SOCIAL ACCOUNTS AND THE DISTRIBUTION OF INCOME: THE MALAYSIAN ECONOMY IN 1970

Although the functional and institutional distributions of income are integrally connected to individual living standards and other development policy objectives, these dimensions are rarely given prominence or even accommodated within standard national accounting frameworks. This paper summarizes research on the estimation of a social accounting matrix (SAM) for Malaysia for 1970 in which the distribution of income between different factors and socio-economic groups is identified. It is the latest of a series of case studies involving some of the authors and is, perhaps, the most detailed of its kind. The study departs from the United Nations SNA guidelines at various points. The SNA basically proposes a commodity balance approach to national income accounting. In giving equal emphasis to income/outlay accounts as to the production accounts, the present study has brought together data from two major primary sources: a household expenditure survey and a production survey. Their combination poses several problems which are discussed in the paper. It leads to an integrated picture, in matrix form, of the interrelationships between income distribution and production structure in the Malaysian economy. Both the factor and household accounts in our SAM are disaggregated according to race and the geographic distinction between Peninsular and East Malaysia, with an urban/rural split within Peninsula Malaysia. The Peninsula labor force is further disaggregated by education level, while its households are then subdivided according to the employment status of main income earners. Arguments for and against these choices are presented. Some other aspects of the study can be noted. First, the distinction drawn between East and Peninsular Malaysia is desirable not only because of the inherent interest of the regions but also because of large differences in data availability and hence in estimation methods. Secondly, to complete our SAM it was necessary to estimate inter-household transfers, being the institutional analogue of inter-industry commodity flow. And finally an attempt has been made to impute the labor component of unincorporated business income. These, then, are the major problems which had to be overcome in our attempt to quantify the generation, distribution, and redistribution of income within Malaysia in a SAM framework.     

A general equilibrium assessment of external and domestic shocks in Spain

After many years of growth, the Spanish economy plunged into the most severe and prolonged recession recorded since reliable national accounts data have been available. The main goal of this paper is to quantify the effects of the external and domestic shocks that hit the Spanish economy in 2008–2009 by employing a disaggregated general equilibrium model calibrated to a 2000 SAM elaborated by the authors. External shocks are simulated by employing the neoclassical closure (private investment is determined by domestic and external savings) and the Keynesian closure (investment is exogenous). External and domestic shocks are also jointly simulated with the Keynesian closure. The results provide a good approximation to observed changes in key macroeconomic variables.     

Modelling energy and labour linkages: A CGE approach with an application to Iran

We develop a unique dynamic CGE model suitable for analysing the policy interrelationships between fuels, crude oil and the labour market. Special emphasis is placed on the modelling of energies, crude oil, and the factors of production in the economy. To fully outline the model's features, we build simulations that hypothesize removing fuel and crude oil subsidies in an oil exporting economy to assess their effects on the labour market. The model allows for extensive treatment of transition dynamics, featuring gradual as well as immediate removal of the subsidies. We focus on constructing two alternative simulations applied to a purpose built Social Accounting Matrix (SAM) of the Iranian economy, with the revenue from subsidy elimination redistributed to households as extra income or into increased investment. The study pays particular attention to SAM data construction of energy goods and factors of production. In the specific case of Iran, the model shows that rebating the revenue from subsidy removals to households affects the labour market adversely, while channelling revenue into investment improves labour fortunes in the long run. The model is sufficiently detailed and encompassing to allow for further applications to other countries and energy–labour policy issues.     

A price endogenous computable planning model for a dual economy

This paper examines the nature of linkages between growth, employment and functional distribution of income in a dual economy. The analysis is carried out in terms of a dual economy general equilibrium model which is implicitly based on a social accounting matrix (SAM) type of information system. The parameter values and the structure of the model are based on Iranian data and the selection of policy packages is inspired by those undertaken in Iran during the 1970s. The model sheds some light on the consequences of the policies by quantifying their potential impact on the sectoral growth of output, levels of employment and functional distribution of income in the rural and urban areas.     

大规模水利投资对中国经济的拉动效应——基于水利社会核算矩阵的分析

通过对最新的2007年中国投入产出表进行合理的拆分与合并,并结合其他数据编制的水利社会核算矩阵可以为研究水利投资与国民经济的互动提供大量的信息,利用水利社会核算矩阵乘数模型可以考察大规模水利投资对中国经济的拉动效应。实证分析结果表明,水利投资将对国民经济尤其是农业部门产生较大的拉动效应;不同水利部门的投资增加对国民经济的具体拉动效应存在较大的差别,了解这些差别有助于水利投资结构的优化;水利投资对我国GDP拉动的平均乘数大约为1.3;基于水利投资的结构分解,测算得出4000亿元的水利投资将会带来GDP增长4925亿元。     

QUANTITY AND PRICE INDEXES FOR CONSTRUCTION

Construction has traditionally constituted one of the problem areas in the preparation of industry price and quantity statistm with in the system of national accounts of most countries. The difficulty stems from what is considered to be the unique character of construction projects. This has unnecessarily impeded the calculation of output price indexes and has resulted in the use of various input-based prices as proxies for output prices. One of the objectives of the development of the system of construction price statistics described in this paper is to permit deflation of the outputs of construction industries in order to produce industry output data in constant prices in a manner consistent with measures for the rest of the economy. This is a more promising approach to improving constant price industry and expenditure measures within the SNA framework than attempting such improvements through the collection of a vast array of quantity data. Construction industries sell specified configurations of materials-in-place which are, to borrow the jargon of other fields, sub-assemblies of some total system. As in other areas of industrial pricing, some of these products are simple and some are complex. Trade contractors sell these sub-assemblies or commodities mainly to an owner-builder or to a general contractor who, in turn, resells the trade contractors’ commodities along with whatever sub-assemblies the general contractor has produced. These sub-assemblies, when combined with, for example, the relevant outputs (or sub-assemblies) of manufacturers, the design services of service industries and the purchasers’ own contributions, yield the wide variety of plant and structures which constitute the various classes of gross fixed capital formation, which are not typically solely the outputs of the construction industries. The resulting contractors’ selling price indexes will provide deflators for the whole range of outputs of the various construction industries. These will become part of the system of industry selling price indexes from which relevant indexes for the various goods and services can be selected and combined with appropriate weights to yield arrays of deflators for the highly complex capital expenditures of business, institutions and government. Ultimately this integrated system of construction industry statistics will permit the preparation of gross output and value added measures, in both current and constant prices, to be calculated for the construction industries as an integral part of the Canadian System of National Accounts, as well as provide a key element for improving the deflation of fixed capital formation.     

An Environmentally Extended Social Accounting Matrix

Although the social accounting matrix(SAM) approach has been widely used in nationalaccounting and development economics, it still neglectsimportant information, among which are theinteractions between an economy and the environment. This paper environmentally extends SAM to capture therelationships among economic activities, pollutionabatement activities, and pollution emissions. Anumerical example of the environmentally extendedsocial accounting matrix (ESAM) using Chinese 1990data is presented. The multiplier and structural pathanalyses are applied to the ESAM for assessingenvironmental impacts of pollution-related economicpolicies. The analysis results show that an ESAM canbe a useful tool for environmental policy analysis.     

ADAPTATION OF DETAILED INPUT-OUTPUT INFORMATION: RESTRUCTURING AND AGGREGATION

This article deals with problems of construction of "square" input-output tables from detailed commodity and industry data and operationalization of the tables for use in econometric modeling. The adaptation procedure suggested is quite new and involves perfect and imperfect aggregation, and suppression of insignificant cells of the tables.
Using slight modifications of well-known input-output methods (to make definitions conform to general concepts of network flow theory) it is shown that the construction and aggregation of tables, as well as the suppression of minor cells, can be viewed as still higher levels of the very same process: the search for a manageable model with roughly the same abstract properties as the original detailed, but overwhelmingly large, model.
Simultaneously a consistent input-output terminology is suggested with fewer symbols and more rules than usual.
The adaptation procedure has been applied successfully to the 1982 version of ADAM, the macroeconometric model operated by Danmarks Statistik (the Danish Central Bureau of Statistics).     

INCOME INEQUALITY IN URBAN COLOMBIA: A DECOMPOSITION ANALYSIS

The persistence of poverty and income inequality in less developed countries (LDCs) is a source of serious concern to development economists. To understand the structure of inequality, several researchers using a variety of methodologies have measured the importance of various contributory factors to overall income variability. The available literature—which now includes studies of Brazil, Mexico, Iran, the Philippines, Taiwan, Thailand, Pakistan, and Colombia-has been reviewed elsewhere (Fields, forthcoming). This paper presents additional evidence for urban Colombia, in the process raising some important methodological issues which bear on the design of future research studies.
The data set used in this paper is described in Section I. The decomposition of Colombian inequality by functional income source is presented in Section 11 for micro data. Section I11 examines the robustness of source decomposition procedures to data aggregation. Section IV presents inequality decompositions by city, and Section V by other income-determining characteristics. Conclusions appear in Section VI.     

ADJUSTING NET WORTH FOR PRICE CHANGES WITH REFERENCE TO THE CANADIAN SYSTEM OF NATIONAL ACCOUNTS

This paper develops a rationale for a comprehensive measure of income and provides illustrative calculations within the Canadian System of National Accounts for making adjustments to net worth for price changes.
The paper notes that the System of National Accounts is designed to provide a number of individual aggregates measuring total production, income, savings and net worth. There is no single overall comprehensive measure which reflects the combined effect of changes in income and wealth. Such a measure is of particular importance in periods of rapid or extensive price changes which affect not only purchasing power of income but also the value of assets held and liabilities outstanding with consequences on net worth positions. This paper explores these issues and develops techniques for measuring the effects of specific and overall price changes with respect to net worth of the various sectors in the economy, illustrated with data from the integrated Canadian System of National Accounts.     

PROBLEMS OF A CENSUS OF NATIONAL WEALTH

This paper is essentially a summary of the book Measuring the Nation's Wealth (Volume 29, Studies in Income and Wealth, New York: National Bureau of Economic Research, 1964), which is the report of study directed by the author. The purpose o f the study was to assess the problems and possibilities of conducting a national census of real wealth as a basis for continuing wealth and balance sheet estimates for the U.S. economy, by major sector.
It is stressed that the balance sheets and wealth estimates should be designed as a consistent part of an integrated system of national income accounts. Thus, valuation (at market prices and/or depreciated replacement costs), sectoring, and type-of-asset detail in the basic data and derived estimates should be compatible with the flow estimates contained in the economic accounts. Consistency of stock and flow estimates facilitates analysis of inter-relationships, and is helpful in the estimation process.
It is recommended that in the U.S. asset data by broad categories be collected as part of the recurring economic censuses and other reporting systems, but that detail on fixed reproducible assets (construction and equipment) at cost, by year or period of acquisition, be obtained from a small sample of respondents in each industry. The detail would be useful in its own right, and also permit revaluation of the assets by use of price indexes and depreciation rates to a current depreciated replacement cost basis. Where feasible, respondent estimates of market values would also be obtained.
The proposal is thus a compromise between the Japanese 1955 sample survey of assets, and the detailed wealth inventory of the U.S.S.R. which was begun in 1959. Preliminary work is now underway in the U.S. federal statistical agencies to expand collection of asset data, and to prepare comprehensive wealth estimates in the framework of the national income accounts.     

基于数据价值链的项目型企业数字化转型路径研究——以华为ISDP变革为例

数字经济深入推进使数字化转型成为企业发展的必然选择。针对传统项目型企业转型落后问题，构建项目型企业数字化转型路径，以华为公司项目数字化交付平台(ISDP)变革项目为例，基于数据价值链视角深入剖析企业在数字化转型时所面临的组织管理挑战和数据资源挑战，梳理华为基于ISDP变革的数字化转型内容。在此基础上，提出融合全域数据、规范数据标准、集成应用技术、释放数据价值四阶段路径，并建议项目型企业采用“构建业主—项目型企业—项目部数字纽带”“统一项目分解结构和编码体系”等方法进行变革转型，实现项目标准化，以期对项目型企业数字化转型理论和管理实践有所启示。     

Design and rating of risk-contingent credit for balancing business and financial risks for Kenyan farmers

Weather-related agricultural risks and limited access to credit are serious impediments to agricultural productivity and growth in developing countries. This paper describes a novel insurance linked credit model piloted in Kenya, where insurance markets are effectively absent, and farmers do not borrow because of the risk of losing their collateral. One of the challenges in deigning bundled credit products, in the absence of traded securities, is the actuarial pricing and risk rating of the insurance and the loan product. We develop a rainfall linked risk-contingent credit that transfers drought risk related perils from borrower to lender via insurance mechanism that provide a balance between business and credit risks for smallholder farmers. We describe the methodology used to design and rating of a risk-contingent structured operating agricultural credit instrument using CHIRPS rainfall data from 1981–2016 in Kenya. We illustrate the use of Monte Carlo methods to risk modelling that can be integrated within the general insurance and credit rating framework. The innovative design and methodology presented in this paper are as important as the product delivery mechanism and will be of interest to specialists in development economics and agricultural finance.     

Combining biodiversity modeling with political and economic development scenarios for 25 EU countries

In the EURURALIS project, a chain of models was used to predict the changes in sustainable development indicators for European human well-being, ecology and economy issues, for four alternative scenarios of the future socio-economic development. This paper describes the biodiversity analysis of the project. Models based on general relationships between environmental factors and biodiversity loss were combined with socio-economic, land-use and environmental models to derive data that were integrated into an interactive tool for policy makers. The biodiversity analysis takes into account the effects of land-use change, climate change, fragmentation by major roads, area of unfragmented patches, nitrogen deposition, forestry and disturbance. Results show that biodiversity is projected to decrease between now and 2030 in most countries for all scenarios, indicating that it is unlikely that the EU will be able to fulfill its commitment to stop biodiversity loss by 2010. This is mainly due to urbanization and increase in stress factors, and outweighs the area increase of nature arising from land abandonment. Merits, limitations and uncertainties of this approach to biodiversity assessment are discussed.     

生态修复背景下园林园艺类博览会 植物景观营建研究

在生态文明建设的大背景下,生态修复已经成为 中国园林园艺类博览会的热点亮点,这对植物景观营建提出 了新的要求和挑战。通过回顾我国综合性园林园艺类博览会 在生态修复方面的探索,结合科学绿化的建设要求,提出生 态修复背景下园林园艺类博览会中植物景观营建的目标需要 综合生态、城市景观、城市事件的三重要求,遵循问题与目 标导向相结合、人工修复和自然恢复相结合、景观塑造和群 落营造相结合的工作要点。综合国内外相关植物景观营建实 践,探讨在全园规划尺度、展园设计尺度和展后利用方面如 何将生态修复和植物景观营建实践相结合,为今后园林园艺 类博览会以及更大范围的风景园林生态修复实践提供参考。     

数据要素价值化生态系统建构与市场化配置机制研究

数据要素作为推动经济高质量发展的新动能，如何应用整体观和系统观理论构建数据要素价值化生态系统，成为推进数据要素市场化配置、释放数据要素价值的关键议题。针对数据要素价值化面临的理论与实践挑战，引入创新生态系统理论，系统探究多元主体参与数据要素价值化过程的生态系统联动机制，深入剖析数据要素市场化配置动态过程机制，有助于深化数据要素价值化和市场化配置理论研究，为探索数据要素价值化过程中多元主体协同共创、优化数据要素市场化配置机制、加强数据要素监管与治理、打造数字驱动型区域创新生态系统、激活数字创新生态活力与成效、加快数字中国建设提供理论和决策启示。     

A BALANCED SYSTEM OF NATIONAL ACCOUNTS FOR THE UNITED KINGDOM

This paper describes the construction of a disaggregated system of 262 national accounts for the U.K. economy in 1975. The objective is to remove the discrepancies between income, expenditure, production and financial estimates which occur in practice. This is done with the aid of a generalized least squares algorithm for adjusting national accounts with subjective estimates of reliability of the various account items. The balanced system of accounts provides the cross-section data base needed for the estimation of a consistent multisectoral dynamic model of the U.K. economy and yields the classification converters and input-output tables necessary for such a model.     

低碳经济与循环经济统筹发展研究——以四川为例

低碳经济发展模式强调经济活动中的碳排放逐步降低,循环经济发展模式强调经济活动中的资源循环利用和高效利用,这两者均可以看作是我国建设资源节约型、环境友好型社会的重要内容。因此,片面地强调某一种模式都是不科学的,文章以四川作为研究对象,首先分析了四川低碳经济与循环经济统筹发展的必要性,指出四川省各自然区域自然环境特点、主要资源环境问题及对发展制约,低碳经济与循环经济统筹发展是经济发展与环境保护协同发展的需要,经济原则是低碳经济与循环经济统筹发展的基本原则。然后对四川低碳经济与循环经济统筹发展的基础进行了阐述,并根据不同主体功能区的定位,提出低碳经济与循环经济的关注重点,结合各功能区实际情况进行了各具特色的循环经济与低碳经济统筹发展路径探索。     

Environmental Effects of Production and Consumption Activities Within an Economy: the Aragon Case

The goal of this research paper is to analyze the households’ environmental impact in a regional economy such as Aragon, focusing on water consumption, and water and atmosphere pollution. Our objective is to include not only the direct impact but also the indirect one that is generated by the production of goods and services in global and per capita. The framework of analysis is a SAMEA (Social Accounting Matrix and Environmental Accounts) built for Aragon in 1999. This SAMEA is composed by SAM (Social Accounting Matrix) and also the Water Accounts, the Water Pollution Accounts and the Atmosphere Emissions Accounts. For this reason, the SAMEA describes the relationship between the institutional activities and the environment. In order to obtain environmental impact of household activity in Aragon and to measure the individual responsibility, we are going to calculate indicators from the SAMEA model considering only households as exogenous account. The environmental effects are estimated for two water resources categories, for six water pollution categories and for six atmosphere emissions categories.