The effect of the tax reform act of 1986 on the location of assets in financial services firms

This paper examines the effects of the Tax Reform Act of 1986 on the international location decisions of U.S. financial services firms. The Act included rule changes that made it substantially more difficult for U.S. firms to defer U.S. taxes on overseas financial services income held in low-tax jurisdictions. We use information from the tax returns of U.S. corporations to examine how local taxes affect the allocation of financial assets held abroad by financial services firms. We find that, before the Act, the location of reported assets in financial subsidiaries was responsive to differences in host country tax rates across jurisdictions. However, after the Act, differences in host country tax rates no longer explain the distribution of assets held in financial services subsidiaries abroad. Our results suggest that the tightening of the anti-deferral provisions applicable to financial services companies has been successful in diminishing the effect of host country income taxes on asset location decisions.     

Macroeconomic implications of financial policy

This paper studies the effects of financial policy in a model with heterogeneous agents, incomplete markets and portfolio restrictions. For an economy calibrated to replicate key aspects of the U.S. wealth distribution, we find that the quantitative effects of financial policy are relatively small. The reason is that the households determining aggregate behavior are relatively well insured and can therefore offset the actions of the firm by modifying their portfolio allocations. However, financial policy has important effects on asset prices. Whereas a higher level of debt in the capital structure of the firm introduces more risk into the economy by increasing the volatility of the equity return, it enhances the liquidity of households by increasing the supply of bonds. In an economy with a substantial amount of heterogeneity, this last effect dominates and leverage leads to a decrease in the equity premium. This is in contrast to the findings in representative agent models, in which leverage unambiguously increases the premium through a higher equity return volatility.     

International trade agreements, environmental policy, and relocation of production

This paper studies the influence of free trade agreements on national environmental policies and location strategies of polluting firms. It is shown that banning export subsidies makes relocation of production more attractive for firms. When export subsidies are banned relocation is profitable because: (1) the rival firm reduces output due to more stringent emission regulation in the host country of the investment and (2) relocation leads to lower emission tax rate in the original home country of the investing firm. When export subsidies are used, the first effect is absent because the host government is able to use the export subsidy to compensate the negative effect of more stringent emission taxation on domestic shareholders.     

Evaluating monetary policy with financial stability objective: rules vs. discretion

This article explores whether adding the goal of financial stability to the more traditional goals of output and price stability could improve optimality of monetary policy. A Dynamic Stochastic General Equilibrium model that endogenously incorporates financial frictions is used to derive optimality conditions across rule-based and discretionary monetary policy environments. The results indicate that it is optimal for the Central Bank to keep output below the potential level in the short term so as to dampen the inflationary effects arising from supply and financial shocks. When the economy is exposed to a financial shock, both leverage and credit spread rise significantly, thereby tipping the economy into a financial crisis and raising the probability of macroeconomic risk.     

The international policy trilemma in the post-Bretton Woods era

The international macroeconomic policy trilemma suggests that despite the appeal of exchange rate stability, financial account openness and monetary sovereignty, these cannot be achieved simultaneously. Using elements of Euclidean geometry, this paper proposes a new method for testing the trilemma and finds considerable evidence in support of it. Further tests indicate that, on average, policy configurations are not on the trilemma constraint, i.e. there is a degree of ‘trilemma-ineffectiveness’, which is costly for real output growth and price inflation. It is shown that these costs are associated with limited exchange rate stability and financial account openness.     

Monetary policy,endogenous transactions,and financial market segmentation

An endogenous financial market segmentation model is constructed to explore the role of costly credit as a medium of exchange in the monetary policy elasticity of financial market activity. Against inflation risk, credit is an alternative insurance device to a cash transfer from the financial market. In equilibrium, credit reduces the financial market activity rate. Monetary policy has redistributive effects across economic individuals. Inflation may not tax financial market non-participants. However, it may tax financial market participants by increasing the financial market activity rate. Welfare may increase and the optimal money growth rate can be positive.     

跨国投资、市场结构与外商投资企业的竞争行为

实力雄厚的跨国公司在中国大量投资是否会导致垄断行为 ,是国内外长期关注和争论的一个问题。本文以汽车、移动通讯设备和洗涤用品这三个技术特性和经济规模有较大差异的行业为案例 ,分析吸引跨国投资与中国制造业市场结构的变化 ,及这种变化对外商投资企业竞争行为的影响。结论是 :虽然跨国公司有垄断愿望 ,但是随着中国不断深化的开放与改革 ,跨国公司不仅本身以竞争行为为主 ,而且成为促进中国竞争性市场结构形成的重要因素。     

Modeling,analysis and mitigation of contagion in financial systems

Recent financial turmoil (e.g., the 2008–2009 global financial crisis) has resulted in financial contagion-induced instability becoming one of the major concerns in the fields of economics and finance. In this paper, we extend the network analysis of financial contagion from three perspectives. First, given that cross-holding of claims and obligations among financial institutions can be viewed as input-output linkages, we model the financial system and the contagion mechanism by introducing the classic Leontief input–output framework. Second, based on this modeling process, we propose a simple contagion algorithm to study how financial system heterogeneity influences its stability. Third, to mitigate financial contagion, we propose several concrete intervention policies based on two widely used prudential approaches—forced mergers and capital injections. The performance of these intervention policies is then evaluated by comprehensive numerical experiments. Our study has significant implications for financial regulation and supervision.     

财政、货币政策作用空间的历史变迁及其启示——基于中国财政、货币政策实践

财政政策发挥调控功能以国家财政拥有一定财力为基础,货币政策发挥调控功能以商业银行体系对中央银行的资金依赖为前提。失却此基础和前提,财政政策和货币政策调控功能就会大打折扣甚或完全丧失调控功能。新中国财政政策与货币政策作用空间的变迁经历了三个阶段,与之相适应,财政政策与货币政策调控功能分别经历了“强、弱、强”和“弱、强、弱”三种状态。经验表明,财政政策与货币政策作用空间的变迁与经济体制、国民经济运行格局息息相关。财政政策和货币政策要真正发挥宏观调控功能必须改善其赖以发挥作用的经济运行环境并加强两者之间的协调。     

中日中小企业政府扶持政策比较研究

中日中小企业有基本相同的发展背景,政府对中小企业采取支持和扶持的政策是两国政府的共同举措。对比分析两国政府在创造良好经营环境、融资、财政、税收等方面的政策措施,借鉴日本政府在发展中小企业方面的先进经验,进一步完善和细化政府促进中小企业发展的相关政策和法律法规,帮助在市场竞争中强位弱势及无法通过自身努力解决问题的中小企业摆脱困境,走上健康的发展之路。     

Monetary policy and the financial decisions of firms

Summary. In this paper we develop a general equilibrium model with heterogeneous, long-lived firms where financial factors play an important role in their production and investment decisions. When the economy is hit by monetary shocks, the response of small and large firms differs substantially, with small firms responding more than big firms. As a result of the financial decisions of firms, monetary shocks have a persistent impact on output. Another finding of the paper is that monetary shocks lead to considerable volatility in stock market returns.Received: 20 November 2003, Revised: 26 August 2004 JEL Classification Numbers: E5, G3.T.F. Cooley, V. Quadrini: We have received helpful comments on earlier versions of this paper from Jeff Campbell, David Chapman, Thomas Cosimano, Joao Gomes, Boyan Jovanovic, José-Víctor Ríos-Rull, and Harald Uhlig. Correspondence to: V. Quadrini     

Monetary and fiscal coordination in preventing bank failures and financial contagion

This paper uses a theoretical model to analyze the optimal combination of monetary response (lowering of interest rates) and fiscal bailouts in preventing bank failures and financial contagion. I show that the optimal way of rescuing failing banks is to combine the two. This is because lower interest rates reduce the size of the bailout required to rescue failing banks as they reduce the cost for banks to raise and retain deposits. The main result of the paper is that banks are willing to monitor their investments more closely when they anticipate a monetary response in addition to bailouts in case of a banking crisis. Additionally, capital requirements such as the Basel Accords do not always incentivize banks to monitor their investments if there is a potential contagion from unhealthy to healthy banks.     

Debt policy, corporate taxes, and discount rates

This paper applies the standard risk-neutral valuation framework to tax shields generated by dynamic debt policies. We derive a partial differential equation (PDE) for the value of the debt tax shield. For a class of dynamic debt policies that depend on the asset's free cash flows, value, and past performance, we obtain closed-form solutions for the PDE. We also derive the tax-adjusted cost of capital for free cash flows and analyze the conditions under which the weighted average cost of capital is an appropriate discount rate. Finally, we derive closed-form solutions for equity betas, which differ from the formulas that have traditionally been used to lever and unlever equity betas.     

Environmental policy and long-term welfare in a tourism economy

A dynamic general equilibrium model of a small open economy specialized in producing tourism services is presented. The tourism package is a bundle of attributes provided by firms, the government and the natural environment. Investment in accommodation increases the number of visitors but also congests public goods and reduces environmental quality. The model is used to determine the conditions for the existence of a long-term double dividend. These conditions depend on both the initial level of environmental quality and the responsiveness of the tourism price to marginal changes in environmental and accommodation quality and congestion of public goods. Support from the Balearic Islands Government (PRIB-2004-10142) and helpful comments from anonymous referees are gratefully thanked.     

Financial frictions and optimal stabilization policy in a monetary union

Financial frictions differ across countries and thus cause international differences in the transmission of shocks. This paper shows how the optimal mix of monetary and fiscal policy depends on these country-specific financial frictions. To this end, we build a two-country DSGE-model of a monetary union. Financial frictions are captured by the cost channel approach. We show that the traditional solution to the assignment problem – the common central bank stabilizes the inflation rate at the union level and the national fiscal authorities stabilize the national economies – does not hold in a world with financial frictions. The cost channel decreases the efficiency of monetary policy and increases the need for fiscal stabilization even at the union level. Moreover, the more heterogeneous the union, the more important is fiscal policy in stabilizing shocks. Finally, we evaluate the scenarios in terms of welfare of the representative household.     

Growth and inequality in an endogenous fiscal policy model with taxes on labor and capital

I study an economy where individuals have different initial endowments and fiscal policy is decided by majority voting. Public investment is financed by two flat rate taxes, one on labor income and the other one on capital income. The model shows a positive (negative) correlation between growth and the tax rate on labor (capital) income and a negative (positive) correlation between the tax rate on labor (capital) income and inequality. The results reconcile the theory with empirical evidence.     

Domestic financial market frictions,unrestricted international capital flows,and crises in small open economies

Summary. We present an example of a small open economy where small increases in the world interest rate may induce a sharp decline in output and a precipitous depreciation of the exchange rate. Due to a costly state verification problem in domestic credit markets, combined with unrestricted international capital flows, our economy generates two long-run equilibria, one with low GDP and a relatively depreciated real exchange rate (RER), and one with high GDP and a relatively appreciated RER. The first is always a saddle, while the second may be a sink or a source, depending on the level of the world interest rate. A crisis is identified with the economy switching from an equilibrium path approaching the high-output steady state to the saddlepath approaching the low-output steady state. In Mexicos recent history, periods of growth associated with appreciation of the RER have alternated with periods of sharp contraction and depreciation of the RER. Our economy displays such behavior in response to changes in the world interest rate.Received: 9 April 2002, Revised: 20 March 2003JEL Classification Numbers: E5, F4.G. Antinolfi, E. Huybens: We thank Steve Fazzari, Tim Kehoe, Todd Keister, Manuel Santos, Karl Shell and especially Bruce Smith for very helpful discussions. Jaime Calleja Alderete, Eduardo Camero Godínez, and Juan Vargas Hernández provided excellent research assistance. All remaining errors are ours. Huybens was an assistant professor in the Centro de Investigación Económica, ITAM, at the time this article was written, and part of this work was completed while Antinolfi was a visiting scholar at the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis. The views expressed herein are those of the authors, and do not reflect those of the World Bank or the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis. Correspondence to: G. Antinolfi     

A research of green taxation policy for promoting energy saving and emission reduction

It＇s been proved by theory and practice that taxation policy is one of the important means of realizing energy saving and emission reduction. The green taxation system in the Western countries has got better effects in energy saving and environmental protection. In the recent years, China has in succession released some taxation policies promoting energy saving and emission reduction, but still has a huge gap to meet the real needs of energy saving and emission reduction. By analyzing China＇s status quo of the polices of energy saving and emission reduction and drawing upon experiences of the developed countries about green taxation, this paper presents how to perfect ideas of China＇s energy saving and emission reduction taxation policies： adjusting taxes relevant to green taxation in the current taxation system, such as resource tax, consumer tax, and so on; collecting new environmental tax; perfecting the preferential taxation policies for the energy saving and environmental protection industries.     

Duration of bankruptcy proceedings and monetary policy effectiveness

A common assumption in well-known costly-state-verification frameworks is that when a borrower defaults, creditors receive a payoff immediately (after incurring bankruptcy costs). While this assumption enhances tractability, it is unrealistic given the considerable delays in the actual practice of bankruptcy. In this paper, I identify the duration of bankruptcy proceedings as an additional source of friction in financial markets and investigate the relationship between this friction and the effectiveness of monetary policy by using U.S. state-level data. Consistent with the commonly-observed positive relationship between the degree of standard financial frictions and the amplitude of macroeconomic responses, I find that U.S. monetary policy is most effective in states with longer bankruptcy proceedings.     

Banks,Financial Markets and International Consumption Risk Sharing

In this article, we explore how characteristics of the domestic financial system influence the international allocation of consumption risk in a sample of OECD countries. Our results show that the extent of risk sharing achieved does not depend on the overall development of the domestic financial system per se. Rather, it depends on how the financial system is organized. Countries characterized by developed financial markets are less exposed to idiosyncratic risk, whereas the development of the banking sector contributes little to the international diversification of consumption risk.