Multi-province comparisons of digital financial inclusion performance in China: A group ranking method with preference analysis

The Peking University Digital Financial Inclusion Index of China (PKU-DFIIC) measures the digital financial inclusion (DFI) performance in China from three dimensions: breadth of coverage, depth of use and level of digitalization. This paper extends the PKU-DFIIC to measure and compare the provincial DFI performance in terms of proposing a group ranking method with preference analysis. Specifically, we identify a panel of experts by comprehensively considering all possible importance orders of three dimensions, and formulate a preliminary group decision matrix. Then the preference analysis is carried out with respect to preferential difference and preferential priority. A revised group decision matrix is derived with the expert-specific ranking as the inputs. Finally, a group ranking method is given based on the half-quadratic theory, in conjunction with the consensus index and trust level denoting the level of agreement and reliability of the group ranking. An empirical study using the PKU-DFIIC data from 2016 to 2020 is conducted to demonstrate our method, along with the spatial-temporal analysis of the results and a set of policy implications to promote the DFI development in China.     

我国农村金融的可持续发展研究

中国经济社会具有二元结构特征,城乡两个区域的生产力水平差异较大,金融业的重心长期以来一直处在工业、商业等市场经济活跃的领域,因而城市金融发展水平远远高于农村。我国经济社会的全面发展与新常态对农村金融的建设提出了更高的要求。本文通过分析农村金融的特点与阻碍农村金融发展的内部和外部原因,并从农民、金融机构以及政府的角度给出了解决农村金融可持续发展及良性循环的建议。     

新时代我国农村基础设施建设问题探究

农村基础设施建设是实现乡村振兴战略的重要基础,是决胜全面建成小康社会、实现社会主义现代化的前提条件,它关系到广大农民的切身利益。自我国进入新时代以来,农村基础设施建设比以往取得了较大的成就,但仍有许多不足。农村基础设施存在着区域发展不平衡、内部结构不合理及建设与维护不协调等问题,文章分析了这些问题,找出其背后的根源,从而对症下药地提出解决措施。     

Effect of promotion pressure and financial burden on investment in public–private partnership infrastructure projects in China

By identifying the political motives of officials and local governments, this study aims to provide a new political economic analysis framework for understanding China's incentives for investing in public–private partnership (PPP) infrastructure projects. Chinese urban panel data for the period 2013–17 were used to examine the mechanisms of promotion pressure and financial burden in relation to investments in PPP infrastructure projects. Based on our findings, the following policy recommendations are proposed: standardise the behaviour of local government officials in promoting PPP projects, establish a lifelong accountability mechanism for PPP project performance, establish a mechanism for local government debt risk assessment and prevention, and avoid the risk of local debt arising from over‐investment in PPP infrastructure projects. Moreover, a match should be formed between local economic infrastructure planning and investment plans to avoid over‐ or under‐investment.     

Financial literacy,financial inclusion,and savings behavior in Laos

This study examines the effects of financial literacy on financial inclusion and savings behavior in Laos. Compared to previous literature, we use a broader definition of financial literacy which covers not only financial knowledge but also financial behavior and financial attitudes. We also use a new definition of financial inclusion which goes beyond the supply-side perspective to consider the consumer’s perspective. To do so, we use the survey instrument designed by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development International Network on Financial Education. We also used more reliable instrumental variables to investigate the effects of financial literacy on financial inclusion (and its components) and savings behavior. We find that financial literacy has statistically positive effects on both financial inclusion and savings. Moreover, the effects of financial literacy on different measures of financial inclusion vary. Our results further show that individuals with higher financial literacy scores are more likely to hold savings in both formal and informal forms than those who have lower financial literacy scores, even when we control for income and education.     

新农村建设中的金融需求与投资机会

随着新农村建设的进一步展开,农村地区将产生新的金融需求,并催生新的投资机会十七届三中全会的召开,为下一步新农村建设定下了新的基调。全会公报《中共中央关于推进农村改革发展若干重大问题的决定》认为,解决好"三农"问题,拓展农村经济、扩大农业投入、提高农民收入以拉动农民有效需求,将对拉动我国内需起到重要作用,进而也将为中国经济转型提供重要的支撑。     

农村金融改革势在必行

核心内容：处在弱势地位的“三农”产业和“三农”经济，需要各种金融和相关配套服务通力合作，共同培育，创造一个规范、和谐的农村金融生态环境。     

我国基础设施资产证券化的障碍与对策

我国进一步实施基础设施资产证券化有着紧迫性与现实性。目前我国实施基础设施资产证券化存在着法律法规不完善、权威信用中介机构缺位、会计准则和税收制度不健全、资本市场发育不成熟和人才严重不足等诸多障碍。主要对策为:构建资产证券化的法律法规体系,完善和规范基础设施资产证券化的技术体系,修订与完善现行税收制度与会计准则,强化政府支持机制和监管机制,培育和规范基础设施资产证券化的运行环境。     

农村金融改革的七种现实选择

由于农村金融需求与金融机构的多样性,改革也应放得更活,从易到难,近期能见成效当前,资金严重短缺困扰着我国农村经济的可持续发展。造成这种局面的根本原因     

全球金融变革与中国国际金融战略构想

后危机时代,国际货币体系多元化的趋势不可逆转,美国的金融模式亦面临严重挑战。中国的经济大国地位需要大国金融的支撑。中国金融发展的战略目标是构建新的全球性金融中心。人民币国际化是新的全球性金融中心形成的前提,而金融市场特别是资本市场的开放和大发展则是金融中心建设的关键。     

National and regional financial openness in China

While China’s economy has been subject to a wide range of economic reforms since 1978, its capital account is still restricted. The issue of capital account convertibility is widely debated both in China and by foreign observers. This study contributes to the understanding of China’s capital account by constructing new indices for China’s financial openness. First, we construct alternative indices, both of which suggest that China has experienced significant increases in its financial openness, albeit beginning at very low levels in the late 1970s. Then, we construct an index for financial openness at the provincial level from 2000. As expected, the eastern provinces exhibit much higher levels of financial openness than the provinces located in the central and western parts of the country. Taken together, these indices enable a clear overview of national and regional financial openness across time and are well suited for future studies on determinants and effects of financial openness in China.     

Transportation infrastructure and entrepreneurship: Evidence from high-speed railway in China

Using high-speed railway (HSR) construction in China as a quasi-experiment, this paper contributes to the understanding of how transportation infrastructure affects entrepreneurship. On the basis of a difference-in-difference approach, we find that access to an HSR connection leads to an increase in entrepreneurship by approximately 3.5 percentage points (35% of the mean). Mechanism exploration suggests that market potential is the main channel that HSR encourages entrepreneurial activities, which is realized by accelerated information sharing and face-to-face interactions. And the effect is bigger for high-educated families, wealthy families and in large cities.     

Welfare practices in rural China

In rural China emergency aid and long-term financial assistance are distributed annually to approximately seven million people. Final responsibility for this enormous undertaking lies with the Ministry of Public Security in Peking, but for the majority of individuals in need relief comes directly from surpluses generated and controlled by village communities. Rural relief is distributed primarily in kind rather than in cash payments and guarantees only a minimal standard of living. Thus recipients who are physically able supplement their aid with light jobs or cultivate dependency relationships with neighbours and relatives. The number of recipients is kept at a minimum by a government policy of full employment, limited internal migration, and a strong sense of family responsibility for destitute or disabled relatives. Administered without a separate welfare bureaucracy or staff, the system is organizationally simple. It success, however, rests on a complex mix of political and economic resources not easily replicated by reorganization of bureaucracies, retraining of civil servants, or increases in cash payments. In short, the rural relief system is an integral part of the social and political transformation of the traditional rural economy implemented by the Chinese Communist Party since 1949.     

Remittances and relative concerns in rural China

The paper investigates the impact of remittances on the relative concerns of households in rural China. Using the Rural to Urban Migration in China (RUMiC) dataset we estimate a series of subjective well-being functions to simultaneously explore relative concerns with respect to income and remittances. Our results show that although rural households experience substantial welfare loss due to income comparisons, they gain well-being by comparing their remittances with those received by their reference group. In other words, we find evidence of a “status effect” with respect to income and of a “signal effect” of similar magnitude with respect to remittances. This finding is robust to various specifications, alternative reference group definitions, controls for the endogeneity of remittances and selective migration, as well as the use of migrants' net contribution to household income.     

Migration and household investment in rural China

In this paper, we demonstrate how household investment is affected by participation in migration in rural China. We both describe investment patterns across different regions of China and by households with different experiences with migration. We then describe a set of hypotheses about the relationship between migration and investment, and test the hypotheses using household data that we collected in rural China in 2000. We find that in areas with median incomes that are more than twice the poverty line, migration is associated with investment in housing and other consumer durables that is 20% higher than the average. We find no evidence of a link between migration and productive investment.     

Political conflict and rural industrialization in China

Rural industries have advanced especially rapidly since the Cultural Revolution. Although the political shift of late 1976 created doubt about their future, little significant difference exists between the earlier and present basic approaches. Rural industrialization has been stressed as a way to develop the economies of the larger rural collectives (brigades and communes). This process is quite advanced in some suburban and relatively developed rural areas, where commune and brigade industries employ substantial proportions of the local labour force, and contribute as much as half or more of total output, thus paving the way for the transition to a higher level of collective organization and ownership in the countryside.     

The process of financial reforms in China

This study aims to show that financial reforms in China can be viewed as an endogenous adjustment process responding primarily to economic growth and changes in political constraints. The author's argument is thus against the mainstream view in which financial reforms are regarded as primary policy tools for the promotion of economic growth. Three factors are carefully examined for the explanation of the endogenous characteristics of financial reforms. First, this paper takes a close look at endogenous aspects of Chinese financial repression. The endogenous characters of financial repression explain why financial reforms in China follow an endogenous path. Second, recent developments of legal frameworks are found to have been institutional responses to macroeconomic imbalances, financial disorders, and increased demands for property right protection. Finally, this paper shows that the lack of market infrastructure and various political constraints have been major obstacles for China's capital market development.     

国际金融危机中的中国经济安全及其对策

国际金融海啸说明:经济全球化的发展使世界各国间经济相互依存日益增强,一方面,为不少国家带来了丰厚利益,促进了经济发展;另一方面,给各国经济安全带来挑战。中国在向现代化转型中,经济安全面临严峻考验,应对国际金融危机冲击,不可崇拜市场和美国模式,而要进一步调整和优化产业结构,扩大内需。     

Effects of financial inclusion on tax revenue mobilization: Evidence from WAEMU countries

Financial inclusion remains at the heart of governments concerns. By creating favorable conditions for access to a diversified range of adapted financial products and services at affordable costs for the populations, financial inclusion generates important opportunities that could lead to increased tax revenue mobilization. This paper analyzes the effects of financial inclusion on tax revenue mobilization, using panel data from West African Economic and Monetary Union (WAEMU) countries over the period 2006–2019. The findings suggest that financial inclusion positively and significantly influences government's tax revenue. Moreover, by looking at the effects of disaggregated financial inclusion dimensions (access, use, and affordability) on various components of tax revenue, we find that the estimated coefficients on the subcomponents of financial inclusion are statistically significant. Results also indicate that the magnitude of effect of financial inclusion is higher on indirect taxes compared to direct tax revenues. This research recommends that policy-makers should prioritize financial inclusion in their policies and development agenda through National Financial Inclusion Strategies (NFIS) because it can increase countries' resource mobilization and help them to build fiscal resilience.