对发达国家财政状况恶化的分析

希腊、西班牙、爱尔兰、葡萄牙等国家严重的财政赤字问题在全球金融市场搅起波澜,引发了西方国家对金融危机影响新的忧虑.纵观其他发达国家,财政赤字水平和公共债务水平较金融危机之前大幅上升,财政状况恶化日益成为一个普遍存在的经济问题.本文结合目前实际情况及发展形势对发达国家财政状况的恶化进行重点分析,首先阐述了引起发达国家财政问题的主要原因,并进一步挖掘发达国家财政状况恶化给目前社会经济带来的风险,最后提出解决财政问题的政策选择.     

中国财政脆弱度分析

本文运用财政脆弱度分析框架，对我国的财政状况进行了讨论，指出在初始财政形势以及短期财政风险等面上，中国财政有着较大的脆弱度。中长期财政状况虽然反映出我国财政可持续能力较强，但如果近期经济形势和财政体制性因素不作大的调整，财政赤字状况恶化以及财政危机的出现还是很有可能的。     

欧洲的债务危机及对中国的启示

2009年10月20日,希腊新一届政府宣布,其2009年财政赤字预计达到GDP的12.7%.公共债务占GDP的比例也预计达到113.4%.这两项指标均远远高于欧盟<稳定与增长公约>所规定的成员国财政赤字不能超过当年GDP的3%,以及公共债务不能超过当年GDP的60%的上限.随着希腊政府财政状况的显著恶化,三大评级机构惠誉、标准普尔,穆迪相继下调了希腊的主权信用评级.     

欧债危机的成因分析及对中国的影响

一、引言从2007年8月发生金融危机以来,为了摆脱金融危机带来的负面影响,刺激本国的经济增长,各国纷纷推出了宽松的财政政策和货币政策。希腊政府的财政状况本身就不是很好,在国际宏观经济的冲击之下,更使其财政资金恶化,其财政资金趋于枯竭的境地。在2009年12月11日,希腊政府迫于无奈公布了其债务情况,其公共债务达到3000亿欧元。对于欧共体的成员国而言,一国债务是否会产生债务风险,依据《马斯特里赫特条约》。根据此条约的规定,加入欧盟的国家政府财政赤字率不超过3%,国债负担率不超过60%。     

日本的财政结构改革

日本财政无论是国债依存度、长期债务，还是财政赤字指标，目前都是世界发达国家中最坏的国家之一。这样的财政状况使日本国民对政府产生了强烈的改革现行财政制度和财政结构的愿望和要求。基于这种认识，小泉内阁在2001年6月推出了经济财政运营和结构改革的基本方针，把财政结构改革作为总体经济结构改革的重要支柱，指出日本今后财政结构改革的总     

亚洲摆脱危机还需一两年

历时一年半的亚洲金融危机现在正呈现逐步稳定和缓解的迹象,其突出的表现是各国财政状况的明显改善和货币政策的稳健调整。 首先,亚洲各国由于货币危机所导致的财政亏损已经得到扭转,收支状况明显得到改观。尤其是两个重灾国—泰国和韩国的表现更加突出:1997年泰国金融动荡发生时,泰国财政赤字为30亿美元,而到1998年9月其财政盈余为104亿美元。预计全年将达到150亿美元,     

相机抉择赤字与不规则赤字

对于财政赤字,人们总是关注预算赤字规模本身,但这种思维方式是有问题的。因为具有研究意义的并非只有预算赤字规模,形成预算赤字的各种因素都有研究价值,特别是财政赤字结构,更应值得我们关注。     

美国联邦政府赤字、经济增长与前景展望

就在欧洲主权债务危机呈蔓延之势时,美国联邦政府的巨额赤字又成为新的关注点.从美国收支结构看,美国联邦政府刚性支出比例较大,而收入来源有限,因此削减债务难度很大.同时,计量分析也表明,经济衰退是财政赤字的根本原因.从国内生产总值组成部分的贡献度看,美国个人消费不振制约了经济持续增长,其原因可归结为家庭收入增长缓慢、家庭财富缩水、持续的产业结构调整以及人口老龄化.基于此,笔者认为,美国经济增长前景不容乐观,联邦政府的财政状况在未来两年内难以实现根本性好转.     

中国特色财政赤字理论体系构建

财政赤字一直是各国政府宏观经济中关注并力图解决的问题,但在面对经济危机时,各国又不得不扩大财政赤字规模。中国政府的财政赤字自改革开放以来,有着不同的变化特点。从被动赤字到主动赤字、从结果赤字到政策赤字,政府对财政赤字的认识也经历了重要的变化。2009年全球财政赤字将达到新高,在这样的背景下,加强中国特色财政赤字理论体系研究,构建涵盖经济学、财政学、行政学、管理学等多个学科的完整的财政赤字理论体系,对中国财政赤字未来的规范化运作、制度化管理,控制财政赤字风险意义重大。     

财政赤字的通货膨胀风险——理论诠释与中国的实证分析

财政赤字与通货膨胀的关系一直是理论界与决策部门密切关注的问题。文章在构建财政赤字与通货膨胀联系机制的理论框架基础上,结合两者在我国宏观经济运行中的客观运行轨迹,对我国财政赤字的通货膨胀风险进行了实证分析。实证结果表明,虽然我国财政赤字在不同的融资方式下均具有一定的货币扩张效应,但由于财政赤字的规模仍然在适度的范围内,财政赤字所引起的货币供给量增加幅度还不足以导致通货膨胀发生,我国财政赤字并不是通货膨胀产生的主要原因。     

Growth Effects of Fiscal Policy and Debt Sustainability in the EU

In this paper we study the relationship of fiscal policy and economicperformance of some core countries in the EU. Our aim is to find outwhether public deficit and public debt have consequences for real variables in the economies we consider. The background of our empirical study is a growth model that provides us with some predictions on the relationship between fiscal policy and economic growth. In a first step we then use Granger causality tests to analyze empirically whether some of the implications of our model arecompatible with the data. In a second step, we investigate whether the fiscalpolicies of the member states have been sustainable. Given this information,we then pursue the question of whether differences in the fiscal positions ofcountries have consequences as concerns the outcome of our empirical testsof step one. Finally, we study whether the impact of the public deficit ratiodepends on the magnitude of the debt ratio.     

Regime changes and fiscal sustainability in Kenya

Kenya's fiscal policy landscape is characterized by primary deficit spending forcing the government to rely on debt to meet its objectives. The justification often being that as a developing economy, annual growth rates and future prospects may in the short run justify the uptake of debt to finance infrastructural development. However, given potential fiscal limits, fiscal cycles usually alternates between sustainable and unsustainable regimes and this has a bearing on long run sustainability. This study therefore sought to investigate the nature of fiscal policy regime in Kenya and the extent to which fiscal policy is sustainable in the long run taking into account periodic regime shifts. Markov switching models were used to endogenously determine fiscal policy regimes. Regime switching tests were used to test whether No-Ponzi game condition and debt stabilizing condition were met. The results established that regime switching model was suitable in explaining regime sustainable and unsustainable cycles. An investigation of fiscal policy regimes established that both sustainable and unsustainable regimes were dominant, and each lasted for an average of four years. There was evidence to imply the existence of procyclical fiscal policy in Kenya. Regime switching tests for long run sustainability suggested that the No-Ponzi game condition weakly holds in the Kenyan economy. Regime-based sensitivity analysis indicated that persistence of unsustainability regime for more than 4 years could threaten long-run fiscal sustainability.     

央地财政关系：协调失灵与地方政府财政赤字扩张偏向

文章基于央地财政关系协调失灵导致地方财政赤字扩张偏向的理论假设和现实背景,通过构建一个协调博弈理论模型,运用我国1995-2012年省级空间面板数据模型的GS 2 SLS 和System GMM的回归分析,系统研究了“央地财政关系”对地方政府财政赤字扩张偏向的影响机制。研究发现：我国地方政府存在财政赤字决策的相互模仿行为,中央政府存在通过财政协调机制来协调地方政府的财政决策行为,但并不成功。这意味着我国“央地财政关系”确实存在协调失灵,进而导致地方政府财政赤字持续膨胀的经济现象。     

财政赤字规模应把握社会承受力限度

平衡财政赤字有举债和银行透支两个途径，二者可兼用。举债要视当期财政收入状况为前提，银行透支超越社会承受力一定限度将致发通胀。因此，必须关注财政赤字规模的社会承受力。从全国看，财政赤字规模---一定限量银行透支应以一定限量社会闲置货币资金的存在---社会承受力为依托。财政赤字宜用积极手段平衡。     

The maastricht fiscal criteria: Required but ineffective?

The paper investigates the rationale for, and the effectiveness of the fiscal criteria in the Maastricht treaty against the background of two questions: What are the incentives for an unsound fiscal policy in EMU, and what are the (potential) negative externalities if such a policy were to occur. The paper argues that EMU creates both incentives for a higher fiscal deficit while respecting solvency, and incentives for not rectifying a potentially unsustainable debt level once one is a member. Unsound fiscal policy could trigger important negative extermalities for the other member countries. The paper concludes that the current fiscal provisions of the Maastricht treaty are not sufficiently well defined and the envisaged sanctions not strong enough to enforce a disciplined fiscal stance. This leads to proposals of supplementary measures for surveillance and alternative sanctions. Staying within the framework of the Maastricht treaty, it is strongly suggested that both debt and deficit criteria should be strictly surveyed, but in view of their conceptual and operational deficiencies they should be supplemented by additional indicators. Based on this broader measurement concept, it is proposed to use semi-automatic and market-led sanctions to enforce a disciplined fiscal stance.     

弱势下的扩张:中国财政状况和政策取向分析

目前以预算内财政收入计算的财政规模很低,但这一指标并没有全面反映我国财政的规模,真实的财政规模其实相当大。用“积极的财政政策和稳健的货币政策”概括1998年以来的宏观调控有失公允,为确保经济增长,中央政府实际上调动了包括货币政策在内的所有政策资源刺激经济。目前,我国债务规模在可控范围之内,真正决定积极财政政策取向的是财政项目的效益等因素,我国积极财政政策已经转向谨慎。正在实行的财政政策有两个显著特点,一是推进公共财政体系建设,这是由我国经济体制改革的总体目标设定的;二是在实行积极财政政策的同时,增加税收,这反映了财政在加强自身建设的同时(提高财政两个比重),竭力完成宏观调控目标的努力。这两个看似矛盾的政策,统一在当前的财政政策中,恰当地反映了转型期财政必须应对的多重目标。     

From Deficits to Debt and Back: Political Incentives under Numerical Fiscal Rules

Under numerical fiscal rules, such as those underpinning EMU,governments have strong temptations to use accounting tricksto meet the fiscal constraints. Given these political incentives,fiscal variables that in the past were regarded as a mere residualacquire a strategic role. This is the case of the so-calledstock-flow adjustment (SFA) which reconciles deficit and debtdevelopments. We develop a simple theoretical model where deficitsand two distinct SFA components (one that could be used to reducethe deficit figures and the other to impact debt figures instead)are determined as a result of a constrained optimisation byfiscal authorities. Econometric evidence provides results consistentwith the model findings. The SFA component related to the purposeto hide deficits rises with the recorded deficit, while thesales of financial assets designed to keep the debt under controlrise with both debt and deficit. When deficits are in excessof the 3 percent limit, accounting gimmicks become more sensitiveto the size of deficits. The SGP per se does not appear to increasethe extent to which higher deficits trigger more accountinggimmicks. However, the SGP seems associated with a more intenseuse of accounting gimmicks irrespective of the level of deficit.Such accounting practices have greatly contributed to the lossof credibility of Economic and Monetary Union's fiscal rules.If properly implemented, the reformed Pact, which stresses durableadjustment and long-run sustainability, should help curb suchperverse incentives. (JEL codes: E61, H62, H87)     

财政分权对我国地方政府效率的影响

财政分权能否提高地方政府效率,有关文献看法不一。为此,笔者利用我国省级面板数据对此做实证研究。采用DEA方法衡量我国31个省级地方政府效率,并以财政收入的自主性衡量财政分权程度。通过对财政分权和地方政府效率进行Tobit回归分析,结果显示:财政分权和地方政府效率之间并非简单线性关系,而是U型。其他解释变量方面,各省市人口密度和人均GDP对地方政府效率均有显著的正向关系,而时间趋势变量与地方政府效率的关系为负相关。     

Time-varying effects of fiscal policy in Spain: a Markov-switching approach

How have the effects of Spanish fiscal policy varied over time? Given this starting point, in this article we analyse the regime dependence of fiscal policy in Spain by estimating a vector autoregressive model within a Markov-switching framework. Our results indicate that Spain’s membership of the Economic and Monetary Union (EMU) is the most likely source of time variation in the fiscal outcomes. Accordingly, increases in the primary deficit-to-GDP ratio do not succeed in stimulating economic activity in the first regime; rather, unexpected upsurges in the primary deficit harm economic activity (non-Keynesian effect) in the second regime, which prevails since the ratification of the Maastricht Treaty.     

The dynamic adjustment of local government budgets: does Spain behave differently?

The aim of this article is to analyse whether Spanish municipalities adjust in response to budget shocks and (if so) which elements of the budget they are more likely to adjust. The methodology we use to answer these questions is a Vector Error Correction Model (VECM), estimated with data from a panel of Spanish municipalities during the period 1988 to 2006. Our results confirm that Spanish municipalities do indeed make adjustments in response to fiscal shocks (i.e. the deficit is stationary in the long run). We compare our results with those obtained for US and Germany to evaluate if the viability of local finance depends on the institutional arrangement and to analyse how it affects the adjustment patterns. We observe that grants have a more important role in the adjustment process in environments where either they have an equalization objective or where there is no clear rule that determines their distribution. This fact can generate a moral hazard problem: governments tend to spend more due to the expected intervention by the central government. Own revenues have a lower adjustment capacity in environments where subcentral governments have limited fiscal autonomy. These results, however, suggest that the viability of the local finance system is feasible with different institutional arrangements.