U.S. INCOME, SAVING, AND WEALTH, 1929—1969

The objective of this paper is to present income and expenditure accounts, accumulation accounts, and the asset side of the wealth accounts for the U.S. private national economy in current and constant prices. These accounts are integrated with the production and factor outlay accounts for the U.S. private domestic economy in current and constant prices given in our earlier papers. Taken together, these accounts constitute a complete accounting system in current and constant prices for the private sector of the U.S. economy.
Our complete accounting system incorporates a new concept of the standard of living, defined as the ratio of the quantity index of gross private national expenditures to the quantity index of gross private national consumer receipts. Our concept of the standard of living is similar but not identical to our concept of total factor productivity. Changes in the private standard of living reflect both changes in total factor productivity and changes in the proportion of the total product consumed in the public sector.     

人文—经济地理学科建设与发展方向探讨——2012年人文—经济地理学未来发展座谈会综述

人文—经济地理学作为交叉学科,在我国取得了较大发展,但其过程中也存在三大分异现象。为更好更快地促进人文—经济地理学发展,来自全国主要高校和科研院所的人文—经济地理学科带头人围绕"人文—经济地理学未来发展"这一问题,广泛交流了各自对未来人文—经济地理学发展的战略性思考,探讨了人文—经济地理学如何在为国家、地方和部门服务的同时,促进学科发展。通过热烈讨论,会议最终明确以下两大学科发展方向:一是,人文—经济地理学应以地球表层自然圈层和人文圈层相互作用的时空规律为科学命题,以解决地球表层不同空间尺度可持续发展为目标导向来构建自身科学体系;二是,人文—经济地理学要在社会应用体系中有凸显其科学价值,广泛开展社会可持续发展研究,为社会发展做出具有显示度的贡献。     

二元性问题的讨论:我们忽略了什么——一个基于资源占有非均衡的分析

除了传统意义的二元结构,在垄断行业与市场竞争行业、计划经济改制的国有企业与完全市场竞争企业及由教育资源分享不公引起的劳动力异质问题上,均有以隐性形式存在的二元结构问题.二元性外延的拓展根源于经济活动中公有资源占有的不公平,并且一经占有,个体理性的本位效率偏好与集体行动的公平目标必然出现一定的背离.二元性的存在不仅影响和谐社会的构建,而且使效率原则出现一定程度的扭曲.     

Private Sector Wealth: Quarterly Estimates for use in an Aggregate Model*

The paper presents some estimates of private-sector wealth in Australia for the 1958-75 period. Basically, we have attempted to consolidate the balance sheets of all sectors, except the government and the foreign sector. Different procedures have been used for the various components of private-sector wealth and estimates are presented for real assets of the household sector (dwellings, motor vehicles and consumer durables), for fixed assets and inventories of the business sector, and for government liabilities to the private sector. Broadly, the data indicate that over the 1958-75 period, private wealth grew faster than population but slower than output and business capital stock. Dwellings and motor vehicles were the fastest growing components of private wealth. Reflecting the rise in the share of foreign claims on businesses in Australia, the Australian claims on business assets increased at a slower rate than the increase in the business-capital stock.     

The Effect of Spillovers and Congestion on the Endogenous Formation of Jurisdictions

This paper analyzes the effect of interjurisdictional spillovers and congestion of local public services on the segregative properties of endogenous formation of jurisdictions. Households choosing to live at the same place form a jurisdiction which produces congested local public services, which generates positive spillovers to other jurisdictions. In every jurisdiction, the production of the local public services is financed through a local tax based on households' wealth. Local wealth tax rates are democratically determined in every jurisdiction. Households consume the available amount of public services in their jurisdiction and a composite private good. Any household is free to leave its jurisdiction for another that would increase its utility. A necessary and sufficient condition to have every stable jurisdiction structure segregated by wealth is identified: the public services must be either a gross substitute or a gross complement to the private good.     

The mature region building a practical model for the transition to the sustainable society

The demographic shift from the northeast to the “sunbelt” has resource implications that will span several decades. Early in the 21st century, today's “boom” regions will be significantly affected by declining petro-energy and an aging population and infrastructure. The northeast is now in an analogous situation.The transition to the sustainable society is unlikely to occur in the sunbelt while the boom is on, but the need for sustainability is immediate in the northeast. For the mature industrial states, economic survival is tied to the level of self-sufficiency they can achieve in the 1980s and 1990s. The efforts toward greater regional sustainability can offer practical models to regions yet to encounter cyclical decline. The transition to the sustainable society will be built on the aggregated efforts of regions to bring their unique circumstances into balance.New England is presented as the case study of a mature region, no longer growing, but embarking in measurable ways on a path toward regional sustainability. The model focuses on the recapture of resources that have traditionally sustained the region—the landscape, the 19th century settlement pattern, and the educational establishment.The inquiry is directed to practical efforts now being made by the private sector to readapt these traditional resources and increase New England's self-sufficiency. The paper will examine the significance of New England private sector endeavors, for effects on other regions, demonstration value and transferability, and conditions that merit continuing investigation as models for the transition to the sustainable society.     

DEFINED CONTRIBUTION PLANS, DEFINED BENEFIT PLANS, AND THE ACCUMULATION OF RETIREMENT WEALTH

The private pension structure in the United States, once dominated by defined benefit (DB) plans, is currently divided between defined contribution (DC) and DB plans. Wealth accumulation in DC plans depends on a participant's contribution behavior and on financial market returns, while accumulation in DB plans is sensitive to a participant's labor market experience and to plan parameters. This paper simulates the distribution of retirement wealth under representative DB and DC plans. It uses data from the Health and Retirement Study (HRS) to explore how asset returns, earnings histories, and retirement plan characteristics contribute to the variation in retirement wealth outcomes. We simulate DC plan accumulation by randomly assigning individuals a share of wages that they and their employer contribute to the plan. We consider several possible asset allocation strategies, with asset returns drawn from the historical return distribution. Our DB plan simulations draw earnings histories from the HRS, and randomly assign each individual a pension plan drawn from a sample of large private and public defined benefit plans. The simulations yield distributions of both DC and DB wealth at retirement. Average retirement wealth accruals under current DC plans exceed average accruals under private sector DB plans, although DC plans are also more likely to generate very low retirement wealth outcomes. The comparison of current DC plans with more generous public sector DB plans is less definitive, because public sector DB plans are more generous on average than their private sector DB counterparts.     

中产阶层与分配正义

中等财产拥有者,是中产阶层的经济标识和首要特征。中产阶层研究最核心的问题应是中产阶层与社会正义或分配正义关系的问题,即中产阶层的财产来路是否合理,中产阶层的产生与发展是否符合分配正义,中产阶层社会是否是社会财富分配合理的正义的社会。中产阶层是分配正义的产物,中产阶层的发展壮大是社会财富分配公正的体现。中产阶层缺乏的社会必定是社会分化不完整或是贫富过分分化的社会,必定是分配正义缺失的社会。     

可持续发展:西部城市的科学发展观

在西部大开发过程中，城市的发展模式至关重要。在理论上，可持续发展给城市发展理念带来革新意义，使其实现了从经济增长观向社会全面发展观的转变，从以物为中心向以人为中心的转变，从传统生产观、财富观向新生产观、新财富观的转变。在实践上，可持续发展战略在西部城市规划和发展中主要体现在三个方面：生态持续的原则、文化持续的原则和社会持续的原则。     

SEQUESTERING CARBON ON AGRICULTURAL LAND: SOCIAL COST AND IMPACTS ON TIMBER MARKETS

Planting trees to sequester carbon has broad political appeal. However, effects of a major tree planting program on the agricultural sector and on timber markets are unclear. This paper examines social costs of sequestering carbon in tree plantations on U.S. agricultural land and investigates harvesting's effects on timber prices and on private timber producers' welfare. The analysis links a model of the U.S. agricultural sector that includes the land base in major production areas with a model of the U.S. softwood economy. Using current data on planting, maintenance, and harvesting costs for tree plantations and carbon sequestration rates, the models estimate the price and welfare effects of alternative carbon sequestration goals. Results indicate a range of outcomes. Consumers pay higher prices for food as farmers divert land from crops to trees. However, wood products consumers gain from falling timber prices if the trees enter commercial markets. Agricultural producers and landowners gain from higher commodity prices, but private forest owners lose. Large tree planting programs imply that policymakers must compensate private commercial tree planting to prevent farmers from displacing present tree plantations.     

Employment and Wages in the Private and Local Government Sectors in a Centralized Fiscal System

This paper discusses the interaction between the local government and private sector in an institutional context consistent with a centralized fiscal system. Under decentralized wage setting in the private sector, the effects of shocks in the two sectors depend on whether private and local public goods are substitutes or complements in the union utility function. Higher wage markup in the local government sector unambiguously decreases government output while the effect on private sector employment is ambiguous. Higher income taxes have ambiguous effects on local government output. Shocks in the private sector can be reinforced through feedback effects from the local government sector. A shift from decentralized to centralized wage setting in the private sector reduces wages and increases employment in both sectors.     

Expenditure,wealth and the rate of interest

Empirical studies into the determination of private sector expenditure have typically had considerable difficulty in discovering significant effects resulting from changes in private sector wealth, from interest rates or indeed from any other financial variables. This paper argues that, by adopting a particular, highly aggregative, approach it is possible, after all, to estimate powerful effects of this kind and, in so doing, suggests reasons why conventional research should yield more negative results. In addition, the discovery of significant wealth and real interest rate effects is shown to offer a potential explanation for the fall in the ‘velocity’ of financial wealth that has occurred in recent years.     

SOCIAL STATUS AND THE GROWTH EFFECT OF MONEY*

It has been shown that in a standard one‐sector AK model of endogenous growth with wealth induced preferences for social status, the economy's growth rates of real output and nominal money supply are positively related when the cash in advance constraint is applied solely to the household's consumption purchases. However, a positive output growth effect of money/inflation is not consistent with the existing empirical evidence. We show that when gross investment must be financed by real money balances as well, this result is overturned, i.e. higher inflation is detrimental to economic growth, because of a dominating portfolio substitution effect.     

PRIVATIZATION OF WATER: EVALUATING ITS PERFORMANCE IN THE DEVELOPING WORLD

Private‐sector provision of water has been promoted in developing countries since 1990 in order to expand water service coverage to low‐income households. Decades later, the consequences of privatizing water utilities are still disputed. Some scholars have found that areas with privatized water services see positive development effects, while others contend that the private‐sector supply of a social good will always lead to its under‐provision. However, does more privatization of water provision in developing countries actually bring about more access to water? This paper hypothesizes that more private participation in water provision will not ensure more access to water at the national level. The relationship is tested using data on weighted percentages of private ownership of water utilities, and access to improved water sources from 1990 to 2015 across 62 countries. Multivariate OLS results indicate a positive relationship but with no statistical significance. 2SLS results, on the other hand, indicate a positive, small and statistically significant effect of water privatization on water access. Nonetheless, the causal mechanism behind these results must be further explored, given that the measured effect could be capturing the result of an increase in investment that is associated with private ownership of water utilities.     

The Social Economy Sector in Japan

The Social Economy Sector is a new comer in Japanese society. Based on two experiments and theories derived from the European concept of social economy and the American concept of the non profit organization, the Japanese way of integration of a social economy sector is developing under the name of the Non Profit and Co-operative Sector. The change of social policy and public policy under the influence of the new liberalism has urged a change in traditional relations between public sector and private sectors and created the new role of a social economy sector. Even though there is no clear image of the sector, both the financial need of public authorities and the social needs of citizen users especially in social security and medical care has made the social economy sector an alternative for realizing better service supply.     

Where Does the Good Shepherd Go? Civic Virtue and Sorting into Public Sector Employment

Several studies have analyzed motives to work in the public versus private sector. However, research on prosocial motivation in the context of public sector employment has largely neglected civic virtue, the motive to contribute to society. This study considers civic virtue in addition to other possible motives, using a representative, longitudinal dataset of employees in Germany including 63,180 observations of 13,683 different individuals. We find that civic virtue relates positively to public sector employment beyond altruism, risk aversion, laziness and (low) financial motivation. The result holds within different branches and is explained by sorting into the sector.     

Social security,saving, and macroeconomics

Arguing within the framework of a life-cycle hypothesis of consumption of the individual household, Martin Feldstein has claimed that a pay-as-you-go, unfunded social-security system implies a private-sector perception of wealth which both depresses private saving and raises aggregate consumption. But the effects in a macro-economic context are not the same. With less than full employment, perceived increments to private wealth in social security or any other government obligations should increase current and planned future consumption and saving, raising employment and output. With full employment, as long as monetary policy is appropriately accommodating, such increments to wealth should raise prices but leave all real variables, including capital accumulation, unaffected. Increases in social-security wealth would merely substitute for real private wealth in the form of explicit government bonds. Econometric estimates from corrected U.S. data on social security, public debt, income, and employment are consistent with these hypotheses.     

A microeconomic analysis of wage determination in the Canadian public sector

Using cross-section, micro wage rate data for the period 1967–1975, this paper analyses the extent to which price expectations, price ‘catch-up’, and labour market conditions affect the rate of change of base wage rates in the Canadian public sector. The results indicate that both price movements and labour market conditions do influence base wage rates in a manner that is not radically different from that in the private sector. The paper also explores the importance and significance of these factors when the data are disaggregated according to jurisdiction and method of contract settlement. The final section of the paper is devoted to an exploration of wage spillovers within the public sector and between the public and private sectors.     

低保制度是地方性公共服务吗?

本文从公共经济学的视角,分析了低保制度的属性,明确指出低保制度应是全国性公共服务而不是地方性公共服务,阐述了低保制度属于全国性公共服务的现实意义有助于明确中央政府在低保制度建设中的职责、有助于实现基本公共服务均等化、有助于推进社会保障城乡统筹;同时在低保制度是全国性公共服务的框架下,探讨了农村低保制度的供给问题。     

Regulating Providers' Reimbursement in a Mixed Market for Health Care

Hospitals can be reimbursed for their costs in many ways. Several authors have investigated the effects of these reimbursement rules on physician incentives and, therefore, on the quantity of services provided to patients. A form of (linear) cost-sharing tends to emerge as the socially efficient reimbursement policy. We present a model of hospital reimbursement, based on Ellis and McGuire (1986). The new feature is that physicians can supply private health care services to a patient, as well as public sector ones; a common institutional arrangement in many health care systems. We investigate the optimal public sector reimbursement rule given that private market incentives must now be taken into account. Public sector cost-sharing remains socially efficient, but it is generally non-linear: the precise details depend on whether public and private services are substitutes or complements and on the degree of social efficiency achieved in the private sector. Other reimbursement schemes exhibit optimality properties not present in Ellis and McGuire's work.