Reversing disbursement rates to estimate stationary wealth processes for endowments with recursive preferences

Endowments have been accused of hoarding their wealth. However, the theoretically ideal spending plan remains unclear and, in practice, endowments follow a range of rules. Here we derive and estimate the optimal spending plans of an infinitely lived charity or endowment with an Epstein-Zin-Weil utility function, given general Markovian returns to wealth. We analyse two special cases: first, where spending is a power function of last period’s wealth; and second where the endowment uses ‘payout smoothing’. Via non-linear least squares, we estimate the optimal spending rate and the elasticity of inter-temporal substitution for an endowment with a typical diversified portfolio and for a portfolio of hedge funds. In a new approach, we use maximum entropy methods to characterize the returns distribution of an endowment whose spending plan conforms with the optimality condition. We confirm that the estimated returns distribution is largely consistent with the optimal spending plan.     

Optimal asset allocation strategies of university endowment funds

Optimal asset allocation for university endowment funds is very important in USA. The management of endowment funds is challenging due to the need of finding out the balance between providing adequate and stable spending for beneficiaries and growth of the portfolio. In this paper, the author address these allocation constraints in a dynamic framework, in which minimum subsistence levels are introduced in the objective function and derive explicit formulas for the optimal portfolio strategy.     

基本养老保险筹资权行使主体的确定及其理论依据

基本养老保险筹资权的行使主体的确定问题,应从中央与地方政府财权划分的角度进行分析。我国地方政府行使基本养老保险筹资权存在不合理性,应建立由中央政府统筹的基本养老保险制度。     

The foundations of Chinese attitudes towards advocating luxury spending

Abstract

In China, some scholars have argued that luxury spending is socially beneficial to equalise wealth, under the assumption that the total endowment of resources is a fixed amount. This argument is not only consistent with Confucianism but also might point to another lesser known side of Confucianism that the luxury spending of the rich can be regarded as a wealth-transferring mechanism. Furthermore, luxury spending was encouraged for purposes of enjoyment; it did not involve the consideration of power and protection. This is in sharp contrast to the extravagance of the European nobility; their intention was to maintain a hierarchical structure.     

新型农村社会养老保险基金管理模式探究

新型农村社会养老保险基金是国家为保障农村老年居民的基本生活、建立和完善社会保障制度而设立的专项基金。如何对此项基金实行有效监督和管理,以及在目前条件下投资运营,实现农村养老基金的保值增值,对新型农村社会养老保险制度的稳定、农村经济的可持续发展及农民生活水平的提高,都有着至关重要的作用。     

Spending Growth With Vertical Fiscal Imbalance: Decentralized Government Spending In Norway, 1880–1990

Vertical fiscal imbalance, decentralized responsibility of spending with centralized financing, creates a common pool problem with spending pressure towards central funds. A model of decentralized government spending under vertical fiscal imbalance is developed, and the importance of national political characteristics for internalization of costs and spending level is investigated in an econometric analysis of Norway during 1880–1990. We argue that in a parliamentary democracy, the internalization of costs is influenced by the party fragmentation of parliament. This is confirmed by the econometric analysis using a Herfindahl index as a measure of fragmentation and political strength.     

当前养老保险筹资模式不宜转向基金式

养老社会保险制度要从根本上应付人口老化的挑战,应选择一种有利于提高社会劳动生产率的筹资模式。目前我国养老社会保险筹资模式不宜从现收现付式向基金式转轨。     

高校内部预算管理存在的问题与对策

随着高等教育事业的深入发展,高校的办学规模不断扩大,资金流量迅速增加,如何有效使用资金,实现资源的优化配置,成为高校财务管理的重要课题。高校内部预算管理是高校财务管理的重要组成部分,它的编制与执行关系到高校整体资金使用与合理配置,是提高高校办学效率的重要环节。     

Fiscal Competition and Higher Education Spending in Germany

The present paper studies the determinants of higher education spending by the German federal states with a focus on the interplay between higher education spending of neighboring states. More specifically, the paper asks whether the German federal states free‐ride on one another's higher educational spending or whether they employ higher education spending to attract university graduates. We identify a positive relationship between the states' higher education spending and conclude that the states compete for graduates rather than free‐ride. We also consider the effect of the recent introduction of tuition fees in some, but not all German states. We do not find evidence that tuition fees led to crowding out of public higher education funds.     

Flexible spending accounts and the use-it-or-lose-it provision

Flexible spending accounts (FSAs) are a widely used arrangement that allow employees to pay for qualified out-of-pocket health expenses with pre-tax dollars. The original structure of FSAs included a significant forfeiture risk if households had unused funds in their accounts at the end of the year. In 2005, the US Treasury made an administrative ruling that offered a grace period for spending FSA funds after the end of the calendar year, thereby substantially reducing forfeiture risk. We use a unique panel data set to evaluate the effects of this rule change.

We find that the change increased FSA participation rates by about 4 percentage points (17% increase from a 23.9% baseline). We also find that FSA election amounts increased by just over 3%, though this result is more fragile.     

Special interest groups and the allocation of public funds

I propose a fully rational model of government contracting that explains differences in local government spending from grants and other income. In this model, violations of fungibility arise from dynamic interactions between politicians and interest groups with the ability to raise funds for the local government. The predictions of the model are tested by exploiting unique features of windfalls received by states under a settlement with the tobacco industry. Although windfalls are legally unrestricted, the median state increased spending on tobacco control programs from zero to $2.30 per capita upon receipt of funds. The marginal propensity to spend on such programs is 0.20 from settlement revenue and zero from overall income. States which were not involved in the settlement lawsuits spend less. These results cannot be explained by existing models in the literature.     

The 2009 Recovery Act: Stimulus at the extensive and intensive labor margins

This paper studies the effect of government stimulus spending on a novel aspect of the labor market: the differential impact of spending on the total wage bill versus employment. We analyze the 2009 Recovery Act via instrumental variables using a new instrument, the spending done by federal agencies that were not instructed to target funds towards harder hit regions. We find a moderate positive effect on jobs created/saved (i.e., the “extensive margin”) and also a significant increase in wage payments to workers whose job status was safe without Recovery Act funds (i.e., the “intensive margin”). Our point estimates imply that roughly one-half of the wage payments resulting from the act were paid at the intensive margin. To provide a theoretical underpinning for the estimates, we build a micro-founded dynamic model in which a firm meets new government demand with a combination of new hiring and increasing existing workers׳ average hours. Faced with hiring costs and an overtime premium, the firm responds by increasing hours along both margins. Our model analysis also provides insight into how government spending policy should be structured to lower the cost of generating new jobs. Finally, we catalogue survey evidence from Recovery Act fund recipients that reinforces the importance of the intensive labor margin.     

HOW CAN PUBLIC SPENDING HELP YOU GROW? AN EMPIRICAL ANALYSIS FOR DEVELOPING COUNTRIES

Although many studies indicate that both the level and composition of public spending are significant for economic growth, the results in the empirical literature are mixed. This paper suggests that the country sample selection and expenditure classification are important in explaining these conflicting results. The empirical analysis shows that the link between growth and public spending, especially its core component, is strong only for countries with macroeconomic stability and fast GDP per capita growth dynamics, which are also capable of using public funds for productive purposes.     

基于RIMS Ⅱ的国防支出区域经济效应分析——以美国圣迭戈县为例

国防支出对区域经济影响的主要分析工具之一是投入产出分析技术。本文在RIMS Ⅱ(Regional Input-Output Mod-eling System,区域投入产出模型化系统)基础上,讨论了区域投入产出分析的主要乘数模型:产出乘数、就业乘数和收入乘数。将乘数模型应用于国防支出的区域经济效应研究,我们发现,国防支出通过驻地军事基地和装备采购支出对区域经济发展的影响是显著的。由于国防支出由中央政府支付,经济区域内国防支出的流入意味着为区域经济注入了必要的生产发展资金,推动经济区域内循环往复的生产、消费、税收和就业。同时,不同类型的国防支出流入在区域经济内发挥的经济效应是不同的。以生产武器装备,承接国防合同为主而流入大量国防采购资金、国防R&D资金的地区,显然要比经济区内单纯驻有军事基地的地区有更高的乘数效应,国防支出对区域经济的产出、收入和就业的经济效应更为明显。     

加拿大养老金制度的发展及其对中国的启示

加拿大养老金制度(CRIS)体系主要由三重保障组成,即加拿大养老金与老年金、老年金补贴、个人登记退休储蓄计划,加拿大的养老金制度对中国正在进行的养老金制度改革,提供了经验借鉴,本文结合加拿大CRIS的案例剖析和统计研究,从社会经济学的观点和逻辑链条出发,对开展社会养老保险的基本思路、基本原则、政府的角色和责任、资金的筹集和监管等方面进行了检视,并在实证研究的基础上,提出了构建中国社会保障体系的相关政策建议.     

完善河北省农村养老保障制度的思考

人口老龄化是河北省当前面临的社会问题。借鉴加拿大、德国、法国的农业人口养老保障制度,结合河北省实际情况,应先建立一个与低收入水平和低缴费能力相适应,低水平起步、低费率和低保障待遇的过渡性的农村社会养老保险制度,需要政府在资金上给予大力支持。     

Using a discontinuous grant rule to identify the effect of grants on local taxes and spending

When investigating the effects of federal grants on the behavior of lower-level governments, it is hard to defend the handling of grants as an exogenous factor. Federal governments often set grants based on characteristics and performance of decentralized governments. In this paper we make use of a discontinuity in the Swedish grant system in order to estimate the causal effects of general intergovernmental grants on local spending and local tax rates. The formula for the distribution of funds is used as an exclusion restriction in an IV-estimation. We find evidence of crowding-in, where federal grants are shifted to more local spending, but not to reduced local tax rates.     

The effect of state education finance reform on total local resources

Both the federal government and the states use intergovernmental grants to try to change the composition of local spending across different programs, as well as the distribution of resources across localities. Many states are now under court order to use state education grants to reduce local disparities in education spending. While a substantial body of literature suggests that these court orders increase the level and progressivity of state education spending, there is little evidence on their broader effects on the total resources available not just for schools in low-income districts, but for other programs across all localities. We find that states finance the required increase in education spending in part by reducing their aid to localities for other programs, particularly for wealthier areas. Thus, while court-ordered school finance equalizations do increase total state aid to localities for education, they do so at the expense of drawing state intergovernmental aid away from programs like public welfare, health, hospitals, and general services. These findings provide insight into the effectiveness of using earmarked funds to achieve redistribution.     

The economics of university computer provision: a case study in public production and cost

Is the provision of computer services in British universities provided efficiently? The pattern of expenditure in the last twenty years is explored and a study is made of current spending across universities. Variations in unit computing costs and the output of computing expreience is studied for British universities using conventional cost and production function estimation. In addition the three-demensional production surface for the output of computer provision is estimated using distance weighted techniques. This case study has more general applicability to other areas of public production and cost.     

高校科研经费内部控制制度的财务探讨

高校科研经费管理是高校财务管理的一项重要内容,在高校科研经费增加、来源增多的情况下,一些学校在科研经费管理中出现了制度不健全、职责与权限不明、管理监督力度不够等问题。为了解决这些问题,应从健全制度、明确管理职权、加大日常管理与监督等方面加强科研经费的财务管理,达到提高科研经费的使用效益,确保科研工作健康发展的目的。