Environmental and public finance aspects of the taxation of energy

This paper reviews potential applications of environmental taxesin the energy sector. Theoretical and practical arguments forusing environmental taxes are reviewed, and possible arrangementsoutlined for levying environmental taxes on energy. In contrastto most environmental taxes, taxes on energy have the potentialto raise revenues sufficient to alter the constraints and opportunitiesin fiscal policy. A carbon tax levied at a rate of £200per tonne could raise revenues equivalent to about 11 per centof total UK tax receipts, allowing income tax to be halved,or corporation tax abolished. Inappropriate use of the revenues,or their unnecessary dissipation, can greatly add to the costsof environmental policy. But, environmental taxes are unlikelyreduce the overall excess burden from taxation below the currentlevel, and the case for ecotaxes must thus primarily be madein terms of their environmental benefits.     

Measuring living standards from the lowest: Height of the male Hangryu deceased in colonial Korea

The living standards in Korea during the colonial period (1910–1945) have been debated for a long time. We explored this problem using the height of the Hangryu deceased, a dead person who did not have any acquaintances to claim the body. We found that the height of male Hangryu deceased, ages 25 to 30, increased by 2.2 cm during the colonial period. This result is consistent with recent quantitative studies measuring income levels or demographic information. However, questions such as when this growth in height started and what initiated this pattern need further investigation.     

Challenging the de‐industrialization thesis: gender and indigenous textile production in Java under Dutch colonial rule,c. 1830–1920

Many dependency theorists as well as economic historians have contended that nineteenth‐century imperial policies and economic globalization de‐industrialized the global ‘periphery’. European metropoles extracted raw materials and tropical commodities from their overseas territories, and in turn indigenous consumers bought their industrial products, textiles in particular. This article investigates three of the assumptions of Ricardian trade theory that are often behind the de‐industrialization narrative. In this article it is argued that, at least for colonial Java's textile industry, these assumptions should be reconsidered. Adverse trade policies imposed by the Dutch and a prolonged terms‐of‐trade boom in favour of primary commodities make colonial Java a unique case for exploring the merits of the de‐industrialization thesis. Here it is demonstrated that Javanese households resourcefully responded to changing market circumstances, in the first place by flexible allocation of female labour. Moreover, indigenous textile producers specialized in certain niches that catered for local demand. Because of these factors, local textile production in Java appears to have been much more resilient than most of the historical literature suggests. These findings not only shed new light on the social and economic history of colonial Indonesia, but also contribute to the recent literature on alternative, labour‐intensive paths of industrialization in the non‐western world.     

Government Deficit, Public Investment, and Public Capital in the Transition to an Aging Japan

This paper examines the effects of government deficits, public investment, and public capital on welfare in the transition to an aging Japan by applying a simulated general equilibrium growth model. One of the main results of this paper is that targeting only high economic growth would mislead us as to economic policies, and that a policy to reduce future government deficits is most preferable for almost all generations, even though a cut in future deficits must be followed by a decrease in public investment, thus a decrease in public capital in the future. J. Japan. Int. Econ., December 2002, 16(4), pp. 462–491. Faculty of Economics, Shiga University, Japan; and Management School, Imperial College, United Kingdom. © 2002 Elsevier Science (USA).Journal of Economic Literature Classification Numbers: H55, H54, H62, C68, J10.     

次贷危机背景下对金融创新和金融监管问题的思考

金融创新与金融监管相互制约、相互促进,金融监管诱发了金融创新,没有金融监管制约的金融创新将影响金融安全。美国次贷危机的爆发,与房地产金融在缺乏有效监管下的无节制创新密切相关。我国应吸取美国次贷危机的教训,遵循审慎监管的原则,正确处理创新与监管的关系,采取规制性监管与原则性监管相结合的监管模式,完善金融监管协调机制,加强金融监管的跨业合作以及国际协调,构建更加稳健的金融体系。     

日本控制国家公务员和公共企事业薪酬的做法与成效

日本政府不仅控制国家公务员和公共企事业的薪酬水平,而且在公共企事业部门不搞经营者高薪制,把企业高管与员工的收入差距控制在了3倍以下的程度.由此,既确保了官民工资水平的协调,又影响和制约了企业经营者的年薪水平,在资本主义市场经济条件下实现了相对公平的社会收入分配.     

韩国公有企业改革之启示

尽管韩国公有企业改革从20世纪60年代开始,但真正意义上的民营化却始自1997年的亚洲金融危机。为加快公有企业民营化过程,韩国制订了许多相关法律,组建了强有力的组织机构,制定了有步骤的民营化计划。韩国公有企业民营化的主要特点是,国有股上市流通为主要的民营化方式、国有资本的进入或退出依据于行业特点、根据行韭特点采取阶段性和渐进性民营化策略,采取各种措施避免公益性的削弱。韩国的经验表明,以国有股上市为主要方式的民营化可以增加国家财富,民营化是提高公有企业经营效率的主要途径,加强金融机构和社会对公有企业的监管是提高公有企业透明度的主要途径。     

Japanese industrial finance at the close of the 19th century: Trade credit and financial intermediation

In a series of recent studies, several economic historians (most prominently Richard Sylla) argue that successful economies experience “financial revolutions” before undergoing rapid growth. In the U.S., they suggest Hamilton masterminded the financial revolution by putting the public finance in order and facilitating private banks. Might Matsukata, they continue, have done the same in Japan? Japan did indeed experience a financial revolution in the late 19th century. Matsukata, however, did not mastermind the revolution in advance of private-sector demand. Instead, private investors created much of the financial infrastructure in response to demand from industrial firms. What is more, most firms (at least in the pivotal silk industry) raised the funds they needed through trade credit rather than securities markets or banks.     

互联网+背景下的普惠式金融:京东金融

在全球经济仍未完全从次贷危机恢复之际,互联网金融的迅速崛起极大推动了金融行业的创新和发展,并且催生了一系列新型的互联网金融模式。作为后起之秀,京东成为了互联网金融业务扩张速度最快的电商企业。本文主要基于互联网金融爆发性发展的背景下,分析以京东金融为代表的互联网金融模式的特点和创新机理,并对其存在的风险提出建议措施。     

公共财政新视角下我国财政支农政策体系的问题及调整

农业作为一个自然风险和市场风险交织的行业，其弱质性及在国民经济中的地位决定了政府必须对农业的发展提供财政支持。许多发达国家农业发展的实践也证明，农业增长与国家的财政支持二者之间存在着正相关关系。随着我国改革进入后改革时代，“三农”问题的复杂性和重要性正在同步上升，这对我国目前财政支农的政策体系提出了新的要求。     

产融结合背景下金融学科教学改革研究

文章分析了经济新常态和产融结合的发展趋势下,我国金融学科教学中面临的问题和挑战,提出在高校开展中观金融教学工作,既完善了高校金融学科教学体系,也顺应了产业转型升级、经济结构优化对金融人才培养目标的新要求,是具有重要意义的教学改革。     

日本防治公共工程串通投标行为的经验及其启示

建筑工程的串通投标行为可分为投标人与招标人或投标人之间相互串通投标两种形式,是一种排除、限制竞争的的不正当竞争行为.由于串通投标行为具有很大的隐蔽性,近年来在我国也呈不断蔓延的趋势.日本在公共工程中防治串通投标现象的经验表明,这实际上是一个工程建设领域难以根除的国际通病,但如果在早期阶段制定有针对性的政策措施和防范机制,可以有效抑制串通投标行为.     

Comparison of Effects from Different Institutions: Public Credit Guarantee in Korea*

We aim to compare the activities of the two main credit guarantee institutions in Korea. There has been mounting criticism that although these institutions were mandated to play different roles in financing small and medium‐sized enterprises (SME), their operations are, in fact, similar, and many SME receive overlapping support from both institutions. Using the propensity score matching method (allowing for multiple, mutually exclusive support scenarios) to compare the effects of PCG on different institutions, the present study provides suggestions to help the government make decisions regarding the consolidation of PCG funds. The results suggest that the institutions function differently and target different SME. However, overlapping support enables firms to expand their sales only, indicating the existence of inefficiency in the case of overlapping support to firms.     

Exchange rate shocks and the current account under monopolistic competition: An intertemporal optimization model

This paper examines the current-account effect of a devaluation in a Chamberlinian model where both saving and investment are based on intertemporal optimization. It shows that devaluation tends to deteriorate the current account along the time horizon, leading to a reduction of the stock of foreign assets permanently. In contrast to recent work, these real effects do not rely on short-run disequilibrium in the goods or labor market. Besides, a temporary devaluation may generate hysteresis effects on both micro- and macro-economic aspects of a small economy.     

Protecting the borrower: An experiment in colonial India

We study the impact of the Deccan Agriculturists' Relief Act (DARA), a key legislation to protect debtors that was enacted in western colonial India. Using a panel dataset and a difference-in-difference estimation, we find a substantial short-run decline in mortgage-backed credit after the passage of DARA. The contraction in credit did not reduce cropped area or agricultural investments in bullocks and carts, but may have led to less intensive cultivation.     

日本公共养老保障体系的财政困境及对我国的启示

中国和日本同属人口老龄化速度最快的国家行列。1980年代中期以来,深度人口老龄化和经济低迷的双重压力使日本现收现付制的公共养老保障体系的财政状况迅速恶化,由之而来的对养老制度的不信任以及在解决问题过程中产生的代际负担和待遇的不公平使得越来越多的国民选择逃避养老金缴费责任,日本的公共养老保障体系面临日益严峻的挑战。考察日本养老保障体系面,临的困境及其产生原因,从中吸取经验和教训,对于我国正在进行的养老保障制度改革具有现实意义。     

日本PFI与公共投资效率化

传统上公共产品的供给由政府承担。但公共产品供给不足和非效率化成为比较普遍的现象。日本在公共产品生产中引入PFI方式就在于克服上述弊端,缓解政府财政压力、增强公共产品生产的竞争性,以提高公共产品的供给效率。     

上市公司财务造假:三维视角下的重新审视及其对策分析

众所周知，利益驱动是各种财务造假的内在诱因。“一有适当的利润，资本就非常胆壮起来，……。有50％（的利润）就会引起积极性的冒险，有100％，就会使人不顾一切法律；有300％就会使人不怕犯罪，甚至不怕绞首的危险”。因此，在各种利益的驱动下，公司财务造假的不道德行为屡屡发生，有的为挥霍公款、行贿、贪污，有的为避税、逃税，有的是想树立企业形象，显现成绩，有的是想获取上市资格等等，总之一切都是为了达到目的，追求利益，实现价值。因此，从财务造假的行为视角看财务造假的形式，其主要有：公司财务腐败、公司内部经济犯罪及公司财务欺诈，也即公司财务造假的三维形式视角。     

跨越“中等收入陷阱”的公共政策因应:韩国做法及启示

社会不均等会严重威胁社会稳定,进而影响经济的持续增长。韩国在跨越中等收入陷阱这一关键时期,充分发挥了就业、教育、税收和社会保障等一系列与经济发展相适应的社会均等化政策,从而实现了高速增长同时的社会均等化发展。借鉴韩国跨越中等收入陷阱时期的社会均等化政策,中国应着力从创造社会流动性、合理分配教育资源、发挥税收和社会保障制度的再分配效应等方面入手,制定社会均等化政策,突破中等收入陷阱。