Agenda for the Housing Market

The housing market is the theme of the Reports to the 2008 Annual Meeting of the Royal Netherlands Economic Association. Current housing market policies in the Netherlands generate substantial welfare losses. The direct and indirect subsidies on housing distort the housing market, house moving behaviour, the labour market and the asset portfolio of households. The welfare loss is estimated at more than 6 billion euro per year. In addition, physical planning restrictions cost at least 3 billion euro per year, a price which is paid for the conservation of open space and nature, especially in the Green Heart of the Randstad. Developments on the housing market over the last fifteen years and the sizeable welfare losses from current policies are sufficient reason to develop an agenda for reform. The Reports suggest several elements for such an agenda, including a gradual reduction of housing subsidies in the owner–occupier sector as well as in the rental sector, an easier land policy to better meet the qualitative housing needs of the population, and an extension of the social tasks for the housing societies.      

基于绩效和社会福利的公司治理实证研究

本文从公司绩效和社会福利两个方面,对2010年不同性质12个行业的国内上市公司进行比较分析,发现国有企业的经营收入、资产和市场份额都要高于私有企业;在公司绩效指标上,不同行业不同指标衡量下比较结果不同;在社会福利指标上,大部分行业中国有企业均大于私有企业。如以盈利能力来衡量企业绩效,则国有企业和混合企业相对于私有企业会降低企业的绩效,表明私有企业更加关注绩效;如果以社会福利来衡量公司绩效,则国有企业和混合企业相对于私有企业会提高企业的绩效。     

私营企业构建和谐劳动关系的思考

私营企业的劳动关系是指雇主与员工之间在实现劳动过程中建立的社会经济关系。现阶段,私营企业的劳动关系具有市场化、契约化、紧张化、事实化的特点。我国私营企业劳动关系目前存在的问题是：用工劳动合同签约率低、内容不规范;劳动保障覆盖率低,参加社会保险少;劳动安全保护系数低,工资低;工会作用效率低,徒有虚名等。对此,必须采取措施在私营企业积极构建和谐劳动关系,要加强政府的监管力度,加大规范管理的力度,重视员工重视心理需求的关怀力度,加大工会组织建设的力度。     

从市场细分开始寻找民营企业经济与社会效益双赢之路——以职达连锁求职旅社为例

本文提出民营企业可以通过市场细分寻找企业经济与社会效益共有的新途径,即民营企业通过挖掘和发现公益事业特别是社会问题所指对象的差异化"需求",将企业的命运与社会的效益联系在一起,并在社会营销观念指导下,通过整合营销方式实现企业经济效益与社会效益双赢。本文以职达求职连锁旅社的双赢之路证明民营企业采用这一方式实现民营企业经济效益与社会效益双赢的可行性。     

金融冲击、货币政策与宏观审慎政策—基于动态随机一般均衡模型的分析

通过建立包含房地产市场金融冲击的NK-DSGE模型,考察了我国货币政策与宏观审慎政策的效果。通过比较不同政策机制下金融冲击的脉冲响应函数可以发现,宏观审慎政策的引入缓和了金融冲击的效应,并且可以同时实现稳定物价和稳定金融系统的目的。社会福利分析的结果表明：(1)金融冲击下,仅对产出缺口和通胀做出反应的政策具有最低的社会福利水平;(2)如果货币政策考虑信贷市场,并同时使用反周期性宏观审慎政策,那么社会福利将得到明显的提高。这意味着金融冲击下,政府应该积极行使对信贷市场做出反应的货币政策以及反周期性宏观审慎政策相结合的政策机制。当前,在房地产市场整体不景气的背景下,我国政府积极利用金融冲击对房地产市场进行调控。因此,采用对信贷市场做出反应的货币政策以及反周期性宏观审慎政策将具有相对较好的政策效果。     

我国劳动管理体制的演变及走势分析

随着社会主义市场经济的不断改革,劳动力市场的逐步形成、建立和日趋成熟、完善,中国提高竞争力的关键就在于企业素质的加强、提升与政府职能的转变。以中国改革开放以来经济社会转型为背景,阐述了经济转型期我国劳动劳动管理体制的演变过程和特征;以及逐步打破旧的劳动管理框架,探讨结合企业、劳动者以及政府三方协调的劳动管理体制的趋势。     

What should economists know about the current Chinese hukou system?

This article explains the current hukou system in China and provides the most recent evidence on the impact of the hukou system on the Chinese labor market and economy. By a comprehensive literature survey, this paper shows that the hukou system plays in two major roles in current China. First, workers with different hukou face different costs of living in cities and have different access to government-provided public services and welfare programs in the urban areas. Migrants with rural and non-local hukou working in the Chinese big cities have no or little access to welfare programs provided by local city governments. Second, there exists labor market discrimination against rural hukou holders in cities, especially in the urban high-wage sector such as state-owned enterprises. The current hukou system has a negative impact on rural-to-urban migration in China as well as on economic efficiency and equality by reducing the expected benefits associated with migration.     

THE SOCIAL SECURITY SYSTEM IN HONG KONG: ESTABLISHMENT AND READJUSTMENT OF THE LIBERAL WELFARE MODEL

Hong Kong's social security system has followed a “liberal” welfare state regime. The system has undergone changes along with the high economic growth, changes in the labor market, and transformation of the political environment, but has retained the fundamental principle of a social security system led by the private sector. In recent years, Hong Kong has responded to the aging population and growing unemployment by introducing the Mandatory Provident Fund Scheme that requires individuals to join private‐sector pension schemes and by intensifying cooperation with nongovernmental organizations. This indicates the deep‐seated nature of the influence of the liberal regime in Hong Kong.     

The meaning of “social safety nets”

In Southeast Asia, the issue of “social safety nets” (SSNs) has emerged more prominently since the financial crisis. Despite the increased interest in social safety nets, there is still considerable confusion among scholars and national and international organizations regarding the use and meaning of the term. This article considers the different definitions of the term—particularly as it was used during the Asian Financial Crisis—and to attempt to clarify its meaning and proper use.The safety net analogy is drawn from high-wire walkers who are protected by a safety net if they fall. The safety net prevents any walker who falls—unexpectedly or not—from hitting the floor and incurring catastrophic injuries. Following this line of reasoning, it is not surprising to learn that some organizations and scholars use the term SSN such that it encompasses private and public mechanisms that assist individuals in maintaining a minimum level of consumption.The term “social safety net” (SSN) began to be used by Bretton Woods’ institutions in connection with structural adjustment programs related to their lending programs. Developing countries introduced SSNs to mitigate the social impact of structural adjustment measures on specific low-income groups. They were initially formulated to serve three objectives: poverty alleviation, to make adjustment programs more politically acceptable, and institutional reform. During the Asian Financial Crisis, there was a great deal of confusion regarding the content and consequent identification of SSN programs.Public SSN programs can be classified into formal and informal safety nets. Formal and informal safety nets are, generally, distinguished by law enforcement: formal safety nets are those which legally guarantee individuals access to economic or social support whereas informal safety nets provide likelihood of support to individuals to assure them of attaining or remaining above the designated minimum standard of living but with no legal guarantee.Informal SSNs can be divided into private and public ones. Examples of private informal SSNs include transfers from family members, friends, neighbors and community members and institutions, including NGOs, while those of public informal SSNs refer to the support which individuals can hope for from the government, through programs which generate assets or employment, transfer income, or provide basic social services, as a means of helping affected individuals from falling below the designated minimum standard of living. The difference between formal and informal public SSNs is whether there exists a formal legal support of the assistance.The article has provided more discussion on the definitions of SSN used by the World Bank, ESCAP, ILO and TDRI.In conclusion, the authors note that the tremendous variation in the use of the term invites confusion and makes it virtually useless as a technical concept. The very nature of the metaphor invokes a vision of a large net that encompass a number of different types of programs. In many cases it is not even possible to list specific programs that are included, as the particular forms of these programs could, of course, vary with place, time and circumstances. Complicating things further, the term is sometimes used in a very narrow sense. Given the low probability that usage of the term will ever be standardized, economists and national/international organizations might be well served by avoiding the term completely and instead using its component parts.     

State‐Owned Enterprises,Competition, and Disclosure

We develop a mixed‐duopoly model in which a private firm competes against a state‐owned enterprise (SOE) who cares about social welfare and is privately informed about market demand. When the SOE's social concerns are sufficiently important and when the market competitiveness is sufficiently low, the SOE commits to fully disclose its private information. Otherwise, the SOE commits to withhold its private information. When the disclosure equilibrium prevails, the private firm can be more profitable competing against an SOE than against another private firm. In this mixed‐duopoly setting, the equilibrium social welfare is maximized when the SOE puts a positive weight on both social welfare and its own profit. Our analysis has further implications for both mandatory disclosure and market entry.     

要素市场扭曲、交通基础设施改善与企业出口

文章基于Melitz（2003）企业异质性理论构建厂商出口决策模型，利用2005-2007年工业企业数据库，从要素市场扭曲角度分析交通设施影响企业出口的微观机制。研究发现，交通基础设施对企业出口倾向和出口数量具有显著的促进作用，在进入国内市场固定成本大于进入国际市场成本时，地区要素市场扭曲程度越高，交通基础设施的促进作用越明显。聚焦不同所有制的企业可以进一步发现，要素市场扭曲对非国有部门企业的抑制作用更突出，改善交通基础设施通过优化资源配置更有助于带动非国有企业的出口。研究结果还显示，交通基础设施和要素市场扭曲对企业出口的影响存在地区差异，交通基础设施和要素市场扭曲对中西部地区企业出口数量的促进作用比东部地区企业更大。这一结论不受内生性的影响。     

Bubble into reallocation: How bubbles improve capital allocation in China

This paper develops a theoretical framework to shed lights on the relations between the segmented financial market and the housing bubble in China. In our framework, capital misallocation across firms plays a central role. The segmented financial market causes discrimination against private enterprises and favoritism to state-owned firms. This biased financial system not only gives rise to capital misallocation across firms but also significantly pushes down the equilibrium interest rate in the formal financial market. The overly low interest rate in the formal financial market causes a rational bubble in a dynamically efficient economy. More importantly, the bubble improves capital allocation across firms by crowding out inefficient investment in the state-owned sector. Despite the role of improving capital allocation, bubbles may still reduce welfare by crowding out aggregate capital.     

Rural to urban land conversion in China — How large is the over-conversion and what are its welfare implications?

The current system of converting farmland to urban land use in China can be characterized as a hybrid system that combines government controls with market-based transfers. In this paper we argue that this hybrid governance structure causes an over-conversion of farmland from the rural to the urban sector, as compared to a competitive market situation, and a welfare reallocation that discriminates against farmland owners. We develop a partial equilibrium model that can be used to examine the impact of the current hybrid governance structure on the over-conversion of farmland and to analyze the welfare changes for different groups of actors and the resulting net social welfare loss. Using a dataset with detailed information on farmland acquisitions and urban land transactions in Yingtan City in Jiangxi Province, we illustrate how this framework can be applied. Our results indicate an over-conversion of 33.5% of the total converted farmland in this city between 1999 and 2003. The welfare of farmland owners affected by the conversion decreased by 1.38 billion RMB, while the net social welfare loss equaled more than 270 million RMB during the same period. The local government obtained 380 million RMB of revenues by re-selling farmland as urban land through competitive conveyance mechanisms between 2002 and 2005, while the manufacturing sector gained an estimated 280 million RMB from buying land use rights at relatively low prices. We conclude that the current policy of increasing urban land conveyance through competitive mechanisms does not address two major underlying causes of over-conversion, and that protection of farmland would be better served by replacing the current hybrid rural to urban land market structure by a competitive land market.     

Trade and Tax Reforms in a Cash‐in‐Advance Economy

We examine the effects of both tariff‐only and coordinated trade‐tax reforms on market access, government revenue, and welfare for a small monetary economy, under the assumption that a certain fraction of purchases of each good must be financed with cash held in advance. We show that if the cash requirement ratio in the exportable sector is greater than that in the importable, then, contrary to previous results, (i) a uniform radial reduction of tariffs has ambiguous effects on both welfare and market access, (ii) tariff and consumption tax reforms that leave consumer prices unchanged may be more efficient in improving market access and welfare than a reform that involves only tariffs, and (iii) export and production tax reforms that keep producer prices unchanged may be welfare deteriorating.     

SOCIAL SECURITY AND WELL‐BEING IN A LOW‐INCOME ECONOMY: AN APPRAISAL OF THE KERALA EXPERIENCE

The State of Kerala, which is considered to have attained a level of social well‐being comparable to that of advanced countries despite its relatively low income standard, is widely known as an example of “welfare by public intervention” in developing economies. This paper, focusing on the four areas of food provision, health services, elementary education, and pension schemes, and paying attention to the participation of the private sector as well as the activities of political parties and labor unions, points out that in Kerala, the private sector and organized activities have played a vital role, in addition to “public intervention,” in the betterment of public welfare.     

Examining the impact of home purchase restrictions on China's housing market

This paper studies the impact of home purchase restrictions on China's housing market. We estimate a structural model of household preference for housing, real estate developers' pricing decisions, and equilibrium market outcome in five large cities. By comparing the estimation results from pre- and post-policy intervention, we find that, after home purchase restrictions are implemented, overall housing demand in most cities becomes weaker and less price elastic; meanwhile, real estate developers face higher holding costs and thus are willing to lower prices and sell more quickly. Counterfactual analyses show that in some cities alternative policy designs that cause less structural change of demand could achieve larger consumer welfare and social welfare than the implemented policy.     

我国城镇劳动力市场供给分析——兼论“民工荒”的成因及对策

双重劳动力市场是我国二元经济在劳动力市场上的反应,随着统筹城乡经济发展战略的实施,城乡人力资本差别将逐步缩小,劳动供给弹性有逐渐缩小和趋同的趋势,双重劳动力市场最终将会被劳动力一体化市场所取代,其前提条件是加强农民工文化素质培养和职业技能培训,提高农民工工资和福利水平,降低进城门槛和减少转移成本,增加政府转移支付和各种社会保障。     

Competitiveness and Integration of Product Markets

This article develops a two-country, two-sector model with imperfect competition in one sector and asymmetric labor market structures in the sense that trade unions have wage bargaining power in one country whereas the labor market is competitive in the other country. We use a new approach to model product market integration, and it turns out that the unionized country gains from integration in terms of welfare, and, if the initial level of integration is relatively low, experiences an increase in employment and investment.     

基于双寡头垄断模型的垄断国有企业改革分析

国有企业垄断是一个经济学问题,与所有制性质没有必然关系,需要从理性的经济学视角来审视。基于中国国情,从由国有企业构成的双寡头垄断市场出发,分析并比较由国有企业、私有企业及混合所有制企业组合而成的各种双寡头垄断市场的价格、产量及社会福利。可以发现,私有化对社会福利的提升作用是有条件的,完全的私有化未必能提升社会福利;在当前的社会经济条件下,混合所有制是解决国有企业垄断问题可行、务实的途径,其股权结构十分重要。     

制度规范、劳动保护与企业创新——基于《劳动合同法》颁布的准自然实验

文章以2008年新《劳动合同法》颁布为契机,基于2005-2019年上市公司数据库,检验了制度规范引致企业劳动保护增强后对企业创新水平的促进作用.研究结果表明,劳动保护显著促进了企业创新,以研发投入衡量的创新投入指标以及以专利数量衡量的创新产出指标均显著增强.进一步分析表明,制度规范带来的劳动保护增强主要通过人力资本投资效应以及要素替代效应两个渠道促进了企业创新,并且在民营企业中更为显著;同时地区市场化程度以及法治环境水平也是影响劳动保护促进企业创新的重要因素.《劳动合同法》为企业制度建设提供了规范指引,运用法治思维提升企业管理制度化水平是企业增强市场竞争力的必然选择.