RETIREMENT INCOME RIGHTS AS A COMPONENT OF WEALTH IN THE UNITED STATES*

Americans have accumulated a considerable amount of future purchasing power in the form of Social Security and employer pension rights. These rights are a form of wealth. In this paper, we ask how their inclusion alters the wealth portfolios of a sample of Americans at or nearing normal retirement age. Data from the 1973 wave of the longitudinal Retirement History Study suggest that, for many Americans, retirement income rights are the dominant component of wealth, and are often more important than all other entries combined, including home equity. We also find that this wealth can be seriously eroded during times of high inflation. Because of differences in marketability, pension and Social Security rights are not perfect substitutes for more liquid assets. Nonetheless, since they are so large in magnitude, and have been shown to be key determinants of the behavior of older workers, they should not be ignored.     

A THEORY OF MIGRATION AS A RESPONSE TO OCCUPATIONAL STIGMA*

A theory is developed of labor migration that is prompted by a desire to avoid “social humiliation.” In a general‐equilibrium framework, it is shown that as long as migration can reduce humiliation sufficiently, migration will occur even between two identical economies. Migration increases the number of individuals who choose to perform degrading jobs and consequently, migration lowers the price of the good produced in the sector that is associated with low social status. Moreover, the greater an individual's aversion to performing degrading jobs, the more likely it is that he will experience a welfare gain when the economy opens up.     

COSTS AND BENEFITS OF REDUCING AIR POLLUTANTS RELATED TO ACID RAIN

The 1990 Clean Air Act Amendments initiated a dramatic reduction in emissions of sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides by electric power plants. This paper presents the results of an integrated assessment of the benefits and costs of the program. Dramatic uncertainties characterize the estimates especially with respect to the benefits of the program, many of which were modeled explicitly. The lion's share of benefits results from reduced risk of premature mortality, especially through reduced exposure to sulfates, and these expected benefits measure several times the expected costs of the program. Significant benefits also are estimated for improvements in health morbidity, recreational visibility, and residential visibility, each of which measures approximately equal to costs. Areas that were the focus of attention in the 1980s—including effects to soils, forests, and aquatic systems—still have not been modeled comprehensively, but evidence suggests that benefits in these areas are relatively small, at least with respect to "use values" for the environmental assets that are affected.     

温州市城市土地经营探讨

通过分析温州市城市土地经营中存在的非市场行为，认为城市土地经营需要适度的政府干预，指出城市土地经营可供选择的交易方式和客体类型，并商讨发展城市土地经营的主要对策：整顿土地市场秩序，控制建设用地供应总量。以多种形式经营划拨用地等。     

EXTERNAL HEALTH COSTS OF A STEEL MILL

Intermittent operation of a steel mill in a mountain valley in central Utah provides a unique opportunity to measure the external health costs of air pollution. A nearby valley provides a control. This paper analyzes data on hospital admissions and daily deaths for the two valleys, using negative binomial regression models of daily hospital admissions and deaths. Hospital admissions for respiratory diseases increase significantly when the mill is in operation. Mortality also increases during mill operation. Estimated excess hospitalization costs are about 2 million dollars per year, and the increased cost of mortality exceeds 40 million dollars per year.     

A SOBER LOOK AT THE COSTS OF INTOXICATION

Advocates of increased government regulation of intoxicating substances often cite the "social cost" of such goods. A close examination of studies that calculate the social cost of intoxication reveals a variety of recurring methodological errors. These studies do not clearly distinguish external costs from private costs. They do not systematically compare the costs associated with the regulation of intoxicant use with the costs of intoxicant consumption, nor do they even estimate the social benefits associated with intoxication or compare them with the social costs. Unless these problems are addressed, social cost calculation will be dismissed as a tool for political lobbying.     

小城镇带动区域经济发展战略研究──以湖南省为例

本文以湖南省为例，在分析小城镇发展现状的基础上，论述了小城镇建设与发展的目标构想、规划原则，分析选择了符合本地实际的发展模式，并指出了“小城镇带动战略”的重要意义。     

试论我国农地发展权定位及农民分享实现

经营性征地给社会经济发展带来许多不稳定因素,其中一个极为重要的原因是由于长期以来强大的行政权力取代了土地发展权的权效。从这一角度出发,文章首先介绍了发展权的含义和特征并总结了我国农地发展权的现状,在此基础上针对农地市地化过程中的土地发展权进行了定位,提出将发展权分享引入征地补偿机制即农民参与发展权权益的分享,紧接着探讨了发展权分享实现问题,并对农民发展权分享进行了量化。旨在通过对发展权的适当安排缓解现行征地体制中的一些矛盾,从而在深层次上促进我国土地产权制度的健全和土地的合理利用。     

国外土地发展权转让理论研究进展

运用文献检索和比较方法,回顾国外近40年来土地发展权转让领域的研究进展,探讨这一政策工具对我国土地管理的借鉴意义。结果显示,国外土地发展权转让作为一种市场性的政策工具,它在分区规划的框架内通过引入经济诱因实现对农地、环境敏感区、开敞空间、历史遗迹等特定类型土地的有效保护,一定程度上校正了分区管制的强制性和刚性。对于正处于城市化快速发展阶段而又受到土地资源严重制约的中国来说,发展权转让这一理论和政策工具具有较大的借鉴和应用价值。不过,将这一理论和政策工具引入中国,必须从中国独特的土地物权结构出发,进行本土化的理论再创造和制度再创新,并尤其要注意借鉴以项目方式实施土地发展权转让的外域经验。     

利率市场化能解决小微企业融资难问题吗*——基于行为金融学视角的分析

本文研究了银行信贷集中问题的成因,讨论了利率市场化背景下小微企业融资问题难的解决思路。本文首先以行为前景理论和心理账户理论为基础,考察授信者行为因素对银行授信决策的影响,以探讨小微企业融资困境形成和银行信贷集中问题产生的机制。然后本文讨论了分析信贷集中和小微企业融资问题所依赖的假设和变量,从收益和风险两个方面对商业银行信贷决策做出了研究。研究发现利率市场化改革可以有效缓解小微企业融资难和信贷资金集中于大中型企业的问题。     

SUNK COSTS AND PROFIT TAXATION: A SOURCE OF TAX NON-NEUTRALITY

This Paper uses a two-period Von Stackelberg model to study the effects of profit taxation on the behaviour of a monopolist, when the entry of a potential competitor is threatened. A barrier to entry, consisting of a sunk cost, is assumed. If the potential competitor decides to enter, thus making a loss, deduction is allowed in the following period. This model shows that these tax deductions can make profit taxation be distortive.     

BENEFITS AND COSTS OF INTENSIVE FOSTER CARE SERVICES: THE CASEY FAMILY PROGRAMS COMPARED TO STATE SERVICES

The foster care system attempts to prepare children and youth who have suffered child maltreatment for successful adult lives. This study documents the economic advantages of a privately funded foster care program that provided longer term, more intensive, and more expensive services compared to public programs. The study found significant differences in major adult educational, health, and social outcomes between children placed in the private program and those placed in public programs operated by Oregon and Washington. For the outcomes for which we could find financial data, the estimated present value of the enhanced foster care services exceeded their extra costs. Generalizing to the roughly 100,000 adolescents age 12-17 entering foster care each year, if all of them were to receive the private model of services, the savings for a single cohort of these children could be about $6.3 billion in 2007 dollars. ( JEL D61, H75)