Entrepreneurial Skills,Technological Progress,and Firm Growth*

Using cross-country establishment-level data, I show that employment profiles over a firm's life cycle are flatter in fast-growing economies than in slow-growing economies. The difference in average employment over the firm's life cycle increases with plant age. I propose a frictionless overlapping-generations model with exogenous technological progress. Firm productivity also depends on entrepreneurs’ skills. Entrepreneurs can increase their skills over their life cycle, but the growth of the vintage component of younger cohorts’ skills is higher in fast-growing economies than in slow-growing economies. This model is able to explain most of the differences observed in the sample between fast-growing and slow-growing economies.     

The Effects of Emission Permits on Growth and the Environment

We develop an overlapping generations model of growth and the environment in which industrial firms produce environmentally harmful emissions. A government controls the emissions by assigning emission quotas to firms, and permits could be issued and freely traded as financial instruments across firms on the basis of the quotas. We show that an environmental policy that decreases an aggregate number of emission quotas could degenerate economic growth and lower environmental quality in the long run. We also show the implications of this result for environmental policy.     

Capital Income Taxation,Economic Growth and Heterogeneity in the Motivation to Give

This study provides a comprehensive analysis of the relationship between capital income taxation and economic growth within an overlapping generations model when individuals may bequeath wealth. The altruistic concern is modeled as a synthesis of joy‐of‐giving and family altruism so that individuals may derive utility from the amount of bequest itself and by providing children with a disposable income later on in life. Using this framework, it is shown that, in contrast to the existing literature, increasing the capital income tax rate may well enhance growth under operative bequests.     

Tax evasion,social norms,and economic growth

We propose a theoretical model to account for the negative relationship between tax evasion and economic development. More precisely, we integrate tax morale into a dynamic OLG model of tax evasion. Tax morale is modeled as a social norm for tax compliance. We show that accounting for such nonpecuniary costs of evasion may explain (a) why the share of evaded taxes over GDP decreases when countries grow and (b) that tax morale is positively correlated with the level of GDP per capita. Finally, a higher tax rate increases aggregate evasion and the number of evaders when taxpayers decisions are interdependent.     

二次城市化、土地开发与经济增长

文章将二次城市化水平定义为城镇户籍人口占城镇总人口的比重,构建了一个包含城市化、二次城市化和城市土地开发的中央计划者模型,在利用1985-2008年数据对模型参数进行估计的基础上,模拟分析了城市化对经济增长的影响。结果发现,城市化水平的提高对经济增长有积极作用;当人口在城市落户的成本较高时,提高二次城市化水平和城市用地相对面积会显著降低经济增长率;当落户成本较低时,上述负面影响并不明显。在进一步推进城市化的同时,应保持城乡用地的动态平衡,根据落户成本施行差别化的户籍开放和土地开发政策,让中小城市和小城镇成为吸纳人口进城落户的主要场所,这为"十二五"规划建议中有关城镇化的内容提供了理论依据。     

地方政府、土地产权管制与经济增长：理论与证据

地方政府的土地产权管制解决了其在促进地方经济发展过程中的财政压力,为改革开放以来的中国经济增长做出了重要贡献。但理论分析表明,土地产权的政府管制虽然会促进短期经济增长,却不利于长期经济增长。基于中国31个省份1998～2012年面板数据的实证检验,和同时期面板数据的分组实证检验以及时间序列模型的回归残差分析,证实了地方政府土地产权管制与经济增长之间的这种逻辑关系。为促进我国长期经济增长,政府应该逐步放松对土地产权的管制。     

Imperfect information, Bayesian learning, and capital accumulation

This paper examines the consequences of informational imperfections for economic growth in an overlapping generations model in which agents learn the technological parameters in a Bayesian fashion. Under mild sufficient conditions, beliefs converge to the true value of the technological parameters. Nevertheless, even short-lived informational imperfections could have lasting effects, as they alter the long-run equilibrium levels of the capital stock. Therefore, learning dynamics may explain some of the observed differences in the performance of countries with otherwise similar economic characteristics.     

Time and Uncertainty in Overlapping Generations Economies

This paper shows the general reversibility of every perfect foresight equilibrium of an overlapping generations economy. It then shows and characterizes the existence of reversible sunspot equilibria in these economies as well, which seems to be at odds with our intuition about the irreversibility of a tree of events. Although the paper establishes also that such reversible stochastic equilibria constitute a negligible subset of all the equilibria of their class, their mere existence may be considered somewhat puzzling for this intuition. Journal of Economic Literature Classification Numbers: D50, D80, D90.     

Taxation, Bequests, and Short and Long Run Timber Supplies: An Overlapping Generations Problem

This paper uses an overlapping generations model with one-sided altruism to study the effects of several forest taxes that target bequests and affect timber supply. Unlike previous work, we investigate bequests and timber supply in both the short and long run when bequests are costly (e.g., taxed). The landowner's problem is examined in the short run, while the government's problem is examined in the long run assuming the existence of a steady state. We also consider taxes targeting harvests, growth, savings and bequests. Several new results are established concerning the interactions of taxes that might be used by a government to alter short and long run forest capital stocks: (i) the presence of a forest bequest tax affects the neutrality of harvest tax in both the short and long run, (ii) in the long run the bequest tax decreases bequests and timber supplies. When the bequest tax is not present, the capital income tax is neutral with respect to bequest and timber supply, while the harvest tax is neutral only if forest productivity is also not taxed. Finally, (iii) in the short run, the substitution and total effects of taxes in landowner decisions generally depend on the presence of the bequest tax. The results have implications for Pigouvian tax design and second best tax choice.     

Bequests, Inter Vivos Transfers, and Wealth Distribution

This paper constructs a heterogeneous agent overlapping generations model with bequests and inter vivos transfers. In the model, households in the same family line behave strategically to determine their consumption, working hours, gifts, and savings. Calibrating the model to the U.S. economy, the paper measures time preference and parental altruism consistent with the economy's capital-output ratio and the size of intergenerational transfers. The model with intergenerational transfers better explains, although not fully, the wealth distribution of the United States. The paper also analyzes the effects of government policy changes on wealth accumulation, distribution, and social welfare. Journal of Economic Literature Classification Numbers: D31, D64, D91, H31.     

Climate Change and the Representative Agent

The artifice of an infinitely-lived representative agent iscommonly invoked to balance the present costs and future benefitsof climate stabilization policies. Since actual economies arepopulated by overlapping generations of finite-lived persons,this approach begs important questions of welfare aggregation.This paper compares the results of representative agent andoverlapping generations models that are numerically calibratedbased on standard assumptions regarding climate--economyinteractions. Under two social choice rules -- Pareto efficiencyand classical utilitarianism -- the models generate closelysimilar simulation results. In the absence of policies toredistribute income between present and future generations,efficient rates of carbon dioxide emissions abatement rise from15 to 20% between the years 2000 and 2105. Under classicalutilitarianism, in contrast, optimal control rates rise from 48 to 79% this same period.     

Gradual Product Replacement,Intangible-Asset Prices and Schumpeterian Growth

The paper develops a general-equilibrium model of scale-invariant Schumpeterian (R&D-based) growth. New higher-quality products are discovered through stochastic and sequential R&D races in each industry. The market share of an R&D race winner increases gradually and is governed by an exponential deterministic process. The introduction of gradual (as opposed to instantaneous) product replacement sheds more light on the effects of the rate of technology diffusion on long-run growth and on long-run dynamics of intangible asset prices. An economy with faster product diffusion rates experiences higher long-run innovation rates, faster transitional growth, and is populated by younger firms. As the typical firm becomes older, the earnings yield (i.e., the inverse of the price earnings (P/E) ratio) increases and expected earnings growth declines. Younger firms have lower earnings, lower market shares, but higher P/E ratios and higher expected earnings growth associated with their higher potential market growth.An electronic version of the paper is available at http://bear.cba.ufl.edu/dinopoulos/research.html.     

对影响征地补偿价格相关因素的调查与分析

对河北省高碑店市10个村50位失地农户自1994年以来三次大规模征地的土地征用价格进行实际调查显示,土地征用后的用途是影响土地补偿价格的重要因素。另外,土地补偿价格是国家、用地单位、村集体和农户四者博弈的结果,土地补偿价格的高低与农民的自组织和实力相关。建议对不同用途的土地征用,在相同区位实行相同的土地征用和补偿价格,国家在向用地单位提供土地时,根据不同用途收取不同的出让税金,以保证政府收支平衡。     

Welfare effects of bubbles in an endogenous growth model

This paper examines welfare effects of asset bubbles in an endogenous growth model with overlapping generations. In our model, a steady-state equilibrium with bubbles exists only if the presence of bubbles raises the welfare level of the initial generation. Bubbles can be beneficial to generations born at relatively early dates, whereas they reduce the welfare level of sufficiently distant future generations. Increasing the rate of supply of the useless asset improves the lifetime utilities of future generations.     

Intergenerational Altruism and the Environment

We construct an overlapping generations model of pollution externality in which individuals are altruistically linked to their offspring as in Barro (1974). It is shown that steady-state consumption may be a decreasing function of the intergenerational degree of altruism. Despite individuals' altruism, the competitive equilibrium is not optimal. We thus study the social optimum and show that it can be decentralized.
JEL classification: D 62; D 64; D 91     

房价与地价关系的因果检验:1998-2006

文章在考虑通货膨胀的条件下,利用我国1998-2006年的房价和地价的季度数据建立误差纠正模型(ECM),使用Granger因果检验方法对我国的房价和地价的关系进行实证检验,得出结论:短期而言,房价对地价没有影响,而地价是房价的Granger原因;长期来说,房价和地价存在双向因果关系.因此,要控制房价,短期内关键是抑制地价过快上涨;长期则要通过合理安排土地供给,加强住宅的建设规划引导,从而避免房地产价格的大起大落.     

Elasticity of substitution and growth: normalized CES in the Diamond model

Summary. It is often asserted that the more substitutable capital and labor are in the aggregate production the more rapidly an economy grows. Recently this has been formally confirmed within the Solow model by Klump and de La Grandville (2000). This paper demonstrates that there exists no such monotonic relationship between factor substitutability and growth in the Diamond overlapping-generations model. In particular, we prove that, if capital and labor are relatively substitutable, a country with a greater elasticity of substitution exhibits lower per capita output growth in transit and in steady state. Received: October 27, 2001; revised version: February 25, 2002     

公共资本投资、内生经济增长与合理政府债务规模*

本文基于一个具有内生增长机制的三部门世代交叠模型,讨论了政府举债为公共投资进行融资时经济的长期均衡;同时,通过数值模拟方法考察了我国的均衡政府债务规模及其影响因素。结果表明：在特定条件下,经济系统存在一个正的均衡政府债务-产出比重,该债务比重水平明显受到公共投资—产出比重、公共投资的债务融资比重、民间资本产出弹性等参数的影响。但是,均衡政府债务比重并不是无限上升的,当上述参数超过特定临界值时,经济系统无法达到均衡,政府债务-产出之比将持续上升,财政将不可持续。另外,当民间资本产出弹性较低时,较高的均衡政府债务比重可能导致经济运行动态无效率。数值模拟结果还显示,基于不同的假设情形,我国的均衡政府债务-产出比重均在不同程度上高于当前实际的政府债务规模,这为我国在未来期间实施扩张性财政政策提供了有利的依据。     

Pollution,Private Investment in Healthcare,and Environmental Policy*

In this paper, we demonstrate that, in a two‐period overlapping‐generations model, the relationship between environmental taxation and economic activity (output level and growth) has an inverted‐U shape when we take into account the detrimental impact of pollution on health and the individual decision of each working‐age agent to improve her health. We also demonstrate that the link between environmental tax and lifetime welfare also has an inverted‐U shape, and that a tighter environmental policy might enhance economic activity while reducing steady‐state lifetime welfare. Finally, we investigate the social optimum and the determinants of the optimal environmental tax.     

建设用地扩张对经济持续增长能力影响

首先从索罗增长模型出发分析表示经济持续增长能力的关键指标,其次通过1998—2008年中国省际面板数据回归分析建设用地规模对相关关键指标影响,以推出建设用地扩张对经济持续增长能力影响。结果表明:①索罗增长模型中单位资本产出水平是考量经济持续增长能力的重要指标,其决定经济增长率与增长空间;②面板计量结果中1998—2008年间中国建设用地数量对单位资本产出水平有显著负影响,说明期间建设用地扩张减小经济增长率与增长空间。研究认为,在经济转型期中国应严控建设用地扩张,以减小经济增长对土地资源依赖程度,进而促进技术进步,倒逼经济增长方式转变。