they appear to achieve better results. All these results may be taken as support for an active government in TEs.     

我国政府投资项目融资结构优化分析

政府投资资金可按资金来源渠道、资金筹集方式、资金价值来源、资金管理职权、资金与国家预算关系等不同标准进行分类,从中可以分析政府投资规模的可能性、拓展资金的来源渠道.在分析我国政府融资结构状况的基础上,利用一元线形回归方程预测国家预算内资金占国有经济固定资产投资的合理比例,为我国政府投资项目融资结构优化提供理论依据.     

后工业化时代的环境(土壤)修复产业投融资机制创新研究

随着我国城市化和工业化的逐步推进,环境污染问题日益严峻。土壤污染以其具有隐蔽性、危害的滞后性、不可逆转性等特征,蕴藏了巨大的危害和风险。通过分析近年来环保产业政策、环保法律法规、公众环保意识、环保科技水平等影响因素,认为环境修复机遇与风险并存。在问题突出的现今,需要深化创新产业投融资机制,通过多种渠道实现资金的筹措,并在技术含量更高、利润更大的产业链环节上掌握世界领先的技术和方法,从而全面提升我国环境修复的竞争力。     

基于ABS资产证券化方式的项目融资风险管理

介绍了ABS资产证券化方式在项目融资中的应用,探讨了ABS项目融资的风险应对策略,主要包括资产质量风险、环境风险、证券化运作风险的应对,以期为ABS资产证券化的风险管理提出了一种可行的思路。     

环境所有权、贸易结构变迁与污染分布——基于超边际经济学框架的分析

文章引入环境所有权概念,运用新兴古典经济学的超边际分析方法,研究了贸易结构变迁与相应的污染分布和转移,旨在揭示大国污染效应、工业化路径的环境效应、贸易结构变迁的环境所有权因素以及环保政策失效的原因。研究推导出不同国家间环境所有权模糊程度和交易效率变化对贸易结构变迁与污染分布变化的作用机理。研究命题可用于解释现实贸易发展中存在的环境污染现象。