THE POSTAL SERVICE IN THE EUROPEAN UNION PUBLIC MONOPOLY OR COMPETITIVE MARKET?: A transaction cost approach

The paper discusses the relevant institutional and economic aspects of the postal service, and analyses both the arguments for abolishing the statutory monopoly and those for retaining it. The main thesis of the paper is that public and private postal services differ from each other in many aspects: transaction costs, the willingness of the customer to pay, market structure, and possibilities of substituting the service with other communication instruments. Therefore, a simple privatisation will not solve per se the efficiency problems of the service. furthermore, the European Commission, which published in 1992 a green paper on postal services, is considering the possibility of harmonising the quality of the service within the EU and gradually reducing the gap in national postal prices. This seems to be an effective device to force firms towards the greater efficiency required in a Continental market. In future, the competition will take place not so much between private firms (more interested in running the high-value segments), as between national public carriers, as shown by the phenomenon of remail.     

Communication in Repeated Games with Private Monitoring

The paper considers repeated games where each player can be observed by only a subset of the other players, and where players can make public announcements about the behavior of the players they observed. We address the following question: What is the minimal level of observability that is required to obtain efficient outcomes? The main result is that the limit set of sequential equilibrium payoffs, when the discount factor tends to one, contains the set of individual rational payoffs whenever each player is observed by at leasttwoother players.Journal of Economic LiteratureClassification Number: C73.     

我国沿海地区城市服务业集聚的影响因素分析

基于外部经济理论、新经济地理理论和对外开放,建立服务业集聚影响因素的分析框架,并利用我国96个沿海城市2003-2011年的面板数据,实证检验三种因素对我国沿海地区服务业总体集聚、生产性服务业集聚、消费性服务业集聚和公共性服务业集聚的不同影响作用,结果发现:对于服务业总体和公共性服务业而言,三种因素都是影响其集聚的主要因素;对于生产性服务业而言,新经济地理因素是促进其集聚的主要因素,而另外两因素的促进作用尚未体现出来;对于消费性服务业而言,相对于新经济地理因素,外部经济因素和对外开放因素对其集聚的促进作用更加显著。     

Benefits of Changes in Urban Public Transport Subsidies in the Major Australian Cities*

This paper considers the economic efficiency benefits of urban public transport subsidies and presents estimates of the marginal benefits of fare and service level changes in the main Australian cities. Models to evaluate benefits are outlined, and estimates compared of the benefits to public transport and other road users of fare and service level changes in different cities. A major conclusion is that existing urban public transport subsidies might be more effective from an economic efficiency point of view if frequency levels were reduced and the consequent cost savings used to finance lower levels of fares.     

Public Procurement at the Local Level in Austria: The Economic Consequences of Compulsory Competitive Tendering for Public Services

This paper looks at possible problems concerning the economic effects of the introduction of an compulsory competitive tendering for general economic interest services at the local level. It examines the framework in Austria and some fundamental problems of competitive tendering. An obligation binding local authorities to put general economic interest services up for competitive tender, as currently intended by the European Commission (i.e. service concessions), would have considerable medium- and long-term effects on both the process of municipal service provision and the economic position of municipal (public) enterprises. The paper concludes that, from an economic point of view, procurement through competitive tendering does not appear to be effective or tenable for all general economic interest services in (all) different areas. The introduction of compulsory competitive tendering for service concessions in all areas of public services is therefore something best forgotten.     

中国环境基本公共服务绩效地区差异的实证分析——基于泰尔指数分解

运用综合指数法构建了环境基本公共服务绩效评价指数,考察了2007—2015年中国30个省(自治区、直辖市)的环境基本公共服务绩效水平,并采用泰尔指数法对环境基本公共服务绩效的省际差异进行测度与分解。结果显示:中国环境基本公共服务绩效存在较为显著的地区差异;东部地区的环境基本公共服务绩效水平整体上高于中、西部地区,且该差异在样本期间呈U型扩大态势;平均68%的总体差异来源于区域内差异。最后指出,在环境分权体制背景下,政府在制定环境保护政策时应充分考虑地区间经济发展水平、自然资源禀赋和环境治理努力程度的异质性。     

Endogenous Move Structure and Voluntary Provision of Public Goods: Theory and Experiment

In this paper, we examine voluntary contributions to a public good, embedding Varian's (1994) voluntary contribution game in extended games that allow players to choose the timing of their contributions. We show that predicted outcomes are sensitive to the structure of the extended game, and also to the extent to which players care about payoff inequalities. We then report a laboratory experiment based on these extended games. We find that behavior is similar in the two extended games: subjects avoid the detrimental move order of Varian's model, where a person with a high value of the public good commits to a low contribution, and instead players tend to delay contributions. These results suggest that commitment opportunities may be less damaging to public good provision than previously thought.     

EVALUATING GAINS FROM MERGERS IN A NON-PARAMETRIC PUBLIC GOOD MODEL OF POLICE SERVICES

ABSTRACT ** :  The merger of police services in the UK has been suggested on the grounds that efficiency improvements will be possible. This paper applies a public good model of the police service to evaluate the potential efficiency gains from mergers of police services in England and Wales. It uses a non-parametric method suggested by Bogetoft and Wang (2005) . We construct a dataset that reflects the public good nature of police service and allows for the exogenous imposition by government on the level of police service budgets. Our main finding is that English and Welsh police service mergers could lead to increases in police staff resource efficiencies between 10 per cent and 70 per cent. Hence, we confirm the government's decision to merge English and Welsh police services.     

Questions About the Initiative of the European Commission Concerning the Awarding and Compulsory Competitive Tendering of Public Service Concessions

The ruling of the European Commission is that the award of contracts by regional or local authorities for the provision of services of general economic interest must be done by way of competitive tendering. Such contracts must not be awarded to the authority's own public enterprises or to any other enterprise, including by means of unilateral State act, without a call for tenders, a practice that had previously been common in many Member States. Public service concessions are also subject to the competition rules of the EC Treaty. Should the European Commission enact a directive concerning compulsory competitive tendering, this would result, for several Member States, in a serious change of paradigm as regards the awarding of public service concessions. Against this background, this article will attempt to find answers to the following questions: —How is the present relationship of the regional or local authority with its own public enterprise to be considered? —Are there any limits to applying the rules on competition of the EC Treaty to public service concessions? —What kind of positive and negative effects concerning economic efficiency and supply of specific public services result from the awarding of public service concessions and from compulsory competitive tendering? —What kind of, and what amount of, transaction costs result from compulsory competitive tendering and from the awarding of concessions? —Does competitive tendering work properly, and are public tenderers given equal opportunities? —Are there any alternatives to compulsory competitive tendering that would achieve an efficient market performance and provide sufficient supply?     

健全市场主体 完善市场经济体制

完善我国市场经济体制,必须以健全市场主体为核心.为了健全市场主体,应进一步创新关于市场主体的理论,同时必须采取一系列新的举措:改革和完善国有资产管理体制,健全国有控股和参股的市场主体;加快推进基础设施和公用事业领域的改革,扩大非国有市场主体的参与范围;以资本市场的建设为重点,完善生产要素市场体系,为市场主体提供完善的载体;转变政府职能,深化行政管理体制改革,为市场主体创造良好的外部环境.     

Human Fallibility, Complementarity, and Fiscal Decentralization

This paper examines economic growth properties under alternative fiscal organizations when a bureau's decisions are fallible. A country consists of J jurisdictions, which need a public service. In a centralized government, one authority decides on services in every jurisdiction. In a decentralized government, J authorities are in charge of each public service. An authority can have high ability or low ability, and an authority with high ability draws a good project with higher probability. We first show that the decentralized government provides the same average quality of public services, with lower variance, than does the centralized government. We then apply this result to an economic growth model where the value of the Solow residual is a constant elasticity of substitution (CES) function of public services. We show that there is a critical value of the degree of complementarity below which fiscal decentralization is more desirable than fiscal centralization for an expected economic growth, and the decentralized government has a lower variance of GDP growth.     

THE MUNICIPAL WASTE MANAGEMENT SECTOR IN EUROPE: SHIFTING BOUNDARIES BETWEEN PUBLIC SERVICE AND THE MARKET

ABSTRACT: This paper provides a comparative assessment of the organization of urban waste management in selected European countries and discusses the regulatory implications of the ongoing evolution. Using an institutional economic approach, focused on governance of transactions along the value chain, we argue that: i) there is evidence of an increasing shift towards operator‐based integrated systems; ii) the emphasis put on material and energy recovery opens the market far beyond the traditional legal monopolies established for managing urban services. These results pose new challenges for economic regulation and make it more complicate to trace the boundary between the public service and the market domain. Spaces for competition in the market have become much larger, but the role of public regulation and planning are nonetheless more far‐reaching than in the past.     

疫情冲击、修复调整与基础再造的中国宏观经济*

2020年注定是中国和世界经济史上极为特殊的一年。突如其来的新冠肺炎疫情对中国宏观经济运行和微观市场主体产生了剧烈冲击，全球经贸体系经历了第二次世界大战以来最为严重的一次“大停摆”。本文主要内容包括两大方面：一是判断超级疫情冲击下中国经济的基本走势与回升潜力；二是基于以上判断为疫后经济修复和中长期发展提供适用的政策建议。本文重点关注四个核心问题：第一，现阶段中国经济复苏的进展和性质；第二，下阶段中国经济复苏面临的主要挑战和风险点；第三，如何科学安排一揽子规模性政策和工具组合以产生理想政策效果；第四，现有政策空间是否足以应对各种风险挑战、增强韧性和实现基础再造。在以上分析判断的基础上，基于经济自我调整力量和宏观政策拉动效应的模拟分析，本文形成对2020年中国宏观经济核心指标的预测和展望，据此提出系统性政策建议。     

疫情冲击、修复调整与基础再造的中国宏观经济*

2020年注定是中国和世界经济史上极为特殊的一年。突如其来的新冠肺炎疫情对中国宏观经济运行和微观市场主体产生了剧烈冲击，全球经贸体系经历了第二次世界大战以来最为严重的一次“大停摆”。本文主要内容包括两大方面：一是判断超级疫情冲击下中国经济的基本走势与回升潜力；二是基于以上判断为疫后经济修复和中长期发展提供适用的政策建议。本文重点关注四个核心问题：第一，现阶段中国经济复苏的进展和性质；第二，下阶段中国经济复苏面临的主要挑战和风险点；第三，如何科学安排一揽子规模性政策和工具组合以产生理想政策效果；第四，现有政策空间是否足以应对各种风险挑战、增强韧性和实现基础再造。在以上分析判断的基础上，基于经济自我调整力量和宏观政策拉动效应的模拟分析，本文形成对2020年中国宏观经济核心指标的预测和展望，据此提出系统性政策建议。     

Speculative Attacks with Multiple Sources of Public Information*

We propose a speculative attack model in which agents receive multiple public signals. Diverse pieces of public information can be taken into account differently by different players and are likely to lead to different appreciations ex post. This process defines players' expected private values of a successful attack. The main result shows that equilibrium uniqueness depends on two conditions: (i) signals are sufficiently dispersed and (ii) private beliefs about signals' relative precision differ sufficiently. We derive some implications for information dissemination policy. Transparency in this context is multidimensional: it concerns the publicity of announcements, the number of signals disclosed and their precision.     

INTERNAL REGULATION BY MIXED ENTERPRISES: THE CASE OF THE ITALIAN WATER SECTOR

ABSTRACT ** :  This paper aims at proposing an economic analysis of mixed enterprises in local utilities. We suggest that the public service concession to mixed enterprises could embody a noteworthy substitute to the traditional public provision and the concession to totally private enterprises. The starting point of the entire analysis is that ownership allows the (public) owner to gather more information about the actual management of the firm, according to property rights theory. Following it, we conclude that under certain conditions mixed enterprises could significantly reduce asymmetric information between regulators and regulated firms by implementing a sort of 'internal' regulation. With more information, the public authority can stimulate the private operator to be more efficient and can monitor it more effectively with respect to the fulfilment of contractual obligations. Moreover, concerning the latter function, the board of directors of these enterprises can be the suitable place where public and private representatives can meet to solve all disputes arising from incomplete contracts.     

Game analysis on Huaihe River anti-pollution administration mechanism and policy research

Based on the literature review of environmental anti-pollution researches, this paper analyzes the administrative mechanism of Huaihe River anti-pollution with game theory. Based on the quantitative analysis on three corresponding game models with four players including local residents, enterprises, local governments and competent authorities at higher levels, this paper demonstrates four main shortcomings of current administrative mechanism of Huaihe River anti-pollution system, including low emission cost, low connivance cost, overemphasis on heavy fine of the enterprises, neglect of the punishment on the local departments and intersected administrative mechanism. This paper sets up antipollution administrative mechanism, combining economic method with noneconomic method, government control with market mechanism, and introducing public participation. At last, this paper proposes policies, such as implementing emissions trading system, reforming public participation system, and reforming government＇s environmental protection mechanism to promote law enforcement.     

Contracts and competition: an introduction

Changes in public policy and corporate strategy have enhancedthe role of contracts as mechanisms of economic governance.The understanding that norms, standards and other forms of regulatorymechanism can affect the structure of incentives and the qualityof contractual outcomes has helped to stimulate a wider debateconcerning institutions and economic performance. Among thethemes explored in this Special Issue, which draws on the UKESRC's Contracts and Competition Programme, are the need forinterdisciplinary analysis of economic organisation; the linkbetween contracts and trust; and the complex relationship betweeninstitutional forms and economic outcomes.     

农村公共管理服务变化影响农户收入吗?—基于中国健康与养老调查数据的经验分析

在农村市场化进程中农村的公共管理服务发生了深刻变化。基于2011年中国健康与养老调查数据构建计量经济模型,通过控制实验方法解决模型中可能存在的内生性问题,验证了政府经济发展服务、社会管理服务影响农户收入的机制。分析结果表明:以乡镇企业、村办企业数量衡量的政府经济管理服务显著影响农户收入,企业数量越多的村庄农户收入也越高;以村基层组织干部素质衡量的政府社会管理服务也是影响农户收入的重要因素;与经济管理服务相比,政府社会管理服务能力对农户收入的影响力较弱。政府应当通过公共服务购买改革等方式提高农村社会管理服务水平,充分发挥市场在农村经济领域中的决定性作用。