Fiscal Consolidations and Economic Growth

The aim of this paper is to deepen the understanding of the macroeconomic consequences of fiscal consolidations. In particular, there is evidence in the literature of fiscal consolidation episodes producing (non‐Keynesian) expansionary effects in the short run. We replicate this result for a panel of OECD countries under exogeneity of the fiscal consolidation. However, we provide some evidence that output growth might affect the fiscal tightening process so that fiscal consolidations are not exogenous to economic growth. Once we allow for feedback effects from economic growth to fiscal adjustments, we find that expansionary effects disappear and recover the typical Keynesian effect of fiscal adjustments. This finding points to the need to take these short‐term negative implications into account in the design of fiscal consolidations.     

李嘉图等价定理的理论回顾和实证研究

1998年以来，我国政府实施了积极的财政政策。这种通过增发国债增加政府支出的积极财政政策能否有效地扩大总需求，即财政政策是否有效，不仅是宏观经济理论的一个核心问题，也是我国今后很长时期内制定宏观经济政策时必须考虑的问题。本文主要对李嘉图等价定理进行回顾性理论分析，并在理论上论证该定理站不住脚，最后通过计量经济分析证明该定理不适用于我国。本文的结论是：税收和国债在我国并非等价，通过增发国债增加政府支出的积极财政政策是有效的。     

Vertical effects of fiscal rules: the Swiss experience

Formal fiscal rules have been introduced in many countries throughout the world. While most studies focus on the intra-jurisdictional effects of fiscal rules, vertical effects on the finances of other levels of government have yet to be explored thoroughly. From a theoretical point of view, vertical effects could work in opposite directions, i.e., improve and burden other levels’ finances. This paper is the first formally investigating the influence of Swiss debt brakes, which primarily target the cantonal level, on municipal finances. A difference-in-differences estimation (two-way fixed effects) of aggregated and disaggregated local panel data provides unique evidence that suggests little effect of budget constraints at the cantonal level on average municipal finances and fiscal decentralization. The results are confirmed by a wide range of robustness tests. If anything, cantonal debt brakes are associated with improved local finances and fiscal centralization. These findings run counter to popular fears and emphasize the possibility of positive spillover effects of fiscal rules.     

Tax Competition and Redistribution in a Two-Country Endogenous-Growth Model

This paper examines the effects of policy coordinationin a two-country world with endogenous growth and imperfect capitalmobility. Redistribution is financed by a source-based capital-incometax. Comparing the cases in which countries do and do not coordinatetheir fiscal policies, it is shown that redistribution can beinefficiently high if fiscal policies are not coordinated. Thisis because the negative effects of fiscal policy on home savingsaffect economic growth abroad by inducing a decline in foreigninvestment. This externality can dominate the well-known tax-baseexternality.     

Fiscal decentralization,equalization, and intra-provincial inequality in China

Using a nationwide county-level panel dataset for the years 1995–2009, this paper conducts the first analysis in the literature to examine the impacts of fiscal decentralization and fiscal equalization, both measured at the sub-provincial level, on intra-provincial inequality in China. While fiscal decentralization offers significant advantages regarding public expenditure efficiency, a potentially large disadvantage is that it may lead to increased regional inequality. In this paper, in line with our theoretical hypotheses, we find that while fiscal decentralization at the sub-provincial level in China leads to larger intra-provincial inequality, fiscal equalization efforts performed by provincial governments tend to mitigate the detrimental effect of fiscal decentralization on intra-provincial inequality. Our results also indicate that the quantitative effects of fiscal decentralization on regional inequality tend to be larger when they are measured from the expenditure side, which is consistent with the fact that expenditure decentralization is a much more meaningful measure of decentralization in China. Overall, we provide evidence on the potential inequality costs of using fiscal decentralization as a development strategy. At the same time, we emphasize the importance of implementing a fiscal equalization program to ensure the overall success of decentralization policy.     

Discount Rates,Debt Maturity,and the Fiscal Theory

This paper examines how the transmission of government portfolio risk arising from maturity operations depends on the stance of monetary/fiscal policy. Accounting for risk premia in the fiscal theory allows the government portfolio to affect expected inflation, even in a frictionless economy. The effects of maturity rebalancing on expected inflation in the fiscal theory depend directly on the conditional nominal term premium, giving rise to an optimal debt-maturity policy that is state-dependent. In a calibrated macrofinance model, we demonstrate that maturity operations have sizable effects on expected inflation and output through our novel risk transmission mechanism.     

财政支出对全要素生产率的空间溢出效应研究——基于中国省际数据的静态与动态空间计量分析

采用静态与动态空间计量模型,从空间和时间的双维度上对我国30个省市1998～2010年的面板数据进行实证分析,结果表明:财政支出与我国全要素生产率、技术效率和技术进步存在着显著的正相关性;财政支出对相邻地区的全要素生产率及其分解项具有空间溢出效应;财政支出的空间溢出效应在空间维度上呈现出"西高东低"的趋势,即西部地区财政支出对相邻地区全要素生产率具有较高的正向溢出影响,而东部地区的空间负外部性更明显;从时间维度上来看,财政支出的空间溢出效应总体上呈现出先增后减的倒U变化趋势。     

政府间收入分成与财政收入预算偏离

降低收入决算和预算之间的偏离程度是现代预算制度的基本要求,长期以来,中国政府的收入预算偏离一直处于高位运行状态。本文研究了政府间财政收入分成对收入预算偏离的影响。理论上,财政收入分成的上升会对下级政府产生减小财政压力和加大财政扩张两种截然相反的影响,前者会减少政府的收入预算偏离,而后者则会扩大收入预算偏离。运用市县层面加总的预决算数据,实证分析较为稳健地支持了财政压力机制:财政收入分成降低1个百分点,收入预算偏离会增加0.3个百分点。进一步分析表明,收入分成对预算偏离的影响相比市县级,在省本级层面不显著,并且其对预算偏离的影响会随着经济发展水平的上升而降低。本文研究的现实意义是,政府间收入划分的改革方案要兼顾长期稳定性与财力支持性,这对于降低收入预算偏离、推进现代预算制度建设和国家治理现代化具有重要作用。     

城市最低生活保障各级财政支出均等化效应研究——基于泰尔指数分解检验

运用泰尔指数及分解方法,测算了我国2005-2014年城市最低生活保障各级财政支出的均等化效应。测算结果表明:城市低保财政支出均等化水平不断提高,但也存在诸多不合理之处。对城市低保各级财政支出的均等化效应考察发现,中央财政支出起了主导性作用,但在东部省份的支出安排不尽合理;省级财政在城市低保中没有发挥与其财力相适应的均等化效应,甚至还产生阻碍作用,一定程度上抵消了均等化效应,县级财政支出的均等化效应高于省级财政,其支出负担较重。应缩小城市低保地区差异,提高各级财政支出的均等化效应,合理划分各级财政的支出责任。     

财政分权、社会保障支出与城乡居民收入差距的实证分析

基于1998～2012年各省的面板数据,利用动态广义矩(GMM)和面板门槛模型实证分析财政分权、社会保障支出对城乡收入差距的影响,结果显示:由于中国城乡二元经济的特殊性,财政分权、人均社会保障支出与城乡居民收入差距均成正相关性.但社会保障支出对城乡收入差距的影响存在基于财政分权的双门槛效应,当财政分权水平较低时,社会保障支出的增加加剧了城乡收入差距;当财政分权高于一定水平时,社会保障支出有助于缩小城乡收入差距.     

财政支出对区域经济差异变动的时空效应研究——基于动态空间面板模型的实证分析

通过构建财政支出对区域经济差异影响机制的理论框架,采用较为前沿的动态空间面板计量方法对1998~2011年我国25个省,283个地级市的数据进行实证分析。结果表明：财政支出对区域经济差异的变动有明显的影响作用,一般预算支出规模越大越有利于缩小区域经济差异;财政支出的规模与结构会通过省区经济差异的动态变化及空间溢出机制对区域经济差异变动产生时空效应,即上一期和相邻省份的财政支出均会对本地区内部的经济增长差距产生影响。     

财政政策与经常项目赤字关系研究

经常项目赤字是货币危机或金融危机的主要原因之一。财政政策作为政府调控经常的一个重要政策工具，对经常项目有显著影响。本文从理论和实践上对财政政策与经常项目赤字之间的关系进行了深入研究。并且分析了当前我国所执行的扩张性的财政政策对我国经常项目的平衡可能产生的不利影响。最后对改善我国经常项目提出了一些财政对策。     

Unemployment,Government Spending and the Laffer Effect*

The paper studies the effects of income tax rate changes in a general equilibrium model with frictional unemployment. Laffer curve effects, by which a tax rate reduction may increase the level of government spending or its share in output, are shown to be possible under certain conditions. These are the presence of unemployment benefit payments, government budget balance through fiscal spending adjustment and limited quantitative importance of labour reallocation costs. Endogenous government spending acts as a fiscal accelerator if the fiscal burden of unemployment benefit payments is large, but reduces the employment effects of tax rate cuts if it is low.     

Cyclically‐Neutral Generational Accounting

This paper introduces a key methodological innovation into generational accounting. By incorporating cyclically‐adjusted balances into the forward‐looking budget projections underlying the concept, we isolate pure policy effects, which render comparisons of the fiscal sustainability indicators obtained across time and countries truly meaningful. We also show that a demographic effect and a debt effect may drive fiscal sustainability measures over time, and establish a routine to control for these effects in the generational accounting framework. An empirical application for Spain illustrates that our proposed decomposition of indicators is empirically relevant. Standard generational accounting suggests that fiscal sustainability in Spain improved substantially in preparing for EMU. However, calculation of the pure policy effects reveals that this has not been the case.     

The real impact of a one-off fiscal restriction: empirical evidence of a flypaper effect in Flemish municipalities

This paper analyses the effects of a one-off fiscal restriction on Flemish local government spending. The authors provide evidence of a ‘flypaper effect’: fiscal restriction stimulated the sensitivity of local spending to grants. This means that higher-level governments (regional/national/supranational) need to take a flypaper effect into account when considering one-off fiscal restrictions on lower-level governments.     

Fiscal shocks and real exchange rate dynamics: Some evidence for Latin America

This paper analyses the effects of fiscal shocks in selected Latin American countries using a two-country model for output, labour input, government spending and relative prices. Dynamic simulation techniques are then applied, in particular to shed light on the possible effects of fiscal imbalances on the real exchange rate. Using quarterly data over the period 1980-2006, we find that in a majority of cases fiscal shocks are the main driving force of real exchange rate fluctuations.     

Fiscal sustainability and demographic change: a micro-approach for 27 EU countries

The effect of demographic change on the labor force and on fiscal revenues is topical in light of potential pension shortfalls. This paper evaluates the effect of demographic changes between 2010 and 2030 on labor force participation and government budgets in the EU-27. Our analysis involves the incorporation of population projections, and an explicit modeling of the supply and demand side of the labor market. Our approach overcomes key shortcomings of most existing studies that focus only on labor supply when assessing the effects of policy reforms. Ignoring wage reactions greatly understates the increase in fiscal revenues, suggesting that fiscal strain from demographic change might be less severe than currently perceived. Beyond, our micro-based approach captures the impact on fiscal revenues more accurately than previous studies. Finally, as a policy response to demographic change and worsening fiscal budgets, we simulate the increase in the statutory retirement age. Our policy simulations confirm that raising the statutory retirement age can balance fiscal budgets in the long run.     

Fiscal Transparency,Fiscal Performance and Credit Ratings

Fiscal transparency can provide policymakers with incentives to adopt better policies by enhancing the public debate on the design and sustainability of fiscal policy and establishing accountability for their implementation. Fiscal transparency can also reduce uncertainty about fiscal policy and fiscal outturns by providing more information on the underlying fiscal position and fiscal risks. Both effects suggest that countries should benefit from adopting transparency enhancing policies through better market assessments of their sovereign risk. In this paper, we investigate whether fiscal transparency has an effect on market perceptions of sovereign risk, as measured by sovereign credit ratings, and if so, through which channels. We find that fiscal transparency has a positive and significant effect on ratings – one standard deviation increase in fiscal transparency increases credit ratings by 0.7 and 1 notches (or steps in the credit rating scale) in advanced and developing economies, respectively – but its effect works through different channels in advanced and developing economies. In advanced economies, fiscal transparency is associated with better fiscal outcomes, leading indirectly to higher credit ratings. In developing economies, the direct uncertainty‐reducing effect of fiscal transparency seems to be more important. Indeed, the effect of fiscal transparency on fiscal performance is found to increase with the level of institutional development.     

地方政府周期性财政收支、融资依赖与地区出口结构

在财政分权与政治垂直管理的激励体制下,地方政府财政支出的逆周期性弱化。同时,地区间初始禀赋差异和风险异质性则使得地方政府财政政策的周期性特征存在明显的地区差异。本文借鉴Rajan与Zingales(1998)发展的固定效应估计模型,采用2004年我国29个省份29个行业的相关数据,考察了周期性财政政策对地区出口结构的影响。本文研究显示,财政政策逆周期性较强的地区,在外部融资依赖性高的行业出口相对更多,具有比较优势。同时,在控制了人力资本、物质资本和自然资源禀赋等传统比较优势影响因素,以及外部市场接近度、国内市场容量和基础设施等新经济地理的因素之后,本文的结论依然成立。     

农业保险对财政投入的放大效应分析

相比直接的灾后财政救济,利用政策性农业保险机制能实现对财政投入效果的放大。本文在对中国和其他实施农业保险国家的对比中总结出对农业保险财政投入的范围、形式,重点剖析了利用农业保险实现财政投入放大效应的作用机制,提出了衡量这一效应的方法和指标,并据此对我国主要农险经营模式的实际放大效果及其原因进行了比较分析,最后,本文针对...