China's value-added tax reform, capital accumulation, and welfare implications

This paper analyzes the effects of China's upcoming value-added tax (VAT) reform of removing investment from the tax base on capital accumulation and the welfare of the rich and the poor. Three alternative methods to make up for the loss of tax revenue are considered. The VAT reform with consumption tax being endogenous increases capital accumulation and the utility of both the rich and the poor. The VAT reform with the labor income tax rate being endogenous increases capital accumulation; and it decreases the utility of the rich and increases the utility of the poor (increases the utility of both the rich and the poor) if the rich has a higher rate or the same rate of time preference (if the rich has a lower rate of time preference). The VAT reform, accompanied by a cut in transfers to the poor, has no effect on capital accumulation if the rich and the poor have the same rate of time preference; it decreases (increases) capital accumulation if the rich has a higher (lower) rate of time preference; and it increases the utility of the rich and decreases the utility of the poor.     

Tax reform,capital allocation and welfare gains in Norway

Summary This paper analyzes the potential welfare gains to the Norwegian economy of implementing a tax reform that broadens the tax base and lowers tax rates on capital income. For this purpose a dynamic general equilibrium model where agents have perfect foresight is developed. The model is highly aggregate, with only one production sector and one household sector, but it incorporates a very detailed treatment of the taxation of capital income. This includes a two-way classification of capital assets into three ownership classes: corporate, non-corporate and household, and across two types of assets: long-lived and short-lived. This suffices to capture those elements of the Norwegian tax code that give rise to the most important distortions, both intratemporally and intertemporally.I have benefited greatly from detailed comments from Don Fullerton, A. Lans Bovenberg and an anonymous referee. Please direct all correspondence to the author to: Fiscal Affairs Department, International Monetary Fund, 700 19th Street, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20431.     

Black power and state welfare policy

Conclusions The three strategies for the black movement are centered on black individual development resources, black capitalist resources, and political violence. The conflicts between the theorists of each strategy have been major. This study indicates that although black individual development, black capitalist, and black violence strategies are ideologically opposed, each one, nevertheless, has an influence on welfare policy. Black individual and violence resources influence Aid to Families with Dependent Children payments; black capitalist and violence resources influence the number of Aid to Families with Dependent Children recipients. These results suggest that there are a variety of means to social change even though there are ideological disputes about the values of each approach.     

Does the welfare state increase welfare? Reflections on hidden negatives and observed positives

Summary The growth of the welfare state and the taxes required to finance it has affected aggregate economic welfare through several channels. Some of the impacts are negative; others are positive. This paper appraises the evidence on the magnitude of a dozen of these impacts, and concludes that for both the Netherlands and the U.S., aggregate gains exceed the losses. At the margin, however, the comparison is not so favorable and a strategy is suggested whereby the welfare state could be reoriented so as to preserve the gains while reducing the losses. This strategy is an alternative to simple retrenchment of the welfare state.I acknowledge the helpful and insightful comments on, and discussions of, the issues addressed here by Professors Victor Halberstadt, Jan Pen, Barbara Wolfe, and Dirk Wolfson.Revised version of the Tinbergen Lecture, given March 28th at the Erasmus University, Rotterdam, The Netherlands.     

The threat to the German welfare state

Germany is in a dilemma. Low wage competition via product and factor markets increases the demands on the welfare state, but increased systems competition in the context of international factor mobility reduces the possibilities of maintaining it. The welfare state has important allocative functions. It is an insurance against career risks and its stimulates risk taking and economic growth. However, it also has severe moral hazard effects by reducing work incentives. To help the welfare state survive and improve its performance, this paper advocates the home-country principle for the treatment of immigrants, the introduction of funded elements in the pension system, and employment subsidies at the expense of ordinary welfare payments. Distinguished Address presented at the Forty-Ninth International Atlantic Economic Conference, Munich, Germany, March 14–21, 2000. The author thanks Marcel Thum, Holger Feist, and Michael Reutter for their helpful comments. This paper is based on a lecture first given to the Verein für Socialpolitik in 1998.     

国有企业退出一般竞争性领域 独立经营国有资本

国有企业不是本质,而只是一种载体,国有资本及其保值增值才是本质和内容。必须改变混淆经济利益本身和其载体———企业之间关系的现象,这要求在涉及国计民生的关键领域依然由国有企业控制,而在一般竞争性领域,应放弃控对企业的经营权,或参股或退出,变国有企业为活化的国有资本,并由专业投资公司独立经营国有资本。政府对国有资本保值增值负责,不再对企业负责。国有企业退出一般竞争性领域,独立经营国有资本是可行的,并具有诸多重要意义。     

社会资本理论视角下中国城市弱势群体社会福利改革

本文针对弱势群体这一焦点问题,引入社会资本理论分析我国转型期社会福利制度下城市弱势群体社会资本的缺失状况,针对性地从社会资本建设角度指出转型期政府、非营利组织等主体在城市弱势群体社会福利改革中发挥的作用。     

Overshooting des Wechselkurses,Substituierbarkeit der Finanzaktiva und J-Kurve

Summary Overshooting of the exchange rate, substitutability of financial assets and J-curve. — Assuming that the Marshall-Lerner condition holds already in the impact-phase, Frenkel and Rodriguez demonstrate that overshooting of the flexible exchange rate following a domestic monetary expansion is an increasing function of the international substitutability of financial assets. In our paper it is shown that this relation is reversed when allowing for the J-curve effect in the trade balance, i.e. when assuming that the Marshall-Lerner condition holds merely in the medium or long run which is supported by recent econometric studies. Overshooting of the flexible exchange rate is then a decreasing function of the degree of substitutability. While the Frenkel-Rodriguez-model suggests capital controls to weaken overshooting, our model shows that overshooting cannot be prevented but is minimal when there is perfect substitutability of financial assets.

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Résumé Débordement du taux de change, substitutabilité des actifs financiers et la J-courbe. — Sous la supposition que la condition de Marshall-Lerner est déjà valable dans la phase d’impact, Frenkel et Rodriguez démontrent que le débordement du taux change flexible causé par une expansion monétaire locale est une fonction accroissante de la substitutabilité internationale des actifs financiers. Dans cet article, il est démontré que cette relation a changé si l’on considére l’effet de la J-courbe dans la balance commerciale, c.-à.-d. si l’on suppose que la condition de Marshall-Lerner n’est valable qu’au médium ou long terme, une condition qui est supportée par des recherches économétriques récentes. En ce cas le débordement du taux de change flexible est une fonction décroissante de degré de substitutabilité. Pendant que le modéle de Frenkel-Rodriguez suggére que des contróles des capitaux peuvent affaiblir le débordement, notre modéle suggére que le débordement ne peut pas être avoué mais qu’il est minimal en cas d’une compléte substitutabilité des actifs financiers.

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Resumen ?Overshooting? del tipo de cambio, sustituci?n de activos financieros y la curva J. — Partiendo de la base que la condici?n Marshall-Lerner es satisfecha incluso en la fase de impacto inicial, Frenkel y Rodriguez demuestran que el ?overshooting? del tipo de cambio como consecuencia de una expansion domèstica de la oferta monetaria, es una funcion creciente de la sustituci?n intemacional de activos financieros. En este artfculo se muestra como este relacion se revierte cuando se tiene en cuenta el efecto de la curva J en la balanza comercial; en otros tèrminos, cuando se asume que la condici?n Marshall-Lerner se ve satisfecha ünicamente a medio o a largo plazo, como indican recientes estudios economètricos. ?Overshooting? del tipo de cambio es entonces una funci?n decreciente de grado de sustituci?n. Mientras que el modelo de Frenkel y Rodriguez sugiere contróles de capital para reducir el grado de ?overshooting?, en este modelo se pone de manifiesto que el ?overshooting? no puede evitarse pero sin embargo es mfnimo cuando existe una sustitucián perfecta entre activos financieros.

     

制度创新与国有企业改革

创新是企业的生命，是企业兴旺发达的动力之源。国有企业改革是经济体制改革中的难题之一，综观20多年来国有企业改革的实践，我们可以得出一个结论，制度创新是国有企业改革的关键。     

国有企业改革的交易费用障碍

市场、企业是资源配置的两种方式,但我国过去超越社会发展阶段通过国家以行政干预的方式配置资源,加大了交易费用,阻碍了生产力的发展。而今要克服困难,建立现代企业制度,真正使市场和企业发挥其优化资源配置的作用。     

中国与越南国有企业改革比较

国有企业改革是经济转轨国家共同面临的重大课题,研究和比较中国与越南国有企业改革的历程具有现实意义。中国从1978年开始的国有企业改革从大的方面可以分为两个大的阶段:改造阶段和革新阶段。越南国有企业改革经历了市场化、集团化、股份化三个阶段,主要问题是股份制改造进展缓慢。两国的改革存在诸多共同点,同时在改革的整体规划、推进速度、策略等方面存在差异。总结和比较两国的改革历程,可以得到有益的启示:改革必须坚持以市场为取向;坚持"渐进式"的改革策略;正确处理国有企业改革与各项体制改革配套的关系;结合本国国情进行改革。     

Corporate finance and state enterprise reform in China

This paper uses a novel approach in addressing two puzzles in the field of corporate finance in China, where government is a major player. In addition to the traditional approach based on agency theory and information asymmetry, the paper uses the political costs approach in studying the stock dividend puzzle and rights issues puzzle. The paper finds that the extent of political interference, managerial entrenchment, and institutional control affects corporate financing choices and dividend distribution decisions. The result sheds new light on improving the important corporate governance aspects of state enterprise reform in China.     

Rural tax reform and the extractive capacity of local state in China

China's fiscal arrangement in the 1980s has preserved local governments' incentive but the 1994 fiscal reform recentralized revenues. Since then, farmers' tax burdens have risen steeply and become a major challenge to the state legitimacy. How to account for the huge regional variation? Why were some localities able to tax more heavily than others? Based on a national survey of village governance in China, we examine farmers' burdens empirically and identify political and social factors that explain the local governments' ability to tax farmers. This paper suggests that developments since the 1990s have shown that it overstates local discretionary power and does not pay enough attention to societal forces in understanding local public finance.     

公益性科研院所绩效管理特征与改革对策研究

绩效管理是推进事业单位改革的重要措施,公益性科研院所由于受现行管理体制约束、对绩效管理认识偏差和缺乏绩效管理专门机构和专业人才等影响,在现实绩效管理中存在单位发展目标分解落实不到位、绩效考核指标和考核周期设置不科学、绩效考核过程不规范、绩效沟通不通畅和绩效考核结果反馈与应用功能缺失等问题。文章认为推进科学实施绩效管理改革必须充分认识绩效管理对公益性科研院所战略发展的重要性,加强绩效考核管理机制和机构能力建设,构建科学的绩效考核评价指标体系,同时积极培育绩效管理组织文化,营造鼓励绩效管理创新的环境和氛围,不断提升公益服务的能力和水平。     

对国有企业薪酬制度改革的探讨

当前，国有企业的改革进入了攻坚阶段，很多改革措施已经触及国企的深层次矛盾，而其中对薪酬制度的改革由于触及方方面面的利益，更是一个改革难点，本文尝试对国有企业薪酬制度改革的思路作一些探讨。