贸易政策、研发投入与技术进步

本文利用我国制造业部门13个行业1993-2005年的数据,通过协整检验和建立向量误差修正模型实证分析了贸易政策和研发投入对技术进步的动态影响.研究结果表明:贸易保护程度、研发投入和技术进步三者之间存在一种长期的均衡关系:贸易开放程度越高,研发投入越大,则技术进步越快.     

Informality,public employment and employment protection in developing countries

This paper proposes an equilibrium matching model for developing countries’ labor markets where the interaction between public, formal private and informal private sectors are taken into account. Theoretical analysis shows that gains from reforms aiming at liberalizing formal labor markets can be annulled by shifts in the public sector employment and wage policies. Since the public sector accounts for a substantial share of employment in developing countries, this approach is crucial to understand the main labor market outcomes of such economies. Wages offered by the public sector increase the outside option value of the workers during the bargaining processes in the formal and informal sectors. It becomes more profitable for workers to search on-the-job, in order to move to these more attractive and more stable types of jobs. The public sector therefore acts as an additional tax for the formal private firms. Using data on workers’ flows from Egypt, we show empirically and theoretically that the liberalization of labor markets plays against informal employment by increasing the profitability, and hence job creations, of formal jobs. The latter effect is however dampened or even sometimes nullified by the increase of the offered wages in the public sector observed at the same time.     

Open access,common property and scarcity rent in fisheries

Open access resources are frequently not managed efficiently, resulting in falling stock levels and a declining income for fishermen. In the late 1970's, the policy response to this problem was the implementation of 200-mile fishing zones, which enabled the European Union to formulate and implement the Common Fisheries Policy, aimed at (among other things) conservation and distribution of available stocks. In Germany, this shift from an open access regime towards a common property regime had favourable outcomes. The trend of falling prices was reversed. The conclusion was that intertemporal efficiency had increased as a result of (inter)governmental policy. Apparently, a wedge was formed between price and marginal harvesting costs, implying that scarcity rent had returned as a component of prices.     

Do national political parties matter? Evidence from Italian municipalities

Recently several countries have experienced a drop in popularity of national political parties, accompanied by the success of independent movements (e.g. “Civic Lists” in Italy). I exploit the success of “Civic Lists” in Italian municipalities and use them as a comparison group for party-affiliated politicians, to test whether national parties affect fiscal discipline. Using a Regression Discontinuity Design (RDD), I show that party-affiliated mayors are more fiscally responsible: they run lower deficits, accumulate less debt and reduce expenditures. The effect is significant only for municipalities not constrained by fiscal rules. This suggests that national parties act as a substitute for fiscal rules in constraining politicians. Besides, I provide evidence that the discipline of party-affiliated politicians is linked to better career prospects: party-affiliated mayors have a higher probability of being re-elected and better chances of being promoted to higher levels of government. Alternative stories find less support in the data.     

区域政策协调模式比较分析

为促进区域经济协调发展,在政策制定上既要利用地方政府的信息优势,又要协调地方政府之间的行为。在不对称信息框架下,本文构建了一个包含两级政府的理论模型,通过分析集权、分权以及授权三种政策模式下的信息损失与协调损失,比较三种模式的优劣。研究表明,分权和授权模式均优于集权模式,而授权模式与分权模式的优劣主要取决于地区之间经济规模的大小与区域政策协调重要性的差异。     

“省直管县”改革会损害地级市的利益吗?

我国多个地区正在探索"省直管县"体制改革,目前的最大顾虑是改革是否会损害地级市的利益?本文利用1999—2008年我国地级市数据,通过系统GMM估计对此进行了实证研究。结果发现:"强县扩权"提高了城市财政收入,抑制了城市财政支出增长;财政"省直管县"的作用则恰好相反。"强县扩权"促进了城市经济增长,但不利于城市第三产业的发展;财政"省直管县"虽然降低了城市经济增长速度,却提高了第三产业比重。两项改革措施都抑制了城市规模的扩大,但有利于改善城市的环境质量。因此,我们不能笼统地断定"省直管县"改革一定会有损地级市的利益、阻碍城市化的进程,应深入地研究各项改革措施的利弊得失,做到综合运用、扬长避短。     

Governance And The Implementation Of Technology Policy In Less Developed Countries

This study discusses key issues of technology policy in less developed countries from a governance perspective. In particular, it analyzes critical problems of policy implementation and looks for general principles which may be suitable as guideposts in making the state more effective regardless of the particularities of its technology policy. The main argument is that governments need to assume a market-enhancing role and must enhance the state's capabilities and capacities for implementing public policies. Crafting public institutions which ensure accountability, transparency, and predictability of policy making and involve the private sector in political decision-making processes is critical for successful policy implementation. Besides institutional arrangements which help governments to credibly precommit to policies, the quality and institutional design of the public administration and the public-private interface are crucial ingredients of an effective governance structure.