ON GOODS AND SERVICES

The paper is concerned with the concept, definition and measurement of a service. Although services are often dismissed as immaterial goods, they are not special kinds of goods and belong in a quite different logical category from goods. The search for appropriate units of quantity in which to measure services is not an idle metaphysical pursuit. Without quantity units there can be no prices, and most economic theory becomes irrelevant. Indeed, large parts of economic theory may be irrelevant to the analysis of services anyway, precisely because they are not goods which can be exchanged among economic units. Services are as important as goods in modern developed economies and they need to be identified and quantified properly if the measurement of economic growth and inflation is to have any meaning for the economy as a whole. The concept of a service is explained in some detail in the paper, and various ways in which services can be classified for purposes of economic analysis are elaborated. The distinction between private and public goods, or rather between private and collective services, is re-examined in the light of the general concept of a service proposed in the paper. Externalities are shown to be simply special kinds of services.     

THE CHARACTERIZATION OF GOODS AND SERVICES: AN ALTERNATIVE APPROACH

The definitions of goods and services have been debated among economists for more than two centuries. This article seeks to consider the definitions currently used from a critical perspective and to offer a new general definition of services that is compatible with the existence of several demand rationales.     

农村金融与公共物品和服务:什么对小农户最重要

在发展中国家,对小农户最重要的是有一个稳定和有利的经济环境,这使他们能够将农业固有的不确定性转化为可以衡量的风险,减少和分散这些风险,降低经济活动的交易成本,进而通过提高获利能力来扩大其经营。政府持续地投资并提供公共物品及服务,对创造这样一种环境是至关重要的。因此,农村金融的重要性是显而易见的,因为它帮助小农户战胜贫苦的有效性很大程度上取决于小农户的经营是否是在这样的环境下进行。在中国农业经济和非农业经济快速转型的过程中,小农户大大地受益于政府持续地投资并提供公共物品及服务,以及增进的刺激。然而,尽管有这些重大成就,中国仍然存在着数百万的农村贫困人口,特别是在中西部地区。因此,中国政府面临的挑战是,要以一种穷人易于获得的方式,以及使他们更好地融入获利性的供应链,把他们与不断扩大的国内外市场联系在一起,持续投资并提供公共物品及服务。     

DURABLE GOODS MONOPOLISTS AND BACKWARD COMPATIBILITY*

This paper provides an economic analysis on the choice of backward compatibility by a durable goods monopolist in the presence of network effects. We examine the time inconsistency problem faced by a monopolist in its dynamic provision of two compatible products. We suggest an economic reason why, and when it will be strategically optimal, for the monopolist to choose backward compatibility even though it is socially undesirable, and not to choose forward compatibility even though it is technologically possible. We also investigate the compatibility choices with and without price discrimination, and compare market outcomes with the social optimum. Two different social inefficiencies (planned obsolescence) which arise from the viewpoints of optimal consumption and optimal compatibility are discussed.     

RELATIONAL GOODS, MONITORING AND NON-PECUNIARY COMPENSATIONS IN THE NONPROFIT SECTOR: THE CASE OF THE ITALIAN SOCIAL SERVICES

ABSTRACT ** :  This paper investigates the nonprofit wage gap suggesting a theoretical framework where, like in Akerlof (1984) , effort correlates not only with wages, but also with non-monetary compensations. These take the form of relational goods by-produced in the delivery of particular services. By paying higher non-pecuniary compensations, the nonprofit sector attracts intrinsically similarly skilled, but more motivated workers, able to provide in fact a similar (or potentially higher) level of effort than their counterparts in the forprofit sector. On an empirical ground, the paper provides a number of econometric tests that confirm the main predictions of the model in Italy's case. It adds to the available empirical literature by introducing in the analysis direct measures of non-pecuniary compensations and job satisfaction.     

基于普惠型与特惠型物品分类的 政府筹资方式选择

我国财政支出增长与居民享有的政府提供的物品或服务之间，未能实现共生式发展的矛盾越来越突出。本文认为根源在于政府筹资方式与政府提供的物品或服务的性质不相称。政府提供的物品或服务性质不同，理应采用不同的筹资方式，否则会引起政府提供的物品或服务过多或过少，缺乏效率与公平。具体来说，普惠型物品应该采用一般税筹资，而特惠型物品应该采用收费筹资。     

HOUSEHOLDS, GOODS, AND WELL-BEING

Household economies translate goods into well-being through production, co-operation, and distribution. Between market goods to households and well-being to persons, value is added. Income is a measure of goods, consumption well-being is measured by equivalent income. An absolute interpretation of equivalent income is argued as the value to persons of consumption well-being after household economies. Guidance is suggested on the choice of equivalence scales, and for the measurement of well-being and inequality.     

PUBLIC GOODS AND THE DISSOLUTION OF STATES

We present a simple model of the dissolution of states. We combine elements of the literature on the break‐up and integration of states based on models in the fiscal federalism tradition, with elements of the literature that explains the determination of a state's political institutions as a means to credibly promise redistributions in the face of costly, perhaps violent, redistributive conflict. We are able to characterize when the equilibrium involves the dissolution of a country, and when it involves continued unity. We are also able to explore some aspects of the linkages between political institutions and the determination of national boundaries.     

WHERE ARE THE WOMEN? GENDER,LABOR, AND DISCOURSE IN THE NOIDA EXPORT PROCESSING ZONE AND DELHI

Abstract

Export processing zones (EPZs) are like islands of globalization. Much of the literature on EPZs and export-oriented industries (EOIs) notes a preponderance of women who are constructed as “cheap,” “nimble fingered,” and “docile” labor. This literature is dominated by socialist feminist thinkers, and this paper argues that there is a need to incorporate the insights of postmodern feminist thinkers. The article focuses on the role that language, discourse, and subjectivity play in the gendering process in handmade jewelry production in the Noida Export Processing Zone (NEPZ) and in the ranch production units related by common ownership in Delhi, India. It thus gives “voices” to women and men, and brings out their agency in structuring the labor market. The study confirms that gender division of labor is a product of discursive and material practices that are reproduced through discourses into which different actors invest, and that feed into the gendered subjective identities of these actors.     

OLIGOPOLY AND COST SHARING IN ECONOMIES WITH PUBLIC GOODS

We study economies that involve both small and large traders as well as the choice of a public project. Within this framework, we establish two sufficient conditions under which the set of competitive allocations coincides with the core. Our first core equivalence result holds under the assumption that there is a countably infinite set of large traders similar to each other. The second result, independent of the number of large traders, requires the existence of a coalition of small traders with the same characteristics of the large traders. Finally, we show how the generalized Aubin approach to cooperation may dispense with both conditions.     

MONETARY POLICY IN EMU WITH ASYMMETRIC TRANSMISSION AND NON-TRADABLE GOODS

Which policy objective should a central bank pursue in a monetary union with asymmetric monetary transmission and different rates of inflation? Should it base its decisions on the EU‐wide average of inflation and growth or should it instead focus on (appropriately weighted) national utility losses based on national rates of inflation and growth? We find that a policy which minimises the sum of national utility losses leads to higher average utility if the variability of common shocks is large relative to idiosyncratic demand shocks in the non‐tradables sectors. We draw conclusions for the appropriate weight of common and national objectives in the union.     

INTERNATIONAL FACTOR MOBILITY,NONTRADED GOODS AND TARIFF REFORM*

Within models of traded and nontraded goods, that ignore international factor mobility, the literature on tariff reform has established sufficient conditions under which a policy that reduces (increases) the highest (lowest) tariff to the level of the second highest (lowest) rate, or a policy that moves proportionally all tariffs to a given number improves welfare. The present paper generalizes previous studies by introducing perfect international capital mobility. It demonstrates that if all goods are normal in consumption and the nontraded good markets are locally Walras stable, then a reform policy that reduces (increases) the highest (lowest) tariff to the level of the next highest (lowest) rate improves welfare if (i) the good with the highest (lowest) tariff rate is a net substitute to all other traded goods, and (ii) the nontraded goods are net substitutes to all other goods. Second, a policy reform that moves all tariffs to a given number is always welfare improving.     

国际高端航运服务业发展趋势与宁波的策略

当前国际航运服务业总体上正在由劳动密集型的下游产业向知识密集型的高端航运服务业转变,一些世界级大港纷纷转向具有高附加值的高端航运服务业。分析了国际航运服务业的发展趋势,认为国际航运重心已经向亚洲特别是中国转移,但高端航运服务中心仍然在欧洲,特别是在伦敦,而新加坡、挪威等开始建设全球海洋知识枢纽,大力推动海洋研发,以知识经济带动高端航运服务业的发展。上海要在2020年基本建成具有全球航运资源配置能力的国际航运中心,发展的重点就是高端航运服务业。在这种大背景下,作为上海国际航运中心的重要组成部分,宁波发展高端航运服务业非常有必要。文章考察了宁波高端航运服务业的发展现状,并提出发展策略。     

COMMUNITY HOMOGENEITY AND REVEALED PREFERENCES FOR ENVIRONMENTAL GOODS

This paper examines the links between community homogeneity and the demand for environmental quality. Using data from California, this paper shows that communities that are more homogeneous in terms of race and educational attainment are more likely to support the public provision of environmental goods, after controlling for political ideology, voter turnout, and the distribution of benefits and costs across communities. The models also reveal nonmonotonic relationships between racial and social groups and support for the public provision of environmental amenities. Support for environmental initiatives in a community typically increases at an increasing rate the greater the concentration of Whites. On the other hand, support generally increases at a decreasing rate the greater the share of African Americans and Asians in the population. Results for a proposal that would have imposed a tax on oil extraction to fund alternative energy projects suggest a different pattern of nonlinear associations. (JEL D72, H42, Q51, Q58)     

CREDENCE GOODS MARKETS WITH CONSCIENTIOUS AND SELFISH EXPERTS*

In a credence good market, sellers know more about buyers’ necessity of the good. Because of this information asymmetry, a selfish seller may exaggerate buyers’ necessity of the good. This article investigates how the presence of conscientious experts affects selfish experts’ behavior. In a monopoly setting, it shows that the presence of a conscientious expert may result in more fraudulent behavior by the selfish expert. This result holds in a competitive setting.     

ACCOUNTING FOR THE EFFECTS OF NEW AND DISAPPEARING GOODS USING SCANNER DATA

With the "discovery" of scanner data by statistical agencies and researchers comes a wealth of new information upon which price index calculations can be based. Old problems, such as the appearance and disappearance of goods over time, are likely to be an important feature of such data. However, given that scanner data includes the prices and quantities of the population of transactions we have more information than is traditionally available to deal with the new and disappearing goods problem. We adopt a recently developed approach using the Constant Elasticity of Substitution cost function to provide a detailed empirical analysis of the effects of new and disappearing goods for an Australian scanner data set of supermarket products. Our results indicate that the failure to account for new and disappearing goods in the cost-of-living index leads to a significant upward bias.     

NEW MEASURES OF PRICES AND PRODUCTIVITY FOR TRADABLE AND NONTRADABLE GOODS*

Empirical work on the division of real output and prices into tradable and nontradable components has not kept pace with theoretical developments. The conventional proxies of prices and productivity by tradable and nontradable sector are examined and found deficient in several important respects. It is demonstrated that an approach that relies on the long–standing data on gross domestic product by industry of origin can overcome some of these deficiencies. These data are used to construct new annual measures of prices and productivity for tradable and nontradable output for 12 industrial countries over the period 1950–73. While far from precise, the new measures are consistent with the following criteria for distinguishing between tradables and nontradables: the degree of foreign trade participation should be higher for tradables than for nontradables; the degree of international commodity arbitrage, as measured by cross-country correlations of price changes, should be higher for tradables than nontradables; and tradables should be closer substitutes than nontradables for traded goods from other countries (imports). Despite the considerable conceptual advantages of the new measures of prices and productivity over the conventional proxies, correlation analysis indicates that the new and old measures usually move together rather closely in our 12 subject countries. The correlations are higher across the alternative relative productivity measures than for the alternative relative price measures.     

PUBLIC GOODS,RENT DISSIPATION,AND CANDIDATE COMPETITION*

The early literature on rent seeking presumed that total expenditures in the rent-seeking process would equal the value of a contested prize. Subsequent analysis has shown, however, that a number of circumstances give rise to underdissipation of the contested rent—imperfectly discriminating contests, risk-aversion, or where individuals' valuations of the prize are not identical. This paper shows how underdissipation is associated with the public-good character of contested rents. In particular, total rent dissipation is demonstrated to be less than the average stake of the individual contenders. In addition to assessing rent dissipation in contests for public-good allocations, the paper also endogenizes the value of the prize by placing the rent-seeking contest in a setting of candidate competition.     

中国农村基层治理与公共物品提供

在发展中国家,寻求最有效的社区治理方式已经成为农村发展的关键。因此,就各种治理方式进行实证评价已经刻不容缓。20世纪90年代初以来,中国农村有成千上万个村子进行了村民选举,这无疑为研究民主对农村基层公共物品提供的影响提供了良机。基于最近一次农村调查,本文就两种基层治理方式进行了比较,研究结果表明村民选举有助于增加村的收入,且主要靠企业上缴的税收。但是,私有化增加了向企业征税的难度。单靠选举不一定能增加村财务支出中公共投资的比例。只有真正实现决策权分担以后,公共支出中用于公共投资的比例才会增加。     

THE SENSITIVITY OF CAPITAL SERVICES MEASUREMENT: MEASURE ALL ASSETS AND THE COST OF CAPITAL

The measurement of capital inputs is still a contentious issue: many choices have to be made that have potentially large effects on the resulting capital input series. This paper compares a large number of methodological choices and their impact on U.S. capital services at the industry and aggregate level. The results show that the set of capital assets covered and the choice for the rate of return matter substantially, while other choices are less important. I argue that land, inventories, and intangible capital should be included and that for pragmatic reasons, an external cost of capital is preferable to an internal rate of return because of its transparency and robustness to measurement error.