Free-Trade Areas and Welfare: An Equilibrium Analysis

This paper examines the welfare effects of the formation of a free-trade area. When a country is constrained to charge lower tariffs on imports from some countries, it is in its interest to reduce external tariffs as well. In alinear-quadratic model of intraindustry trade, the reduction in external tariffs induced by free-trade agreements is sufficiently large to make nonmember countries better off. Since only privately beneficial free-trade agreements are signed voluntarily, the formation of a free-trade area is a Pareto improvement. Owing to free-riding problems, however, the global free-trade area may not be a stable outcome.     

Reforming Social Welfare in Germany: An Applied General Equilibrium Analysis

Abstract. In this paper, the effects of social assistance reform proposals are discussed for the case of Germany using a computable general equilibrium model that incorporates a discrete choice model of labour supply. This allows us to identify general equilibrium effects of the reforms on wages and unemployment. The simulation results show that general equilibrium wage reactions mitigate labour supply effects and that unemployment in fact decreases. Wage reactions are thus sufficiently strong to prevent additional labour supply from translating into higher unemployment. The simulations indicate that major cuts in welfare payments are necessary to produce substantial employment effects.     

Migration, Jobs and Welfare: A General Equilibrium Analysis

Immigration has been an important element of the economic development of many countries, although in recent years there has been an intensification of doubts about the benefits of further immigration. This paper brings some simple general‐equilibrium modelling tools to bear on the question of the employment and welfare effects of immigration. Employment and taxation effects, rather than wage and distributional effects, are found to be crucial in determining the impact of immigration on the welfare of factor‐owners in the receiving country. These employment effects depend on the type of immigration and the substitutability or complementarity relationships between immigrant labour and unemployed labour. Certain types of immigration are shown to be Pareto‐improving for the receiving country, without any need for lump‐sum transfers. Simple numerical simulations illustrate the results.     

Voluntary Export Restraints and Economic Welfare: A General Equilibrium Analysis

We derive some sufficient conditions for the Suzumura-Ishikawa proposition on voluntary export restraints to hold when their model is extended to a general equilibrium framework. The sufficient conditions are concerned with the magnitude of income effects which play no role in the partial-equilibrium analysis of Suzumura and Ishikawa.     

Resource Rights and Markets in a General Equilibrium Model of Production

Rights to a free resource lead to distributional deadweight losses in partial equilibrium. The present paper examines related distortions in a general equilibrium model of production with output prices constant for the small open economy. The free resource can result in lower output than a market with weak substitution in the other sector. The free resource also leads to a convex production frontier implying a price increase lowers output in the sector. Regarding policy, an import tariff, export subsidy, or price support would lower sector output. These general equilibrium distortions increase the incentives to favor resource markets over rights.     

市场结构、环境税与福利效应分析

运用短期局部均衡分析方法研究完全竞争市场和垄断市场条件下环境税对社会福利的影响.结果显示:在完全竞争市场条件下,对企业征收环境税可以增进社会福利.而在垄断市场条件下,环境税的福利效应具有不确定性,这取决于垄断造成的扭曲程度.如果垄断造成的扭曲较小,环境税仍然可以提高社会福利.但无论是增进抑或降低社会福利,对垄断企业征收环境税都不可能实现最优化,因为环境税在矫正污染外部性的同时,垄断造成产量水平下降导致福利损失增加,所以只能追求一个次优的结果,次优环境税低于完全竞争条件下的标准环境税.     

Estimating Households' Preferences for Environmental Amenities Using Equilibrium Models of Local Jurisdictions

Much research has focused on the development of equilibrium models of local jurisdictions to analyze the formation of social structures and community characteristics. These models, however, have been subjected to little empirical testing. In a recent paper, Epple and Sieg (1999) developed a new method for estimating equilibrium models of local jurisdictions, but they did not include environmental amenities in their empirical application. In this paper, we extend and apply this new method to estimate households’ preferences for alternative environmental amenities in the Portland Oregon metropolitan area. We show that estimated structural parameters would be biased if environmental amenities are ignored. By including amenities into the structural models of local jurisdictions, households’ preferences for alternative environmental amenities and public goods are estimated. Parameter values underlying households’ residential choices are uncovered. Many of the empirical regularities observed in the data are replicated (JEL R1, R2, Q2).     

Providing Duty-Free Access to Australian Markets for Least-Developed Countries: A General Equilibrium Analysis

The Doha ministerial declaration commits WTO members to liberalising access to their markets for least‐developed countries (LDCs). Preferential trade policies have diverse impacts on the initiating country and its trading partners. These effects are of concern to scholars and policy makers. We use Australia as a case study to quantify the direct and indirect effects of providing preferential access to LDC imports entering Australian markets, using a general equilibrium model of the world economy. LDCs are projected to benefit and Australia is predicted to lose, reflecting adverse terms of trade effects. However, the magnitude of the adverse effect on Australia is small. If one was to view this initiative as an exercise in foreign aid, it suggests that Australia can provide a significant benefit to the poorest nations with which it trades, at almost no cost to itself.     

An Empirical Examination of Entry Patterns in Local Telephone Markets*

In this analysis we examine the market entry patterns of new local telephone companies. We construct and estimate a multinomial logit model using information describing numbering code distribution within local telephone markets and the associated income, density, and regulatory characteristics of these markets. Our findings support the conventional wisdom that facilities-based entry by new local competitors is more likely to occur in large urban telephone markets. In addition, we present evidence that, with the exception of territories served by Ameritech, entry is more likely to occur in Bell Operating Company service territories.     

浅析知识产权保护中混合策略纳什均衡模型的应用

知识产权保护不但受制于立法的完善和执法的力度,而且取决于自觉维权的意识和守法的环境。我国企业和科研机构知识产权保护意识薄弱,缺乏维护自身合法权益的能力,尊重他人知识产权的观念尚未形成社会主流。本文运用博弈论方法,分析了一个知识产权保护博弈案例中的混合策略纳什均衡解,得出从增加知识产权主体自觉维权意识和加大侵权者成本两方面实现知识产权有效保护的结论。     

How Long is a Piece of Cable? Equilibrium Determination of Local Telephone Areas

This paper studies the endogenous determination of telephone local calling areas. In many telephone systems, calls between users in the same calling area are local; calls to outside the calling area are long distance and priced differently. We allow the extension of this area to be treated as a strategic variable. We show the extension of the calling areas which maximizes the carrier's profit to be the same which a welfare maximizing regulator would choose. Under a price cap regime in which prices are required to meet an average price constraint, the firm manipulates strategically the extension of the local calling areas. We end the paper by considering the case of a competitive market. In this case, again, the owner of the local loop extends the local calling areas in response to decreased efficiency or increased competition of its competitors. Received April 25, 2002; revised version received September 9, 2002 Published online: April 30, 2003     

中国货币经济波动的一般均衡分析

文章构建了一个动态随机一般均衡的模型,从理论和实证两个方面分析了中国货币经济的波动问题.实证结果表明我国经济中货币余额的波动更多地源于消费者货币需求的波动,投资的波动与货币余额的波动关联不大,因此不能简单地以货币余额的变化来判断投资的状况.投资波动、经济增长波动与消费波动存在背离现象,投资造成大量的成本,这是我国经济非均衡的主要表现.文章的结论支持当前的宏观经济调控政策.     

论一国贸易条件与世界环境保护的关系--基于纳什均衡条件下的实证研究

本文利用李嘉图模型和柯布—道格拉斯效用函数,建立了一个分析贸易条件改变与世界环境保护之间的相互影响的数学模型,并通过比较在环保合作与非合作情况下,贸易条件的改变对世界环境保护的影响,提出了有关贸易与环境保护之间的关系的三点看法:第一,环保投入的增加有助于贸易条件的改进,贸易条件的改进则进一步促进了世界环保质量的提高;第二,环保双方按自身利益最大化制定环保政策,比双方进行合作共同制定环保政策更有利于世界环境质量的改善;第三,在参与国际环保合作中,一国应谨慎选择“搭便车”的政策。     

银行股权结构竞争性均衡分析:控制权收益模型

商业银行股权结构竞争均衡的核心是控制权争夺.拥有控制权的一方不仅能获得银行价值增值所带来的投责收益,还可能获得各种非投资收益,这些由控制权带来的、超过投资收益的各类收益就是“控制权收益”.本文通过构建控制权收益模型能较好地解释现实中银行股权结构的竞争均衡,结果发现监管者可以通过控制对小股东的“制裁成本”来影响其在具有竞争力差异的国外战略投资者和国有大股东之间的选择,并在此基础上提出以国外战略投资者参与为代表的多利益主体对控制权收益的竞争,不会降低股份制银行的价值.     

铁路公益性:理论与经验

本文首先从一般公共产品及其公益性上提出一个分析框架,然后利用这个框架分析了铁路这个公共产品的复杂构成及其公益性特点,接着运用这些理论分析了中国铁路目前的特点和问题,进而提出了中国铁路改革的政策建议,同时对国外铁路依据以上理论进行的改革经验进行了介绍.     

纯交换OLG经济中的习惯类型与经济的动态性质

在OLG的纯交换经济中,区分了内部习惯和外部习惯对经济动态性质的影响。我们发现内部习惯增加了年轻人的储蓄并可以把古典经济转变为萨谬尔森经济;外部习惯减少了年轻人的储蓄并可以把萨谬尔森经济转变为古典经济。不论是外部习惯还是内部习惯,都提高了在相对风险规避系数一定的情况下消费者忍受风险的能力,从而可能导致经济的周期运动。     

基于CGE模型的环境税优惠政策的环保效应分析

通过建立一个CGE模型,并对该模型在存在和不存在环境税优惠政策两种场景下的社会产出、产品供应和社会福利状况进行模拟分析,考察环境税优惠政策的环保效应。结果表明,环境税的税收减免在长期内对社会福利的影响不大,但是,它却会对环境税的环境保护效果产生较大的负面影响。在使用税收减免工具时,政府要从社会福利和环境保护、能源使用等方面加以考虑,避免社会总福利的净损失。     

Optimal Export Taxes, Welfare, Industry Concentration, and Firm Size: A General Equilibrium Analysis

By using an imperfect-competition model, it is shown that an export tax, optimal in partial equilibrium, is upwardly biased and may not be optimal in a general equilibrium setting with free entry/exit. It is shown also that the export tax has an ambiguous impact on firm size. The results of an applied general equilibrium model for the Turkish economy suggest that the export tax estimated with the PE formula is larger by a small factor than the computed export tax. However, the export tax leads to an increase in firm size and, most importantly, to a social welfare loss.