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.     

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.     

Market, Trade and Welfare in General Equilibrium

This paper develops a tractable general equilibrium model of an economy with an arbitrary number of industries under increasing returns to scale and imperfect competition. The market structure of the model economy is expressed by two basic sets of parameters: the degree of competition, and the markup ratio prevailing in each industry. The government is supposed to control the degree of competition through antitrust policy and the markup ratio through entry policy. Using this model, I re-examine the results of traditional competitive equilibrium analysis and explore the effects of competition policies on economic welfare and international trade.
JEL Classification Numbers: D43, D50, F11, F12, L13, L41.     

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.     

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.     

Externality Policy Reform: A General Equilibrium Analysis

We characterize Pareto‐improving and equilibrium‐preserving policy reforms in a second‐best (Diamond/Mirrlees) world with a consumption externality. A counterintuitive finding is that, starting from an initial equilibrium with no direct quantity control on the externality, it is possible that all Pareto‐improving and equilibrium‐preserving directions of change require an increase in a negative externality. We provide intuition for these results by establishing a nexus between Guesnerie's approach to designing (tax) policy reforms and the standard Kuhn–Tucker technique for identifying the manifold of feasible Pareto‐optimal states, given the instruments available to the policy maker.     

股票市场、货币需求与总量经济:一般均衡分析

近几年来我国实体经济与股票市场的表现出现较大差别 ,与传统理论 (如财富效应、Q效应 )相违背。本文认为传统观点实质上是一种局部均衡分析 ,没有考虑货币市场的影响。为此 ,本文引入一个简单的一般均衡模型 ,在考察股票市场对货币需求影响的基础上 ,全面综合分析股票市场对实体总量经济的影响。文章还着重分析了我国股票市场对实体经济作用有限或滞后的原因 ,并提出相关政策建议。     

The Welfare Impact of Self-supplied Water Pricing in Canada: A Computable General Equilibrium Assessment

This paper uses a computable general equilibrium model to assess the welfare cost of changing the method of water allocation in Canada towards one that uses prices to ration demand. We model the introduction of a price on both water that is abstracted as well as water that is consumed (that is abstracted, and not returned to the source). We estimate that reducing water consumption by 25 % would require imposition of a price on water consumption of around $$\$0.21/\text{ m }^{3}$$ . Similarly, introduction of a water abstraction charge of about $$\$0.013/\text{ m }^{3}$$ would be sufficient to reduce water abstraction by 25 %. We find that if revenues from water pricing are returned in lump sum to households, the introduction of water pricing would result in a modest welfare loss. When revenues from water pricing are used to offset existing taxes, we find a gain in welfare corresponding to a ‘strong double dividend.’     

Publicly Provided Private Goods and Redistribution: A General Equilibrium Analysis

Public provision of private goods is examined within a self-selection framework where production depends on labour supply of different households and the level of public provision. It is shown that productivity and wage-structure effects can create a role for public provision, even if preferences are weakly separable between goods and leisure. Public provision of education may offer an intuitively appealing case for the production-side impacts. We also address the reasons for public provision in a dynamic, overlapping generations economy, whereby public provision may affect efficiency and social costs of redistribution of future generations as well.
JEL classification : H 23; H 42     

The Optimal Speed of Transition: A General Equilibrium Analysis

We present a benchmark model for the optimal speed of transition from a state-owned to a private market economy, based on the consumption-savings decision in a closed economy. We abstract from frictions to focus on the macroeconomic conditions for accumulation of private capital and closure or restructuring of state-owned enterprises. It is shown that hard budget constraints compensate for too slow speed of enterprise closure but that an excess speed of closure may slow down transition because of output contraction effects. This will especially be the case if such a deviation occurs at early stages of transition.     

Importing the Poor: Welfare Magnetism and Cross-Border Welfare Migration

I test for welfare-induced migration by comparing AFDC participation in border counties to interior counties in the same state. If migration costs are lower for border county residents, border counties on the high-benefit side of a state border should have higher welfare participation relative to the state's interior counties. Border counties on the low-benefit side should have lower welfare participation relative to the state's interior counties. The results obtained using county-level data from 1970-90 indicate that having a neighbor with benefits that are $100 lower increases AFDC expenditures in border counties by 4.0-6.8 percent relative to interior counties.     

税收的静态可计算一般均衡模型分析

建立研究中国税收问题的可计算一般均衡模型是一般均衡模型是本文进行探讨的目的,经过大量简化处理,本文建立的税收可计算一般均衡模型模拟了经济运行情况,并有侧重地讨论了我国三大流转税（增值税、消费税和营业税）的经济影响。同时,该简化模型的方法也为进上步推进中国税收可计算均衡模型研究工作打下基础。     

Nash Equilibrium and Welfare Optimality

If A is a set of social alternatives, a social choice rule (SCR) assigns a subset of A to each potential profile of individuals' preferences over A , where the subset is interpreted as the set of welfare optima. A game form (or mechanism) implements the social choice rule if, for any potential profile of preferences, (i) any welfare optimum can arise as a Nash equilibrium of the game form (implying, in particular, that a Nash equilibrium exists) and, (ii) all Nash equilibria are welfare optimal. The main result of this paper establishes that any SCR that satisfies two properties—monotonicity and no veto power—can be implemented by a game form if there are three or more individuals. The proof is constructive.     

Changes in Indirect Taxes in Australia: A Dynamic General Equilibrium Analysis

Over the last thirty years, the effects of indirect taxation changes have been analysed using comparative static general equilibrium models. We use a new method to analyse current changes in Australia's indirect taxes: dynamic computable general equilibrium modelling. Comparative static methods compare the situation in a given year (usually unspecified) with and without a policy change. The dynamic method shows the effects of a policy change through time. Comparative static methods are usually restricted to estimates of long-run changes in allocative efficiency. The dynamic method provides information not only on efficiency but also on adjustment processes, including variations in employment. With our dynamic method, the effects of policy changes are analysed as deviations from explicit forecasts. We find that these forecasts are important for the policy results. For Australia's current set of indirect tax changes, our main conclusions are (i) the short-run employment effects depend critically on the wage response; (ii) merchandise exporters benefit but tourism is harmed; and (iii) the long-run welfare effectsare likely to be negative, reflecting a decline in the terms of trade and increased compliance costs.     

Liberalizing Services Trade In APEC: A General Equilibrium Analysis with Imperfect Competition

The paper studies services-sector trade liberalization in the Asia–Pacific Economic Co-operation (APEC) Forum using a global, multicountry, multisector applied general equilibrium model with an imperfectly competitive service sector. Reducing the service sector's nontariff barriers is modeled by eliminating the possibility for oligopolistic firms to price-discriminate between client countries within APEC and lowering the fixed costs of the firms doing service exporting business. The results suggest that services trade liberalization reinforces existing sectoral trade balances. Increase in demand for intermediate services tends to reinforce rather than counteract the role of primary factors in determining sectoral comparative advantage. The western APEC members received the greatest welfare gains from services trade liberalization, while the developing economies gained more if only tariffs were eliminated.     

论APEC服务贸易的自由化进程——不完全竞争条件下的一般均衡分析

原文出处:本文译自作者于1997年9月向美国国际贸易委员会经济学办公室提交的工作论文:Liberalizing APEC Trade in Services:A General Equilibrium Analysis with Imperfect Competition一、引言(一)服务贸易服务业在每一个国家都是一个重要的行业,在大多数国家它都占到GDP的50%到80%。集体而言,由于服务业是几乎所有国家中最大的行业,所以,把服务业说成是其他行业生产中重要的中间投入也就不奇怪了。服务业还在国际贸易中起着日益重要的作用。虽然,在过去,服务曾经被认为是不可交易的,但现在,国际服务贸易已成为世界贸易中发展最快…     

Licensing of New Technology Versus Direct Foreign Investment: A General Equilibrium Analysis

In a general equilibrium model with sector-specific capital, a country which licenses new technology and imports capital itself would have lower national income than if it permitted direct investment by foreigners with rights to the technology. However, the reverse can be true if capital is mobile between sectors. Thus, licensing is a poor policy in the short run but can be a good policy in the long run.     

大国效应、交易成本和经济结构——国家贫富的一般均衡分析

人口规模和国土面积是大国两个最主要的自然特征,从这两个自然特征出发可推导出大国效应是否存在及其存在的条件。通常,土地面积与国家人均收入有正向关系,而人口规模与国家之间的收入差距呈倒U型关系。在土地面积和其它条件给定的情况下,若一国人口规模适度偏大,该国人均收入将会高于小国;但是,若该国人口规模超出一定限度,该大国会因拥挤而丧失其优势。进一步的研究表明,市场交易成本、经济结构差异和国家之间的开放程度都有可能显著地减弱和逆转大国效应。可见,大国效应的形成需要一定条件,国家规模与贫富差距并非简单的线性关系。     

Specialization, Information, and Growth: A Sequential Equilibrium Analysis

Pricing costs and information problems are introduced into a framework with consumer-producers, economies of specialization, and transaction costs, to predict the endogenous and concurrent evolution of the division of labor and of information concerning economic organization acquired by society. Concurrent evolution generates endogenous growth based on the tradeoff between gains from information about the efficient pattern of the division of labor—which can be acquired via experiments with various patterns—and experimentation costs, which relate to the costs of discovering prices. The concept of Walras sequential equilibrium is developed to analyze the social learning process which is characterized by uncertainties in the direction of the evolution and by a certain trend of the evolutionary process.     

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.