PPPs in China: Does the Growth in Chinese PPPs Signal a Liberalising Economy?

ABSTRACT

This study provides insight into the nature of public-private partnerships (PPPs) in China, a country that has invested more in PPPs than any other over the last two decades. It is puzzling that China, as a state-led economy, has turned to embrace PPPs. Pundits have taken this as evidence of a liberalising Chinese economy. However, our findings suggest that PPPs in China do not reflect a break from earlier, state-centric modes of governance; rather, the state essentially uses such partnerships as a mechanism to strengthen its own hand. We argue that the difference between how PPPs are being implemented in China compared to the West reflects differences in political economic contexts, both materially and ideologically. In both cases, the ambiguity surrounding the PPP model has been used to advance particular interests, serving as a reminder of both the ways in which power shapes the character of such policy tools and the differences in the relative power underpinning state-market relations in each context. By challenging mainstream interpretations of what PPPs are and what their proliferation means, studying the political economy of PPPs in a rising China further exposes the Western-centric nature of prevailing wisdom in political economy scholarship.     

关于我国水务业市场化改革的探讨

从产业整体属性看．水务业属于与人民生活密切相关．公益性显著的自然垄断产业。人们通常认为．市场机制在该领域的作用具有较大的局限性,需要政府管制．并独家垄断经营。但从水务业各环节看,除防洪、水系治理、水源保护、输水管网之外．其他业务均可以不同程度地引入市场机制。我国水务业市场化模式选择的思路是：公私合作制下的多样化投融资方式,以流域为单元的水务统一管理体制,独立管制下的相机抉择竞争机制。     

城市公用事业特许经营相关问题比较研究

推行特许经营是深化我国城市公用事业市场化改革的一个重要内容。本文在讨论特许经营渊源和实质的基础上,对城市公用事业特许经营与商业特许经营、行政许可、政府购买服务、公私合作（PPP）等相关问题作了比较研究,探讨了它们之间的联系和区别,便于人们准确把握城市公用事业特许经营的内涵和特点,为有效推进城市公用事业特许经营提供理论基础。     

A systematic literature review of the relationship between demographic diversity and innovation performance at team-level

ABSTRACT

Demographic diversity is a relevant aspect to consider when forming innovation teams, particularly where the labour market needs to be transformed in terms of age, gender and race (as in South Africa). Existing research reports mixed findings about the effects of demographic diversity on innovation performance of teams. This study contributes to the existing equivocal research by systematically reviewing the literature about the effects of demographic diversity and its dimensions on innovation performance of teams. Results show that high diversity of demographic dimensions, namely age, gender and culture increases team innovation performance when considered individually while the overall team demographic diversity has mixed effects. This review also confirms the existence and effects of various moderators that can be leveraged to develop team-formation policies such that the direct effects of demographic diversity and its dimensions on team performance can be influenced to foster the desired innovation performance.     

A women’s boom in the boardroom: effects on performance?

This article analyses whether improving gender diversity in boardrooms improves firms’ economic performance. In the context of French CAC40-listed companies between 2008 and 2012, this research uses instrumental variable panel regressions, including production frontier estimates, to arrive at two key results. First, gender diversity in boards depends on firms’ attributes including their previous gender promotion strategies. Second, promoting women in boardrooms has a significant and positive effect on economic performance while accounting for the endogeneity boards’ gender diversity. Gender diversity even reduces corporate inefficiencies and enables firms to come closer to their optimal performance.     

Is there a ‘business case’ for board gender diversity within French listed SMEs

Many studies have investigated the relationship between women on corporate boards (WOCB) and firm performance in accordance with the ‘business case’ for board gender diversity. However, these have been conducted on large firms. This study re-examines this relationship for a sample of French listed SMEs over the period 2010–2014 using a dynamic panel GMM estimator to mitigate endogeneity issues. We find that the percentage of WOCB is positively and significantly related to firm performance. However, the other proxies for board gender diversity are not statistically different from zero. We argue that the relationship is not straightforward. This finding is interesting as it sheds light on the ‘business case’.     

Effect of board gender diversity on the financial performance of microfinance institutions: Does judicial efficiency matter?

The impact of board gender diversity on the financial performance of firms is not known. This is because empirical investigations have yielded inconclusive outcomes. This study engages data from 408 microfinance institutions (MFIs) covering the period 2010–2018 from the six microfinance regions to investigate this impact using the Least Squares Dummy Variable (LSDV) and the System Generalized Method of Moments (SYS-GMM) estimation techniques. The study also explores whether judicial efficiency exerts any significant effect on the board gender diversity–financial performance nexus. The study observes that board gender diversity exhibits a strong negative effect on the financial performance of MFIs. The study also observes that the effect of board gender diversity on the financial performance of MFIs escalates in the presence of judicial inefficiency. The study, therefore, unveils the judicial system as a channel through which gender diversity drives the financial performance of MFIs negatively.     

网络基础设施建设对城乡收入差距的影响研究 ——基于“宽带中国”战略的准自然实验

城乡收入差距的存在是城乡发展不均衡的重要体现,缩小城乡收入差距是我国实现2035年远景目标的必然要求。本文基于2005—2018年285个地级以及上城市的数据,将\"宽带中国\"战略作为一项准自然实验,利用倾向得分匹配双重差分(PSM-DID)模型评估网络基础设施建设对城乡收入差距的影响。研究结果表明:第一,\"宽带中国\"战略对城乡收入差距的影响系数显著为负值,即网络基础设施建设缩小了城乡收入差距,经过一系列稳健性检验后结论依然可靠。第二,网络基础设施建设显著缩小了中西部城市、南方城市、大中城市和传统基础设施水平较高城市的城乡收入差距,对其他城市的城乡收入差距没有显著影响。第三,网络基础设施主要通过互联网用户规模效应和数字普惠金融效应传导机制缩小了城乡收入差距。因此,要继续贯彻\"宽带中国\"战略的实施,发挥示范城市的带头作用,通过增加互联网用户规模、推动数字普惠金融的发展来缩小城乡收入差距。     

公私合作提供公共产品的监督机制研究

基于公私合作的监管视角,笔者先后使用无限期重复博弈模型和KMRW声誉模型,来解释私营企业声誉对公私合作提供公共产品机制的影响。声誉缺失可能引致公共基础设施运营使用绩效低下,政府的补贴达不到激励的目的,以至于公共产品数量供给短缺或质量下降。政府可以通过建立声誉激励机制与惩戒机制,加大声誉的机会成本,引导私营企业提高、维持声誉,以达到强化其自我约束、自我监督的目的。     

欧盟科研计划体制的创新之举：欧盟联合技术行动——欧盟在重大科技专项中首次引入私人资金

欧盟在2007年实施第七研发框架计划中推出了联合技术行动,即政府重大科技专项由公共资金与私人资金共同参与来完成。联合技术行动类似我国的科技重大专项,目前已推出6大项目,涉及燃料电池、创新药物、航空、纳米、信息技术、环境与安全监测等有利于欧盟长远发展的战略领域。联合技术行动通过成立一个独立的法人实体来具体运作,采用公私合伙形式,运行时间为10年。主要特点是：战略重要性与可实施性;存在市场缺位;能产生欧盟附加值;产业界的长期支持;现有欧盟研发体制不能覆盖。联合技术行动的投入方式、运作体制等值得我们借鉴。     

The public-private sector wage gap in Zambia in the 1990s: A quantile regression approach

We investigate the determinants of wages in Zambia and based on the quantile regression approach, we analyze how their effects differ at different points in the wage distribution and over time. We use three cross-sections of Zambian household data from the early nineties, which was a period of economic transition, because items as privatization and deregulation were on the political agenda. The focus is placed on the public-private sector wage gap, and the results show that this gap was relatively favorable for the low-skilled and less favorable for the high-skilled. This picture was further strengthened during the period 1991–1996.     

中国基础设施资本存量估算

基础设施是国民经济赖以发展的基础。而深入考察基础设施对于中国经济增长的影响,依赖于一套完整的全国及省际基础设施资本存量数据。为此,本文在现有研究的基础之上,对基础设施投资范围进行了界定,并对官方统计数据进行了必要的补充和调整,进而通过永续盘存法分别估算了全国层面1953—2008年以及省际层面1993—2008年各年末的基础设施资本存量。     

Health and infrastructure in a model of endogenous growth

This paper studies the optimal allocation of government spending between infrastructure and health (which affects labor productivity as well as household utility) in an endogenous growth framework. A key feature of the model is that infrastructure affects not only the production of goods but also the supply of health services. The rate of time preference is also endogenously related to health outcomes. The first part considers the case where health enters as a flow in production and utility, whereas the second focuses on a “stock” approach. Growth- and welfare-maximizing rules for income taxation and the allocation of public spending are derived.     

Infrastructure investment for a transition to hydrogen automobiles

This paper describes work undertaken in the MATISSE project to explore the potential for a sustainable hydrogen transition within Europe and the implications for infrastructure investment. Stakeholder engagement work conducted within MATISSE identified unsustainable aspects of current transport and desirable characteristics of sustainable hydrogen road transport. Key criteria were: emissions reduction, security of energy supply, affordability and economic competitiveness.Results from the ASTRA model show that a transition to hydrogen transport fuels would have an increase in GDP, employment and investment; and growth in a number of sectors (electronic, chemical, mechanical and automotive) associated with hydrogen fuel cell technology. A hydrogen diffusion model shows that in a few years after 2040 all cars in Germany could be hydrogen driven cars. Fast build-up of a network of at least 500 filling stations (in urban areas and at highways) is very important for the market acceptance of hydrogen vehicles and compared with subsidies for vehicles and fuel the necessary investments are very small. For fuel infrastructure:

•

Only a total amount of approx. 200 million Euros are necessary for infrastructure build-up in urban areas.

•

Additional support is needed for installation of hydrogen filing stations on highways (approx. 100 million Euros).