Consumption externalities and the effects of international income transfers on the global environment

In this paper, we extend the standard model of private provision of public goods by including consumption externalities to characterize a situation in which economic activities pollute the environment. We consider a case in which there are an industrial country which can afford to invest in the environment and a developing country which cannot. Then, we show that international income transfers in both directions can improve the global environmental quality as well as the welfare of each country. We also show that the results have important implications for policies such as official development assistance or the assignment of tradable emission permits.     

Hiding in Plain Sight: A Note on Public Goods,Information Technology,and Productivity

This research note advances a conjecture that may help to explain the “paradox” of productivity and information technology (IT). Conventional measures of the economic output of the IT sector may substantially understate the actual value of IT because software is a public good, which is largely unpriced. I provide a simple exploratory calculation that lends plausibility to this explanation. I hope that this conjecture may inspire research by those with greater expertise in the evolution of software.     

收入水平与公共品需求结构关系探讨

在影响公共品需求结构的诸多因素中,收入水平的高低为最关键,收入水平与公共品需求结构有着直接的关系。按照需求弹性可将公共品分为高端产品、中端产品和低端产品三种类型。通过对收入水平不同群体的效用差异分析,推导出均衡公共品需求结构的形成与公共品收入扩展线。理论分析表明公共品需求结构随着收入增加而逐渐由低端产品向高端产品转移,并在一定经济水平出现拐点,从而为研究公共品的最佳供给结构提供了理论依据和基础。     

Is the CSR Craze Good for Society? The Welfare Economic Approach to Corporate Social Responsibility

Abstract

Welfare economic analysis of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) equates CSR with the provision of private goods bundled with provision of public goods (or, in the symmetrical case, bundled with the curtailment of public bads). Two common examples are cause-related marketing and “green goods” where private goods are sold at premiums that are then used to pay for provision of public goods and/or curtailment of public bads. This paper expands upon the model of Besley and Ghatak (2007 Besley, T. and Ghatak, M. 2007. “Retailing Public Goods: The Economics of Corporate Social Responsibility,”. Journal of Public Economics, 91(9): 1645–1663. [Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]) for the case of imperfect government to develop a complete typology for analyzing whether the provision/curtailment of public goods/bads will be best served by companies (through CSR), by imperfect governments or by non-profit organizations. Finally the paper discusses the main differences between the welfare economic approach to CSR and the general multi-disciplinary CSR literature.     

Public enterprises,planning and policy adoption: three welfare propositions

Despite widespread privatizations over the last three decades, public enterprises, as production units under government control, are still present in several countries and sectors. While the academic and political debate on the costs and benefits of privatization is vast, a focus on the rationale for public enterprises, from the standpoint of Social Cost Benefit Analysis, is missing. This paper aims at filling this gap and provides a normative discussion on public enterprises in a general equilibrium setting. The conditions under which public provision may be beneficial and the metrics for evaluating polices and projects under (a)symmetric information and (non)benevolent governments are presented in three welfare propositions. The main policy message points to the overall quality of institutions as a necessary pre-condition for socially desirable public enterprises. A sound institutional environment provides policy-makers with the correct incentives to design and implement meaningful policies even if public administrators adopt sub-optimal plans. Institutions should constrain self-interested policy-makers from disrupting the key welfare signals for policy adoption as well as for project appraisal, while bias in management is a relatively less important concern.     

财政分权、公共品供给与城乡收入差距

基于1994年～2004年间省级面板数据的估计结果显示,农村公共品供给增加对降低城乡收入差距有显著的作用.而地区间预算外收入和宏观税负的提高都是拉大城乡收入差距的因素.财政分权程度、政府财政支出的结构也对城乡收入差距有显著的影响.另外,中国持续扩大的城乡收入差距与农村发展落后有关,城市化未能带来城乡收入差距的缩小.     

农村公共物品多边治理机制研究——基于嵌套博弈的分析

解决农村公共物品效率问题应以多边治理思想代替简单的供给思想。农村公共物品治理不是一个孤立的博弈,而是嵌套在社会关系博弈之中。改变农村基层权力结构,建立以农户需求为导向、自下而上的公共物品决策体系,将形成有利于多边治理的博弈结构。在这种嵌套博弈中,农户、企业及非盈利组织都有参与农村公共物品治理的积极性,他们与村委会及各级政府共同建立起分工协调的多边治理机制,从而提高农村公共物品的治理效率。     

寻租、权力腐败与社会福利——基于公共品供给的视角

激励与监督机制缺失是委托代理问题产生的根源所在,由此不但容易模糊政府之间的权力边界,造成上下级政府间垂直监督的缺位,而且也会对民主监督功能的发挥产生抑制,从而诱发政府官员的权力腐败以及社会福利的损失.基于这一逻辑关系,文章在引入寻租因素后,建立了一个完整的分析框架,从公共品供给视角讨论了委托代理、政府寻租与社会福利三者之间的关系,借此对我国政治体制改革中官员权力腐败的成因、过程及其对经济发展的影响做出了系统的解释.     

河南省农村公共物品投资的收入效应研究

通过运用面板数据模型对河南省农村公共物品部门固定资产投资对农民收入的影响进行分析,主要结论表明,河南省农村公共物品投资对农民收入的增长起到了积极的推动作用.当前,河南省农村公共物品供给匮乏且结构不合理,河南省农村人均收入和人均累计公共物品投资的地区差距在逐渐拉大.针对这些问题,我们应采取相应措施,以进一步提高河南省农民的收入水平.     

交易成本、政府级次与财政体制改革

由于受交易成本的制约,管辖范围小、涉及人数少的"小政府"作为降低公共产品供给交易成本的制度安排首先得以形成.而后,为降低受益范围超出小政府辖区的公共产品供给的交易成本,更高层次的政府得以出现.政府级次化降低了公共产品供给的横向交易成本却增加了纵向交易成本,当横向交易成本的减少额与纵向交易成本的增加额在边际上相等时,政府级次达到均衡.由此看来,基层政府具有"逻辑先在性",采用"自上而下"分权的思路来构建财政体制是值得商榷的.财政体制的构建从逻辑上讲应该是"自下而上"授权而不是"自上而下"分权.     

财政分权与农民收入增长——基于中国分区数据的实证研究

利用省级数据来估算中国财政分权在农民收入增长上所产生的作用,结果表明:在控制了同时期其他各项改革措施后,财政分权总体上促进了农民收入的增长,而且财政分权的收入增长效应存在明显的跨区差异。在引入农村公共物品供给作为中间变量时,实证分析发现,农村公共物品供给削弱了财政分权对农民增收的积极效应。     

全球公共物品理论研究

全球公共物品理论为全球化问题的解决提供了新思路。然而,中国的学术界对于全球公共物品理论的理解,还存在莫衷一是的现象,并倾向于把全球公共物品理论与国际公共物品理论混为一谈。这不仅制约了全球公共物品理论运用的效果,也影响了该理论的发展。为此,本文通过对全球公共物品理论和国际公共物品理论的辨析,提出了应该从三个维度来理解和认识全球公共物品理论的观点,进而对全球公共物品理论对传统公共物品理论的拓展问题进行了研究,旨在为全球化问题的解决提供正确的理论基础。     

Marx,Veblen and Contemporary Institutional Political Economy : Henry on O'Hara

Welfare was reformed significantly in 1996, and the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) was expanded substantially during the last decade. In the wake of these events, welfare rolls have shrunk dramatically and employment among the poor has increased, leading many to conclude that these policies have achieved important equity and efficiency goals. It is argued here that these conclusions are too strong. The work requirements and time limits of welfare reform create equity outcomes that are dubious and leave the potential for inefficiencies in the allocation of labor. The EITC excludes almost half of the poor population under age 65, rewards poorer working families less well than it does less poor working families, and provides a sizable work disincentive for a large proportion of its recipients. It is shown here that the poor are not homogeneous. Specifically, the very poor have a much higher incidence of physical and other disabilities. The ability to work varies substantially with income among the poor. There is a case to be made for a much more straightforward form of redistribution, such as the Basic Income Guarantee (BIG). It is quite possible that a BIG would accomplish goals of equity and efficiency more fully than the current mosaic of redistributive programs.     

The dynamic adjustment of local government budgets: does Spain behave differently?

The aim of this article is to analyse whether Spanish municipalities adjust in response to budget shocks and (if so) which elements of the budget they are more likely to adjust. The methodology we use to answer these questions is a Vector Error Correction Model (VECM), estimated with data from a panel of Spanish municipalities during the period 1988 to 2006. Our results confirm that Spanish municipalities do indeed make adjustments in response to fiscal shocks (i.e. the deficit is stationary in the long run). We compare our results with those obtained for US and Germany to evaluate if the viability of local finance depends on the institutional arrangement and to analyse how it affects the adjustment patterns. We observe that grants have a more important role in the adjustment process in environments where either they have an equalization objective or where there is no clear rule that determines their distribution. This fact can generate a moral hazard problem: governments tend to spend more due to the expected intervention by the central government. Own revenues have a lower adjustment capacity in environments where subcentral governments have limited fiscal autonomy. These results, however, suggest that the viability of the local finance system is feasible with different institutional arrangements.     

大国治理逻辑下地方公共收入机制的构建——基于公共物品有效供给分析

分税制框架下的现行地方公共收入机制,无论从增长效应还是从公平效应看,其制度设计均不利于促成地方政府有效供给公共物品。基于大国治理逻辑的一个理论基石是,促成公共物品有效供给的地方公共收入机制,需要融合独立性财权与权力制衡机制。据此,结合受益原则与支付能力原则,利于公共物品有效供给的地方公共收入机制构建,应在不触动当前政府间财政制衡设计的框架下,围绕权力确定、来源清晰,负担落实、征管优势、适度弹性原则,注重财产税、使用者费、地方公债三大收入形式的运用,并借助制度调整来增强地方独立性财权。     

论农业发展和结构调整中的政府职能

在市场经济体制下,政府促进农业结构调整的依据和出发点是市场失灵。我国各级政府在农业结构调整中还存在运用计划经济手段的倾向。这背离了市场经济的内在要求,妨碍了市场经济作用,也不符合市场经济国家的通行做法。市场经济体制下,政府在农业结构调整中的职能主要应是为农业发展提供公共产品、运用各种政策等引导结构调整、为农产品开拓市场等。     

基于福利最大化的辽宁养老保险个人账户最优缴费率分析

从个人效用和社会福利最大化的角度出发,养老保险制度存在着最优的缴费率。最优缴费率与资本产出弹性α、未来效用的贴现因子ρ、人口增长率n、有效劳动增长率g、个人工资与社会平均工资的比例λ等参数有关。结合中国现实,在其他参数不变的前提下,个人工资与社会平均工资比例λ的不同导致个人最优缴费率的差异。现行养老保险制度的个人账户缴费率与实现福利最大化的最优个人账户缴费率相比是偏低的;适当提高个人账户缴费率不会影响在职者的当期消费,提高个人账户缴费率是可行的。