Ist die EU-Agrarpolitik ihr Geld wert?

Expenditure for the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) has been in the centre of recent policy debate in the preparation of the Financial Framework for the period 2014–2020. Expenditure has generally been considered as the necessary costs for the achievement of the CAP objectives. The authors of this article argue that expenditure is not equal to the economic costs of a policy. Moreover, they claim that the main part of CAP expenditure is not well targeted for the achievement of the CAP’s objectives. The bulk of expenditure is for direct payments tied to agricultural land and, hence, contributes little if anything to CAP’s objectives as laid down in the treaties of the European Union or officially articulated elsewhere.     

The Effects of UK Pharmaceutical Policy on Government Drug Expenditure: Cost Control and Incentives for R&D

This paper investigates the impact of UK pharmaceutical policy on the level of NHS pharmaceutical expenditure. UK pharmaceutical policy is one which has managed to control costs, but at the same time, has not sacrificed the rewards for conducting long-term R&D in the UK. The analysis provides evidence that the government policies which encourage long-term R&D and the development of new drugs actually lead to lower overall pharmaceutical expenditure by the NHS. The reason for this is attributed to the savings associated with the replacement of new drugs for other less effective drugs. Additional results show that the UK receives positive spillovers from the R&D conducted by US firms and this R&D has a cost reducing impact on NHS pharmaceutical expenditure.     

Domestic fuel expenditure and payment of fuel allowances

The allocation of additional requirements for heating to households on supplementary benefit (SB) has been challenged recently. Some households receiving an addition spend less on fuel than others which do not. The fuel expenditure of any household on SB is likely to be constrained by income and may reflect ability to pay rather than need. A group of households with zero or close to zero income elasticity for fuel expenditure is identified. The expenditure on fuel of these households can be considered not to be constrained by income and to reflect the real costs of maintaining a warm home in given circumstances. Their expenditure is then used to indicate how fuel allowances might be better targeted.     

浅谈小麦山洞库储藏

山洞库具有良好的防潮保温隔热功能,特有的相对恒温密闭效应能使仓内粮食符合低温、环保、绿色储藏要求。在提倡环保、节能、低耗环境下,利用已有自然资源,发挥山洞库储粮环境优势,有广阔的发展前景,在保证储粮安全的前提下,可有效降低费用,节约能源,减少污染,降低消耗。     

浅论财政支出绩效评价

财政支出绩效评价就是对公共部门财政支出作为评价对象的评价工作,也就是对公共部门财政支出的绩效作为评价内容的工作。财政支出追求的最终目标是社会福利最大化。开展财政支出绩效评价要遵循全面性与特殊性相结合、统一性和差异性相结合、定量和定性相结合、统一领导与分类管理等原则。常用的财政支出绩效评价的方法有成本—效益分析法、最低成本法、综合指数法等。     

Health and environmental consciousness,costs of behaviour and the purchase of organic food

This paper examines environmental and health consciousness, as well as behavioural costs and their effects on the purchase of organic products. The consumption of organic products is regarded as an investment in individual health. The low‐cost hypothesis takes environmental attitudes and behavioural costs into account and is applied to organic food consumption. The survey conducted in three German cities in 2006 using self‐administered questionnaires (n = 521) does not investigate willingness to pay but rather self‐reported behaviour. The results of the regressions using the Heckman correction show that income does not affect the regularity of organic food consumption but that it does influence individual expenditure on organic food. Furthermore, there is an inverted u‐shaped relation between age and the purchase of organic products. Although health consciousness has a stronger association with organic food consumption than does environmental concern, the interaction between behavioural costs and health or environmental consciousness shows no effect. Thus, the low‐cost hypothesis is not supported.     

Reservation wage levels in UK and German financial services sectors

Although expenditure on wages represents a major element of costs in financial services firms, there is a dearth of studies analysing wage levels in the sector. This paper examines reservation wage levels in the sector by utilising maximum likelihood selection and stochastic frontier methodologies in two leading European economies: UK and Germany. Our results show that wage achievement is higher in the UK than Germany. At first glance, this seems counter-intuitive, given that actual wage costs and the overall cost–income ratio is higher in Germany than the UK.     

The Effects of Energy Cost Labelling on Appliance Purchasing Decisions: Trial Results from Ireland

Household failure to minimize the total costs of energy-consuming investments has become known as the “energy efficiency gap.” This paper explores if this is partly the result of imperfect information related to future energy costs. We test this hypothesis by adding 5-year consumption cost labels to the tumble dryer lineup of four outlets of an Irish electrical retailer. Although we observe a reduction in the average energy consumption of dryer sales, our analysis does not show a statistically significant effect. However, we highlight a number of experimental limitations in our trial which potentially undermine this treatment effect. In addition, mixed findings from previous research suggest that further trials should be conducted before “lifetime” energy cost labelling is removed from potential policy options to increase the energy efficiency of household appliances.     

我国财政科技支出支持自主创新的实证研究

通过实证分析,发现近年来我国支持自主创新的财政科技支出规模不断增大,但存在科技支出占财政总支出比重、财政科技拨款占GDP比重低,科技支出投入结构不合理,地区结构不均衡等问题。财政科技支出应重点加强基础研究,增强支出力度,优化支出结构,提升我国自主创新能力。     

Innovation investment,competitiveness, and performance in industrial firms

Intangible assets and research and development (R&D) expenditure are essential instruments in a firm's competitive productivity and profitability strategy. The relationship between productivity, tangible and intangible investments, and R&D expenditure has given rise to much analysis concerning the importance of the role played by intangible investment in the achievement of higher competitiveness. Using the Spanish database of the Fundación Empresa Pública‐Ministerio Industria (FUNEP) for the period 1991–2001, with an average of 1,800 firms per year taken from 20 industries and classified in six sectoral groups, we compare the possible relationship of the former variables with firms' profitability and productivity. The empirical results obtained show the importance of tangible investments and unit labor costs for achieving high productivity levels. R&D expenditure and intangible capital are shown to be complementary variables of the aforementioned aspects that have a delayed effect on the productivity and profitability of Spanish industries. The relevance of the prior variables differs according to whether we are referring to industrial sectors characterized by important economies of scale, intensive in capital or labor. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Optimal tariffs,optimal taxes and economic development

Cross-section and time-series data suggest that nations substitute income taxes for tariffs as they develop. This paper confronts the data within the context of a two-country open-economy endogenous growth model in which public expenditure is financed by an optimal tariff and income tax. When the latter is subject to administrative costs, the model predicts that the government will optimally substitute the income tax for the tariff as output rises along the transition. The model is calibrated and a simulation yields time paths for the shares of total government revenue derived from the tariff and the income tax that are consistent with the data.     

我国财政支出对经济增长影响的实证分析

财政支出作为财政政策的一个重要部分,对一个国家的经济发展有着重要的影响。通过对我国1990-2008年GDP以及财政支出的数据进行平稳检验和协整检验,从而建立误差修正模型,说明了我国的财政支出与经济增长存在长期稳定的均衡关系,财政支出在一定程度上促进了经济的增长。     

Costs of unintentional injuries among children in an urban slum community in Kampala city,Uganda

Abstract

Unintentional injuries cause deaths, disabilities, productivity and financial losses and disproportionately affect children in low-income settings yet their cost remains under studied. This study determined the household out-of-pocket expenditure and missed school attendance due to unintentional childhood injuries in a Ugandan slum. We used a cross-sectional household survey design. Data were collected on occurrence and associated costs of unintentional injuries during a one-year period from July 2014 to June 2015. A total of 706 (44.7%) children who had suffered from injuries were reported in the one year period. More male children (N?=?415, 58.7%) suffered injuries than females (N?=?291, 41.2%). The average out-of-pocket expenditure on treating an injury was US $24.1 [standard deviation (SD)?=?±$62.8] and mean school days lost were 25 days (SD?=?±51.8). Road traffic injuries (RTIs) resulted in higher costs [mean difference was US $51.1 (95% CI: $11.4–$90.8)] compared to injuries that, for example, occurred at school. In a Ugandan slum community, unintentional childhood injuries resulted in high out-of-pocket expenditures and missed school attendance. The costs varied widely depending on external causes of the injury. These findings highlight the need to invest in population level injury prevention interventions to reduce injury costs by households.     

节能监管的两种机制及其效率的比较分析

不对称性信息下如何诱导企业如实申报自身履行节能义务的状况,减少政府的监管成本,增加社会的福利,是节能监管机制设计的目标。从监管成本的视角出发,运用博弈论建立随机稽查机制和自行申报机制的数学模型,比较分析两种节能监管机制的成本和效率。结果表明,当执行成本无明显差距时,节能自行申报机制较随机稽查机制更能有效减少监管成本、社会成本和企业的稽查成本,提高执行效率。     

Intangible capital: the key to growth in Europe

Intangibles and especially organisational capital are an important source of capital deepening in European countries, albeit with significant cross-country differences. The GDP in the EU27 area is 5.5% higher if certain categories of expenditure, which have until now been considered as current costs, are classified as investments in intangibles. Intangible capital investment markedly improves the profitability of companies, given the productivity-wage gap, and leads to increasing returns in intangible capital intensive countries.     

教育支出规模与方式对生育水平的影响

本文构建了一个两期的世代交叠模型,通过理论演绎发现,如果公共财政教育支出让家庭感知到其作为生育补贴的方式进入家庭生育决策模型中,那么增加公共财政教育支出的确会促进社会生育。进一步采用2006-2017年省级面板数据,进行经验研究和异质性分析发现:增加公共财政教育支出会促进社会生育但不显著;教育早期阶段财政投入越大,越会显著地促进社会生育,尤其在幼儿园阶段,财政教育支出每增加1%,出生率上升0.495‰;相比补贴给教育供方,补贴给教育需方家庭的财政教育支出更可能会促进社会生育,等等。给我们的政策启示在于,让民众感知到财政教育支出对生育成本的降低作用,加大幼儿园以及学前的财政教育支出,增强对教育需求方家庭的补贴。     

中国财政支出与GDP之间关系的协整分析与误差修正模型研究

利用协整理论对1952-2003年中国财政支出与GDP之间关系进行实证研究,研究认为:中国的财政支出与GDP之间存在双向的Granger因果关系,二者之间存在着相互促进的作用;中国财政支出与GDP之间存在着长期均衡的协整关系和短期动态调整机制;中国的财政支出对GDP的弹性小于1。     

我国物流业节能降耗统计分析:现状与展望

当前,经济增长与自然资源短缺、能源耗竭、生态环境恶化的矛盾凸显,如何提升能源利用效率,缓解能源压力日益成为研究的焦点。物流业在加速我国经济增长、促进产业结构调整、降低制造业成本的同时,能源消费增长迅速。本文通过对我国物流业能源消费及其影响因素的关联分析,得出物流业能源效率提升的几点建议。     

我国物流业节能降耗统计分析:现状与展望

当前,经济增长与自然资源短缺、能源耗竭、生态环境恶化的矛盾突显,如何提升能源利用效率、缓解能源压力日益成为研究的焦点。物流业在加速我国经济增长、促进产业结构调整、降低制造业成本的同时,能源消费增长迅速。本文通过对我国物流业能源消费及其影响因素的关联分析,得出物流业能源效率提升的几点建议。     

替代还是互补?——中国政府消费与居民消费关系实证分析

政府消费与居民消费的关系不仅是财政理论需要关注的重要问题,同时也影响到政府公共预算的合理性以及公众福利的改善。基于代表性消费者均衡模型,利用11个省份的面板数据分析政府消费与居民消费的关系及其影响程度。对面板数据的单位根检验和协整分析表明:中国的政府消费对居民消费产生长期替代效应,替代系数为1.04～1.44;进一步分析省际的替代系数也验证了中国政府消费对居民消费的替代效应。由此给出的政策意义是,节制政府消费支出,国民收入分配应更多地向居民倾斜,同时通过减税和加大转移支付力度等方式提高居民的消费倾向。