基于网络外部性的价值模块整合与兼容性选择

本文分析了价值模块的网络外部性特征，并基于网络外部性研究了价值模块整合过程中的兼容性选择和价格竞争行为。研究结果表明：当由进入厂商选择兼容度时，兼容性越高进入厂商的市场份额越大，并能够获得更高的市场价格；当由在位厂商选择兼容度时，兼容度增加将减少消费者的转移成本，使更多的模块需求商转向购买进入厂商的产品，减少了在位厂商的市场份额；当转移成本的兼容性敏感系数较低时，在位模块供应商能够获得更高的价格，而当转移成本对兼容性很敏感时，较高的兼容度将迫使在位模块供应商降低价格。价值模块的网络外部性加剧了模块供应商之间的竞争，进一步促进了价值模块整合和产业融合的过程。     

财政分权、地方政府行为与地方政府规模——基于区域差异的视角

利用1995~2008年省际面板数据针对中国财政分权对地方政府规模影响的地区差异效应进行计量检验。研究发现,中国财政分权对地方政府规模影响存在地区差异。财政转移支付制度、财政竞争形式、地方政府父爱主义倾向以及地方政府对境外投资资本优惠力度等是造成此现象的主要原因。     

城市集聚经济微观机制及其超越:从劳动分工到知识分工

本文在区分集聚机制与集聚效应、劳动分工与知识分工、成本外部性与技术外部性的基础上,使用统一的分析框架解释了城市集聚经济的发生机制,特别是将知识创造、知识溢出和知识积累结合起来,分析了知识分工与技术外部性促进城市集聚经济的发生机制。知识分工通过协作机制、结构匹配机制和循环累积机制促进知识的创造和积累,交流外部性条件下技术外部性的创新集聚效应和动态累积效应实现了知识在更大空间范围内的低成本使用,二者共同促进了城市收益递增。     

中外应对全球金融危机的政策比较

全球金融危机对世界各国经济造成了严重的负面影响,主要国家纷纷出台针对性的政策措施以应对。文章对比分析了美、日、英等发达国家和中国的政策措施,归纳出中国政策措施的特点,并提出了中国进一步应对全球金融危机的政策建议。     

Growth Effects of Fiscal Decentralization: Empirical Evidence from China's Provinces

In this paper, we revisit the fiscal decentralization-economic growth nexus in the case of China's provinces using autoregressive distributed lag bounds tests and pooled mean group estimators with time series data from the period 1979-2009. Using principal component analysis, we build a novel composite fiscal decentralization indicator consisting of five different fiscal decentralization measures and use it in the models in addition to conventional fiscal decentralization variables. The results suggest that there is a strong, positive, and statistically significant relationship between fiscal decentralization and economic growth in most provinces in China in both the short run and the long run.     

Fiscal Policy in a Currency Union at the Zero Lower Bound

This paper constructs a two‐country core–periphery New Keynesian model of a currency union to address the interaction between the objectives of regionally directed fiscal policy constrained by a single currency and the aggregate use of fiscal policy in face of the zero lower bound (ZLB) on policy interest rates. We identify an optimal path of aggregate and relative fiscal policy responses to a negative region‐specific demand shock. Our results show that (i) in a monetary union, the optimal policy response to an asymmetric reduction in demand concentrated in the periphery always entails a relative shift of fiscal expenditure toward the worse‐affected regions, (ii) though no aggregate fiscal response is required outside the ZLB, and (iii) optimal union‐wide fiscal policy is expansionary at the ZLB. Therefore, optimal policy always entails an expansion in the periphery at the ZLB, but the optimal fiscal response in the core regions can be either expansionary or contractionary depending on the parameters of the model. However, (iv) fiscal expansion in the core is warranted if the periphery cannot implement an expansion due to constraints on public spending.     

Utilization-focused performance reporting

How best to define performance measures is a much-debated issue. Mismatches between goals and indicators can lead to distortions that undermine impact-oriented steering. This article presents a model of goal and indicator development and explains its applicability, benefits and limitations.     

Sovereign risk and procyclical fiscal policy in emerging market economies

This study develops a dynamic stochastic general equilibrium model to account for the differences in fiscal policy stance over the business cycle between developed and emerging market countries, and, in particular, for the volatile and procyclical government consumption and transfer payment in emerging market countries. Two models with and without default option in sovereign borrowings replicate the contrasting cyclical behaviors indicating that the default option is responsible for procyclical fiscal policy. Further, augmented model with third-party bailouts, together with the stochastic trend income process, successfully predicts high volatilities of fiscal expenditures. These imply that procyclical fiscal policy, entailed by default option, may exacerbate the business cycle in emerging market countries.     

Sickness absence and health care in an economic federation

This paper addresses vertical fiscal externalities in a model where the state governments provide health care and the federal government provides a sickness benefit. Both levels of government tax labor income and policy decisions affect labor income as well as participation in the labor market. The results show that the vertical externality affecting the state governments’ policy decisions can be either positive or negative depending on, among other things, the wage elasticity of labor supply and the marginal product of expenditure on health care. Moreover, it is proved that the vertical fiscal externality will not vanish by assigning all powers of taxation to the states.      

Exchange Rate Crises and Fiscal Solvency

This paper combines insights from generation one currency crisis models and the fiscal theory of the price level (FTPL) to create a dynamic FTPL model of currency crises. The initial fixed‐exchange‐rate policy entails risks due to an upper bound on government debt and stochastic surplus shocks. Agents refuse to lend into a position for which the value of debt exceeds the present value of expected future surpluses. Policy switching, usually combined with currency depreciation, restores fiscal solvency and lending. This model can explain a wide variety of crises, including those involving sovereign default. We illustrate by explaining the crisis in Argentina (2001).