Comparing approaches to valuing sectoral net investments

In the literature of comprehensive national accounts, national net investments are used to indicate dynamic welfare improvement in an economy. A well-known approach associates national net investments with the shadow value of change in stock of capital assets in an economy. Following this capital stock approach, sectoral net investments can be defined as the shadow value of change in stock of capital assets owned by a sector in an economy. An alternative approach is based on future commodity flows to a sector. This commodity flow approach associates sectoral net investments with the present value of changes in future commodity flows to a sector. In the present paper, I compare these two approaches and prove that they coincide with each other only if the future commodity flows to the sector can be attributed to current stock of capital assets in the sector alone. In empirical studies, commodity flow approach can be a better alternative if the purpose is to estimate the contributions to national net investments of a recipient of future cash flows.     

The role of credit constraints and government subsidies in farmland valuations in the US: an options pricing model approach

The Modigliani–Miller (M–M) theorem of financial asset theory concludes that asset values are independent of financing. In other words, debt-solvency (credit constraints) does not affect asset values. Therefore, using the M–M theorem one can argue that credit constraints in the farm sector (where land is the most important asset) do not affect the value of farmland. However, this proof relies on several arbitrage assumptions that are violated in the case of agricultural assets. This paper examines the effect of debt-solvency and government payments on changes in annual farmland values by state in the United States. Using panel cointergration method, results indicate that farmland values are significantly affected by both solvency and government payments. In addition, the results imply that government payments may affect agricultural asset values beyond the direct effect hypothesized in the literature.      

Non-convexities in the adjustment of different capital inputs: A firm-level investigation

Recent developments in investment research have highlighted the importance of non-convexities and irreversibilities in firms’ adjustment of quasi-fixed inputs. Aggregation across capital goods may smooth out the discontinuities associated with the adjustment of individual assets. Lack of suitable data is one of the reasons why empirical work has typically relied on the assumption of capital homogeneity. In this paper we exploit a data set of 1539 Italian firms which allows us to disaggregate capital into equipment and structures, and purchases and sales of assets. We construct measures of fundamental Q to capture investment opportunities associated with each asset. We uncover the pattern of dynamic adjustment by using non-parametric techniques to relate each individual investment to its own fundamental Q.     

The Welfare Economic Theory of Green National Accounts

This paper takes a critical look at the literature on green national accounts. The problem studied is to find a linear index of economic variables that responds to perturbations in the same direction as social well-being. The thesis of a large literature, that net national product (which is a flow) is that index in closed economies, is shown in some interpretations to be simply false and in others to suffer from deep estimation problems. It is argued that capital depreciation using shadow prices should certainly be included in national accounts, but that the right welfare index is a comprehensive measure of wealth, defined as the shadow value of an economy’s stock of all capital assets. It is shown that comprehensive wealth is usable as a criterion for policy evaluation as well as for determining sustainable economic development.     

Tax treatment of owner occupied housing and wealth inequality

We construct a quantitative general equilibrium lifecycle model with housing tenure decisions to investigate the degree to which wealth inequality in the United States is affected by the preferential tax treatment of home-ownership. Favorable tax treatment of owner occupied housing in the form of home mortgage interest and property tax deductibility, and the untaxed nature of imputed rents, provides a financial incentive for home-ownership over renting as well as an incentive to “over-consume” housing since houses are not fungible. Since the favorable tax treatment of housing disproportionately creates tax savings for the upper quantiles of the income distribution, we quantify how it contributes to the heavily right skewed distribution of wealth in the United States using data from the Survey of Consumer Finances. We consider a revenue-neutral government response to the counter factual experiments of removing the current tax structure on housing. Our quantitative analysis shows that, in terms of distributional effects, removing all of the preferential tax treatments results in an aggregate increase in welfare. However, we do not find any reduction in inequality. We also find that while some re-allocation toward financial assets occurs, households primarily increase their consumption when imputed housing rents are taxed and the property tax deduction is removed. Thus housing tax policy may be effective at encouraging more overall saving through housing assets.     

湖南省现代服务业发展因素实证研究

通过建立一个多元线性回归模型,对1995—2007年湖南现代服务业发展变化的决定因素作了实证分析。结果显示:人均生产总值、制造业增加值、就业人数、固定资产投资、城市化率与城镇居民可支配收入对湖南现代服务业产值均有不同程度的影响,其中固定资产投入对现代服务业的拉动作用最为明显。与此同时,与我们的预期相反,人均生产总值以及城镇居民可支配收入对现代服务业的发展具有消极影响。然而,现代服务业产值与人均生产总值、城镇居民可支配收入之间具有单向的因果关系。     

Measuring the size and dynamics of U.S. state-level shadow economies using a dynamic general equilibrium model with trends

We use a two-sector dynamic deterministic general equilibrium model that specifically accounts for trends among time-series variables to estimate the size of the shadow economy for the 50 U.S. states from 1999 to 2019, following Solis-Garcia and Xie (2018, 2022). This paper improves on existing measures of the state-level shadow economy (such as the multiple indicators, multiple causes (MIMIC) methodology by Wiseman (2013a)). In particular, this new measure is based on theoretical foundations, extends the previous measure to include the Great Recession, includes dollar value estimates of the shadow economy, and produces considerably more variation over time and across states. Furthermore, we explore determinants of this new shadow economy measure using a panel vector autoregressive model and find that, on average, states with higher levels of economic freedom, lower regulatory barriers, and larger real GDP have smaller shadow economies. States with bigger governments, on average, have larger shadow economies, and the effect of corruption on shadow economic activity is non-linear, with a positive initial and subsequent negative impact.     

The Post-quota performance of dairy farms in england and wales

Dairy quotas were introduced in April 1984. Since then, producers have been adjusting their production systems to cope with a constraint on milk output. In this paper, stochastic production functions are used to examine both allocative efficiency of input use and technical efficiency in the industry during the post-quota period. The results indicate that producers have successfully adjusted the use of the variable input, feed, to optimal levels but are finding it more difficult to adjust quasi-fixed inputs such as labour, land, machinery and the herd size. Technical efficiency has remained relatively constant.     

公允价值会计顺周期性及其改进——基于金融危机的视角

近两年的金融市场动荡显示了会计信息的不确定性,公允价值会计（FVA）方法被引入到银行的资产负债表中,是金融机构首选的核算框架。FVA方法的缺陷可能会带来波动性和顺周期性,因此需要一些改进。资本缓冲、前瞻性的拨备和更完善的信息披露有助于减轻FVA方法的顺周期性。会计估值方法、审慎监管措施和风险管理之间需要相互协调,并根据各方要求作出调整。     

An Analysis of the Distributional Impact of Imputed Rent Taxation*

This paper examines the short-run distributional implications of withdrawing the implicit subsidies which accrue to owner-occupiers through the non-taxation of their imputed income. It is argued that the distributional implications of taxing imputed income from owner-occupied housing depend on the interaction of house value, equity and income over the life cycle of the owner-occupier and that a failure to take all of these factors into account could result in a policy of imputed income taxation having unintended distributional effects within the owner-occupied sector. The revenue gained from the introduction of such a policy, however, would be more than adequate to offset these effects.     

Measuring the size of the shadow economy in 30 provinces of China over 1995–2016: The MIMIC approach

Applying the multiple indicators and multiple causes (MIMIC) approach, the present paper measured the size of the shadow economies in China's provinces over 1995–2016. The results show that the average size of the shadow economy in 30 provinces of China increased from 13.55% in 1995 to 14.39% in 2009, and then decreased to 12.30% in 2016. There are obvious variations in the size of the shadow economies in different districts of China. The average size of the shadow economy is lowest in provinces in the eastern district and highest in the western district. In addition, the causes and consequences of the shadow economies in China's provinces have also been analysed using the MIMIC approach, and the results show that tax burden, complexity of the tax system, intensity of regulation, unemployment, employment in the agricultural sector and economic openness have significant positive effects on China's shadow economy, while the ratio of direct taxes to indirect taxes, fiscal autonomy and income levels have significant negative effects on China's shadow economy. Using the growth rate of energy consumption as the benchmark indicator, the MIMIC analysis shows that the shadow economy has significant positive effects on the development of the official economy and income inequality while having a significant negative effect on the labour participation rate.     

增值税转型对固定资产会计处理的变化及特例

增值税转型造成了固定资产核算过程中,因固定资产购置时间不同和原购置时增值税的处理不同,从而使固定资产新增时增值税进项税、视同销售时销项税的处理发生了改变。购进用于非应税项目等的固定资产不允许抵扣进项税额;纳税人销售自己使用过的固定资产要区分不同情形征收增值税;纳税人已抵扣进项税额的固定资产用于非增值税应税项目,以及自制或购进固定资产发生非正常损失要在当月按原适用税率计算并转出不得抵扣的进项税额。通过增值税转型后固定资产核算特例,详细分析了增值税转型前后的变化与纳税影响。     

Rate‐of‐return Parity in Experimental Asset Markets*

This paper applies experimental methods to evaluate the completeness of arbitrage and rate‐of‐return parity in simultaneous asset markets in which the assets are denominated in different currencies. Two assets, which return uncertain, but known, dividends in each trading period, are traded over 20 periods, after which the asset has no value. Results indicate that risk‐neutral rate‐of‐return parity is a strong predictor of relative asset prices when assets have common expected dividends and the expected dividends have common variances. The predictive power of risk‐neutral rate‐of‐return parity is reduced as the assets become differentiated.     

Evolving techniques in production function identification illustrated in the case of the US dairy

We estimate production technologies of major dairy producing regions in the U.S. The simultaneity and sample selection biases are carefully corrected following the recent development in the literature. The commonly applied control function approaches are found to be misleading in correcting for biases of coefficient estimates on flexible and quasi-fixed input variables. We show that the emerging dairy regions have relatively higher aggregate productivity than traditional regions. Dynamic decomposition results indicate that surviving farms play a more important role in regional productivity growth than entering and exiting farms. Farm- and regional-level driving forces of farm productivity are also examined.     

金融资产公允价值变动的价值相关性研究

本文以2007—2008年沪深A股公司为研究样本,对我国新会计准则制度下交易性金融资产和可供出售金融资产分别记入利润表和资产负债表的公允价值变动进行了价值相关性检验。结果发现:交易性金融资产的公允价值变动损益的价值相关性显著高于可供出售金融资产的公允价值变动净额的价值相关性。     

Do fiscal decentralization and income inequality affect the size of the shadow economy? A panel data analysis for OECD countries

In this article, we study fiscal decentralization and inequality as driving forces of the shadow economy in advanced economies. Our empirical analysis suggests that a reduction in income inequality will contain the shadow economy, whereas expenditure and tax decentralization do not significantly impact it. As decentralization is generally believed to increase government efficiency, this result is indicative of already highly efficient public administrations. Our results further indicate that redistributive policies positively affect the size of the shadow economy, whereas the tax burden does not have any discernible effect on the shadow economy in our sample.     

Valuing environmental and health risk in agriculture: A choice experiment approach to pesticides in Italy

The widespread use of pesticides in agriculture shows a complex ramification of multiple negative externalities, ranging from food safety-related effects to the deterioration of farmland ecosystems. Recent research has demonstrated that the assessment of the economic implications of such negative processes is fraught with many uncertainties. This paper presents the results of an empirical study recently conducted in Northern Italy aimed at estimating the economic value of reducing the wide-ranging impacts of pesticide use, by deploying a Choice Experiment approach. The experimental design provides a meaningful tool to assign monetary values to the negative environmental effects associated with agrochemicals use. In this connection, the paper addresses in particular the reduction of farmland biodiversity, groundwater contamination and harm to human health. The resulting estimates confirm that, on average, respondents demonstrate a substantial willingness-to-pay a premium for agricultural goods (in particular, foodstuffs) produced in environmentally-benign ways.     

Estimation of the greenhouse gas externality with uncertainty

The shadow price of carbon dioxide is the value of the external damage caused by an emission. A shadow price model for calculating the present value of the external damage of a carbon dioxide emission is derived explicitly. Sixteen experts provided subjective high, low and most likely parameter estimates because correct values for the eight model parameters are uncertain. The estimation procedure retains parameter uncertainty while generating the main result, which is a distribution of shadow price estimates. Major assumptions made in the estimation identify the basis for the results. Of the eight model parameters, the discount rate dominates the determination of the shadow price. For comparison, expert estimates of the shadow price itself provide a second distribution of shadow price estimates.     

Capacity utilization under dynamic profit maximization

Empirically implementable measures of optimal capacity utilization are developed from the dynamic profit maximization perspective. The primal measure is based on behavior of the firm's supply along an optimal path to the steady state. The dual measure is based on the behavior of the dynamic value function in the stock of the quasi-fixed input. Rates of optimal capacity utilization are estimated for the U.S. food processing and distribution sector over the period 1948–1991.     

Were the peseta exchange rate crises forecastable during target zone period?

During the 1990s several fixed or quasi-fixed exchange rate systems collapsed. Currency crises have happened in both developed and emerging countries so it is necessary to forecast and avoid them. However, financial market crises have been extremely difficult to forecast. Economic agents' expectations are nonobservable variables that cannot be ignored in the models. In addition, if it is required to study the European case during the 1990s, the censored disposition of the exchange rate cannot be ignored either. A discrete time target zones model is proposed where these aspects are taken into account. It will be tested in a peseta/deutsche mark exchange rate framework, from June 1989 to December 1998. The results indicate differences between before and after the shift in band widths in August 1993.