Existence and Welfare Properties of Equilibrium in an Exchange Economy with Multiple Divisible and Indivisible Commodities and Linear Production Technologies

In this paper we consider a class of economies with a finite number of divisible commodities, linear production technologies, and indivisible goods and a finite number of agents. This class contains several well-known economies with indivisible goods and money as special cases. It is shown that if the utility functions are continuous on the divisible commodities and are weakly monotonic both on one of the divisible commodities and on all the indivisible commodities, if each agent initially owns a sufficient amount of one of the divisible commodities, and if a “no production without input”-like assumption on the production sector holds, then there exists a competitive equilibrium for any economy in this class. The usual convexity assumption is not needed here. Furthermore, by imposing strong monotonicity on one of the divisible commodities we show that any competitive equilibrium is in the core of the economy and therefore the first theorem of welfare also holds. We further obtain a second welfare theorem stating that under some conditions a Pareto efficient allocation can be sustained by a competitive equilibrium allocation for some well-chosen redistribution of the total initial endowments. Journal of Economic Literature Classification Numbers: D4, D46, D5, D51, D6, D61.     

Consumption externalities and the effects of international income transfers on the global environment

In this paper, we extend the standard model of private provision of public goods by including consumption externalities to characterize a situation in which economic activities pollute the environment. We consider a case in which there are an industrial country which can afford to invest in the environment and a developing country which cannot. Then, we show that international income transfers in both directions can improve the global environmental quality as well as the welfare of each country. We also show that the results have important implications for policies such as official development assistance or the assignment of tradable emission permits.     

Subgame-perfect implementation of bargaining solutions

We study house allocation problems introduced by L. Shapley and H. Scarf (1974, J. Math. Econ.1, 23–28). We prove that a mechanism (a social choice function) is individually rational, anonymous, strategy-proof, and nonbossy (but not necessarily Pareto efficient) if and only if it is either the core mechanism or the no-trade mechanism, where the no-trade mechanism is the one that selects the initial allocation for each profile of preferences. This result confirms the intuition that even if we are willing to accept inefficiency, there exists no interesting strategy-proof mechanism other than the core mechanism. Journal of Economic Literature Classification Numbers: C71, C78, D71, D78, D89.     

双维度下的公共产品概念及其现实意义

萨缪尔森等人从经济角度所定义的公共产品概念,忽视了对"公共"的详察,其现实意义受到了质疑.为切实反映公共产品的本质和研究的现实意义,对公共产品概念的界定至少应该从主体维度和客体维度两个方向进行.毕竟,公共产品是一个综合性的概念,并且针对目前歧义产生和争论的焦点,对概念的本质解读应重点落脚于"公共"而不是"产品".应该说,公共产品本身就是一个综合概念,至少可以体现在主体(政治)和客体(经济)维度上.历史地、具体地认识公共产品的本质,界定其概念,有助于我们透过现象看本质,正确地区分与公共产品相联系的一些社会经济甚至政治现象.     

Voluntary contributions when the public good is not necessarily normal

We argue that there are interesting examples of privately provided public goods that do not satisfy the assumption of strict normality, and reconsider voluntary-contribution games in a more general framework. We show that, in general, (1) equalizing transfers between individuals with identical tastes can increase total supply of the public good, and (2) more of the public good can be supplied if agents move sequentially rather than simultaneously. These results are in sharp contrast to earlier conclusions derived in the literature under the assumption of strict normality.     

Verifying gross substitutability

Summary. In labor market models as well as in exchange economies with indivisible goods gross substitutability is used as a property to guarantee the existence of competitive equilibria. This paper develops an easy way to check gross substitutability for utility functions concerning a finite set of indivisible goods (or employees) and money. Concavity is one of the conditions that has to be satisfied. Only one other, but similar, type of relation must be checked to guarantee gross substitutability. Received: 21 August 2000; revised version: 28 November 2001     

私人参与公共环境服务供给的路径选择

由于环境服务的大部分内容具有公共物品属性,所以在我国长期以来主要由政府负责供给,对财政支出造成巨大的压力.在研究西方私人供给公共物品的理论的基础上,结合我国的实际情况,为我国私人参与公共环境服务供给提供现实的路径选择.     

公共产品的私人供应与气象服务的商业化

气象服务是一种典型的由政府无偿提供的社会公益性公共产品 ,由于其垄断经营的固有缺陷 ,造成气象服务供给的高成本和低效率。随着人类社会的不断发展 ,许多发达市场经济国家或地区已经尝试与推广气象服务商业化 ,并取得了显著的效果。本文从公共产品供应理论出发 ,在介绍国外气象服务商业化运行机制和经验的基础上 ,分析与提出了我国气象服务商业化的可能性、必要性及其相关政策建议等     

郑州市居民对低碳商品的认知状况和消费意愿影响因素分析——基于居民调查数据的实证研究

低碳经济转型的实现依赖于低碳消费的发展。不同个体特征的郑州市居民对低碳商品的认知状况有一定差异,大多数郑州市居民对低碳商品有一定程度的了解却又缺乏信任;居民收入水平、对低碳商品的信任度、对低碳商品的认知状况、低碳消费补贴是影响当前我国城市居民对低碳商品消费意愿的关键因素。基于郑州市经济发展水平和消费水平的特点,这一结论基本上反映了我国城市居民当前对低碳商品的认知状况和消费意愿的平均水平。     

公共产品供给主体及边界确定的交易费用经济学分析——兼论我国公共产品供给过程中交易费用的计量

将新制度经济学中交易费用理论引入公共产品供给分析,给出了供给公共产品的主体确定的理论模型,并在威廉姆森范式扩展的基础上得出了各个主体的边界,认为最优公共产品供给方式的选择和主体边界的确定,取决于公共产品供给过程中发生的交易费用.测算了中国公私部门供给公共产品过程中存在的交易费用,发现就我国公共产品的供给而言,在一定的条件下将公共产品供给由政府部门交给私人部门与第三部门可以节约交易费用,提高公共产品供给的效率.     

Optimal consumption and the environment Choosing between ‘clean’ and ‘dirty’ goods

In this paper, a model with heterogeneous consumption goods is presented. Consumers are assumed to choose between two different consumption goods, characterized by a different impact on the environment. This implies that, in a decentralized economy, government can sustain the social optimum by setting two Pigouvian taxes: one on production as a whole and the other on dirty consumption acting as an incentive in favour of clean consumption. In accordance with the previous literature, a trade-off between a clean environment and economic activity evolves. However, this trade-off is now mitigated by the additional taxation on polluting consumption which allows the control of pollution stock evolution through the substitution between clean and dirty commodities.     

Positional goods and social welfare: a note on George Pendleton Watkins’ neglected contribution

Watkins's analysis of adventitious utility contains many aspects that are connected to the contemporary debate on positional goods. First, Watkins adventitious utility emerges from a process of social exclusion and can create negative externalities, in the sense that positive consumption of one individual implies negative consumption by another individual. Not only it creates negative externalities on other individuals, but it can initiate a race-to-the-bottom, where individuals waste an increasing amount of money on goods which do not possess any real utility.     

小议政府在私立学校发展中的作用

教育是一种准公共品,可以由私人提供。私立学校是对公立学校的有益补充,有其存在的可行性和必要性。目前我国的私立学校正在蓬勃发展。政府应鼓励、支持私立学校的发展,既支持非营利性私立学校,也支持营利性私立学校。私立学校的学费虽高,但市场的供求关系会对其加以调节,无须政府过多干涉。政府应以各种方式鼓励有识之士和广大群众投资教育,并对私立学校提供优惠政策,促进其发展壮大。