PUBLIC VERSUS PRIVATE DELIVERY OF MUNICIPAL SOLID WASTE SERVICES: THE CASE OF NORTH CAROLINA

This paper examines the effects of different institutional arrangements and characteristics on cost savings, efficiency gains, and productivity of delivering municipal solid waste services. A cost function approach is employed, and North Carolina municipal data for three years (1997, 2001, and 2003) are used for the analysis. Empirical findings indicate that there is no significant difference in cost savings between public delivery and private contractor delivery of solid waste services, a finding similar to those of other recent studies. There are three possible reasons for this. First, the threat of competition and contracting out might have led to cost savings in the cases of public delivery. Second, there might be a lack of competition because a few large private contractors have been able to win follow‐on contracts over the years. Third, there might be substantial transaction costs arising as the result of private contracting. (JEL H40, H83, Q53)     

利益相关者治理与中国上市公司的企业信用

企业信用可以信号、抵押、担保的方式,部分消除内生性交易费用所抵消的交易创造。中国上市公司的企业信用与其治理状况密切相关,本文从406家调查样本中选取了249家中国上市公司的数据,对企业信用与其利益相关者的治理进行了实证研究,以期为中国上市公司的企业信用建设提供一些思路。     

交易费用计量研究述评

交易费用的计量是交易费用经济学从理论研究走向实证研究的关键。根据交易费用的不同定义,可以将交易费用分为宏观层面上的交易费用和微观层面上的交易费用,同时将微观层面上的交易费用分为市场型、管理型和政策型交易费用。在此基础上,对有关交易费用计量的文献进行了梳理分析。分析表明,尽管近年来在交易费用的计量方面已取得不少成就,但总的来说,方法还是比较单一,尤其对非市场交易费用和政策型交易费用的计量仍然停留在经验层次,缺少对企业内部交易费用的直接计量。     

MEASURING THE BENEFITS FROM PUBLIC SERVICES: THE EFFECTS OF LOCAL GOVERNMENT SPENDING ON THE DISTRIBUTION OF INCOME IN NORWAY

The purpose of this paper is to provide an evaluation of how local public in-kind benefits affect the distribution of income in Norway. To this end, a method that accounts for differences between municipalities in capacity to produce the same standard of public services is used for assessing the value of sector-specific local public services in each municipality. Moreover, recipient frequencies in various demographic groups are used as basis for determining the allocation of the assessed value of services on citizens of the municipalities. The empirical results show that inequality in the (marginal) distribution of municipal in-kind benefits is rather high. The contribution of municipal in-kind benefits to inequality in the distribution of extended income (cash (after-tax) income plus municipal in-kind benefits) proves, however, to be approximately neutral.     

FURTHER THOUGHTS ON THE BANKING IMPUTATION IN THE NATIONAL ACCOUNTS*

The banking problem in the National Accounts arises because interest rates paid by banks on deposits are generally lower than the rates charged for loans and service charges levied by banks are generally less than the cost of the banking services provided. This paper offers two explanations for such observations: first there is the new neo-classical theory of private banking and central banking which suggests that they arise because of distorting “taxes” levied by regulating central banks. Second there is the Keynesian theory which accounts for the observations by the fact that the public good services of monetary stabilization supplied directly by the central banks and indirectly by private banks cannot be priced. Both theories account for the empirical observations giving rise to the banking problem. Neither theory lends support to the banking imputation currently carried out in most National Accounts.     

我国商品住宅交易费用测量研究——以2008年北京市商品住宅交易费用为例

房地产业作为第三产业,是交易服务部门,其中存在大量的交易活动,交易就会产生摩擦成本。由于房地产的特性及其行业市场交易的特征,房地产市场中的交易主要表现为权益交易,交易过程要受到制度的严格约束,所以其摩擦成本也是相对稳定的,可以通过定量分析测算。本文以房地产业为研究对象,按照房地产行业的交易部门特性及其所有费用来测算2003年至2008年我国房地产业的宏观交易费用;并选取商品性住宅为样本,根据诺思在人类行为理论基础上对交易费用和转换费用的划分,只测量通过市场的各种交易费用的启示,把商品性住宅开发分为生产阶段和交易阶段,生产阶段的交易费用部分和交易阶段的所有费用定义为交易费用,通过分析其价格构成,列出可测量的交易费用和转换费用单项,然后运用正向相加法和逆向剔除法,测量2008年北京市商品性住宅微观交易费用,为优化该行业效益提供实证分析基础。     

交易成本、政府级次与财政体制改革

由于受交易成本的制约,管辖范围小、涉及人数少的"小政府"作为降低公共产品供给交易成本的制度安排首先得以形成.而后,为降低受益范围超出小政府辖区的公共产品供给的交易成本,更高层次的政府得以出现.政府级次化降低了公共产品供给的横向交易成本却增加了纵向交易成本,当横向交易成本的减少额与纵向交易成本的增加额在边际上相等时,政府级次达到均衡.由此看来,基层政府具有"逻辑先在性",采用"自上而下"分权的思路来构建财政体制是值得商榷的.财政体制的构建从逻辑上讲应该是"自下而上"授权而不是"自上而下"分权.     

ENDOGENOUS SOURCES OF VOLATILITY IN HOUSING MARKETS: THE JOINT BUYER–SELLER PROBLEM

This article presents new empirical evidence that internal movement—selling one home and buying another—by existing homeowners within a metropolitan housing market is especially volatile and a substantial driver of fluctuations in transaction volume over the housing market cycle. We develop a search model that shows that the strong procyclicality of internal movement is driven by the cost of simultaneously holding two homes, which varies endogenously over the cycle. The estimated model shows that frictions related to this joint buyer–seller problem substantially amplify cyclical price volatility in housing markets.     

中国交易费用变动的动态机制和传导路径——一个基于VAR方法的实证研究

为了拓展交易费用定量研究的领域,有必要对我国体制转型时期交易费用变动的动态机制和传导路径进行实证分析。根据研究目的和数据特征,借助基于向量自回归(VAR)模型的脉冲响应函数和方差分解方法,可以具体测算交易费用对经济增长变动和对体制转型程度的变动的敏感程度,进而比较二者对交易费用变动的贡献率大小。     

农地确权、信贷配给释缓与农村金融的深度发展*

作为一项基础性、制度环境层面的变革，农地确权帮助更多农户进入金融市场、促进农村金融宽度意义上的“量”变作用已经初步显现。但是，它是否可以提高农户贷款数量，缓解信贷配给并促进农村金融深度意义上的“质”变？这是一个重要但鲜有研究的问题。本文从供给、需求、交易成本、价格、风险配给等角度，分析了农地确权缓解信贷配给、促进农村金融深度发展的理论机理，并通过有序多分类变量回归及倾向得分匹配方法进行实证分析。研究表明，农地确权对农户金融参与深度的影响主要表现为：因降低信息成本而缓解价格配给，因弱化农户的损失规避心理而缓解风险配给；同时，数量配给和交易成本配给的释缓作用尚未充分显示。     

Orchestrating knowledge-creating networks: lessons from Taiwan's health services sector

The purpose of this study is to integrate transaction cost theory and the knowledge-based view of the firm to explore why and how a network's hub organisations orchestrate their members to create knowledge in the health services setting. Guided by organisation theory, this study examines a theoretical model at the organisation level, through a qualitative case study of Taiwan's health services sector. In addition to the discovery of a new sub-construct, the findings provide preliminary evidence that, both, transaction cost and knowledge-based factors influence the health services network as per the study's propositions. This study contributes to strategic technology management research by providing a conceptual model to describe and evaluate health services networks' orchestrating process for knowledge creation. The framework also provides a better understanding of, and a practical approach to managing networks to improve knowledge creation.     

BARRIERS TO THE DIFFUSION OF NANOTECHNOLOGY

This paper provides the first empirical information about barriers related to the diffusion of nanotechnology, a general purpose technology. Our analysis is based on the findings from a state-wide survey of companies in North Carolina, USA. We find that the primary barrier is lack of access to early-stage capital, and the extent of this barrier is greater when the company contributes to the value chain for nanotechnology through R&D as opposed to through products or services. Another barrier is lack of access to university equipment and facilities, a problem greater in companies involved in nanotechnology research. From a policy perspective, our analysis suggests that state governments could act as venture capitalists to overcome market failure in the capital market, and that states could provide incentives to universities through public/private centers of excellence for sharing capital equipment and facilities with nanotechnology companies.     

购买力平价非线性检验方法的进展回顾及其对人民币实际汇率的应用

单位根检验下实际汇率通常的非平稳性与购买力平价相矛盾,然而考虑到国际套利交易成本,实际汇率可能遵循某种非线性均值回复行为。本文对近年来国际上对实际汇率的非线性均值回复领域的研究进行了回顾和总结,并选取带有约束的ESTAR模型对人民币实际汇率的非线性行为进行了实证分析,对其均值回复速度进行了估计,并给出了购买力平价下的均衡汇率。结果支持了人民币与美元的购买力平价关系。     

基于期权思想的融券费率定价方法研究

证券融资融券交易是成熟证券市场普遍实施的一种交易制度。融券与融资不同,其标的不是资金而是证券,但两者都是信用业务,需要为相关交易支付一定的费用,融资的利率相对容易确定,而融券费率则比较复杂一些,目前各类管理规定中对此并没有明确的说法。本文借鉴了我国台湾地区的经验,计算出我国大陆地区试行融资融券可行的融券费率。     

有关交易成本测度的评述

本文在回顾交易成本测度文献的基础上对直接交易成本研究方式提出了如下见解:交易的概念经Williamson的转换后,实际上不再要求交易主体与交易对象的产权关系以及产权关系的转移,也放弃了市场这个参照系.面对越来越复杂的研究对象,直接交易成本测度研究因跟从了交易概念转换而引致交易成本的概念扩展.在测度的实际研究中,交易成本面临主体的转换、内涵的变化和配置效果的明显差异,使得交易成本的比较意义不明晰.     

CONSTITUENCY PREFERENCE AND POLICE CONSOLIDATION: THE CASE OF WEST HOLLYWOOD

This study estimates the determinants of voter behavior in a local referendum on contracting for municipal police services. Recent empirical research has found that police services are produced under decreasing returns to scale. The electorate in West Hollywood, California decided in 1992 to maintain its police contractual agreement with the larger county police department. This paper finds that economic costs/benefits were significant determinants of the voters' decisions, suggesting that the electorate's expectations on the relative costs of the alternative police regimes contradict the efficiency implications of recent empirical research. ( JEL H31, H77)     

区域关联视角下的人力资本 与地区经济发展*

本文通过空间拓展卢卡斯（Lucas）模型的生产函数，讨论了区域关联视角下人力资本与地区经济发展的互动关系。主要结论为：（1）相同劳动力在人力资本总量更高的地区享有更高的收入；（2）人力资本总量的增加能提高地区实际产出，而其均量的提高能提升地区产出潜力；（3）综合考虑辐射效应和转移费用，经济高地的人力资本转出会优先惠及邻近地区。空间计量的实证还表明，人力资本对地区经济增长的区域间交叉影响正在加强，且其均量而非总量是造成地区间经济差异的主因。     

供需双方信息不完全、交易费用差异与火车票市场扭曲——对“倒票”行为的交易费用分析

本文不认为供求不均衡是“黄牛”倒票现象存在的根本原因。本文针对火车票市场套利行为屡禁不止的热点问题构造动态博弈模型，论证了交易费用与套利行为之间的关系。模型通过对需求方购票的交易费用进行比较，逐层深入地分析了增加产品供给、增加购买渠道和差别定价等途径的效果，发现此类举措并不能有效遏制“黄牛”行为，反而还损害了低收入消费者的福利。研究表明，即使在供需均衡的情况下，供需双方信息的不完全，尤其是需求群体内部的信息不完全程度存在差异，会造成需求群体交易费用的差异，进而导致需求群体内部的资源配置被扭曲，而这才是“黄牛”群体长期顽固存在的根本原因。本文选取2002—2016年火车票贩票情况的真实数据进行了实证分析，印证了博弈模型的结论。而降低这种扭曲程度的同时降低需求方交易费用之间的差距，才是解决此类产品市场上资源配置无效率问题最有效的办法。     

THE STRUCTURE OF THE FINANCIAL SERVICES INDUSTRY

Since most studies of the financial services industry have viewed the structure of the industry as fixed, there has been little discussion of its determinants. Events of the past few years make it clear that the structure of the financial services industry is changing much more rapidly than it did between the end of World War II and the mid 1960's. This paper categorizes and discusses the major factors affecting the structure of the financial services industry. The concept of supply and demand provides a useful framework for categorizing these factors. Demand is best analyzed in terms of the demand for various characteristics or attributes of financial services. These include: 1) yield; 2) liquidity; 3) safety; 4) convenience of access to the services, 5) financial advice or information. The demand for these various characteristics or attributes depends importantly on demographic and economic factors
The supply of financial services is determined by the cost curves associated with those services which are in turn determined by the cost of the factors of production and the underlying production function. Three aspects of these cost curves have an important effect on the supply of financial services and the structure of the industry — economies of scale, economies of joint production and distribution, and the management of risk. The nature of the cost and production functions underlying the supply of financial services and the structure of the industry is affected by several exogenous factors. Foremost among them are the economy, technology, regulation, and the role of the Federal government in financial service markets
Based on the discussion of how the various exogenous factors affect the structure of the financial services industry, an attempt is made to predict how structure will change as deregulation occurs.     

GOVERNMENT CONSUMPTION AND THE COMPOSITION OF PRIVATE EXPENDITURE: A CONDITIONAL ERROR CORRECTION MODEL

In this paper we provide empirical evidence of the relationship between government purchases and private expenditure by adopting a microeconomic approach. Using UK quarterly data, a long‐run demand system conditioned to the public sector is obtained by specifying a vector error correction model in which government consumption is assumed as an exogenous I(1) forcing variable. Our findings reject the hypothesis of separability of individual preferences between public and private expenditures, with simultaneous crowding‐out/in effects. Moreover, crowding‐out effects of government consumption on private spending are found to be larger for those goods and services that produce similar utility.