WELFARE REFORM AND CHILDREN'S EARLY COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT

In this paper, we use a dynamic structural model to measure the effects of (1) single mothers' work and welfare use decisions and (2) welfare reform initiatives on the early cognitive development of the children of the NLSY79 mothers. We use PIAT‐Math scores as a measure of attainment and show that both the mothers' work and welfare use benefit children on average. Our simulation of a policy that combines a time limit with work requirement reduces the use of welfare and increases employment significantly. These changes in turn significantly increase children's cognitive attainment. This implies that the welfare reform was not only successful in achieving its stated goals, but was also beneficial to welfare children's outcomes. In another policy simulation, we show that increasing work incentives for welfare population by exempting labor income from welfare tax can be a very successful policy with some additional benefits for children's outcomes. Finally, a counterfactual with an extended maternal leave policy significantly reduces employment and has negative, though economically insignificant, impact on cognitive outcomes. (JEL I38, J22, J18)     

THE EFFECT OF WELFARE ASSET RULES ON AUTO OWNERSHIP,EMPLOYMENT, AND WELFARE PARTICIPATION: A LONGITUDINAL ANALYSIS

This paper investigates how asset tests for welfare eligibility affect auto ownership, employment, and welfare participation for single mothers without a college degree. We combine longitudinal data from the 1996 Survey of Income and Program Participation with data on state‐level welfare program rules from the Urban Institute and data on state‐level controls to test whether these single mothers were more likely to (1) own a car, (2) be employed, and (3) be off of welfare, depending on the welfare asset rules instituted in their state. We find evidence that, taken as a group, the asset rules have a statistically significant effect on the probability of car ownership. Ordinary least squares results and cross‐sectional two‐stage least squares (2SLS) results using the asset rules to instrument for car ownership show a large, positive, statistically significant effect of car ownership on employment. However, in 2SLS models controlling for prior car ownership and prior employment, the asset instruments are weaker and we do not find an effect of car ownership on employment. Of significance for policy makers, we find that the asset rules do not have a statistically significant joint effect on welfare participation, even after addressing possible endogeneity. (JEL I38, J68, J08)     

Mixed Ownership, Unemployment, and Welfare for a Developing Economy

This paper considers the employment and welfare effects of mixed ownership via partial privatization of state‐owned enterprises for a developing economy. An increase in the private ownership lowers the production and, hence, worsens urban unemployment in the short run. However, in the long run, capital moves to the rural region, alleviating the problem of urban unemployment. The employment effect can have a positive contribution to social welfare in the long run.     

Reforming state owned enterprises in China: Effects of WTO accession

In December 2001 China became a member of the World Trade Organization (WTO). By signing the accession protocol, China not only agreed to reform its trade policy, but it also accepted regulations that implied reductions on government subsidies to the state-owned sector. In this paper we claim that the latter, largely ignored in the literature, generate important welfare gains that need to be attributed to WTO accession. We develop a dynamic general equilibrium model with state and private enterprises. We calibrate the model to the Chinese economy and we quantitatively assess the economic effects of reducing subsidies to the state sector as required by the WTO. We find the welfare benefits of such reduction in subsidies to be substantial. Using the context of China, this paper identifies a new channel through which WTO accession increases a country's welfare: it induces reforms on domestic subsidies which lead to an increase in economic efficiency.     

高新技术企业认定与企业劳动雇佣

本文以2008–2020年沪深A股上市公司为样本,检验高新技术企业认定对企业劳动雇佣的影响及经济后果。以上市公司是否获得高新技术企业认定作为自然实验,采用双重差分法检验发现,高新技术企业认定显著促进了企业劳动雇佣增加,在金融发展水平更高的地区,这种促进效应更显著。进一步检验发现,税收优惠、政府补贴和银行贷款是高新技术企业认定对企业劳动雇佣的主要影响机制。最后,企业劳动雇佣的增加还显著促进了企业创新,提高了企业全要素生产率。本文不仅有助于从企业劳动雇佣视角丰富高新技术企业认定的经济后果的相关文献,而且还可以从高新技术企业认定的视角拓展企业劳动雇佣的影响因素的相关研究。本文的研究结果表明,高新技术企业认定不仅可以提高社会福利,还可以提高经济绩效,实现了《高新技术企业认定管理办法》的预期目标。本文的研究为进一步实施高新技术企业认定政策和扩大就业规模提供了理论依据和政策参考。     

高管降薪政策是否影响国有企业创新*——基于A股上市公司数据的实证研究

本文选取A股上市公司2010—2019年经营数据，利用双重差分模型（DID）实证探究了国企高管降薪对企业创新的影响。研究结果显示，相较于非国有上市公司，国企高管降薪抑制了国有上市公司的创新研发投入；进一步研究表明，国企高管降薪政策对企业创新的抑制程度在不同功能定位的国有企业之间存在差异，公益类国有企业受第二次高管“降薪令”的抑制影响比商业类国有企业更加严重。本文为国企高管降薪对企业创新的影响提供了经验证据，丰富了国企高管降薪政策方面的文献，对未来国企高管薪酬政策的制定具有一定的参考意义。     

Immigration and remittances in a two-country model of growth with labor market frictions

We present a North-South model with labor market frictions and labor migration to study the dynamic implications of workers mobility on employment, capital accumulation and welfare. In the baseline model, the Northern country is able to control immigration flows by setting a cap on the number of foreign workers. We find that, despite an increase in migration displaces native employment in the short-run, a permanent raise of the migration cap stimulates capital accumulation, improves labor market conditions and increases social welfare in the long run. In an extension of the model, we also test the long-run effects of a pro-employment protectionist policy consisting in imposing a distortionary tax on immigrant employment. We find that the protectionist policy in North, while increasing national welfare, damages the macroeconomic performance of the domestic economy and is not effective in improving native employment.     

企业养老保险缴费率、缴费基数与就业效应

本文以上市公司为样本，研究法定养老保险缴费比例变动对企业申报的缴费基数、就业规模等决策的影响和具体机制。在给定监管力度和法律环境下，在法定缴费比例上升时，企业会减小申报基数；反之则增加申报基数。在《劳动合同法》实施后，企业缴费基数是企业与员工共同商量的结果，并且法定缴费比例变动对企业就业规模的影响具有不对称性。在对不同企业类型进行分析后发现：（1）当法定比例降低时，省份社会平均工资水平较低的企业逃费程度降低的幅度大于省份社会平均工资较高的企业。（2）当法定比例上升时，资本密集的企业相比于劳动密集的企业会更多地减少就业规模。（3）当法定比例上升时，非国有企业减少就业规模，而国有企业不会。     

RESTRICTING EMPLOYMENT OF LOW‐PAID IMMIGRANTS: A GENERAL EQUILIBRIUM ASSESSMENT OF THE SOCIAL WELFARE IMPLICATIONS FOR LEGAL U.S. WAGE‐EARNERS

This paper builds on earlier work that used a general‐equilibrium model to show that reducing employment of unauthorized immigrants in the United States through a tighter border‐security policy lowers the average income of legal residents. Here we exploit further the detail available in the general‐equilibrium model to look at distributional effects, recognizing that the policy increases wage rates for low‐paid legal workers. We assess the social welfare effect on legal workers using a constant elasticity of substitution social welfare function. We contrast our general‐equilibrium approach to immigration analysis with the more commonly used partial‐equilibrium, econometric approach. (JEL D63, J61, C68)     

Capital tax,minimum wage,and labor market outcomes

Often an increase in the minimum wage is accompanied by a reduction in the capital tax. This paper analyzes the effects of interactions between the minimum wage and the capital tax in the general equilibrium framework. The analysis is conducted in an inter-temporal search model in which firms post wages. A (binding) minimum wage provides a lower support for the distribution of wages. The paper finds that the interaction of these two policy instruments significantly modify labor market outcomes and welfare cost. In the presence of a binding minimum wage, a decrease in the capital tax leads to an increase in wage dispersion. In contrast, when it is not binding, a lower capital tax may reduce the dispersion in wages. A binding minimum wage magnifies the positive effects of a lower capital tax on labor supply, employment, and output. It also enhances the welfare cost of capital tax. A policy change which involves an increase in the minimum wage and a fall in the capital tax such that employment level remains constant increases welfare and output.     

Precautionary Principle and Robustness for a Stock Pollutant with Multiplicative Risk

The interest shown by policy makers and economists in the precautionary principle indicates the importance of model uncertainty in global warming policy. I show that through robust control, policy makers can implement the precautionary principle to regulate a stock pollutant, and I analyze its effect on expected steady state pollution taxes, stocks and welfare. The paper is broadly comprised of a theoretical part and an application to global warming policy. I find that: (1) an increase in either uncertainty about the model or risk about abatement cost increases expected steady state pollution taxes; (2) a robust policy is preferred for any level of model uncertainty and this preference increases for either higher model uncertainty or higher multiplicative risk and (3) the effect on expected steady state pollution taxes and stock of introducing model uncertainty is relatively small for high levels of model uncertainty. These results advocate using robust policies for a stock pollutant in the presence of model uncertainty.      

Fiscal and monetary effects on environmental quality,growth, and welfare

This paper examines the effect of fiscal and monetary policies on economic growth, inflation, environmental quality, and welfare. To this end, the horizontal-R&D growth model is extended to include pollution generated in the intermediate-goods production, and the demand for money through cash-in-advance (CIA) constraints on intermediate-goods production and R&D investment. Fiscal policy embodied in the taxation of pollution decreases output, profits, inflation, and wages in the intermediate-goods sector, reallocating labor to R&D that is the engine of economic growth. As it reduces pollution, it increases welfare if there are strong preferences for a clean environment. In turn, since the inflation rate is an increasing function of the nominal interest rate, the effects of changes in this monetary policy variable extend to the effects of changes in the inflation rate. An increase in the nominal interest rate penalizes employment, wages and output in the R&D sector relatively more if the respective CIA constraint is more demanding and thus economic growth decreases. As it also reduces pollution since decreases intermediate-goods production, it increases welfare if the preferences for a clean environment are strong enough.     

Tax distortions in Sweden and the United States

We calculate the welfare costs of distortionary taxation (including inflation) in models calibrated for the United States and Sweden. The welfare costs are calculated using comparative steady state as well as dynamic analysis, where we take the costs of transition from the distorted to the optimal steady state into account. We also calculate the welfare costs of adding stochastic fluctuations. Our main finding is that the total welfare costs of the distortionary taxes including the distortionary effects of inflation are about five times higher in Sweden than in the United States. Meanwhile, stochastic fluctuations in policy turn out to have a relatively small impact on welfare.     

General equilibrium impact of an energy-saving policy in the public sector

We analyse a disregarded environmental policy instrument: a switch in government expenditure away from energy (or other natural resources) and toward a composite good which includes energy-saving expenditure. We first develop two variants of an analytical general equilibrium model. A composite good is produced with constant returns to scale, and energy is imported or produced domestically with diminishing returns, yielding a differential rent to its owners. The government purchases energy and composite goods from private firms. Such a policy unambiguously increases employment. It also raises private consumption and welfare under two conditions: (i) it is not too costly and (ii) the initial share of the resource is smaller in public spending than in private consumption, or the difference is small enough. We then run numerically a model featuring both importation and domestic production of energy (oil, gas and electricity), for the OECD as a whole. Simulations show that employment, welfare and private consumption rise. We provide magnitudes for different parameter values. Earlier versions of this paper have benefited from conference participants at the European Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy, International Society for Ecological Economics World Congress, CIRED seminar and EUREQua environmental economics seminar. We especially thank Michèle Sadoun and two anonymous referees. The usual disclaimer applies.     

Tax competition and the political economy of public employment: a model for Austria

In this work, we simulate the effects of the tax autonomy of the Austrian states on the levels of public employment in each state. We show that depending on the strength of the public sector lobby, tax autonomy would require a reduction of employment in the public sector of between 25 and 35% of the current level. We also show that tax autonomy increases welfare levels by 1–1.5%; that is, the positive change in the disposable income of the workers more than offsets the welfare loss resulting from the lower provision of public goods. Finally, we show that the reduction of public employment is superior in terms of welfare to an alternative scenario in which employment levels are held constant but the wage levels in the public sector are adjusted.     

我国两税合并的社会经济福利效应分析

2007年年初国务院批准了合并内、外资企业的所得税,税率为25%,并从2008年1月1日起实施。外资企业在经历了20年的税收优惠政策之后,开始承担与国内企业相同的所得税税率。统一企业所得税率在自由竞争的经济环境中有增加社会福利的效应。但由于我国仍处在经济转型过程中,内资企业和外资企业在管理体制和运行机制上有很大的不同。因此,统一税率对我国总的社会福利的影响可能与西方发达国家的影响有所不同。文章通过对我国内外资企业生产方程的不同设定来反映内外资企业的不同特点并考察统一税率对我国劳动力配置、资本需求及社会整体福利可能带来的影响。用2004-2006年的统计数据进行了模拟计算,结果表明,两税合并短期内使我国社会整体福利略有下降,在考虑国有企业冗员的情况下,两税合并使社会福利在三种情形下分别下降0.18%、0.17%和0.13%;而考虑国有企业经理负责制时,两税合并使社会福利分别下降0.25%、0.21%和0.15%。但从长期看,两税合并最终会使我国的社会福利有所增加。     

The effects of fiscal policy in a two-period model

The paper analyzes fiscal policy in a model which differs from the conventional analyses in the following ways: 1) It is based on the intertemporal maximizing behavior of individual agents. 2) The government is assumed to actively balance its budget the long run. 3) Government expenditure is on useful goods and services. The welfare effects of fiscal policy are also examined. The principal conclusions are that fiscal policy is effective in the short run but the effects on both output and welfare may be perverse; and, that with full employment in the long run, fiscal policy still has allocative effects and so influences welfare.     

延迟退休会提高社会福利水平吗?

文章基于延迟退休可能带来就业挤出和闲暇损失的现实背景,在动态一般均衡世代交叠模型框架下通过引入异质性消费者并根据中国经济校准主要参数,在控制延迟退休对中国劳动力市场冲击影响的基础上,模拟分析了延迟退休政策对企业职工福利水平的长期影响。研究分析表明：(1)无论是采用保持现有的缴费率不变的政策方式还是保持养老金待遇不变的政策方式,延迟退休均能提高城镇企业职工的社会福利水平———第一种政策会增加社会福利3.66%,第二种政策会增加社会福利1.1%;在保持养老保险缴费率不变的情况下,从长期看,延迟退休5年会使社会福利最大化。(2)最优的退休年龄与劳动力市场状态息息相关,如果当前就业形势严峻,最优退休年龄需要相应降低。     

Growth and welfare effects of stabilizing innovation cycles

We consider a simple model of innovation where equilibrium cycles may arise and show that, whenever actual capital accumulation falls below its balanced growth path, subsidizing innovators by taxing consumers has stabilizing effects, promotes sustained growth and increases welfare. Further, if the steady state is unstable under laissez faire, the introduction of the subsidy can make the steady state stable. Such a policy has beneficial effects as it fosters output growth along the transitional adjustment path, and increases the welfare of current and future generations.     

A Behavioral Model of Unemployment,Sociotropic Concerns,and the Political Economy of Trade Policy

We present a behavioral model in which agents are concerned about the scarring effects from unemployment for themselves and others and explore the manner in which unemployment matters for trade policy. We derive three policy implications: the government has an incentive to increase employment in sectors characterized by “good jobs,” where the good job/bad job characterization depends on an industry's job creation and destruction rates; the government has an incentive to pursue this policy in a gradual fashion by channeling new and unemployed workers into the appropriate sector; and opposition to trade liberalization can be reduced by welfare state policies.