OPTIMAL CAPITAL TAXES FOR PUBLIC GOOD PROVISION*

This paper constructs a general equilibrium trade model of a small open economy that produces many traded private goods and one non-traded public consumption good. Trade in goods is free, but the country taxes the internationally mobile capital to finance the provision of the public good. Within this framework, the paper identifies the conditions under which the optimal policy on the internationally mobile capital calls for a tax. Under the assumptions that (i) the welfare function is concave with respect to the tax rate, and (ii) the net revenue-maximizing capital tax rate is positive, it is shown that the marginal cost of the public good always understates its social marginal cost.     

DISCOUNT RATE FOR PUBLIC INVESTMENT IN A MONETARY DISEQUILIBRIUM ECONOMY*

In this paper, we explore the social rate of discount for public investment in a monetary overlapping generations model which allows for market disequilibria arising from price and wage rigidities. Financing public investment with a lump-sum tax on the younger generation, borrowing and money supply, the government maximizes the sum of generational utilities discounted by a social rate of time preference. For the social welfare optimum, it is required to take the boundary-maintaining policy by making demand for output equal to supply. In a stationary state, we show that (i) the social rate of discount on the Keynesian-repressed inflation boundary should be the weighted average of the social rate of time preference and the market rate of interest, the weights depending on the amount of private investment crowded out by public investment, and (ii) on the Keynesian-classical boundary it should be a modified version of the weighted average rule, containing an extra term which represents the marginal opportunity cost of public investment through its impact on labour employment.     

PUBLIC ENTERPRISES IN TURKEY*

ABSTRACT: Public enterprises have played a distinct role in promoting economic development and have been instrumental in initiating the industrialization of Turkey, and in facilitating its balanced regional development, especially during the early stages of its economic development. However, since the late 1960s, public enterprises have been a drag on the economic performance of the country because of the economic problems they have caused. In response to the problems associated with public enterprises, privatization entered the political arena in the early 1980s. The Turkish government has now adopted a timetable to privatize the public enterprises. In this paper, an attempt is made to investigate the place and the weight of the public enterprises and their problems in the Turkish economy.     

面向公共政策制定的区域规划--国外区域规划的编制对我们的启示

我国的区域规划经过50多年的发展历程,形成了一个比较庞大的内容体系和一套比较完整的技术程序。但技术性仅仅是区域规划属性之一,政策属性才是区域规划的本质属性,区域规划的科学性是为政策性服务的,新时期的中国区域规划改革应该首先确立和实现区域规划的公共空间政策属性。文章分析了我国区域规划当中政策缺陷及其影响,从公共政策的角度出发,介绍和分析了国外区域规划中的综合性与微观性、规划地位的法定性、规划行政程序的开放性、规划实施手段的多样性,并阐述了国外区域规划对于我国区域规划改革可供借鉴的个人观点。     

INFORMATIONAL CASCADES ELICIT PRIVATE INFORMATION*

We introduce cheap talk in a dynamic investment model with information externalities. We first show how social learning adversely affects the credibility of cheap talk messages. Next, we show how an informational cascade makes truth‐telling incentive compatible. A separating equilibrium only exists for high‐surplus projects. Both an investment subsidy and an investment tax can increase welfare. The more precise the sender's information, the higher her incentives to truthfully reveal her private information.     

EVALUATING THE DISTRIBUTION OF PUBLIC EXPENDITURE*

This article evaluates the distribution of public expenditure on subsidized goods and services over income categories. It is argued that undifferentiated application of usual measures of dispersion must be rejected when judging the distribution of these expenditures, because there are hardly any subsidized goods and services for which the government aims at equal consumption. Such an application requires a normative distribution of expenditure. The normative distribution of expenditure is derived from a normative distribution of consumption and the distribution of normative charges. Central elements are needs of consumers and their financial capacity. The normative distribution of consumption is based on government intentions with respect to the goods and services under consideration.