The Evolution and Development of the Swedish Insurance Market

In this paper we provide an overview of the historical development of the insurance market in Sweden from the eighteenth century up to modern times. We consider theoretical perspectives drawn from the economics and political regulation literature that might help to explain important institutional features of the market - in particular, its oligopoly structure, the lack of foreign participation and the significant presence of mutual forms of organisation. We also offer a prognosis as to the current challenges and prospects of the Swedish insurance market in an increasingly competitive and global market.     

A game of accounting numbers in asset pricing: Evidence from the privatization of state-owned enterprises

This study examines a public policy issue: whether government officials engage in earnings management to collude with private investors in the privatization of state-owned enterprises (SOEs). We find that the managers of listed Chinese SOEs, who are de facto bureaucrats, employ income-decreasing earnings management to reduce the price of shares to be sold to private investors. We also find that more aggressive income-decreasing earnings management is associated with a lower CEO turnover rate in the year following the privatization. These findings highlight the need to consider the opportunism of government agents when accounting information is used in redistribution of state assets.     

Management Policy and Estimated Returns on School Trust Lands

Every state entering the Union since 1803 received land grants from the federal government for the support of their respective public school systems. Inherent in this federal grant is the fiduciary duty to prudently and effectively manage these assets for the beneficiary, their school systems. We develop a framework that measures the present value of the beneficiary’s economic benefits to assist managers of school trust lands in determining future management policy. Using this framework, we assess whether managers of state school trust lands are currently meeting their fiduciary responsibilities of “maximum economic benefit” for their beneficiaries or whether changes in management policy are needed. The present value of realized economic returns from grazing lease revenues and capital appreciation are compared with the present value of income streams that may be generated from alternative investments available to the land trustees if the land were sold and the proceeds reinvested in U.S. Treasury securities. Market values and capital appreciation for school trust lands in Wyoming are estimated using hedonic models formulated from ranch sales data. Because we are comparing a risky return on land investments with a riskless return on Treasury bonds, we observe, in most cases, that the sale of land andreinvestment of proceeds will increase economic benefits on school trust lands. Accepted for Publication in The Journal of Real Estate, Finance and Economics.     

Measuring the distribution of material well-being: U.S. trends

Economists with a few exceptions have automatically assumed that the important measure of well-being is income. In contrast, economic historians have broadened the measure of well-being with particular interest in mortality, morbidity, nutrition, education and leisure. When one takes this broader view of the standard of living, there appears to be a strong trend toward more equality in the distribution of well-being since the industrial revolution.Gini coefficients calculated for the distributions of lifespan and educational attainment have declined dramatically since the mid-nineteenth century for the United States. Mortality and educational differentials have also declined. Inequality of leisure time and consumption, though not as consistently measured, also show trends toward equality over the twentieth century.These trends toward equality in well-being as measured by indicators other than income and wealth seem to be generated by provision of public goods, natural boundaries to lifespan, educational attainment and leisure, and by the growth in mean per capita income. The divergent trends in the distributions of income and the other measures of well-being caution against reliance on the distribution of income to interpret trends in inequality.     

Local government centralization and corporate ESG performance: Evidence from China’s county-to-district reform

As a city–county consolidation with Chinese characteristics, China’s county-to-district (CtD) reform transfers a county’s autonomy to a city, thereby strengthening the administrative, decision-making, fiscal and other powers of the prefecture-level municipal government, which effectively enables the centralization of local governments. Based on this exogenous quasi-natural experiment, we use a difference-in-differences (DID) approach to empirically examine the impact of prefecture-level municipal government centralization on companies’ ESG performance. The results show that municipal government centralization can significantly promote corporate ESG performance, which represents environmental protection, social responsibility and corporate governance behavior. The mechanism analysis also shows that the CtD reform can address market segmentation, alleviate policy uncertainty and reduce rent-seeking, which further improves ESG performance.     

财政改革要与经济发展同步——“十四五”时期中国财政前瞻与2021积极财政政策解读

我国“十四五”时期财政收入基础和税源分布将发生持续性的重大变化,经济增长的有利因素包括居民收入增加、消费扩大、服务业上升、数字经济成长等,但风险因素更加不容忽视,财政将面临收入增长减速、支出需要增加、债务进一步扩张的多重压力,可持续性将明显承压。本文指出财税体制的改革速度亟待与经济发展的趋势与速度同步,提出财政可持续的若干建议,并就2021年财政政策进行解读。     

理解现代财政:公共风险的视角

理解财政,需要转换思维.表面看,财政行为是利益的分配和转移,而从实质看,财政行为是风险的分配和转移.财政通过分配和平衡风险,避免风险在某处聚集并在风险链上放大,避免了危机的产生,这实质是化解公共风险,所以财政的本质功能是通过平衡风险化解公共风险,以维护社会共同体的生存和发展.财政的基础性作用在于,只有财政有这种平衡风险的内在功能.与社会共同体面临的公共风险治理要求相匹配,是现代财政的判断标准.如果财政能够很好地平衡风险、化解公共风险,那就是现代财政;通过改革与公共风险治理要求相匹配,就是现代财政改革.新时代的现代财政改革,要立足于以下几个方面:构建大国财政体系,应对面临的全球风险挑战;织密预算的制度笼子,完善权力的财政治理体系;建立公平与效率融合的财政制度;为形成经济双循环格局"架桥铺路".     

论公共品的权限问题

地方公共品的供给是个复杂的问题,不仅涉及到地区间利益的分配,也涉及到个体间福利的变化.从空间意义上看,每一公共品既有一定的受益边界,又对应着一定的供给主体.本文通过分析这两者之间的关系,探讨了地方公共品供给达到最优的条件,并对此基础上产生的几种制度安排作了评析.     

论构建财政监督创新机制

针对我国现行财政监督中存在的法律依据欠缺、组织体系不完善、监督方式单一、技术手段落后等弊端,应进行财政监督机制创新--建立健全财政监督法律体系,强化财政监督的法制保障;搭建财政"大监督"框架,加大执法配合力度;采取多重监督方式配合,运用现代信息技术手段,提升财政监督效果.     

提高政府公共服务能力的财政思考

党的十六届六中全会提出了社会和谐是中国特色社会主义的本质属性,而在构建和谐社会的过程中,赋予财政的任务是“健全公共财政体制,调整财政支出结构,把更多的财政资金投向公共服务领域”。本文将对政府公共服务的内涵与政府职能调整、公共服务的理念、财力保障及其提供方式等问题作一探讨。     

关于积极财政政策的转型与可持续性问题的思考

近年来,中国连续实施大规模的减税降费政策,宏观税负持续下降,积极财政政策的可持续性问题引起社会各界的高度关注.积极财政政策是否具有可持续性,积极财政政策何去何从?作为宏观经济政策的任何一种财政政策都不可能长期不变地存在下去.如何理解积极财政政策?如何让财政政策具有可持续性?如何让财政政策更有效地发挥作用?文章试图对这些问题作初步的回答,并在讨论财政政策理论发展趋势的同时,展望中国未来的财政政策.     

Considerations on the Evolution of the National Budget Functions: From Internal Relevance to External Value

The paper is concerned with the interrelationship between the national budget, the role of the State in the economy and the public financial situation existing during different historical periods beginning with the unification of Italy. The paper examines the functions of the national budget during the Liberal, Corporatist and Republican periods, and how these have changed as a result of institutional changes, and developments in the socio-economic situation which have influenced economic policy. We focus particularly on the public accountancy reform of 1923-1924 which, in combination with administrative reform, contained some important innovations. The system that emerged is found to have been clearly connected with that of the previous period, the innovations being based on the tenets of liberal ideology and the efficiency of the public administration. In this context the centralisation of the General Accounting Office in 1923 is seen as the result of actions begun during an earlier period. On the other hand, the national budget continued to carry out the functions of regulating the relationship between the various sections of the Government. Nevertheless, although the necessity was felt at this time to control the financial flows, it is only with the advent of the Republican State that the budget takes on an instrumental role in influencing the economy. During the Republican period, the relationship between the institutions and the economy changed, with public finance becoming the hub of economic development and the national budget developing a new function, with the use of government spending for macroeconomic purposes.     

论保障公立医院公益性的主要条件

导致公立医院偏离公益性、出现市场化"逐利行为"的原因是多样的,办院理念的失误、管理体制和运行机制不合理、法律缺位、医德医风和医疗环境问题都是促使公立医院偏离公益性的原因。因此,在我国新时期的医疗体制改革过程中,实现国家卫生经费的大量投入是保证公立医院公益性的一项重要条件,但不是决定性条件,更不是唯一条件,要真正发挥出公立医院的公益性,必须从多方面、多角度、多环节入手,调整公立医院的办院理念、完善管理机制和运行机制、健全法律规范、倡导道德风尚、净化医疗环境,才能真正保障公立医院公益性的实现。     

我国国民收入分配的决定因素分析

我国居民收入分配差距不断扩大,既有体制性因素,也与经济发展方式密切相关。国民收入分配格局的合理或不合理内生于我国社会经济发展的大环境。本文在深入分析我国国民收入分配决定因素的基础上,指出,政府收入规模适度扩大有利于优化国民收入分配的长期格局,并就财政如何在优化国民收入分配中发挥作用提出了建议。     

从反垄断法的公法性质论其立法修改及完善

反垄断法被誉为经济宪法,根本目标是为了维护社会公共利益,其采用行政执法的方式,严重违法垄断行为者将承担强制性的法律责任,因此,反垄断法是一部公法性质很强的法律。而我国反垄断法就公法性而言仍然存在诸多不足,主要表现为对严重垄断行为刑事责任的立法不足,行政执法程序中体现公平正义的听证程序的缺失,以及公益诉讼的立法空白。为实现反垄断法的价值目标,我国应该在借鉴国外先进经验的同时,结合本国国情,在刑事立法、听证程序和公益诉讼方面不断完善反垄断法。     

提升财政治理能力促进公益事业改革发展

为加强新时代中国特色社会主义社会建设,促进我国公益事业改革发展,本文以提升财政治理能力为切入点,对当前我国公益事业发展和财政投入现状、突出矛盾和问题以及原因进行了分析,并以习近平新时代中国特色社会主义思想为指导,按照国家治理体系和治理能力现代化要求,研究提出构建与中国现代市场经济体制相配套的新的公共服务体制和财政治理能力的政策建议.     

Keeping secrets? Or what government performance auditors might not need to know

This paper examines the claims made in a recent paper in Critical Perspectives on Accounting by Vaughan Radcliffe about the way in which public sector auditors report their findings. Drawing upon the work of Taussig, he argues that while public sector auditors may know the truth, as may others, they choose not always to tell the truth in their reports and instead to treat what may be publicly unpalatable as a public secret. They modify their findings to ensure that these will be more acceptable to governments and, thereby, enhance their opportunity to influence government. These claims are shown in this paper to overstate the public sector auditor's response to difficult issues. Rather than keeping secrets, the contents of the auditor's reports may instead reflect the constitutional and institutional limitations in which they must work. Most importantly in most jurisdictions they are not to comment on matters of policy which are the domain of the government.