资产规模、覆盖率与替代率:国际视野的我国企业年金现状

我国的企业年金制度已有10余年历史,但整体水平仍相对滞后。无论是从资产规模、覆盖率和替代率,还是从税收优惠政策来看,我国企业年金的发展与OECD国家相比还存在较大差距。加快建设企业年金,应扩大覆盖面,促进集合年金和职业年金的发展;提高替代率,完善企业年金的税收优惠政策。     

部分发达国家控制物价的主要做法及经验启示

目前我国通胀压力上升,防止价格反弹显得尤为重要。分析部分发达国家稳定物价的做法及经验,有利于推动我国价格管理的实践,提高价格调控能力。     

国有企业支付了更高的职工工资吗?

对职工个人层面的研究表明,股权性质显著影响职工平均工资,但已有文献对于企业层面上股权性质如何影响职工平均工资尚缺乏深入探讨。以1999—2009年间我国A股上市企业为样本,本文深入考察了国有股权性质对职工平均工资的影响。研究结果表明,从整体上看,样本期间国有企业支付了更高的职工工资,而且这一结论在控制了行政垄断、企业规模和职工教育背景等因素之后依然成立。进一步区分国有企业控制级别和职工工资类别后发现,与非国有企业相比,国有企业普通职工工资显著更高。其中,中央政府控制的国有企业普通职工工资显著高于地方政府控制的国有企业,而地方政府控制的国有企业又显著高于非国有企业;国有企业高管薪酬与非国有企业并无显著差异,但中央政府控制的国有企业高管薪酬显著高于地方政府控制的国有企业和非国有企业。上述研究结论有助于理解转轨经济背景下国有股权性质对职工工资的影响,丰富了职工工资的相关研究,并对推进我国国有企业工资体制改革具有借鉴意义。     

比较优势背景的大国优势与机制催生

大国的综合竞争优势的发挥需要一个前提条件:适宜的激励机制和治理结构。改革开放以来,由经济分权和政治集权所生成的地方政府竞争制度,就是实现和发挥我国大国综合优势的最重要激励机制。地方政府竞争下,地区间基于比较优势的分工、产权改革和制度创新、公共物品供给和基础设施建设三个因素能有效地促使我国大国综合优势的发挥和区域经济增长;而地方保护主义、产业选择中的重复建设、招商引资中滑向底层的竞争、地方政府投资过度和宏观经济波动四个因素却会抑制我国大国综合优势的发挥,加大地区差距。     

Exchange Rate Effects on Domestic Prices in Bulgaria and Poland: Progress in Making Markets?

The economic liberalization which has occurred in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) over the past 15 years generally has involved establishing domestic markets and privatizing state‐owned firms, both with the intention of integrating the CEE economies into the global economy and allowing the benefits of competition to be realized. We explore how well this has been accomplished in two countries, Poland and Bulgaria, and the domestic conditions that contribute to its accomplishment. The sensitivity of domestic markets to international shocks, as reflected in exchange rate effects on domestic prices, may be viewed as an indicator of how integrated a country’s markets are into the global economy, and a proxy for competition in those markets. In explaining variation in exchange‐rate pass‐through, we examine the impact of market structure, economic liberalization and infrastructure as factors contributing to the development of competitive markets. We find that although integration into global markets can significantly increase market competitiveness, domestic factors also play a significant role.     

Barriers to SME Growth in Slovenia

The paper is based on the findings of a research project which aimed to identify the critical barriers to small business growth and development in Slovenia. The key barriers identified in the research included factors linked to the institutional environment including bureaucracy, and to external financial constraints including the high cost of capital. Internal organisation and resource issues, and social support through local development coalitions were found to be less important. The research was based upon a sample survey of small firms in Slovenia, and on an econometric analysis of the sources of firms' growth. This provided evidence that firms' growth was negatively linked to firms' size, and that growth was reduced by the presence of institutional and financial barriers. The paper concludes with a discussion of the policy implications.     

Technical regulations and specialization in international trade

It is widely acknowledged that while technical regulations can improve welfare and facilitate markets, they can also impede trade. The trade impeding effects of technical regulations are especially worrisome for developing countries: they frequently lack the human and capital resources necessary to satisfy technical measures, and thus are more likely to be excluded from markets by technical measures. This paper uses highly disaggregated US data on agricultural, mining and manufacturing imports to examine the impact of technical regulations on trade patterns. Using instrumental variables estimation to correct for the potential endogeneity of technical regulations, the analysis suggests that technical regulations substantially impinge on poor countries' exports: their weaker capacities to satisfy technical regulations lead them to specialize away from industries with heavier regulatory burdens.     

Food safety issues and fresh food product exports from LDCs

Fresh food products have a high income elasticity of demand and few traditional trade barriers in high income markets. As such, they represent an important opportunity for less developed country (LDC) exporters. Fresh food product exports account for half of all food and agricultural exports from LDCs to high income countries. But these products may be subject to greater food safety risks and potential trade barriers arising from sanitary regulation. This paper reviews the challenges and issues facing LDCs in meeting food safety standards for export. These issues include: (a) the importance of fresh food product trade by region and the kinds of issues that arise from those products; (b) the role of farm to table approaches and hazard analysis critical control points (HACCP) in ensuring safety; (c) the role of the public sector in LDCs in facilitating trade; (d) the potential role of the SPS Agreement in resolving disputes and determining equivalency of standards between high and low income countries.     

Rural employment in industrialised countries⋆

This paper assesses the recent changes in rural employment in the OECD countries, highlighting the growing role of employment in services and, in some cases, manufacturing activity. In many, but not all, rural areas the secular decline in agricultural employment has been more than counterbalanced by growing employment in these other sectors. However, the diversity of employment growth within and between rural areas is stressed, as are the implications of this diversity for policy. A range of explanations for the relative economic success of some rural areas is explored. These include the impacts of globalisation; restructuring of the labour market; new‘consumption’ demands on the rural areas; and human mobility. The paper concludes that traditional theories do not explain the diversity of outcomes in rural areas. New approaches are needed. Recent analyses under the banner of‘the new economic geography’ has advanced our understanding of the pre‐conditions for rural development to occur, but understanding the diverse pattern of rural employment outcomes within the same kind of geography remains a challenge which needs to be addressed by inter‐disciplinary approaches and methods.