Urban economics and development

China’s policy of opening the door to foreign business has sometimes aroused excessive expectations. Both in China and abroad, overoptimism has now been replaced by a more realistic appraisal of what can be achieved in economic terms. Nonetheless, Deng Xiaoping’s aim of quadrupling industrial and agricultural output¹ by the year 2000 is still being pursued. Urban regions have been allocated a key role in this as the powerhouse of development. In the light of regional economic analyses,²this article examines whether the intended economic reforms go far enough to enable the conurbations to perform this function.     

Local compensation payments for agri-environmental externalities: a panel data analysis of bargaining outcomes

We analyse local compensation payments made to farmers for providinglandscape amenities in Alpine tourist communities. These paymentsresult from political bargaining at the municipal level. Paneldata estimation shows that the probability of introducing compensationpayments depends positively on the benefits of landscape amenities.Although no impact of service provision cost is found, transactioncosts at different levels of the bargaining process reduce theprobability of payments. Compensation payments mainly occurin communities where the provision of agricultural landscapeservices is perceived as relatively low and the diversity ofthe countryside seems to be endangered. We argue that municipalcompensation payments are an important supplement to nationaland European Union policy measures in support of less-favouredareas.     

The possibility of judgment aggregation on agendas with subjunctive implications

The new field of judgment aggregation aims to find collective judgments on logically interconnected propositions. Recent impossibility results establish limitations on the possibility to vote independently on the propositions. I show that, fortunately, the impossibility results do not apply to a wide class of realistic agendas once propositions like “if a then b” are adequately modelled, namely as subjunctive implications rather than material implications. For these agendas, consistent and complete collective judgments can be reached through appropriate quota rules (which decide propositions using acceptance thresholds). I characterise the class of these quota rules. I also prove an abstract result that characterises consistent aggregation for arbitrary agendas in a general logic.     

On optimal growth when there are many goods and factors

This paper summarizes some findings with respect to optimal growth when saving and the state of the arts are endogenous, natural resources shrink, and the numbers of goods and basic factors are possibly large. Outcomes of some numerical experiments are reported. The dynamic-programming algorithm is used for time-optimization and linear programming for instantaneous optimization. Progress can plausibly balance out depletion, without the help of capital accumulation. Many goods can produce a multiplicity of maximal extreme points in solution space, from which the productioin-possibility frontier becomes a multiple-dimensional hyperplane, moving outward over time.Presidential Address presented at the Forty-Third International Atlantic Economic Conference, London, England, March 11–18, 1997.     

Rural development and financial markets in Romania

In the transition from a centrally planned to a market-oriented economy, such as in Romania, the domestic financial market plays two important roles. First, the financial market itself must be fundamentally restructured. Second, its efficient functioning is a crucial precondition for economic transformation. In transition economies, however, financial market institutions tend to concentrate their services on urban or larger rural enterprises. So far, small rural enterprises, even those with profitable investment plans, often do not have access to the financial market. This paper briefly characterizes the key issues of agricultural production units and their institutional environment and analyzes the depth and the efficiency of rural finance and its effect on Romania's rural economic transformation. It concludes with policy and institutional recommendations to strengthen rural finance.     

MRSA – Angemessen reagieren

Nosokomiale Infektionen - Multiresistente Mikroorganismen haben sich weltweit zu einem gro?en Problem entwickelt. Neben den Methicillin-resistenten Staphylokokken (MRSA) steigen auch die Resistenzzahlen anderer Mikrobenarten dramatisch. Insbesondere kritisch kranke Patienten sind durch sie gef?hrdet. Doch wie sieht ein angemessener Umgang mit Problemkeimen aus? Franz Sitzmann diskutiert übliche Strategien und zeigt Alternativen auf.     

Financial Markets and the Instability of General Equilibrium

The Hicksian general equilibrium with money and securities is the starting point for an expansion with numerous other financial variables. Disturbances to the system, partly observed from recent experience, are examined, and possible remedies are proposed. Walras’ Law, that the sum of excess demands for goods and basic factors is zero, no longer applies in an economy where financial variables are present. The main analysis is of a closed economy; the open economy, in the manner introduced by Mosak, is treated in an appendix.     

Trade impediments,domestic goods,and the transfer problem

Zusammenfassung: Handelshindernisse, heimische Güter und das Transferproblem. — Handelshemmnisse sind eine entscheidende Voraussetzung für die Existenz heimischer Güter, deren Faktorkombination tendenziell der des Exportsektors zu entsprechen pflegt. Dies deswegen, weil der heimische Sektor die Faktoren absorbiert, die — wenn Handelshemmnisse entstehen — aus dem Sektor der handelbaren Güter freigesetzt werden. Eine Verbesserung der Handelsbilanz verursacht dann eine Senkung der Einkommen jener Faktoren, die sowohl im Exportsektor als auch im heimischen Sektor relativ intensiv genutzt werden, und das führt zu einer Verschlechterung der Terms of trade. Die Existenz heimischer Güter erh?ht andererseits tendenziell die Preiselastizit?t der Angebotskurve. Die ?unmittelbare? Wirkung von Behinderungen auf die Transferbedingungen besteht darin, den kritischen Wert der Importneigung für unver?nderte Terms of trade zu erh?hen. Das gilt sowohl für Transportkosten wie auch für Z?lle.

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Résumé: Les obstacles en commerce extérieur, les produits locaux et le problème de transfert. — Les produits locaux existent à cause des obstacles en commerce extérieur et ont la tendance d’avoir une ?mix de facteur? comme le secteur exportable. Cela se passe parce qu’ils doivent absorber les facteurs mis en ch?mage par les secteurs des biens commerciables si les obstacles deviennent effectifs. Une augmentation de la balance commerciale puis cause une chute des revenus de rente sur les facteurs qui sont intensifs en secteurs exportants aussi bien que locaux, et cela conduit à une réduction des termes d’échange. D’autre part les produits locaux ont la tendance d’augmenter l’élasticité de prix de la courbe d’offre. L’effet ?direct? des obstacles sur les conditions de transfert est d’augmenter la valeur critique des propensions d’importation pour les termes d’échange pas changés. Cela est juste pour les frais de transport aussi bien que pour les tarifs.

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Resumen: Impedimentos para el comercio, bienes domésticos y el problema de la transferencia. — Los bienes domésticos existen debido a las barreras comerciales y tienden a contener una combinación de factores similar a la del sector exportable. Esto es así, porque ellos deben absorber los factores liberados por los sectores de bienes comerciables cuando se erigen las barreras. Un incremento de la balanza comercial induce una caída en la renta de los factores utilizados intensivamente tanto en los sectores exportadores como domésticos y esto lleva a una reducción de los términos del intercambio. Los bienes domésticos por el otro lado, tienden a aumentar la elasticidad-precio de la curva de oferta. El efecto ?directe? de las barreras sobre las condiciones de transferencia es el de aumentar el valor critico de las propensidades para importar frente a términos comerciales inalterados. Esto es válido para costos de transporte como también para tarifas.