Targeted business incentives and the debt behavior of households

The empirical effects of place-based tax incentive schemes designed to aid low-income communities are unclear. While a growing number of studies find beneficial effects on employment, there is little investigation into other behaviors of households affected by such programs. We analyze the impact of the Texas Enterprise Zone Program on household debt and delinquency. Specifically, we utilize detailed information on all household liabilities, delinquencies, and credit scores from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York Consumer Credit Panel/Equifax, a quarterly longitudinal 5% random sample of all individuals in the USA with a social security number and a credit report. We identify the causal effect of the program by using a sharp regression discontinuity approach that exploits the known institutional rules of the program. We find a modest positive impact on the repayment of retail loans, but also evidence of an increase in the delinquency rates of auto loans and in Chapter 13 bankruptcy filings.     

中国金融效率促进经济增长效应的区域差异及地方政府宏观调控的异质需求

把金融效率分为资金聚集效率和资金分配效率,采用2001—2015年中国八大经济区域的面板数据,实证检验了资金聚集效率和资金分配效率与经济增长的关系,分别验证了政府干预对上述相关性的影响。全国整体层面的检验结果显示:资金聚集效率对经济增长具有促进作用;资金分配效率对经济增长具有抑制作用。分区域检验结果显示:资金聚集效率和资金分配效率对经济增长具有不同的作用效果,且存在明显的区域差异。加入政府干预变量后的检验结果显示:地方政府影响了区域金融效率促进经济增长效应的释放,且这种影响同样存在区域差距。这表明,具有不同发展初始条件的区域对金融政策的实施和调控具有异质需求,地方政府应根据区域发展的实际需求,结合经济增长转型及政府职能转变,选择合适的金融领域实施相应政策,有效提高区域金融效率,支持经济长期良性增长。     

A comparison of the Beveridge curve dynamics in Italy and USA

In this article, we investigate the Beveridge curve dynamics in the USA and Italy by means of a cointegrated structural VAR model. A simple economic model is introduced to motivate the identifying assumptions of the empirical analysis. A stable long-run relationship is found for both countries. In order to study the dynamic behaviour of the model, and to decompose unemployment and vacancy fluctuations, we identify three common stochastic trends. The empirical results suggest that there are some sources of hysteresis in unemployment in both countries. Transitory shocks are also identified to account for the short-run dynamics of the model. The approach allows us to detach the long-run from the short-run dynamics, in order to provide information on the cyclical and structural Beveridge curve.     

The Bologna Process and widening participation in university education: new evidence from Italy

This paper extends previous work on the effect of the Bologna reform on university enrolment in Italy. The analysis considers more recent data and also attempts to disentangle the effect of the reform from the influence on enrolment exerted by time-varying confounding factors. The empirical findings consistently show that the “Bologna Process” had a positive impact on university participation, though the magnitude of this impact is smaller than previously concluded. One main reason for our lower estimates lies in the use of a difference-in-differences methodology, which allows us to control for the influence on enrolment exerted by unobserved factors that could have changed coincidentally at the same time as the reform.     

循环经济内在稳定发展的政府角色分析

目前我国循环经济发展进程中,存在着诸多的不稳定因素.本文认为,循环经济主体参与的根本原因应是基于利益的驱动,而绝不仅仅是道德因素作用的结果;纯粹的市场调节无法达到目的,因此微观经济政策的制定与完善就显得尤为必要.本文研究并论证循环经济发展中市场机制的培育与政府角色的定位,提出了促进循环经济有效发展的政策取向.     

如何有效提高广西高职会计学原理课程的教学质量

会计学原理又称基础会计学,是高职高专经济管理专业的专业基础课程,更是会计专业课程的奠基石.文章结合广西高职会计专业学生的特点,从教学材料和教学方法两大方面论述如何提高会计学原理课程的教学质量.     

检验检疫工作管理模式的研究

检验检疫工作的质量问题事关检验检疫事业发展的大局,要想提高工作质量,必须要对现有的工作管理模式进行研究、完善。随着市场经济的发展以及中国与其他国家的贸易往来的增多,检验检疫工作对象呈现高科技化、多样化等特点,这为现行检验检疫工作模式带来了较大的挑战。针对目前中国检验检疫工作遇到的新挑战,结合对检验检疫工作中存在的问题的分析与中国检验检疫的特点,给出完善检验检疫工作管理模式的方法建议。     

皖北地区经济发展滞后问题初探

产业结构单一,产业水平低,人才缺乏,资金不足等是制约皖北经济发展主要因素。皖北要加快发展,必须加速推进新型工业化进程;加强东引西联,扩大对外开放;明确发展目标,加速推进农业产业化进程;发展壮大中心城市。     

Exploring additional determinants of fixed broadband adoption: policy implications for narrowing the broadband demand gap

Using data from the survey ‘Aspects of daily life’ conducted on Italian individuals in 2014 by the Italian Institute of Statistics, we propose new evidence on the factors that encourage the adoption of fixed broadband, a topic relevant for the reduction of the so-called broadband demand gap. We estimate a probit model through the two-step Heckman procedure for the selection bias, and find that, besides the already studied socio-demographic determinants, Internet-capable devices other than personal computers, as well as recreational (essentially video contents) and cloud-related uses of the Internet, have a relevant positive role. Policies aimed at fostering the diffusion of smart homes and more generally of the Internet of things at the residential level might be very effective in favouring fixed broadband adoption, provided that the network be neutral, not discriminating between data based on their contents and/or the destination device, and that possible foreclosing behaviours in the access to (premium) contents be properly and promptly addressed.     

Economic Fluctuations in the U.S. and Euro Area: Quantifying the Contribution of Technical Change

This article aims at quantifying the contribution of technical change to cyclical fluctuations in the U.S. and euro area. We distinguish technical progress in labor-augmenting and capital-augmenting change. To this end, we derive and estimate a New Keynesian DSGE model embodying a constant elasticity of substitution (CES) production function for both areas. Our main findings are: (i) capital-augmenting progress is the main source of technical change volatility; (ii) labor-augmenting shocks give a negligible contribution to the variance of output; (iii) technical change (of both types) explains more economic fluctuations in the U.S. than in the euro area; and (iv) historical decomposition of GDP growth over our sample period (1980–2008) shows that capital-augmenting progress is one of the key drivers of the business cycle.