Does the strength of the legal systems matter for trade in insurance and financial services?

This paper investigates if the strength of the legal system impacts on the trade in insurance and financial services in the high-income OECD and developing countries. Our findings reveal a statistically significant positive correlation of rule of law and regulatory quality with the exports and imports of insurance and financial services. Our empirical findings also reveal a negative and statistically significant correlation of contract enforcement with the exports and imports of insurance and financial services. We conclude that strengthening the rule of law and contract enforcement mechanisms can facilitate higher levels of trade in insurance and financial services.     

浅谈网络融资业务在我国的发展与监管

网络融资业务是网络金融(e-finance)创新的一个典型实例,指建立在网络中介服务基础上的企业与银行等金融机构之间的借贷活动。本文详细分析了我国网络融资业务的主要模式、积极意义与发展思路,对业务的潜在风险进行了探讨,在此基础之上,从功能性监管的角度,对该业务的监管提出了相关建议。     

GATS《金融服务附件》第2(a)段适用措施的范围--以“相同标题是否必须相同含义”为视角

GATS《金融服务附件》第2(a)段为WTO成员国出于审慎原因而采取或维持与GATS承诺和义务不符的措施提供了一个政策空间,意图在金融服务自由化和国内规制权之间取得平衡。在阿根廷-金融服务案中,关于第2(a)段的适用范围,巴拿马作为申诉方基于该段与GATS第6条的标题都是“国内规制”这一事实,主张第2(a)段所涉措施必须是GATS第6条范围内的国内规制措施。然而,固守相同标题相同含义的解释方法会导致此种解释与文本含义相矛盾,缩小适用范围,不符合有效解释原则,还会导致严重的系统影响。事实上,市场准入措施与国内规制措施并非泾渭分明,相同标题并不一定在所有方面具有相同含义,我们可以从条款功能的角度理解标题“国内规制”的含义。两个条款性质不同却采用了同一标题,容易导致适用范围的混淆。部分区域贸易协定的做法对此问题的解决具有借鉴意义。     

“双循环”新发展格局下我国生产性服务业价值链嵌入与路径优化

本文提出“双循环”新发展格局下我国产业发展需要重塑价值链,力求在供给侧实现从高增速向高质量转换,在需求侧实现从外循环向内循环转换,在动力侧实现要素驱动向创新驱动转换。要立足现实需求,加快发展生产性服务业,助力经济高质量发展,加速内外循环优化以及创新驱动价值链攀升。遵循“加强价值链整合、推动融合化发展”“打造多层次载体、推动集聚化发展”“扩大服务业开放、推动国际化发展”“提升核心竞争力、推动高端化发展”“加快服务业创新、推动高质量发展”的路径,促进生产性服务业向价值链高端延伸。     

我国开征不动产税与增强地方政府公共服务能力的思考

在物质生活基本得到满足的情况下．老百姓对医疗、教育、社会保障、公共安全以及环境保护等公共产品和公共服务的需求越来越突出，对地方政府的目标要求也不再是发展经济这一单一目标，而是更加强调其公共服务的能力。地方政府的公共服务能力在很大程度上取决于其收入能力。本文将探讨不动产税改革将如何在增强地方政府公共服务能力中发挥作用，并针对开征不动产税过程可能遇到的难点问题，提出相关对策建议。     

Persistence and Change at the Top of the IT Sector

We use the DATAMATION index of the top 50 domestic IT companies (1975–1995) to track persistence and change at the top of the sector. The trends that we uncover are increasing instability, rejuvenation (declining average age of entrants coupled with increasing average age of quitters), democratization (diminishing revenue inequality at the top) and growing supply‐side intertwining of sub‐sectors and industries within IT due to diversification by long‐term survivors.     

Japanese FDI into U.S. service industries: Exchange rate changes and services tradability

Using the implications of the model of investment under uncertainty, this paper provides a systematic examination of the FDI–exchange rate relationship with respect to services taking into account the degree of tradability across services. Services have mainly been addressed in the literature as a sensitivity test by industry using aggregated service data identified as “nonmanufacturing”. Using data on Japanese FDI into 207 U.S. service industries, maximium-likehood estimates reveal that dollar appreciations are positively correlated with service FDI flows into the U.S. This positive correlation is stronger for non-tradable services versus tradable services. For tradable and non-tradable producer services, higher exchange rate uncertainty may lead to fewer FDI occurrences. On average, across all types of services, higher U.S. unit labor costs relative to Japan had a deterrent effect on Japanese service FDI as well. Finally, this paper also provides a useful benchmark to partition services by tradability.     

An assessment of market-based approaches to providing ecosystem services on agricultural lands

Market-based approaches are increasingly being advocated as tools for achieving the conservation of ecosystem services. We examine the reasons why markets so far appear to have failed to provide an efficient allocation of many ecosystem services, and identify the conditions under which markets deliver efficient resource allocation. We discuss different forms of market-based approaches to ecosystem services and identify the characteristics of services that make them better suited to one or another of these approaches. We find that lack of low-cost measurability and valuation currently precludes efficient allocation of many ecosystem services through market-based approaches. Still, some forms of market-based approaches hold promise for cost-effectively managing some ecosystem services provided by and to agricultural lands. In many cases some form of well-designed government involvement will be required to seek outcomes that protect the public interest.     

Social exclusion, location and transport disadvantage amongst non-driving seniors in a Melbourne municipality, Australia

Over the past decade, researchers have refocused their attention upon the interconnection between locationally disadvantaged communities and poor transport services in order to better understand social exclusion. Limited access to private and public transport has often been identified as a major contributing factor to social isolation and economic poverty that certain groups in the community experience. To date, an insufficient amount of research attention has focused on the elderly or seniors, who are often identified as being subject to social exclusion because of difficulties associated with travelling outside their homes to access services and facilities especially for non-car drivers. Moreover, a disproportionate amount of research undertaken on transport related forms of social exclusion in Australia has understandably looked towards the outskirts of its major urban centres, where services and facilities are sparsely located and generally only accessible by car. This paper provides a different insight by analysing a middle distant municipality where large spatial concentrations of seniors are to be found, some of whom do not have ready access to a car or have difficulty accessing the public bus service. Using a variety of data sources for a municipality in Melbourne, this case study reveals that social exclusion of non-car driving seniors is reinforced by a regional public transport system that cannot adequately service the entire municipality. For now, the incidence of locational and transport related disadvantage is restricted to small pockets of the municipality, but as seniors age and surrender their car driving licences this problem could become more serious. The study concludes by calling for more analyses to be undertaken into transport engendered social exclusion if this problem is to be contained as the post-war baby-boomers generation ages across most of the middle suburbs of Australian cities.     

Mobile phone network data reveal nationwide economic value of coastal tourism under climate change

The technology-driven application of big data is expected to assist policymaking towards sustainable development; however, the relevant literature has not addressed human welfare under climate change, which limits the understanding of climate change impacts on human societies. We present the first application of unique mobile phone network data to evaluate the current nation-wide human welfare of coastal tourism at Japanese beaches and project the value change using the four climate change scenarios. The results show that the projected national economic value loss rates are more significant than the projected national physical beach loss rates. Our findings demonstrate regional differences in recreational values: most southern beaches with larger current values would disappear, while the current small values of the northern beaches would remain. These changes imply that the ranks of the beaches, based on economic values, would enable policymakers to discuss management priorities under climate change.