Organized crime and business subsidies: Where does the money go?

Business support policies are widespread in advanced countries, to foster employment and productivity. This paper analyses the role of organized crime in the allocation of public subsidies to businesses. We assemble an innovative data set on the Italian mafia at municipality level and test whether mafia-ridden municipalities receive a disproportionally higher amount of funds. We exploit exogenous variation at municipality level to instrument mafia activity and show that the presence of organized crime positively affects the probability of obtaining funding and the amount of public funds. Organized crime is also found to lead to episodes of corruption in the public administration sector. A series of robustness checks confirms the above findings.     

高等教育利用资本市场融资探析

虽然我国已经初步建立起高等教育的多渠道筹资体制,但目前依然存在高等教育经费的主渠道薄弱,结构不合理等诸多问题,导致政府财政压力过大,高等教育经费投入严重不足。要发展高等教育就必须充分利用市场的资源配置功能,扩大和调整现在筹资渠道,提高经费的使用效率。     

EFFECT OF PUBLIC INVESTMENT ON THE REGIONAL ECONOMIES IN POSTWAR JAPAN

This paper examines the effect of public investment on the regional economies of postwar Japan. It evaluates the effects of efficiency-verses-equity-oriented allocation policies by estimating the aggregate regional production function and calculating the marginal productivity of public capital for each region, using panel data covering the 47 prefectures over the period from 1955 to 2000. The empirical results show that public capital investment has alternated between an allocation policy based on efficiency and one that is based on equity, and, in fact, such investment was used as a policy tool for adjusting income distribution and accelerating economic growth. Numerical simulations are used to analyze the trade-offs between economic efficiency and inter-prefectural equity. The results indicate that in the case of income-elastic labor mobility, an efficiency-oriented allocation policy leads to larger aggregate gross domestic product by promoting both growth and equity simultaneously.     

Impact assessment based sectoral balancing in public R&D project portfolio selection

Government funding agencies spend significant amounts of R&D funds through funding programs. While allocating funds among sectors or scientific disciplines, the Decision Maker (DM) wants to maximize the total impact by supporting R&D activities in those sectors with higher scientific, social and economic return. On the other hand, the DM wants to balance the funding budget over sectors or disciplines. In this study, we incorporate the results of “sectoral impact assessments” into the public R&D project portfolio selection (RDPPS) problem. We develop a two-stage model. In the first stage, we make sectoral budget allocation decisions to maximize the total impact of the budget while ensuring a relative balance among sectors. In the second stage, we maximize the total score of supported projects under allocated sectoral budgets. We illustrate the proposed approach on an example problem. We show the value of the proposed approach by comparing our results with alternative policy options.     

Long-run consequences of debt

Empirical evidence suggests that both public and private debt may have long-run detrimental effects on the economy. However, theoretical works have not provided a unique explanation to the issue. In this paper, therefore, we propose a framework that is able to describe the long-run effects of different kinds of debt. We introduce a stock-flow consistent dynamic model where the economy is represented as a network of trading relationships among agents. Debt contracts are one of such relationships. The model is characterized by a unique and stable steady-state and predicts that: (i) aggregate income is always limited from the above by the money supply; (ii) debts cause in the long-run a redistribution of borrowers’ wealth and income in favor of lenders; (iii) the redistribution is magnified by the level of the interest rate and (iv) by the degree of debt persistence. In the aggregate this may also lower the average marginal propensity to spend and nominal income, providing therefore a clear-cut explanation to the empirical evidence.     

Allocation of public funds to R&;D: a portfolio choice-styled decision model and a biotechnology case study

A decision problem—allocating public research and development (R&D) funding—is faced by a planner who has ambiguous knowledge of welfare effects of the various research areas. We model this as a reverse portfolio choice problem faced by a Bayesian decision-maker. Two elements of the planner’s inferential system are developed: a conditional distribution of welfare ‘returns’ on an allocation, given stated preferences of citizens for the different areas, and a minimum risk criterion for re-allocating these funds, given the performance of a status quo level of funding. A case study of Canadian public research funds expended on various applications of agricultural biotechnology is provided. The decision-making methodology can accommodate a variety of collective expenditure and resource allocation problems.     

Exploring efficiency differentials between Saudi higher education institutions

There have been considerable public debates surrounding the efficiency of Saudi higher education institutions, specifically after Vision 2030. We explore the efficiency of institutions of higher learning in Saudi Arabia. Panel data from 61 higher education institutions are employed for the academic years 2008–2014 to estimate efficiency scores. Also, second stage regression analysis was employed to identify the main determinants of efficiency scores. We conclude that despite exponential growth in government funding for the higher education sector, technical efficiencies remained almost stagnant over the study period along with a persistence of inefficiencies. Second stage regression results confirm that institution ownership itself does not have a significant effect on efficiency scores. However, being a university and acquiring more than 20 years of experience have a positive impact on efficiency scores. An increase in both lower secondary completion rates and percentage of female students in secondary general education increases efficiencies, whereas higher employment to population ratio and increasing female academic staff ratio in tertiary education reduces institutional efficiencies.     

Evaluating efficient public good provision: Theory and evidence from a generalised conditional efficiency model for public libraries

Provision of most public goods (e.g., health care, libraries, education, police, fire protection, utilities) can be characterized by a two-stage production process. In the first-stage, basic inputs (e.g., labor and capital) are used to generate service potential (e.g., opening hours, materials), which is then, in the second-stage, transformed into observed outputs (e.g., school outcomes, library circulation, crimes solved). As final outputs are also affected by demand-side factors, conflating both production stages likely leads to biased inferences about public productive (in)efficiency and its determinants. Hence, this paper uses a specially tailored, fully non-parametric efficiency model allowing for both outlying observations and heterogeneity to analyse efficient public good provision in stage one only. We thereby employ a dataset comprising all 290 Flemish public libraries. Our findings suggest that ideological stance of the local government, wealth and density of the local population and source of library funding (i.e., local funding versus intergovernmental transfers) strongly affect library productive efficiency.     

An Income Tax Increase to Fund Higher Education: A CGE Analysis for Chile

An increase in income taxes to fund education was one of the demands made by the social movements that emerged in Chile in 2011. Currently, the Chilean Congress is enacting a tax reform to raise money for higher education. This study aims to show the dynamic effects on the general equilibrium of the Chilean economy under two alternative approaches: a subsidy to lower the price of higher education (public and private), and greater spending on public higher education to reduce household payments for education. The social accounting matrix (SAM) used to calibrate the computable general equilibrium (CGE) model has 38 economic sectors, including the production structure of private education and public education. The study mainly concludes that a subsidy policy has significant advantages over increasing higher public education spending, regarding its effects on variables such as GDP, investment, and household incomes, while both policies have a similar effect on poverty and income distribution.     

应用VE原理,促进政府采购体制创新

实行政府采购的目的是为了满足社会公共需要,其运用公共性资金数额之大为其他采购主体所望尘莫及。因此,政府采购不仅作为提高公共支出效率、体现政府政策意图的有效手段,同时也是市场经济国家管理直接支出的基本手段,为世界各国政府所普遍重视。将价值工程(VE)原理运用于政府采购,即对设施、产品、服务或流程等对象进行功能和全寿命成本分析,以多学科团队工作方式和严谨的工作计划谋求创新的改进方案,可以增加政府采购项目的价值,提高政府采购效率。基于价值工程的政府采购管理,对政府采购中的采购计划与预算匹配、供应商管理、采购内容设置有着重要的指导意义。价值工程不仅是一种管理技术,更是一种管理思想。文中对价值工程思想在政府采购管理中的应用方法与步骤进行了探讨,分析了影响政府采购管理的几个因素,并提出了几项建议。     

A supply-demand model of public sector size

We develop a supply-demand model for the public sector with a political equilibrium. The model considers the inefficiencies caused by taxes and includes costs associated with the provision of public goods to consumers. We show that the size of the public sector may depend on the median voter's income, population size, costs associated with paying tax, and quality of institutions, all of which reflect the costs of provisioning public goods. The estimates for the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development member countries are compatible with theoretical predictions; however, they do not confirm Wagner's law, which holds that the public sector share does not grow with an increase in income. A greater dependency ratio and the Gini coefficient increase demand for redistribution policies. Greater government effectiveness is a supply-side factor that increases the public sector's share in an economy.     

公共服务供给、空间溢出与新型城镇化发展质量

本文利用省级面板数据实证研究了公共服务供给对新型城镇化发展质量的作用机理及其空间效应。研究结果表明,公共服务供给和新型城镇化发展质量存在显著的空间相关性,且公共服务供给对新型城镇化发展质量的空间溢出效应日趋增强。教育具有显著的正向空间溢出作用,交通基础设施的空间溢出效应为负但并不显著,医疗具有较为明显的空间抑制作用。进一步进行区域异质性分析发现,公共服务供给对新型城镇化的直接效应和空间效应在三大地区存在明显的差异性。因此,不同区域要基于公共服务供给及其空间溢出效应的特点制定新型城镇化高质量发展政策措施,包括优化公共交通基础设施服务功能、提高人力资源配置效率、改善区域性医疗卫生条件等。     

恩施地区基础教育现状与其对经济发展的影响

恩施市地处武陵山片区,湖北省西南部,清江中上游,居住有土家族,苗族,侗族等少数民族,属于少数民族地区,同时也是山区,经济条件受地理位置的限制,属全国经济落后地区。经济条件落后,基础教育资金投入有限,是导致基础教育在全省拖后腿的主要原因之一,基础教育水平处于落后阶段,亟待促进和加强。基础教育的正确实施,是经济健康发展的基础,影响着经济健康发展的速度、效益以及其持续性和稳定性。恩施地区的基础教育有待提高,经济更有待持续性的快速发展。     

Financial sector bargaining power,aggregate growth and systemic risk

Recent decades have seen a substantial increase in the size and influence of the financial industry in advanced economies. Mainstream theory states that the financial sector can increase the efficiency and stability of the real economy by reducing informational asymmetries and transaction costs. Nevertheless, the rise of the financial industry has been accompanied by lower aggregate growth, increased inequality and declining financial stability. With this in mind, the main aim of the present article is to provide a different perspective on the rise of finance in developed countries, by focusing on the impact of financial markets on aggregate growth and economic (in)stability. Specifically, we analyse the role of the bargaining power of financial intermediaries in promoting (or reducing) the entrance of new enterprises in the market and find that the financial sector is essential for the good functioning of the real economy, but that an overdeveloped financial industry can reduce the incentive for new firms to start production, resulting in a negative impact on aggregate growth and economic stability.

     

Australian public sector reform

This article presents an investigation into the Australian public education sector and focuses on the management of research and doctoral education in an increasingly corporatized climate. It is argued that diversity in knowledge creation and production is central to the successful Knowledge Economy. Diversity in doctoral education encompasses: diversity of student; diversity of research approach and type; and diversity of discipline and institution. Government has a key role in maintaining diversity against the background of an increasing tendency in public sector policy towards corporatization and outcomes-based funding. Four key areas of concern are identified: funding allocation for research and doctoral places; resource allocation and competition; selectivity and concentration; and relevance. It is argued that, taken together, these four policy directions could significantly impact the nature of Australian doctoral research and, in many instances, diminish diversity.     

Taxation in an economy with private provision of public goods

This paper analyses the effects of taxation and subsidies in an economy with private provision of a public good. It is shown that in a situation where all individuals contribute, taxation affects the equilibrium allocation if and only if at least one individual's voluntary contribution to the public good has an impact on the aggregate tax payments of the others. We then consider linear nonneutral tax-subsidy schemes and analyse efficiency and uniqueness of the resulting Nash equilibria. We show that an efficient Nash equilibrium, where all individuals contribute, will in general not be unique, and establish a non-uniformity property which a tax-subsidy scheme must fulfil in order to induce a unique interior equilibrium that is efficient. Throughout the paper it is assumed that individuals fully understand and take into account the government's budget constraint. Received: 3 November 1997 / Accepted: 23 March 1999     

Breaking the link between poverty and low student achievement: An evaluation of Title I

This study provides an evaluation of the impact of Title I funding of compensatory education programs on school finance and student performance in New York City public schools during the 1993, 1997 and 2001 school years. Estimates based on a regression-discontinuity approach indicate that the program was unsuccessful in improving student outcomes in high-poverty schools in New York City during this period, and may in fact have had adverse effects during the earlier years in our sample. Less evidence of a negative effect is found for the 2001 school year. These findings are related to the way in which the federal funds were spent.     

REGIONAL DISTRIBUTION OF DEVELOPMENT GRANTS IN INDONESIA'S WATER SUPPLY SECTOR

Over successive five-year development plans, Indonesia has channeled large sums of foreign loans and domestic funds into water supply projects with the aim of providing clean water for a majority of households. Most projects have been planned and financed through the central government's public works ministry, though a growing share of rural water projects are being funded through earmarked grants provided to local governments. This paper examines how these central government transfers, in the aggregate, have responded to various indicators of expenditure needs. Overall, past allocations have matched existing demand and supply levels closely–funding has generally favored provinces with large populations, large numbers of water enterprises, extensive distribution networks in place, and high production capacity. They have not, however, worked in favor of either equalization or economic productivity objectives, as reflected by per capita income or GRDP growth rates. This analysis suggests that equity would be promoted either by including income-related factors in future block grant allocation formulas or by shifting funding emphasis in the water supply sector from grants-in-kind controlled by the central government to sectoral grants controlled mainly at the local level. Such policy reforms would also further promote the nation's professed goal of decentralizing infrastructure development.     

我国基础教育财政公平与财政中性的定量测度

利用2002-2009年我国31省市的基础教育数据,本文从财政公平与财政中性两个角度实证分析我国基础教育的财政资源配置。由于财政经费投入的不稳定性和不持续性,我国经济发展弱势省区的教育资源配置改善的困难较多。从教育的财政中性来看,我国普通小学教育经费受当地财政收入差异的影响最小,普通初中的教育经费受当地财政收入差异的影响最大。越是经济落后地区,教育经费支出受当地财政收入等经济状况影响就越大。     

Supporting high-tech start-ups: Lessons from Italian technology policy

Public intervention is often advocated in high-tech sectors in order to solve market imperfections that limit the activity of new technology-based firms (NTBFs). Whilst some European countries have adopted national government support policies which explicitly target this type of firm; in Italy, as in other EU countries, there are no public support measures specifically designed for NTBFs. So, a question arises: to what extent are the NTBFs of these countries able to get funds from public administration? The paper focuses on the Italian case, and after a review of the available national public subsidies, through empirical and econometric analyses, it investigates whether horizontal general-purpose direct support mechanisms at national level permit an efficient allocation of public funds. The results highlight the need for more specific and customised policy measures towards NTBFs.