Symbiosis of monetary and fiscal policies in a monetary union

We consider the interaction between the monetary policy in a monetary union, and the separate fiscal policies of the member countries. We use a Barro–Gordon-type model extended to many countries and fiscal policies. Each country’s fiscal policies inflict externalities on other countries, and the common monetary policy has its time-consistency problem. But if the two types of policymakers agree about the ideal levels of output and inflation, then this ideal is attained despite disagreements about the weights of the objectives, despite ex post monetary accommodation to fiscal profligacy, without fiscal coordination, without monetary commitment, and for any order of moves.     

Optimal monetary and fiscal policy in a currency union

We lay out a tractable model for the analysis of optimal monetary and fiscal policy in a currency union. The monetary authority sets a common interest rate for the union, whereas fiscal policy is implemented at the country level, through the choice of government spending. In the presence of country-specific shocks and nominal rigidities, the policy mix that is optimal from the viewpoint of the union as a whole requires that inflation be stabilized at the union level by the common central bank, whereas fiscal policy has a country-specific stabilization role, one beyond the efficient provision of public goods.     

Fiscal policy and regional inflation in a currency union

Substantial attention has been devoted to inflation differentials within the European Monetary Union, including suggestions that inflation differentials are a policy issue for national governments. This paper investigates the ability of a region participating in a currency union to affect its inflation differential with respect to the union through fiscal policy. In a two-region general equilibrium model with traded and nontraded goods, lowering the labor income tax rate in response to positive inflation differentials succeeds in compressing inflation differentials. Such policies can lead to higher volatility of domestic inflation while leaving the volatility of real output roughly unchanged. Regional fiscal policies also have spill-over effects on the volatility of union-wide and foreign inflation in our model.     

国债规模:在财政与金融之间寻求平衡

本文从财政政策和货币政策协调配合角度,探讨了国债在金融体系中的特殊地位和作用,着重分析了国债市场作为核心金融市场在提供市场流动性方面的不可替代的作用.本文的政策含义就是,为了给我国的金融市场运行创造一个良好的基础,我们的国债政策应当超越单纯财政的财政眼光.     

Optimal fiscal policy in a small open economy with limited commitment

We introduce limited commitment into a standard optimal fiscal policy model in small open economies. We consider the problem of a benevolent government that signs a risk-sharing contract with the rest of the world, and that has to choose optimally distortionary taxes on labor income, domestic debt and international transfers. Both the home country and the rest of the world may have limited commitment, which means that they can leave the contract if they find it convenient. The contract is designed so that, at any point in time, neither party has incentives to exit. We define a small open emerging economy as an economy where the limited commitment problem is active in equilibrium. Conversely, a small open developed economy is an economy in which the commitment problem is not active. Our model is able to rationalize some stylized facts about fiscal policy in emerging economies: i) the volatility of tax revenues over GDP is higher in emerging economies than in developed ones; ii) fiscal policy is procyclical in emerging economies; iii) emerging economies may “graduate” from procyclical fiscal policy and adopt countercyclical policies in the long run.     

论中国通货膨胀下的货币政策有效性

在当今社会经济通货膨胀的状态下,中央银行首先应做的就是通过制定的货币政策抑制通货膨胀。本文通过对通货膨胀的现状及原因的分析,从而进一步探究中央银行制定的货币政策种类及其效应的积极性和局限性。     

股利政策的股东财富效应:来自中国股市的经验证据

Based on the special separated equity management structure of the listed companies in China and using a sample of the listed companies with distributed dividend in 2003 and 2004, this paper tests the shareholder wealth effects of dividend policy in Chinese separated equity market. Results show that shareholders of non-circulating stock get a high return rate by cash dividends, and circulating shareholders obtain a high short-term return rate by stock dividends. Translated from Nankai Guanli Pinglun 南开管理评论 (Nankai Business Review), 2006, 9(2): 4–10     

External adjustment in oil exporters: The role of fiscal policy and the exchange rate

After the decline in oil prices, many oil exporters face the need to improve their external balances. Special characteristics of oil exporters make the exchange rate an ineffective instrument for this purpose and give fiscal policy a sizeable role. These conclusions are supported by regression analysis of the determinants of the current account balance and of the trade balance. The results show little or no relationship with the exchange rate and, especially for the less diversified oil exporters, a strong relationship with the fiscal balance or government spending.     

宏观经济政策反思及其转型的框架设计

前几年实行的财政政策中,企业税费负担增长过快抑制投资需求与增发国债扩大投资需求相互抵消;发行国债的增速在下降,还本付息比例在上升,国债发行扩大投资的边际效用在递减;国债主要投资于短期增加就业和拉动增长的基础项目上,其增长和就业连续性较弱.而货币政策方面,降低利率和存款准备金率以及公开市场业务操作等总量性的政策,对扩大贷款,特别是对推动增长和增加就业最有用的中小企业的放款,几乎没有作用.贷存比和对中小企业的贷款持续下降和相对减少.因此,需要从行政取向国债为主的财政政策和总量性的货币政策,转向市场取向刺激社会投资的财政政策和体制及结构性的货币政策.减少税费负担,实行投资税收抵扣制,对积极为中小企业贷款的银行给予税收优惠;大力发展社会资本的中小银行,同时鼓励民间中小企业信贷担保公司的发展,放宽资产抵押、担保和信用贷款的一些政策,调整银行呆坏账准备金的使用结构,为中小企业贷款服务.如果财政政策和货币政策转型,则在未来的三四年中,失业率可以从目前的年10%-11%下降到5%-6%,国内消费增长率从目前的8.5%左右提高到年12%-13%,消费物价走出持续低迷,并且GDP每年以8%的速度再增长三到四年.     

On the efficiency of monetary policy rules with flexible prices and rational expectations

The classic Sargent–Wallace–Lucas (SWL) rational expectations-flexible price model is usually interpreted as implying “policy ineffectiveness”: systematic monetary rules cannot affect the distribution of real output. A contrary but not widely-appreciated result of Dotsey and King suggests that there exist “prospective feedback” rules (future money depending systematically on current but as yet unobserved information) which improve output distribution by means of improving agents’ ability to perceive relative prices.We show the Dotsey–King proposition in fact to be a colossal understatement: prospective feedback rules applied vigorously enough (and even “contemporaneous feedback” rules based on current interest rates, provided at least one prospective feedback is active) can in the limit drive price-perception errors to zero. This is not to say such a policy would be desirable. Feedback parameter combinations that reduce current price level misperception tend to produce high forecast error variances with respect to future prices, with attendant loss in capital market efficiency. Whatever the desirable frontier among these different social cost-producing variables, feedback parameters will in general be needed in order to get on the frontier as well as to move along it. Monetary policy clearly produces social gain even in a version of this model which contains no elements of price “friction,” inefficient use of available information, or asymmetry in information as between the government and the public.     

宏观政策的协调机制与欧洲债务危机

通过政策调整损失函数的理论模型分析,认为负的需求冲击是构成欧洲债务危机的前提,而缺乏货币政策协调的持续性扩张财政政策是欧洲债务危机的本质原因。对2000Q1—2010Q1的"PIIGS"的季度数据进行实证分析后,发现5国独立财政政策和欧元区共同货币政策的协调机制是存在冲突的。希腊长期均衡和短期调整均存在主权债务危机风险,因而成为首个爆发危机的国家。西班牙、意大利的短期调整虽暂时缓解了主权债务危机出现的可能,但不能解决发生危机的根本问题。而爱尔兰、葡萄牙只是短期内实施了过度的积极财政计划而造成了主权债务危机假象。     

Instability in the dividend policy of the Istanbul Stock Exchange (ISE) corporations: evidence from an emerging market

Dividend policy behaviour of corporations operating in emerging markets is significantly different from the widely accepted dividend policy behaviour of corporations operating in developed markets. This study provides evidence from the Istanbul Stock Exchange (ISE), an emerging European stock market, and analyses empirically whether the ISE corporations follow stable cash dividend policies in a regulatory environment that imposed mandatory dividend policies. Unlike the empirical results supporting the stable dividend policy behaviour of corporations operating in developed markets, the empirical results show that the ISE corporations follow unstable cash dividend policies and the main factor that determines the amount of cash dividends is the earnings of the corporation in that year.     

Monetary policy in a Union of 27: Enlargement and reform options

It is to be expected that by early 2006 the European monetary union will be enlarged by up to 10 countries. This poses the question as to whether the current decision-making structure in the common central bank is adequate for such a large membership. Not only will such a large number of national representatives impair the efficiency of decision-making, but monetary policy will have to deal with a much more heterogenous group of members. The following article addresses the problem of enlargement and discusses reform options for the central bank.     

Tax policy and entrepreneurship: empirical evidence from Sweden

This paper examines the relationship between income taxes and the decision to become self-employed using data from Sweden. By making it possible to track a large number of individuals over extended time periods and across a number of tax rate changes while controlling for important additional determinants, available tax-return information from Sweden allows for statistical estimation of the influence that income taxes have on the probability of becoming self-employed. The changing tax rate structure combined with the fact that the Swedish tax system does not provide additional tax benefits to small-business entrepreneurs compared with those who work as employees provides a powerful setting through which to examine the tax rate structure’s influence on individuals’ choice to become self-employed. Contrary to many earlier studies based on US data, this paper finds that both average and marginal taxes have a negative impact on the decision to become self-employed.     

科学决策与我国货币政策有效性

今年以来,我国实施了紧缩性金融宏观调控的货币政策。本文认为,提高我国货币政策的有效性涉及多方面的内容和要求,科学决策是提高货币政策效果的重要保证,特别是在目前,加强科学决策对提高货币政策的有效性尤其重要;货币政策的科学决策主要包括对货币政策取向的决策、货币政策调控力度的决策、货币政策工具运用的决策和货币政策时滞的判断的决策等内容。     

Monetary policy in a developing economy with external debt: Theory and empirics

Using annual data from four open economies (Thailand, Indonesia, Mexico, and Chile), and estimating correlations and generalized impulse responses within the traditional vector autoregressive (VAR) analysis, we find that inflation, both in the short and long run, is negatively correlated with consumption, investment, and the stock of foreign debt. We propose an optimizing model of an open economy with outstanding foreign debt and borrowing constraint that could explain these empirics. In this economy, risk premium depends on creditworthiness measured by debt–income ratio. Firms operate under costly investment, and all transactions involving consumption and investment are subject to cash-in-advance (CIA) constraints.     

Contingent deficit sanctions and moral hazard with a stability pact

We show how a stability pact based on deficit sanctions eliminates the exacerbation of debt accumulation that may arise from monetary unification. Moreover, with sanctions contingent on the observed state of the economy, the pact avoids aggravating the situation of a country in recession. Moral hazard problems arise if the state also depends on unobservable, politically costly fiscal effort. This could explain why sanctions under the actual Stability and Growth Pact are only automatically waived in extreme recessions and why the procedure linking observed deficits and sanctions involves a long and detailed assessment of a country’s situation.     

Monetary policy in the transition to a market economy: The case of Hungary

In the centrally planned economies of Eastern Europe, monetary policy played a subordinate role, there were no capital-market institutions and the banking system was single-tier. All this has to be changed in the transition to a market economy. The example of Hungary, which abolished the traditional system of central planning as early as 1968, shows some of the pitfalls to be avoided.     

Services policy reform and manufacturing employment: Evidence from transition economies

Policy reforms targeting the services sectors are a neglected dimension of the process of structural transformation and economic development. The effects of such reforms on employment across industries as a function of their use of services as intermediate inputs are theoretically ambiguous and remain largely understudied. This paper uses sector‐level data for 24 transition economies for the 1990–2012 period to assess the impacts of services policy reforms on downstream manufacturing employment. We find a negative effect of services reforms on manufacturing sector employment. This is mostly associated with the process of transition to a market‐based economy. Controlling for transition‐specific dynamics, the data suggest a neutral effect of progress towards adopting “best practice” policies for upstream services on employment in downstream manufacturing. Furthermore, in line with the extant literature, we confirm that services policy reforms enhance productivity of downstream manufacturing industries. Finally, we find that the negative effects on downstream employment are mitigated in countries with better economic governance and human capital.     

我国货币政策与宏观审慎监管的协调效应研究

信贷市场摩擦与BaselⅡ的银行资本监管会加剧金融体系和实体经济的波动性,这促进了"宏观审慎监管"理念的引入。本文运用一个带有抵押品约束的DSGE模型分析货币政策与宏观审慎监管对经济周期、福利改善和金融稳定的影响,基于中国经济的模拟检验得到如下结论:(1)宏观审慎监管中的LTV规则可以降低福利损失,此工具在维持金融稳定方面是有效的;(2)两种政策如何协调应根据具体经济情况而定,研究表明,经济体在面临需求冲击时两种政策可以相互促进,而面临供给冲击时可能会产生冲突;(3)最优政策组合的福利分析表明,LTV规则对房价应做出更强的反应,而修正泰勒模型中加入宏观审慎监管后的政策效率比标准泰勒模型更好,说明两种政策的互动能显著地增强经济体系的稳定性。鉴于此,我国政策当局在宏观经济调控中应当有效发挥货币政策与宏观审慎监管的协调效应,共同实现经济与金融稳定。