Efficiency, Performance and Changing Corporate Governance in China's Township–Village Enterprises since the 1990s

This article outlines some of the major challenges facing Chinese township–village enterprises (TVEs) since the 1990s. The authors argue that the internal mechanisms associated with the unique ownership structure of TVEs has allowed them to perform better than state-owned enterprises (SOEs). Since the mid-1990s, debt levels in the TVE sector have increased sharply. Most of the problems of TVEs have been magnified by the close relationship between local governments and enterprises, which was once one of their major strengths. Since the mid-1990s, local governments have come to regard TVEs with high levels of debt as a burden rather than an asset. In response local governments have moved to other, more indirect forms of governance over most TVEs under their control, while retaining direct control over the most successful. These alternative ownership structures include share-holding co-operatives and outright privatisation.     

Trade-off between economic development and environmental governance in China: An analysis based on the effect of river chief system

The conflict between economic growth and environmental pollution has become a considerable bottleneck to China's future development. In the context of the promotion tournament, the Chinese Central Government incorporated the responsibility of water environment governance into the assessment and promotion system of local officials and implemented the river chief system (RCS). The RCS is an important measure to rebalance local economic development and environmental governance. However, two critical questions need to be addressed due to the path dependence of the “economic growth first” strategy and the complexity of cross-border watershed governance. Specifically, whether the RCS improved water environment as effectively as the economic responsibility system promoted economic growth, and whether local governments in China found a balance between economic development and environmental governance. This study aims to address these questions by investigating the policy impact of River Chief System (RCS). The results show that the RCS has heterogeneous effects on different pollutants, namely, an improvement in NpH value and NH₃-N but a deterioration in COD and DO. We found opposite conclusions when using provincial monitoring data in Jiangsu province, which provides empirical evidence of cosmetic pollution governance by local governments. Our conclusions imply that the implementation of the RCS is not as effective as the government claimed. Moreover, we did not observe the trade-off between economic development and environmental governance for local governments. Local economic development is still in preference to environmental governance. We recommend improving the mechanism of the long-term implementation and dynamic evaluation of the RCS, highlighting the independence of evaluation authorities, and introducing third-party evaluation and public supervision systems.     

债务违约、社会责任与政府支持

转型期中国，地方国有企业作为地区经济发展的一股中坚力量，当其发生债务违约时，作为实际控制人的地方政府究竟是否愿意提供支持，会优先选择哪些企业提供支持，政府的支持行为是否会影响到信贷资源的配置效率呢?为得到验证，文章选取2007-2016年沪深A股地方国有上市企业作为研究样本，实证分析了地方国企发生债务违约后，地方政府的支持行为及其对信贷资源配置效率的影响。研究结论表明：第一，地方国企发生债务违约后，地方政府会提供更多的"支持"，且支持额度与债务违约额呈显著正相关关系；第二，债务违约前，承担了更多社会责任（环保投资、捐赠以及就业等）的地方国企，在债务违约后可相应地获得更多的地方政府支持；第三，违约企业，尤其是得到更多政府支持的违约企业可获得更多的信贷资源，而其经营业绩却往往更差。由此表明政府干预一定程度上降低了信贷资源配置效率。     

5A旅游景区、环境考核与企业环境治理

5A级旅游景区代表了中国最高级别的精品旅游景观,具有打造城市品牌、助推经济发展的积极效应,但其动态评选机制对地方环境质量有着严格的考核标准。文章以2007-2015年中国A股上市企业为研究样本,检验了5A级旅游景区机制是否有助于缓解地方政府的环境监督缺位,从而推动企业环境治理。研究发现:当地方城市存在5A级旅游景区时,当地企业的环境投资更多,且上述关系在非国有企业中更加明显;对作用机制分析表明,处于5A级旅游景区的企业承受的政府环境监督力度相对更强,但更多体现在非国有企业中,企业环保补贴对5A级景区不敏感;进一步分析发现,自然资源相对于人文资源景区对企业环境治理的推动作用更加明显;旅游收入占地方GDP比重更大时,5A级旅游景区的环境治理作用更强。综上,文章首次结合中国旅游景区的评级制度,进一步丰富了企业环境治理的驱动因素,这对探索如何协同地方政府在发展经济中的环境保护激励、生态文明建设均具有重要现实意义。     

Regional Decentralization, Fiscal Incentives and Privatization of Public-Owned Enterprises

I. IntroductionThe regional decentralization reform, which was initiated in China in the early 1980s, hasgreatly heightened the enthusiasm of local governments to develop the local economy.This is mainly because decentralization transferred some of the power from the centralgovernment to local governments, which, as a result, began to shoulder the function oflocal economic management. The central government is also restricted from too muchintervention in local economic affairs. Meanwhile, the…     

环境规制推动了产业结构转型升级吗?——基于地方政府环境规制执行的策略互动视角

通过产业结构转型和升级打破资源和环境的诅咒,是保持中国经济高质量增长的必要条件。现有对环境规制如何影响经济结构转型的研究往往忽略了财政分权下的地方政府间经济增长竞争引致的环境规制互动行为,进而导致研究结论存在较大差异。文章基于政府竞争视角,借助两区制空间Durbin模型对地方政府环境规制执行的策略互动行为进行检验,随后构建空间杜宾模型分析环境规制对产业结构转型升级的影响,并进行了稳健性检验与传导机制分析。研究发现:标尺竞争机制下,地方政府环境规制执行存在相互模仿行为,即邻近地区降低环境规制强度,本地区亦会相应降低环境规制强度,彰显出环境规制的非完全执行特征;环境规制未能促进本地产业结构合理化,地方政府环境规制执行互动行为不利于邻近地区产业结构合理的均衡化发展;环境规制有效推动本地产业高度化进程,且地区间环境规制互动的正向空间溢出效应显著促进产业高度化发展;机制分析结果显示,地方政府环境规制策略互动行为削弱了要素配置效率,不利于产业结构合理化,同时,环境规制激发创新补偿效应促进产业结构高度化进程。因此,引导地方政府环境规制执行良性竞争,有效发挥环境规制对产业转型升级积极作用,有助于中国经...     

经济增长目标压力下的国企投资规律及效应研究——来自地级经济增长目标与上市公司样本的证据

中国地方政府肩负着实现地方经济增长的任务,在其面临经济增长压力时,必然想法设法稳增长。文章进一步拓展已有文献,提出了一个地方政府借助国有企业投资扩张保障地方经济增长目标实现的逻辑框架。文章采用2001-2016年地级市经济增长目标数据,构造了一个度量地方政府面临的经济增长压力的指标,结合A股上市公司微观数据对理论逻辑进行验证。实证发现:增长压力显著提高了国有上市公司的投资,对非国有上市公司则没有明显影响。这一规律在中国经济受到重大冲击的情况下更加明显。最后,发现在经济增长压力下的国有上市公司投资扩张对企业投资效率有不利影响。文章的研究增进了对国有经济作用以及中国经济增长规律的学理认识。     

日本发展循环经济主体责任论

循环经济是谋求可持续发展的经济模式。20世纪70年代以来,日本政府把推动循环经济发展,建立循环社会作为日本经济增长的主要模式,取得了良好的经济效益和社会效益。日本政府治理环境污染的基本手段是立法,而在推动循环经济的各种法律中起主导作用的是《日本循环经济社会推进基本法》,该法分别明确了国家、地方公共团体(地方政府)、企业与公民个人的责任,其责任的分担与协作解决了环保与发展经济之间的矛盾。这个方法值得我国借鉴。     

日本地方政府在环境政策实施中的作用

战后日本进入经济快速增长期,环境污染事件频发,环境问题使日本曾经是世界上的污染大国。通过国家、地方政府、企业、群众的共同努力,时至今日环境质量得到了极大的改善,环境技术得到广泛的推广,产业结构向耗能低、污染少的产业转移。这些成果的取得主要是日本科学合理的环境政策以及严格、彻底、有效地采取措施落实各项环境政策的结果。在这一过程中,日本地方政府先于国家制定区域环境政策和环境标准,对国家层面环境政策和环境法的形成起到了积极的推动和促进作用。同时,日本地方政府结合区域产业发展特征有针对性地进行环境监督和管理,为日本环境治理和环境保护做出巨大贡献。目前,我国许多地方政府对国家环境政策采取抵制的态度,阻挠或干预环境保护政策的实施,分析日本地方政府在环境保护方面发挥的作用对我国地方政府在环境治理和环境保护中的职能转变具有一定的现实意义。     

Crisis in regional economic cooperation (integration) among developing countries: A survey

The article analyses the meaning, theory and key policy instruments of economic integration among LDCs and reviews the experience of various regional cooperation efforts in the Third World.It starts from the basic premise that economic integration is not an end in itself nor are its outcomes value-free; rather its social legitimacy depends on the socio-economic and political interests which are served by regional cooperation. Power commanding local hegemonic groups as well as foreign economic and political actors (governments and the transnational enterprises) play a determining role in the orientation, content and performance of regional cooperation.The article also explores the implications for integration of certain structural economic characteristics of LDCs involving key production, technological, trade and distributional considerations. They are interpreted as calling for regional cooperation mechanisms which are non-wholistic in the sense that they are directed towards the fulfilment of specific objectives, activities and tasks which require (a) programmed yet not comprehensive harmonization policies, (b) a subordination of trade to a planned and significant expansion of economic activities in new fields, and (c) the pursuit of certain outcomes whose values are not adequately reflected by the market system and whose inducement requires more explicit government intervention.Finally the article argues that since regional cooperation is by its nature conflict-prone and subject to strong polarization forces, and since, furthermore, the above-raised considerations call for a significant role to be played by the member countries' governments, the viability of the process is subject to a continuous commitment and manifestation of political support.     

Black officeholding and political development in the rural south

Conclusion Black officeholders in local governments in the rural South have not had significant success in reordering the priorities of the bodies on which they serve and they have enjoyed only limited success in increasing the black community’s share of benefits and services within the constraints of present priorities. Given their acute minority status this may be understandable.     

Fiscal incentives,competition, and investment in China

This paper explores how fiscal incentives offered to local governments in China affect investment rates in their jurisdictions. Theoretically, we build a simple fiscal competition model to establish the linkage between local fiscal incentives and expenditure policy and consequently, capital movement. The key prediction of the model, borne out by data from Chinese provinces spanning 2004–2013, is that an increase in the local corporate income tax-sharing ratio, which proxies fiscal incentives offered to local governments, motivates local governments to compete for capital investment through increased public expenditure. Our results contribute to the literature on both fiscal federalism and state capacity by showing that local fiscal incentives significantly shape policy choices and local economic performance. In addition, by exploring fiscal incentives offered to local governments, we offer a novel explanation for the unusually high investment rate in China that has been sustained over a prolonged period.     

政府政绩追求与环境污染——基于空间面板的实证研究

随着环境污染的恶化,地方政府对于环境治理的激励逐渐受到各界的关注。利用中国30个省市2004—2013年间的二氧化硫排放强度为样本,以空间计量模型实证研究了政府政绩追求与环境污染之间的关系。研究结果表明：中国各省市二氧化硫排放强度在空间分布上具有显著的空间溢出效应,且这种空间溢出效应逐年增加;以政府财政收入、经济增长率、就业率为政府政绩考核的指标与环境污染之间存在着显著的正向关系。研究不仅为政府治理环境污染问题提供了有益的经验证据,也为中国地方政府制定更为完善的政绩考核标准提供了借鉴。     

Economic policy uncertainty and industrial pollution: The role of environmental supervision by local governments

This paper explores the effect of economic policy uncertainty (EPU) on industrial pollution using China's real-time pollution data and a novel news-based EPU index constructed by Davis, Liu, and Sheng (2019). Empirical results suggest that EPU can significantly promote sulfur dioxide (SO₂) readings in cities experiencing higher ex-ante fiscal pressure, and this effect is more profound during the daytime. Given that SO₂ is the main contributor to industrial pollution, and local governments have less incentive to monitor illegal pollutant discharges during the nighttime period, our findings indicate that rising EPU will harm the environment by motivating local authorities to reduce environmental supervision and thus increase industrial pollution. We also find that promoting regional innovation and strengthening external environmental regulations can mitigate the pollution effect of economic policy uncertainty.     

The Empowerment Zone in Boston,Massachusetts 2000–2009: Lessons Learned for Neighborhood Revitalization

First adopted in 1993 at the federal level, the original purpose of Empowerment Zones was to encourage economic development strategies aimed at revitalizing distressed US urban neighborhoods. Such strategies across the country would include four broad goals: to generate economic opportunities for residents living in the empowerment zones; to create sustainable community development; to build broad participation among community-based partners; and to generate a strategic vision for change in the community. This paper examines Boston’s Empowerment Zone between 1999 and 2009. The author concludes that this initiative was successful in that it helped to revitalize some of the poorest neighborhood areas in this city. While the rate of poverty was not reduced between 2000 and 2009 inside Boston’s Empowerment Zone, there were some notable successes. These include the initiation and completion of major capital projects, including the first Black-owned hotel in New England over several decades; assisting small and neighborhood-based businesses, and helping to expand the capacity of local nonprofits in Boston’s distressed areas. These accomplishments increased the level and quality of economic activity in a part of Boston that was essentially overlooked before the initiation of the Empowerment Zone.     

最优的分权和激励安排:一个正式模型

本文将工业化和城市化理解为是一个资源从低效部门向高效部门转移的过程。借助一个正式模型,本文证明中央—地方分权下的辖区竞争将促使地方政府向工商企业提供尽可能多的帮助之手,从而促进了经济增长;但与此同时,财力有限的地方政府也将向弱势群体伸出掠夺之手,从而危害了社会和谐。因此,中央政府必须设定恰当的政绩考评体系,并赋予地方政府恰当的权力,以便促使地方政府在发展经济与维护社会和谐之间做出恰当的权衡。     

日本推动氢燃料电池汽车产业发展的机制研究

日本在实现经济社会发展全面绿色转型过程中,为突破本国资源匮乏限制的同时发挥其技术优势,高度重视氢燃料电池汽车产业的发展。日本通过中央政府的顶层设计明确氢燃料电池汽车产业战略发展目标,同时修订相关法律法规、推行中央财税激励与技术研发促进政策,引导氢燃料电池汽车产业发展;并通过建立中央与地方、地方政府之间沟通交流机制,地方政府因地制宜出台政策,促进地方氢燃料电池汽车产业能动性发展;再通过企业构建完整产业链促进应用落实,以及高校与科研院所的技术研究与人才培养,实现日本氢燃料电池汽车产业健康有序发展。中日两国氢燃料电池汽车产业在技术、市场、发展模式等领域存在极强的互补性,市场与技术共享、政府治理经验交流学习等方面合作前景广阔。日本氢燃料电池汽车产业发展的经验教训可为中国提供一些有益的启示和借鉴。     

环保督察与企业信息披露——来自上市公司的证据

对于经济活动监管的效能取决于监管者能否获得充分的信息。文章研究中央政府的环保督察如何影响企业的负面信息披露。借鉴公司金融领域经典文献,文章利用股价数据构造了上市公司的负面信息披露指标。利用双重差分分析,研究发现受到环保督察影响省份的上市公司相对于未受督察影响的公司显著减少了信息披露,而公司财务指标则不受环保督察的显著影响。与地方政府具有政治联系的公司在督察期间更加显著地减少了信息披露。上述结果表明,环保部门、地方政府、企业和金融市场监管者之间的联动机制是决定监管政策有效性的一个重要维度。     

我国生产性服务业发展影响因素的实证研究

借鉴西方发达国家经验和充分考虑我国经济社会发展的实际情况,本文主要选择了专业化分工、生产性服务业效率、工业化程度、商务经营环境、工业企业集聚程度、经济开放度等作为我国生产性服务业发展的影响因素,并选取我国30个省区1997年到2009年间的面板数据,从全国层面和区域层面对生产性服务业发展的影响因素进行了实证检验。结果表明,生产性服务业发展的影响因素在我国不同地区有着明显的差别,地方政府和主管部门应根据当地经济发展要求和产业结构特点,选择合适的生产性服务业发展政策和措施,为本地区生产性服务业发展提供有利的发展环境和平台。     

Bureaucratic integration and regional specialization in China

Fiscal decentralization introduced as part of China's economic reform since 1979 has unleashed strong incentives for China's local governments to pursue economic development, but the same incentives have also led to local protectionist policies inhibiting the process of regional specialization. This paper focuses on the constraints or freedom with which local governments can implement their protectionist policies. Using a panel data of 29 China's regions over the time period of 1985–1997, we find that China's political system of bureaucratic integration (specifically, concurrent appointment of local government officials in the central government) imposes constraints on the local governments from practicing protectionism. We also find that the effectiveness of local protectionist policies is limited by market competition, specifically, competition from foreign-invested firms operating in China and foreign imports. Our results on the role of local protectionism remain robust to controls for the regional variations in the size of the economy and the stage of economic development.