"财政自利"与"财政立宪"研究

财政自利是政府作为“经济人”的一种必然现象。财政自利不仅可以发生在政府与社会公众之间,而且也发生在政府之间。唯有对政府财政活动进行立宪约束,才能从根本上制约政府的过分自利而损害社会或下级政府的行为发生。本文主要从依法建立民主理财、民主决策监督机制,实现纳税人对政府的有效约束以及依法建立政府间合理分权制衡机制等两个方面比较全面的分析了政府财政自利的约束和制衡。     

论财政法制与财政监管

加强财政法制建设、强化财政监管，是财政改革和发展的客观要求，也是依法治国方略在财政管理中的重要体现。财政法制建设的关键，在于推进依法行政、依法理财。与此同时，市场经济条件下的财政监管也是保证财政体制运转和财政政策实施的重要手段，更是经济监管体系的构成要素之一。在深化财政改革的过程中注重财政法制建设和财政监管，对于推动公共财政框架的建立，将会产生积极、有效的影响。     

Reswitching as a cusp catastrophe

This paper examines a model with an infinite and differentiable technology for which the presence of reswitching generates discontinuous behaviour along the optimal dynamic path. The form of this dynamic discontinuity will be shown to be a cusp catastrophe of three dimensions. The bifurcation set of catastrophe points will be delineated. Also the cusp point will be identified which is the bifurcation set of the bifurcation set.     

Fiscal Constitutions

In this paper we examine how taxes, subsidies and the design of constitutional agendas should be regulated in order to allow for an efficient allocation of public goods and a limitation of tax distortions. We show that if public goods are socially desirable, the simple majority rule, combined with taxation constrained to majority winners or a ban on subsidies, can achieve several desirable objectives. Equal treatment regarding taxes and subsidies is undesirable. Super majority rules and equal treatment of all citizens with respect to taxes and subsidies, however, are first-best provided public goods are socially undesirable. Finally, we suggest that constitutions with amendments eliminate excessive taxation and allow treatment rules to universally improve welfare.     

Fiscal Constitutions

We study the impact of fiscal constitutions on intergenerational transfers in an overlapping generation model with linear technology. Transfers represent outcomes of a voting game among selfish agents. Policies are decided one period at a time. Majoritarian systems, which accord voters maximum fiscal discretion, sustain all individually rational allocations, including dynamically inefficient ones. Constitutional rules, which give minorities veto power over fiscal policy changes proposed by the majority, are equivalent to precommitment. These rules eliminate fluctuating and dynamically inefficient transfers and sustain weakly increasing transfer sequences that converge to the golden rule. The golden rule allocation is the unique outcome of Markov constitutional rules. Journal of Economic Literature Classification Numbers: D72, H55.     

Inter-Governmental Fiscal Relations: The Facilitator of Fiscal Decentralization

The decentralization of fiscal authority to lower level jurisdictions contributes to the efficient delivery of public services, but conflicts with national objectives. This paper argues that the system of fiscal relations, including both the grant structure and institutions for policy coordination, are necessary for achieving the full benefits of fiscal decentralization while preserving national efficiency and equity objectives. The case for decentralization is recounted, along with the ways it can impinge upon efficiency and equity in the national economy. These adverse effects can be mitigated by appropriate fiscal transfers, both equalizing and conditional, and suitable measures of policy harmonization.     

积极财政政策与财政风险问题分析

1998年以来,为了应对通货紧缩的经济形势,政府实施积极财政政策,运用财政"反周期调节",刺激国内需求,拉动经济回升.但是,积极财政政策是一把"双刃剑",既可以发挥治理通货紧缩的积极作用,同时也会带来负面影响,如果运用不好,将会产生很大的财政风险.为了确保国家财政安全与稳健运行,有必要对积极财政政策可能产生的风险进行分析和把握,并积极采取措施加以防范和化解,避免潜在的财政风险转化为财政危机.     

实施积极财政政策向可持续财政政策转型的构想

积极财政政策虽然在扩大内需上已经有所作为，但由于其负面作用的存在而不具有可持续性。为实现我国可持续发展的长期战略要求，我们应当适时实施由积极财政政策向可持续财政政策的转变。因此，应当对现行的财政支出政策进行调整，防范直接与间接财政风险的扩大化，完善现行税制，运用财政政策促进人力资本可持续发展。     

单一制国家财政联邦制的“中央-地方”财政关系

财政联邦主义是联邦主义政治理念在财政领域的应用。在单一制政治体制下实行财政联邦主义,中央和地方之间的财政关系有其特殊之处。文章通过构建两种异质群的演化博弈模型,采用系统动力学方法研究了中国"中央—地方"财政关系的演化特征。研究发现,当前的固定分权格局使中国的中央财政与地方财政之间处于一种失衡状态,存在"一放即乱,一收即死"的"治乱循环"。     

Fiscal stabilization rule

The optimal fiscal stabilization rule presented in this paper is derived from a loss function where the government is assumed to keep the structural balance close to its target level and simultaneously stabilize the GDP and inflation gaps. The rule yields the size of the discretionary stabilization measures needed, in addition to automatic stabilizers, to be able to stabilize the business cycle, without compromising the sustainability of public finances. Using this policy rule and a first-order Taylor expansion of the fiscal balance, we decompose the automatic stabilizers and the discretionary fiscal policy conditional on business cycle conditions.     

我国财政改革和政策实践研究

本文回顾了我国财政改革、财政政策演进历程,揭示了财政政策演进规律,探讨了财政政策宏观调控实践经验。研究发现:首先,与一般市场经济国家不同,我国财政政策从概念认识、实践启动、到运用技术日臻成熟,走出了一条缓解经济危机实现经济稳定、调节经济结构转变经济增长方式、化解民生难题促进社会和谐的独特之路。在这一过程中,财政政策更加注重供给管理。其次,在当前体制转轨背景下,我国财政政策突显出公共性和体制转型双重特征。最后,面对未来,我们需要在财政政策如何更好遵循市场经济规律;财政政策目标如何更聚焦于未来发展战略,如何推进财政改革以确保财政政策调控更具效力等方面总结更多的经验。     

财政集权过程中的转移支付和财政供养人口规模膨胀

结合财政分权的理论文献,本文描述了中国最近10多年来政府间财政关系的演变,并分析了财政集权过程中转移支付增加对地方财政供养人口的影响。利用中国1994—2003年县级面板数据和工具变量方法,我们从实证角度确立了转移支付增加与财政供养人口规模膨胀的因果关系,并指出在我国目前的政府管理体制下,上级政府面临着无论增加哪种转移支付都可能带来问题的两难处境。要在控制政府冗员增长的同时促进公共服务的有效提供,中国需要建立一个财政上更加分权和行政管理上更有基层参与性的政府管理体制。     

论财政调控与转移支付体系的完善

财政调控作为一种比行政控制更为适当和有效的调节地方政府行为的方式,可以通过中央对地方的转移支付来实现。而我国目前财政转移支付形式繁多、结构不合理、分配方法不规范,为此,迫切需要调整转移支付的模式选择、改进转移支付的结构和分配方法。     

财政分权下的地方财政支出与环境污染研究

我国环境风险逐步凸显与加深,单纯依靠经济手段已不足以解决现阶段的环境污染问题。因此,文章从环境污染的制度根源入手,构建了财政分权、财政支出与环境污染的综合分析框架,刻画财政分权对地方政府财政支出模式的选择,进而对环境污染的影响及逻辑机理。最后,以财政分权、财政支出与环境污染的影响机制为基础,针对导致环境污染的影响渠道的各部分,分别提出改善生态环境质量、治理环境污染的政策建议。     

财政分权、地区间竞争与中国经济波动

中央与地方政府在中国转型经济中扮演了关键角色,而多级政府结构往往为传统的财政政策文献所忽略。本文将中央与地方两级政府结构引入主流的动态一般均衡模型中,考察财政分权下地方性财政政策对中国宏观经济的动态影响。研究发现:(1)具有财政分权的多级政府基准模型可以解释约64%的总产出波动、47%的投资波动以及62%的消费波动;(2)地方性公共投资对本地经济具有促进作用,同时通过地区间贸易对其他地区产生正的溢出效应;且该溢出效应会随着地区间财政竞争程度的加深而显著加强,因此财政竞争为地方性投资政策提供了重要的传导机制;(3)反事实分析表明,深度财政分权会在短期内加强地方财政支出的波动效应而削弱中央财政支出的波动效应,同时又在长期提高整个经济总产出与社会总福利。本文为定量研究我国经济转型期的财政政策动态效应提供了一个新的视角。     

Fiscal limits and monetary policy: default vs. inflation

This paper studies the monetary policy trade-off between low inflation and low sovereign risk in the environment where fiscal authorities fail to fully ensure the sustainability of government debt. Building on the Fiscal Theory of Price Level (FTPL) and the Fiscal Theory of Sovereign Risk (FTSR), this paper differs in its baseline assumption about the monetary policy objective, which is neither to rule out defaults regardless of inflation costs (as in FTPL), nor to follow inflation targeting regardless of associated sovereign risk (as in FTSR). Instead, we study the case in which the central bank controls the risky interest rate to minimize the probability of default while ruling out large inflation hikes. We show that this policy regime can mitigate default risks only when the central bank is expected to allow sufficient increases in inflation. When agents believe that the central bank's tolerance toward inflation hikes has increased, equilibrium risk premium goes down, suggesting that information concerning changes in the central bank's preferences over inflation directly impacts default risks.