How to reform China’s fiscal system?

ABSTRACT

As the population aging, China’s government expenditures, including general fiscal expenditure, healthcare and social security expenditure, will grow more rapidly than government revenues, tending to elevate government debt. Local governments undertake overwhelming 85% of total general fiscal revenue and are responsible for healthcare and social security, and their debt has been growing. Fiscal reforms are imperative, including tax reforms, the structure of government spending reforms, social security reforms, healthcare reforms, local public finance reforms, and central and local government’s fiscal relationship reforms. This paper will explore the fiscal challenges China faces and discuss how to reform the fiscal system to cope with these challenges.     

地方政府与污染企业动态博弈分析

近年来,中央和地方政府相继出台了一系列保护环境的激励政策和相关措施,但效果并不理想。人口的压力,资源的短缺,环境的胁迫,生态的危机,这一系列的世界性问题,已经成为21世纪中国乃至世界急需考虑并解决的问题。为了实现经济与环境的可持续发展,近年来,中央和地方政府相继出台了一系列保护环境的激励政策和相关措施,但由于外部性和公共产品属性等因素的存在,环境治理过程中存在市场失灵。为了探求这一现象背后的原因,本文利用博弈论的分析方法进一步考虑财政补贴、税收、罚金等系数对企业支付函效的影响,在更为一般的条件下分别建立政府监管部门和企业的完全信息条件下静态博弈模型和无限阶段重复博弈模型,并且讨论了多种因素对局中人的影响,并导出企业的最优策略和纳什均衡解,以揭示环境治理政策设计的经济机理和提出优化我国节能减排政府政策设计的一系列政策建议,旨在为提高我国节能减排政府政策设计的效果提供理论论证和现实见解。     

The economic and environmental performances of rural districts in Italy: Are competitiveness and sustainability compatible targets?

This paper analyses the economic performances of the rural system and the level of land sensitivity to degradation in Italy. Three indicators (district value added, share of agriculture on total product, and a composite index of land sensitivity) were used to classify 784 Italian local districts into eight performance classes. Four classes share a combination of high environmental quality (in terms of land degradation), high (or low) economic performances, and high (or low) productivity of the primary sector. The remaining four are characterised by a combination of low (and declining) environmental quality, high (or low) economic performances, and high (or low) productivity of the primary sector. The eight classes were grouped into four ‘environmental quality’ types and four ‘target performance’ categories to discriminate among high- and low-performance districts by considering twelve additional variables within a Discriminant Function Analysis (DFA). 148 high environmental performance districts (18% of total) were identified mainly across the Alps and Apennine while 314 districts (41%) were classified in the lowest performance class and concentrated in flat areas of southern Italy. The districts with high environmental performances were characterised, on average, by medium to low district value added, moderately low economic weight of the primary sector, and tourism specialisation. Districts with high economic performances and low environmental performances were characterised by high sensitivity to LD, low district value added, high share of agriculture in total product, and the lowest productivity of labour in all economic sectors. In these districts the risk of entering a downward spiral of rural poverty and environmental degradation is potentially high.     

Does local government competition aggravate haze pollution? A new perspective of factor market distortion

Haze pollution has become a new threat to China's sustainable development, but it may be that local government behaviour can play an important role in the prevention and control of pollutants. A dynamic spatial autoregressive (SAR) model is used to study the relationship between local government competition and haze pollution. To further explore the indirect impact of factor market distortion on haze pollution and control potential endogeneity problems, a newly developed intermediary effect model that incorporates the characteristics of the generalized method of moments (GMM) is utilized to explore how factor market distortion indirectly affects haze pollution. The research results show that regional haze pollution in China is characterized by significant spatial correlation, and local government competition has a positive impact on haze pollution; that is, local government competition exacerbates haze pollution. In general, local government competition not only directly leads to an increase in haze pollution but also further intensifies it by distorting the local factor market, and the intermediary role of factor market distortion is approximately 7.04%. The results of the regional inspection found that competition among local governments in the eastern region did not lead to haze pollution, and distortion of the factor market did not exist as an intermediary effect. However, both direct and intermediary effects are significant in the central and western regions. Therefore, an official performance appraisal system that includes ecological constraints should be established to guide the benign transformation of local government competition, and an environmental management mechanism must be developed for joint prevention and control to reduce haze pollution. In addition, the free flow of factors and marketization are equally important.     

国有股权参股对家族企业创新效率影响机制与路径研究

在混合所有制改革和创新驱动发展战略实施背景下,国有资本“举牌”民营企业对企业创新体系的作用机制亟待研究。基于2008-2018年上市家族企业数据,从创新投入和创新产出两个视角探讨国有股权参股对家族企业创新效率的影响,根据股东资源理论分析可能的影响路径。通过Heckman两阶段模型实证发现：国有股权参股显著促进家族企业创新投入和创新产出,并最终对创新效率产生积极影响,而获取政府补贴和提升创新管理能力是两条中介路径。该结论揭示了混合所有制改革在激发民营企业创新活力中所发挥的重要作用和影响机制,为家族企业提高创新效率提供了新方向。     

模仿行为经济学分析——对经济波动的一种新解释

当前 ,世界经济面临衰退的威胁 ,科学解释经济波动具有重大的理论意义和现实意义。RBC理论或方法是当代西方经济学界解释经济波动最具前沿的一种理论或方法 ,也是宏观经济分析的方向。但存在明显缺陷。本文在修正RBC模型的基础上 ,首次建立模仿行为理论模型重新解释经济波动 ,并就中国政府在防止和治理经济波动的作用进行了独特的解释 ,认为政府所起的作用是示范人作用。     

中央政府与地方政府的政策博弈及其治理

本文描述了中央政府和地方政府政策博弈的凸现与加剧,认为这种政策博弈的制度性根源是市场取向的分权制以及以GDP为核心的政绩指标考核体系,制度性根源对政策博弈具有传导机制.这种政府博弈的积极影响促进了中央政府政策的更加合理、完善,而消极影响则是中央政府调控能力大打折扣、中央政府遭遇信任危机和扰乱市场秩序.治理途径则在于建立新型中央政府和地方政府关系,采取消除政策博弈的措施,即真正做到财权与事权的统一、建立居民的退出与呼吁机制、构建更加合理的政绩观与指标考评体系.     

环境景观设计中的城市记忆

我国国民经济的持续增长和城市化进程的加快,带来了城市建设的高速发展.但随之而来也产生了一系列问题.地方文化以及地域特色的逐渐丧失便属其中之一.作为城市设计重要组成部分的环境景观设计也面临着同样的问题.城市记忆的概念正是在这一特定的时期提出来的.在我国有关城市记忆方面的讨论和实践已经展开.城市记忆有利于改变目前的现状,有利于城市精神的塑造,有利于创造各具特色的城市风貌,有利于联系城市的过去与未来.     

增长失衡与政府责任——基于社会性支出角度的分析

当前中国的发展出现了以国富与民生关系失衡为本质特征的增长失衡。本文从教育、医疗和社会保障等与民生有关的政府责任切入,指出当前中国与民生状况直接相关的政府社会性支出的不足,是导致增长失衡的重要原因。为此,政府应在提供教育、医疗和社会保障等方面承担起基本的责任,加快财政支出结构转型,增加社会性支出的比重,改善民生状况,纠正增长失衡;并通过社会性支出的增加,促进人力资本积累,推动增长路径的转变,实现经济长期健康发展。     

我国现行政府财务报告的弊端及完善建议

政府财务报告是以财务信息为主要内容,全面系统地反映政府财务受托责任的综合报告。本文详细分析了当前我国政府财务报告所存在的问题,并借鉴国外在政府财务报告方面的经验,对我国政府财务报告提出了几点完善建议,制定政府财务报告准则提供参考。