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.     

Taxation and income distribution: The Colombian tax reform of 1974

In late 1974 the Government of Colombia implemented a major tax reform package embracing virtually all aspects of the revenue system. The reform was designed to serve allocative and stabilization as well as redistributive goals. This paper focuses upon the likely impact of the 1974 tax measures upon income distribution. Section 2 describes the prevailing distribution of income prior to the reform. Section 3 presents a short outline of the principal features of the 1974 package, and sections 4 through 6 provide an evaluation of its redistributive effects. The authors conclude that the initial impact of the reform was undoubtedly progressive, as it likely served to shift as much as 1.5 percent of GDP away from the top quintile of the income distribution.     

医疗卫生产业化改革研究综述

看病难、看病贵在全国范围内是一个普遍存在的问题,深化医疗卫生体制改革是解决该问题的重要途径之一。然而,医改是世界难题。2005年,国务院作出了中国医改基本不成功的结论。学术界和实业界有关人士把前一阶段医改的失败归因于＂过度市场化＂,新医改方案也特别强调政府的作用。而由于一直以来,理论界对于＂市场化＂和＂产业化＂均没有形成统一的概念和认识,二者经常被混淆,因此目前医疗卫生产业化的提法显得相当谨慎。该研究系统分析了市场与产业的区别,在此基础上明确市场化与产业化的本质差别;对医疗卫生产业化的内涵进行了综述和界定,对医疗卫生是否应该产业化的正反两方观点进行总结和评析,提出在当前国情下,医疗卫生应该继续走产业化改革和发展之路,并着重讨论了医疗卫生产业化发展的背景和意义、遇到的困难障碍及应对思路。     

Taxation of Non-Cash Fringe Benefits

This article examines the introduction of a fringe benefits tax (FBT) as part of a revenue-neutral package with personal income tax cuts. With an effective tax-wage bargain in force, such an FBT package will not increase labour costs overall. It will, however, increase the labour costs of employers who, prior to the tax reform, were paying above average shares of their employees' remuneration in non-cash benefits. Employers whose pre-reform labour costs contained relatively low shares of non-cash payments will experience falls in labour costs.     

Public Debt and Generational Balance in Austria

Based on Austria's fiscal stance in 1995, wecompute the generational accounts for currently living as well as future generations.The results reveal the existence of an intergenerational imbalance in favor of currentlyliving generations. Total public sector liabilities may be more than five times as high asthe officially recorded level of public debt. Without any action, future generations would facelife-time net taxes that are about 65 percent higher than the tax burden of a current newborn.If the government could fully and permanently retain the expenditure cutting andrevenue raising effects of the 1996 fiscal consolidation package and the 1997 pension reform,then it might be able to significantly reduce the intergenerational liabilities. However,enacting both the recent tax reform 2000 and the reform of the family support scheme wouldincrease again the fiscal imbalance and intergenerational bias of fiscal policy in Austria.     

中国的大国发展道路——论分权式改革的得失

本文从分权式改革的视角提供了一个自洽的逻辑框架,全面地分析了中国的发展道路。这个逻辑框架不仅能够分析中国前期改革的成功,也能够解释目前浮现的诸多社会经济问题。政治集权下的经济分权给地方政府提供了发展经济的动力,尤其是完成了地方层面的市场化和竞争性领域的民营化。但是,内生于这种激励结构的相对绩效评估又造成了城乡和地区间收入差距的持续扩大、地区之间的市场分割和公共事业的公平缺失等问题。由于中国的渐进式分权改革在很大程度上可以看作一个中央政府主导和控制下的机制设计问题,所以,在认清中国分权式改革的得失的基础上,正确地设计合理的改革方略,对于下一阶段改革的成功是至关重要的。如此,中国就可能走出一条独特的大国发展道路。     

CAN CHINA'S “MINI-BANG” SUCCEED?

Despite the phenomenal success of China's economic reform, the Chinese economy encounters a series of increasingly perilous problems, such as the recurrence of a "boon-and-bust" cycle, inflation, corruption, and regional disparity. This paper argues that the root of these problems is the discrepancy between the reforms in the macropolicy environment and the reforms in the micro-management institution and resource allocation system. In October 1993, the Chinese government introduced a reform package in a bid to make the macro-policy environment more consistent with the liberalized micro-management institution and resource allocation system. However, the traditional macro-policy environment was formed endogenously to facilitate implementing the "catching-up and forging-ahead" development strategy. Unless, the Chinese government abandons that strategy, it cannot complete the reforms in the macro-policy environment and it cannot uproot the problems appearing in the reform process.     

Modinomics: Design,Implementation, Outcomes,and Prospects

This paper presents an analysis of the key elements of Modinomics, defined as “everyone's participation, everyone's progress.” It investigates the reasons why Modinomics was necessary, the key elements of Modinomics, and how this policy was implemented. It argues that India's economic policy has had continuity since the economic reform package of 1991, so Modinomics has involved a high component of better implementation. Nevertheless, there have been some major policy changes as well. The paper discusses the deep structural reforms of demonetization and a Goods and Services Tax as well the new Insolvency and Bankruptcy Act. The paper examines the record of economic growth under Modi as well as new welfare and employment programs to make economic growth more inclusive. Finally, the paper examines the medium and long‐term growth prospects for India.     

The process and experiences with creating user-driven innovation programmes in the Netherlands1

In 2005 the Netherlands drafted a new innovation policy, consisting of a basic package for all entrepreneurs and a programme-based package aimed at supporting the Dutch industry in achieving global excellence in a limited number of (business) areas. The programme-based package is characterized by an integral approach, resulting in user-driven public–private innovation programmes. In the new approach, industrial foresight processes are integrated with actual policy implementation. In this paper, we include the lessons learned during the process that led to the first innovation programmes. Also, some unresolved issues in the new approach are discussed.     

The process and experiences with creating user-driven innovation programmes in the Netherlands

In 2005 the Netherlands drafted a new innovation policy, consisting of a basic package for all entrepreneurs and a programme-based package aimed at supporting the Dutch industry in achieving global excellence in a limited number of (business) areas. The programme-based package is characterized by an integral approach, resulting in user-driven public-private innovation programmes. In the new approach, industrial foresight processes are integrated with actual policy implementation. In this paper, we include the lessons learned during the process that led to the first innovation programmes. Also, some unresolved issues in the new approach are discussed.     

Nature of transfers,income tax function and empirical estimation of elasticity of taxable income for Brazil

This article aims to estimate the elasticity of taxable income (ETI), taking into account the nature of transfers and their use as a redistribution package (involving cash and in-kind transfers) to households in Brazil. Our contributions are twofold. First, we provide a simple model with balanced-budget government that reveals the role played by cash and in-kind transfers on the labour supply (and income tax revenues thereof). Next, in order to estimate ETI in the presence of cash and in-kind transfers, Brazilian population surveys (Pesquisa Nacional por Amostra de Domicílios [PNAD]) are used to explore a limited tax reform that was implemented between 1997 and 1998. This reform only affected the higher income tax bracket. Our findings suggest that in-kind (cash) transfers are positively (negatively) associated with reported taxable income and precise estimation of ETI requires estimates of both types of transfers. Last, we estimate the ETI for Brazil in the range from 0.4 to 1.3 not different from those that maximize income tax revenues.     

On the impact of a tax shock in Portugal

In 1999, Cavaco Silva, the Portuguese Prime Minister from 1985 to 1995, proposed a comprehensive tax reform package, which is to this day the basic reference in the tax policy debate in Portugal. A tax shock would consist of 4pp cuts in the corporate income tax and in the firms social security contribution rates, and a 5pp reduction in the highest personal income tax rate. These cuts would be financed by combating tax evasion, curbing wasteful public expenditure and, if necessary, by increasing the VAT rate by up to 2pp. Using a dynamic general equilibrium model to evaluate the effects of this tax shock, we find that the long-term GDP gains would be between 0.72% and 2.91% while the effects on lifetime private welfare would range between -0.99% and 0.9%. The efficiency of this tax reform package depends critically on the way the tax cuts are financed to ensure deficit neutrality. Because investment is subject to adjustment costs, to alleviate the long-run trade-off between GDP and welfare, tax policy changes must induce a significant increase in net labor income.Received: July 2001, Accepted: March 2002, JEL Classification: C68, D58, E62, H21, H30Correspondence to: Alfredo M. PereiraA previous version of this paper was presented at the Society of Computational Economics and SPiE conferences. Thanks are due to Fernando Chau, Emanuel Santos, and two anonymous referees for very insightful comments and suggestions. The views in this article are of the authors alone and do not reflect the position of the Portuguese Ministry of Finance.     

财政资金市场化配置问题研究

建立市场经济体制要求部分财政资金市场化配置。财政资金市场化是指部分财政资金通过金融市场筹集和运用的改革过程。改革的目的在于提高财政资金的使用效益,促进市场主体的发育及市场体系的形成,合理配置社会资源,促进国民经济有效增长。本文论述了财政资金市场化配置的基本原理及动因,分析了财政资金市场化过程中存在的问题及原因,在此基础上提出了相应的政策措施     

产品包装废弃物的污染与回收利用

产品包装废弃物对生态环境产生严重影响：使城市的生态环境污染加剧．占用大量的耕地，使蚊蝇滋生，造成资源的大量浪费。产品包装废弃物的回收与利用可产生巨大的经济效益和社会效益，但必须解决如下几个问题：地方政府职能缺位、法律体系不健全和有法不依、国民环境意识淡薄及企业社会责任缺失。     

The second wave

The interest groups that helped defeat health care reform aren't uncorking the champagne yet. Some fear a new push for regulation and cost cutting in Washington and in state capitals. And some want to salvage pieces of the President's reform plan that would have benefited them.     

对反思改革的几点思考

自2004年夏天以来,我国社会上掀起了反思改革的浪潮。有人认为,当前反思改革中出现的分歧是要不要改革的分歧,仿佛一方坚持改革,另一方则反对改革。有的人提出一套改革的主张,却不允许别人有不同的看法,谁不赞成他的主张,就是反对改革。他们摆出一副“唯我独改”的架势,力图用“反对改革”这顶大帽子堵住不同意他们改革主张的人的嘴。实际上当前的问题不是要不要坚持改革,而是要不要必须坚持改革的社会主义方向。一句话,是两种改革观的争论。     

A dirty deed done dirt cheap: Reporting the blame of a national reform on local politicians

This paper tests the hypothesis that upper-level governments can transfer the accountability of the costs of a reform to a lower one. The reform of the school week in France provides the ground for a verification of the attribution of accountability hypothesis, as it was nationally decided and locally implemented, right before a municipal election. The results confirm that local incumbents have taken the blame of the reform, especially in larger cities. In this case, thus, the cost of the reform is borne twice by the lower level of government, financially and politically. So doing, the central government does a dirty deed to the local ones, for a very cheap cost. That mayors who have announced a boycott of the reform have received electoral gains confirms that some local politicians expected to be the fall guys, bearing the brunt of the costs of the reform.     

From Marx to Markets: Reform of the University Economics Curriculum in Russia

This article describes some of the major changes that have occurred in the university economics curriculum in Russia since 1989, with a focus on Moscow State University. The problems and possibilities relating to curriculum reform beyond the introductory course are considered, with the general observation that considerable time will be required for complete reform.