Optimal foreign debt for Egypt: A stochastic control approach

This study assesses the foreign debt policy in Egypt and contrasts it versus the optimal policy during the period 1985–2008. It also presents a forecast of the optimal debt during the period 2009–2014. The optimal debt policy was derived using an open economy model for Egypt. The uncertainties in the model stem from the uncertainties in the interest or debt service payments and the uncertainties in the rate of return on investments. The stochastic control approach was used to find the optimal debt policy. It was found that Egypt could borrow externally as long as the trend in the rate of return on investments exceeds the trend in the real interest rate or the trend in the rate of the debt service payments. The analysis finds that Egypt's foreign debt was higher than the optimal level before 1997. After 1997, foreign debt seems to converge to the optimal level. However, Egypt's foreign debt is still below its optimal level which results in an opportunity cost for the economy to grow, otherwise, GDP could have recorded a favorable increase.     

Growth,deficits and uncertainty: Theoretical aspects and empirical evidence from a panel of 27 countries

We examine the relationship between fiscal deficits and per-capita income growth in a panel of 27 European countries, allowing for perceived risks, in terms of fiscal sustainability, associated with additional government spending. Such risks are proxied by the conditional variability of manufacturing production and stock market returns and by the unconditional variability of two survey-based economic-sentiment indicators. To help clarifying how fiscal variables impact on growth and to provide a point of reference for the interpretation of the empirical results a structural growth model is first identified. We find evidence of an asymmetric relationship, in that fiscal deficits give rise to adverse growth effects if they coincide with high uncertainty regarding the prospects of the economy and no significant negative growth effects in the low-uncertainty case.     

深化财政改革应保持收支同步推进

财政的分配职能主要是通过财政的收入与支出来实现的。对任何国家的政府而言，财政收支平衡应该是其财政的最高目标。尽管凯恩斯以后，有些国家政府实行以赤字财政政策来刺激经济增长、扩大需求、实现就业。但是，如果一国政府的财政赤字过大、收支难以平衡的话，那么国民对政府调控经济，发挥其职能作用的信任程度就将大打折扣。在我国，财政收支管理的“越位”与“缺位”问题已经是不争的事实，收入地出两条线的管理也显得极不协调，需要及时地进行改革。     

财政支出拉动经济增长的惯性分析

经济量通常存在着一定的惯性，与物体的惯性不同，这是由外部变量的累计影响作用产生的由于财政支出对国民经济的增长有着积极的作用，而财政支出又有着比较强的滞后性，本文在财政支出拉动GDP增长的理论下针对财政支出的扩张拉动GDP增长的惯性进行分析。     

On predictive distributions of public net liabilities

The analysis of the sustainability of public sector finances requires an accounting of all future revenues and all future spending that we would expect, under current tax laws and current entitlements. The classical calculation does not acknowledge the inherent uncertainty of the future economic and demographic developments, so the results can be misleading. Our aim is to produce a more robust summary of the sustainability of the public sector than the one currently available. By taking a forecasting point of view, our formulation takes into account the uncertainty of future productivity, stock and bond markets, and demography. Methodological complications that arise in the stochastic setting are discussed. Estimates of the relative roles of economics and demographics in the uncertainty of public net liabilities are presented.     

财政分权与经济增长

理解财政分权在经济增长过程中所起的作用颇为重要。本文采用1953～2003年的时间序列数据,以地方政府财政支出占全部财政支出的比重作为度量财政分权的指标,用实证研究的办法考察财政分权对于中国经济增长的影响。与已有的一些研究结果不同的是,本文的回归结果显示,对经济增长具有显著影响的并不是财政分权的绝对水平,而是财政分权程度的变动。本文依据这一结果分析了财政分权与经济增长的关系。     

财政信息透明度的理论分析

提高财政信息透明度对一国的财政管理活动至关重要,国际货币基金组织编写的《财政透明度手册》对此作了很好的诠释。理解财政信息透明度,应当抓住财政信息是一种特殊的公共品这一本质,供给者是政府,需求者是公众。由于不对称信息的存在,使得政府与公众的财政信息供求背离均衡点。提高财政信息透明度,就是通过一系列制度安排,去努力接近财政信息供求均衡的理想状态。     

县乡财政解困和政府改革:目标兼容与路径设计

本文在政府治理结构改革的框架下研究了县乡财政解困和政府改革的目标兼容性问题.首先,文章给出一个理论分析框架,用于说明政府级次安排与政府治理结构效率之间的关系.其次,在此框架下分析了精简政府级次改革方案的社会成本,指出该方案虽能够实现县乡财政解困,但却会扭曲政府改革目标,其所引致的社会成本已超出社会理性所能允许的边界.最后,文章又考察了旨在精简机构的横向政府改革与县乡财政解困的目标兼容性问题,指出基层政府辖区优化调整方案的实施能够带来政府改革和财政改革的"双赢".     

A general framework for the analysis of fiscal equalisation systems

This paper shows that, despite the existing diversity of models of fiscal equalisation, there is a common underlying structure that links all of them. To this end, a framework of analysis sufficiently general so as to encompass the main schemes present in the literature is developed. This allows to uncover the common features of these schemes and to identify more readily the origin and nature of their differences. The formal approach is complemented with a numerical simulation of the models considered. The paper also shows the usefulness of the approach for reform policy and suggests two new models.JEL Classification: H2, H7I would like to thank three anonymous referees for their helpful comments and suggestions to a previous draft of this article.     

Fiscal harmonization in the European Union with public inputs

Fiscal harmonization among the European Union member states is a goal involving major difficulties for its implementation. Each country faces a particular trade-off between fiscal revenues generated by taxation and the productive efficiency loss induced by their respective tax code. This paper provides a quantitative analysis of these trade-offs for a number of the European Union (EU-15) member states using a dynamic general equilibrium model with public inputs. Calibration of the model for the EU-15 member states provides the following results: i) the maximum tax revenue level is relatively far from the current tax levels for most countries; ii) the cases of Sweden, Denmark and Finland are anomalous, as productive efficiency can be gained by lowering tax rates without affecting fiscal revenues; iii) in general, countries would obtain efficiency gains without changing fiscal revenues by reducing the capital tax and increasing the labor tax; and iv) capital tax harmonization to the average capital tax rate can be done with quite small changes in both fiscal revenues and output for most countries.