Informal employment and its effect on the income distribution in urban China

This paper discusses the issue of informal employment and its effect on the income distribution in China using datasets from the China Urban Labour Surveys of 2005 and 2010. Based on a new definition of informal employment, we estimated the proportion of informal employment relative to total non-agricultural employment in urban China and found it to be 49.7% in 2005 and 40.3% in 2010. Meanwhile, our study illustrated that informal employees' earnings were 67% that of formal employees, and this large earnings gap raised the Gini coefficient to 0.42 in 2005. The Blinder–Oaxaca decomposition result shows that the earnings gap explains more than half of the overall personal income inequality in urban China. These results indicate that informal employment has a significant effect on the income distribution in urban China. Consequently, regulating the labour market, eliminating job discriminations and legislating the informal employment should be considered as alternative means of reducing inequality in China.     

Social benefit-cost analysis and the distribution of income

Starting from the premise that, in cost-benefit analysis, the net benefits of the poor should be given greater weight, the influence of these distributional considerations on the social evaluation of investment projects is examined. It is argued that the chief impact of distributional considerations is on the costing of labour, the measurement of benefits from public goods, and the pricing of non-traded goods. The last is, in principle, the most important; but, as is explained, the correct way of adjusting prices is complicated and difficult to assess. It is by no means as easy as is often thought to identify the projects that will do most for the poor.     

Experimental methods in accounting: A discussion of recurring issues*

Abstract. “What economic problems do existing accounting institutions solve?” Experimental economics helps to answer this question. It can be applied to issues in disclosure and auditing, regulation and taxation, and the internal organization of the firm. One can experimentally examine questions such as “Why do firms disclose?” “Why is there a regular issuance of financial statements by firms?”, “Why do managers make forecasts?” “What is the role of regulation in accounting?” “What effects do various tax policies have on the demand for depreciable risky assets?” “What is the role of information in the organization of the firm?” “What costs and benefits are associated with decentralization?” Experimental economics builds the interplay between theory and data, which is necessary for a discipline to become legitimate science. Theory is the guidepost in attempting to construct imaginative examinations of phenomena, and the results of the tests become a basis for revising theory. Experimental economics is a powerful tool for extending understanding of accounting phenomena. Using this tool is not without its limitations. Most experiments make precise choice predictions even though the tastes and beliefs of experimental subjects are at most partially known. Because the phenomena of interest are often quite complex, there are usually several maintained hypotheses. As the complexity of these settings increases, there is also increasing need for statistical contributions. This paper is intended to aid in the development of experimental economics as a research tool in accounting by assisting both those interested in conducting experiments and those interested in assimilating experiments to evaluate experimental work critically. Résumé. «Quels problèmes économiques les institutions comptables existantes résolvent-elles?: l'economique expérimentale apporte une réponse à cette question. Elle peut se pencher sur des sujets touchant la présentation d'information et la vérification, la réglementation et l'imposition, de même que l'organisation interne de l'entreprise. L'économique expérimentale s'intéresse à des questions comme les suivantes: «Pourquoi les entreprises présentent-elles de l'information?», «Pourquoi les entreprises publientelles régulièrement des états financiers?», «Pourquoi les gestionnaires font-ils des prévisions?», «Quel est le rôle de la réglementation en comptabilité?», «Quelles conséquences les diverses politiques fiscales ont-elles sur la demande d'éléments d'actif amortissables présentant des risques?», «Quel est le rôle de l'information dans l'organisation de l'entreprise?» et «Quels coûts et quels avantages sont associés à la décentralisation?» L'économique expérimentale établit entre la théorie et les faits l'interaction nécessaire à la conversion d'une discipline en une science à part entière. La théorie sert de balise dans les efforts des chercheurs pour créer des façons imaginatives d'analyser les phénomènes, et les résultats de ces examens servent ensuite de fondement à la révision de la théorie. L'économique expérimentale est un instrument puissant permettant d'étendre nos connaissances en ce qui a trait aux phénomènes comptables. L'utilisation de cet instrument comporte, certes, des limites. Les prévisions résultant de la plurpart des expériences reposent sur des choix précis, même si les goûts et les convictions des sujets d'expérience sont, au mieux, partiellement connus. Les phénomènes qui présentent un intérêt étant souvent assez complexes, plusieurs hypothèses sont habituellement posées. Et plus les cas se complexifient, plus le rôle de la statistique revêt de l'importance. Les auteurs ont pour but de favoriser le développement de l'économique expérimentale à titre d'instrument de recherche en comptabilité en aidant à la fois ceux qui s'intéressent à la poursuite d'expériences et ceux qui s'intéressent à l'assimilation de ces expériences dans le but de procéder à l'évaluation critique des travaux expérimentaux.     

浅析合营及其会计处理

由于现行法规对合营及其会计处理尚缺乏明确的规定,给一些公司操纵会计利润及资产规模以可乘之机,影响了会计信息的可比性和真实性。笔者认为,共同控制经营、共同控制资产不必编制单独的对外财务报表,而共同控制实体(合营企业)要依照会计准则编制和提供对外财务报表。另外,笔     

面向知识经济的管理创新探析

新《企业会计制度》要求企业在期末或至少在年末对短期投资等八项资产计提减值准备 ,并赋予了企业将根据自身资产状况来确定资产减值提取比例的权利 ,这与原行业会计制度相比 ,加剧了会计制度与国家税收法规的不一致性。由此引起的会计与税务差异也将大大增加。本文根据现行税     

Income distribution,macroeconomic analysis and barriers to full employment

This paper seeks to reassert the significance of income distribution for macroeconomic analysis. It argues that the non accelerating inflation rate of unemployment, which has been central to mainstream macroeconomic analysis, should be viewed as a distributional constraint on the achievement of full employment with the implication that mechanisms to resolve distributional conflict without resort to the weapon of unemployment are required if full employment is to be secured. The significance of income distribution for aggregate demand is then been examined, and it is argued that higher profit shares in the past 15 years have harmed the prospects for high levels of economic activity and employment, and that rising profitability does not appear to have stimulated investment. It is then finally argued that monetary policy should not be seen as a technical matter but rather as a policy with significant distributional impacts.     

Unequal access to education and income distribution

Summary This paper attempts a new specification of the education variable in accounting for differences in income distribution in a cross-sectional analysis of 49 countries. The specification refers to the steepness of the educational pyramid, as measured by the coefficient of variation of enrolments within a given country. This variable alone explains 23 per cent of income inequality across countries (as measured by the Gini coefficient), while in the presence of it the traditional (catch-all) per capita income variable becomes insignificant.This finding indicates the importance of the supply side in relative income determination. It is also suggestive that a policy aiming at equalisation of access to the different levels of education might help in reducing income inequality.I would like to thank Arnold Anderson, Mary Jean Bowman, Jan Tinbergen and Peter Wiles for commenting on an earlier draft of this paper.     

Rates of return to education and income distribution

Summary This paper examines the relationship between rate of return to education and income distribution with the help of cross-nation data on 30 developing and developed countries. The results indicate that the higher income groups in the society benefit the higher the rate of return to any level of education, and the bottom 40 percent and the middle 40 percent income groups lose; and the disadvantage for the poor income groups is the least at the primary level of education. As higher rates of return to education suggest higher levels of income inequalities, rapid expansion of the education system may reduce income inequalities through decline in rates of return to education. Secondly, it is also argued here that since high income groups benefit from all levels of education, education investments targeted specifically towards the poor may be preferred to overall investment in education.The author is Consultant, the World Bank, Washington D.C., 20433 (USA), while on leave from the National Institute of Educational Planning and Administration, New Delhi. The incisive comments of George Psacharopoulos, Rati Ram, and the Editor(s) of this Journal on earlier versions of this study are gratefully acknowledged. However, the views expressed here and the errors that remain are the responsibility of the author alone and should not necessarily be attributed to anyone else, including the World Bank.     

我国居民收入分配差距变动的实证分析

我国现阶段收入分配差距过大的问题已经非常严重,城乡之间、不同群体之间的居民收入分配差距过大且呈继续加大的趋势,而地区之间的居民收入分配差距是基本稳定的。因此,我国目前过大的居民收入分配差距主要是由于城乡二元经济发展差异和对不同群体收入调节不当造成的。     

东北部分大中型企业粉饰财务报表方法分析

我国东北地区部分大中型企业,因成立时间较早,历史包袱较为沉重,经常会出现刻意粉饰报表而达到一些特殊目的.常见的粉饰会计报表类型包括对经营业绩的粉饰和对财务状况的粉饰.为了有效地发现上述问题,应从以下几方面着手进行分析:收入和利润之间的关系;财务指标;强化对企业会计信息时间序列的应用研究;计算调整后的每股净资产;结合运用现金流量表进行分析.     

中国居民收入分配差距形成的原因及对策分析

改革开放以来,经济的快速发展大幅度提高了城乡居民的生活水平,同时收入分配方面的矛盾也变得越来越突出,对此,我们必须推动经济运行的进一步市场化、法制化;加快农村城镇化;促进地区发展均衡化;进一步完善税收制度和社会保障制度.     

Impact of the 1975 tax cut on income and employment in the black community

Summary The Tax Reform Act of 1975 should more properly be called the Tax Reduction Act of 1975 because it provides little in the way of reform beyond the fact that a disproportionately large share of the reduction (43.5 percent) goes to persons with incomes below $10,000. The main purpose of the act is to stimulate consumer spending, in the expectation that this rise in spending will impart some buoyancy to the sagging economy.     

Impact of the 1975 tax cut on income and employment in the black community

Summary The Tax Reform Act of 1975 should more properly be called the Tax Reduction Act of 1975 because it provides little in the way of reform beyond the fact that a disproportionately large share of the reduction (43.5 percent) goes to persons with incomes below $10,000. The main purpose of the act is to stimulate consumer spending, in the expectation that this rise in spending will impart some buoyancy to the sagging economy.     

加快安徽省物业管理发展之我见

会计信息失真的现象 ,在企业中已经非常普遍 ,由于会计信息的重要性 ,每到年终之际 ,国家财政部门都要对如何保证会计信息的准确性作出各种规定和采取各种措施 ,但是还是无法杜绝会计信息失真的顽习。本文试图从会计信息失真的原因进行分析着手 ,提出一些治理的方法。     

产业结构调整和社会就业

随着科学技术的发展,社会生产力的提高,社会产业结构必然会发生变化,这必然会导致就业结构的调整.因此,目前我国解决就业问题最重要的途径就是要完善市场经济体制,引导广大劳动者顺应社会就业结构调整的趋势,以市场为导向寻找就业门路.