Poverty Naturalized: Implications for Gender

The article illustrates how philosophical assumptions affect the theory, practice, and results of poverty analysis, to the potential detriment of women and girls. It links the income/consumption approach to poverty with naturalist normative theory, which developed historically from the moral theory of David Hume. It then traces the historical development of naturalist normative theory from Hume to modern utility theory and examines its links with the British empiricist tradition. Finally, it reviews some of the practical consequences for gender and argues that the philosophical baggage of the income/consumption poverty approach may ignore important issues for women and girls, thereby creating significant gender "gaps" in the analysis of deprivation.     

A POSITIVE AND A NORMATIVE THEORY OF INCOME DISTRIBUTION

A positive theory of income distribution based on assumptions concerning the supply of and demand for each type of productive service is presented. The demand function of the organizers of production may be derived from the maximization of profits with the income scale and the production function as restrictions. A normative theory based on the maximization of a social utility or welfare function is also considered. In the normative theory, production functions and balance equations (some representing compartmentalization of factor markets) are introduced as restrictions and again an income scale results, this time maximizing social welfare. Empirical testing is also considered. The positive theory was developed in part to take into consideration the fact that personal income distributions can reasonably well be described by log normal distributions, and that skill parameters are often normally distributed. Limited testing of the influence of wealth, intelligence, education, and sex suggest that these account for only a small part of the variance in the income distribution. This suggests the need for further research.     

Non-tradable Share Reform and Tradable Shareholders＇ Wealth： An Event Study Analysis

On April 29, 2005, the reform of non-tradable shares was started. 46 companies were selected as the first and second batches of non-tradable share pilot reform, and among them 45 pilot companies finished their non-tradable share reform. This study examines the abnormal stock returns of the 45 pilot companies finishing their non-tradable share reform to determine whether tradable shareholders gain profits from this non-tradable share reform. By employing event study analysis, we find that tradable shareholders do gain profits from the non-tradable share reform. The average abnormal return of the 45 pilot companies was 10.62% on the resumption trading day after they finished their non-tradable share reform, which was statistically significant. We also find that the average abnormal return of high-compensation package group is significantly higher than that of low-compensation package group.     

Structures of foreign trade and income distribution: The case of Mexico

Using Mexico's input-output tables and household survey data, this paper examines various trade strategies and their relationship to commodity production with a view to assesing their effect on the distribution of income. The model incorporates income-induced multiplier effects, taking into account the full range of input import-substitution possibilities. The results show that the differences in the impact on income, particularly, of the lower incomes, are most marked in the tensions between exportable and import-competing activities. On the whole, production per unit of output in the non-tradable sector produces as much factor income as that in the export sector. Expansion of exportable activities marginally improves the economic position of the poor in relation to other income groups, but only when direct effects are taken into account. If, however, domestic production meets the needs of intermediate imports, then the distribution of income remains unaffected by alternative trade strategies.     

Book Reviews

In economic literature risk taking is usually discussed with special reference to capital risks and profits. It is argued that in an uncertain world all economic agents are exposed to risks. Workers in particular face risks of income losses and obsolescence of human capital. But the effects of and rewards for risk taking are unevenly distributed between capital owners and dependent employees. This leads to critical questions about the normative aspects of risk taking propensities.     

Labor supply,uncertainty, and efficient taxation

We analyze the structure of an optimal linear income tax when workers are uncertain about their wages at the time they choose their labor supplies. Background for the normative analysis is provided by an outline of the positive theory of wage taxation and labor supply under uncertainty. It is then shown that given imperfect information about wages, lump-sum taxation is not necessarily efficient. Because a wage tax reduces the riskiness of wage income, some combination of a lump-sum tax and a wage tax generally will minimize excess burden.     

Stochastic Growth and Factor Income Risk

Abstract. This paper examines the effects of aggregate factor income risk in a tractable version of the stochastic Romer endogenous growth model. Labor supply is endogenous. The presence of labor income risk unambiguously increases savings and growth due to precautionary motives. Households not only underaccumulate but also work less along the balanced growth path of the competitive economy when compared with the Pareto-efficient allocation. The paper also discusses distributive disturbances for the case of inelastic labor supply. Here, growth effects are negative for empirically plausible correlations of the underlying shocks.     

A positive model of overlapping income taxation in a federation of states

This paper develops a positive theory of overlapping income taxation in a federation of states. The analysis provides a complete characterization of the equilibrium federal and states tax rates as functions of the level of total productivity dispersion between the states. The federal rate is increasing in the level of total productivity dispersion between the states, even if the income of the decisive voter at the federal level is above the mean income. Given that the individuals' income is endogenously determined there exists a negative trade-off between the implemented federal tax rate and the resulting states' tax rates, regardless of the pre-tax income of the decisive voter at the state level. Thus, high levels of productivity dispersion between the states cause a higher than optimal federal tax rate together with low states' tax rates. It is also shown that a system of overlapping income taxation is not efficient. The resulting inefficiency might be exacerbated by the implementation of a federal matching grants program, contradicting previous results in the related normative literature.     

国内外隐性收入比较研究及范式创新

隐性收入是商品经济发展的产物,是世界各国共同存在的问题。当前我国社会中存在大量的非公开隐性收入,但无法反映在调查数据中,结果是显著扩大了收入差距,扭曲了国民收入分配。巨额隐性收入的"灰色效应"包括经济失衡效应、社会矛盾效应、政治风险效应、学术失真效应。必须坚决治理隐性收入、调节社会分配差距,才能消除上述"灰色效应"。因此,构建一个较系统、全面的隐性收入分析框架,具有重要的理论和现实意义。博弈论是分析人与人之间的关系和行为的理论,而隐性收入亦是由不同利益关系的个人和群体的交易行为所产生。博弈论可以作为分析社会隐性收入的分析工具。因此,可以构建交叉学科研究的新范式,运用经济博弈论来剖析隐性收入成因,建立系统的隐性收入分析框架,为治理隐性收入提供理论参考。     

股权分置对中国资本市场实证研究的影响及模型修正

流通股和非流通股并存的特殊股权制度影响到中国上市公司股价和股数科学合理的确定,进而影响到几乎所有的中国股票市场实证研究结果。股权分置改革全部完成之后,涉及股改前数据的所有实证研究和数据库建设也都不能忽视改革前后的股数和股价的不可比问题。现有的基于股权分置的指标修正方法五花八门,也缺少合理的经济逻辑和数据支持。本文证明忽视股权分置现实,或者不适当的修正都将导致偏颇的结论,进而提出了一个通用的修正方法,即每股非流通股的价格相当于每股流通股的一个百分比。然后用实际数据对这个百分比的表达式进行了估计,从而对股权分置条件下价格模型与回报率模型进行了修正。结果显示,经过修正后的模型估计优于未修正的模型。在此基础上,我们研究了现在的全流通改革是否公平地补偿了流通股股东。结果显示,对于非流通股比率较小的公司,补偿是公平的,但对于非流通股比率较高的公司,还是存在着大的非流通股股东剥削流通股股东的现象。     

人民币实际汇率与中国两部门生产率差异的关系——基于巴拉萨—萨缪尔森效应的实证分析

长期实际汇率主要取决于经济的供给面,即生产率的变化,这一思想体现在巴拉萨—萨缪尔森效应的模型中。文章从巴拉萨—萨缪尔森效应的理论出发选择合适的计量模型,然后以制造业和服务业分别表示贸易品部门和非贸易品部门,通过差分回归模型和协整检验来分析人民币实际汇率与中国两部门间生产率差异之间的关系,回归结果符合巴拉萨—萨缪尔森效应的结论。在1980~2004年间,人民币实际汇率的变动趋势与中国两部门间的生产率差异变化趋势基本相符:非贸易品部门生产率提高幅度大时,人民币趋向于贬值;而贸易品部门生产率提高幅度大时,人民币实际汇率趋向于升值。     

科技信用风险管理研究框架

科技信用风险管理运用风险管理的理论和方法来管理科技信用,是综合了信用管理、科技管理、风险管理等的一门交叉学科。科技信用风险管理对于规范科技工作者的科研行为、维护良好的科研秩序具有重要意义。科技信用风险管理是一个包含基础理论、专门知识、研究方法和应用技术的理论和实践体系,基于这一体系,建立了一个关于管理过程的研究框架。     

AID TIED TO THE DONOR'S EXPORTS

Abstract.  The existing theory of tied aid presupposes that trade and aid are conducted in terms of private consumption goods. However, in such a world aid can be effectively tied only if the recipient government somehow prevents its households from reselling the aid basket on world markets. That weakness of existing theory is here removed by extending the theory to accommodate non-tradable public consumption goods. The most striking result of existing theory – that, even in a world of just two trading countries, the donor might benefit and the recipient suffer from the tying of aid – is preserved.     

我国贸易顺差的根源及外需的可替代性——基于贸易品—非贸易品的分析框架

本文在开放宏观经济的平衡关系中引入产品的可贸易性差异,探讨我国贸易顺差的根源以及外需的可替代性。研究结果表明,(1)我国国内总供给结构偏向于贸易品,国内总需求结构偏向于非贸易品,两者之间不断扩大的差距是贸易顺差不断增长的根本原因;(2)非贸易品供给不足所导致的"强制储蓄"现象,制约了我国居民消费需求的增长,使其无法有效替代外需;(3)给定国内供给和需求的结构性特征,外需增加是国内投资增加的必要条件,投资需求无法替代外需;(4)为了实现总需求构成的重新平衡,特别是提升国内消费需求在总需求中的比重,不能简单地依赖总需求管理政策或收入分配政策,必须配合以促进供给结构调整的政策措施。     

Income Mobility, Inequality and Social Welfare

It is often argued that an observation of rising annual income inequality need not have negative normative implications. The argument is that if there has been a sufficiently large simultaneous increase in mobility, the inequality of income measured over a longer time period can be lower despite the rise in annual inequality. In this paper, it is shown by example that if normative implications are drawn from a standard social welfare function, the set of circumstances put forward in the above argument are not sufficient to guarantee that social welfare will improve. The reason is that even though rising mobility does reduce longer term inequality, it also increases the variability of income profiles over time and the latter has a detrimental social welfare effect. Hence, there are two types of mobility: one which reduces inequality (regression to the mean), but another that increases inequality (relative movements uncorrelated with incomes). Further, if individuals' aversion to income variabiltiy is sufficiently larger than the social welfare judge's aversion to inequality, then an increase in mobility, no matter how large, cannot offset the negative normative effect of rising annual inequality.     

Risky Habits: on Risk Sharing,Habit Formation,and the Interpretation of International Consumption Correlations*

Standard international economic models with life cycle/permanent income consumption behavior predict that international portfolio diversification leads to high bilateral consumption correlations. Thus international consumption correlations have been empirically estimated as a test of international portfolio diversification and risk sharing. In this paper we investigate the international consumption correlations generated by a more general model which incorporates habit formation in consumption. We show that, in the presence of a common shock, habit formation itself can generate positive international consumption correlations even in the absence of any international risk sharing. Empirical evidence presented in this paper suggests habit formation characterizes consumption behavior among most of the G‐7 countries. Thus, the extent of international portfolio diversification may be even lower than that suggested by previous research which studied international consumption correlations.     

Public Insurance against Idiosyncratic and Aggregate Risk: The Case of Social Security and Progressive Income Taxation

In this article, I discuss the role a progressive income taxsystem and a redistributive pay as you go (PAYGO) social securitysystem can play in insuring and reallocating idiosyncratic aswell as aggregate risk. I also argue that the underlying sourceof market failures generating such a role for government interventionmay be crucial when determining the normative consequences ofsuch social insurance. (JEL Classifications: E62, H21, H24,H55).     

Taxation of Labor Income and the Demand for Risky Assets

This article analyzes the effect of labor income risk on the joint saving/portfolio-composition problem. Given decreasing absolute prudence, we find that even when labor income risk increases overall saving, it tends to lower investment in a risky asset. Applying the theory to public finance, we argue that realistic increases in marginal tax rates on labor can cause large enough reductions in after-tax labor income risk to cause significant increases in risky investment.     

Manufacturing growth and local employment multipliers in China

We study the impact of employment growth in manufacturing on job creation in the non-tradable sector for prefecture-level cities in China. Using the 2000 and 2010 Censuses of Population, we apply the shift-share approach to isolate the exogenous change of employment growth in manufacturing. For every hundred new manufacturing jobs, we find that 34 additional jobs are created in the non-tradable sector. We also show that the effect is heterogeneous along a number of dimensions. More specifically, one new job in high-technology manufacturing creates more jobs in the non-tradable sector while low-technology manufacturing employment growth has no significant multiplier effect. Among the non-tradable industries, the multiplier is the largest for wholesale, retail, and catering. Finally, the effect is also geographically heterogeneous, with the multiplier being greater for inland regions.     

The Role of Family Background for Earnings in Rural China

This paper provides estimates of brother income correlations for rural China. Brother correlations are a parsimonious measure of the importance of family and community background as determinants of individuals’ economic status. We find internationally high levels of income similarity for brothers and siblings: 0.57 and 0.58, respectively. Compared to the 1990s, income correlations have decreased in more recent years, but remain high. Furthermore, we document virtually no differences between the coastal and interior provinces and by father’s education. The high brother correlations imply that the high level of income inequality in China is likely to persist.