Carbon Taxes and Joint Implementation. An Applied General Equilibrium Analysis for Germany and India

Germany has committed itself toreducing its carbon emissions by 25 percent in2005 as compared to 1990 emission levels. Toachieve this goal, the government has recentlylaunched an environmental tax reform whichentails a continuous increase in energy taxesin conjunction with a revenue-neutral cut innon-wage labor costs. This policy is supposedto yield a double dividend, reducing both, theproblem of global warming and high unemploymentrates. In addition to domestic actions,international treaties on climate protectionallow for the supplementary use of flexibleinstruments to exploit cheaper emissionreduction possibilities elsewhere. One concreteoption for Germany would be to enter jointimplementation (JI) with developing countriessuch as India where Germany pays emissionreduction abroad rather than meeting itsreduction target solely by domestic action. Inthis paper, we investigate whether anenvironmental tax reform cum JI providesemployment and overall efficiency gains ascompared to an environmental tax reformstand-alone. We address this question in theframework of a large-scale general equilibriummodel for Germany and India where Germany mayundertake JI with the Indian electricitysector. Our main finding is that JI offsetslargely the adverse effects of carbon emissionconstraints on the German economy. JIsignificantly lowers the level of carbon taxesand thus reduces the total costs of abatementas well as negative effects on labor demand. Inaddition, JI triggers direct investment demandfor energy efficient power plants produced inGermany. This provides positive employmenteffects and additional income for Germany. ForIndia, joint implementation equips itselectricity industry with scarce capital goodsleading to a more efficient power productionwith lower electricity prices for the economyand substantial welfare gains.     

河南省知识经济测度与发展战略

文章论述了知识经济对河南发展的重要作用，在总结知识经济测度方法研究现状的基础上，建立了评价河南经济的知识投入，知识产出和储存，知识流通和扩散以及知识学习发展水平的指标体系，测度结果表明：目前河南知识经济发展水平居全国中下游，与美国差距很大，在此基础上，提出了河南知识经济发展战略。     

The xistence of definitional economics--Stigler's and Leibenstein's war of the words

The inability to agree on definitions ultimately can condemneconomic analysis and debate to fruitless argumentation. Thesharp interchange between Stigler and Leibenstein did littleto clarify the issues surrounding the controversial theory ofX-efficiency. Given their conflicting agendas, discussion betweenthese two opponents consisted largely of talking at cross purposes.This paper examines the motivations of the two protagonistsas well as considering the impact such tactics have on economicdebate and discussion.     

Economic liberalization and welfare in a model with an informal sector

The paper reexamines the conventional results relating to inflow of foreign capital, removal of protectionism and structural reform programmes, in a small open economy in terms of a two-sector general equilibrium model with an informal sector. The paper shows that in the presence of labour market distortion and a protectionist policy, inflow of foreign capital may be desirable irrespective of the pattern of trade of the economy due to its favourable impact on welfare. But the welfare implications of tariff reductions and/or structural adjustment programmes, such as deregulating the formal sector labour market, depend crucially on the economy's trade pattern. The paper provides an answer to the question as to whether in a developing economy labour market reform and tariff reform should go hand-in-hand or whether one should precede the other for welfare improvement.
JEL classification: F10, F13, F21, O17.     

Intertemporal Equity and Efficient Allocation of Resources

Competitive paths which are efficient are shown to satisfy a terminal cost minimization condition, thereby providing a continuous-time counterpart to the discrete-time result due to Malinvaud. Using this result, competitive paths which are equitable and efficient are shown to satisfy Hartwick's investment rule, which states that the value of net investment is zero at each date. Our result indicates that Hartwick's rule can help to signal inefficiency of competitive equitable paths. Journal of Economic Literature Classification Numbers: C61, D90, O41.     

论强制性环境治理制度的实施效率

In the eco-environmental governance system,the compul-sive institutions are the most important as well as the mostcommonly utilized.A nation utilizes its administrative,lawand economic power to forbid,boost,bestir and help indi-viduals’behavior concerning environmental governance toensure the realization of eco-environment conservation.The fact,however,turns out to be disappointing about theimpulsive institution’s implementation.Actually,the unsatis-factory practices sometimes even lead to“…     

浅析现阶段我国收入分配中的公平问题

现阶段,我国收入差距不断拉大,收入分配不公平的问题已经凸现,严重影响了社会主义和谐社会的发展.要解决收入分配存在的问题,必须正确理解公平原则,切实有效地采取措施调节收入分配,在分配领域特别是在再分配领域中更加注重公平,逐步实现公平与效率有机的、动态的结合,促进社会的和谐发展.     

2002～2005年间我国不同地区高校科技创新效率比较研究

利用SPSS13.0对2002～2005年间我国各省、市、自治区高校科技创新活动进行了聚类分析,并采用DEA的CCR模型对这4年中我国各省、市、自治区高校科技创新过程中经费支出,以及人员投入的效率问题进行了比较研究,结果发现有24个地区DEA有效,6个地区非DEA有效。最后给出了非DEA有效地区的改进方向。     

Order imbalance and stock returns: Evidence from China

We investigate the relation between daily order imbalance and return in the Chinese stock markets of Shenzhen and Shanghai. Prior studies have found that daily order imbalance is predictive of subsequent returns. On the two Chinese exchanges we find the autocorrelation in order imbalances is similar to that of the New York Stock Exchange as reported by Chordia and Subrahmanyam [Chordia, T., & Subrahmanyam, A. (2004). Order imbalance and individual stock returns: Theory and evidence. Journal of Financial Economics, 72, 485–518]. We also find a strong contemporaneous relation between daily order imbalances and returns. However, we do not find evidence that order imbalances predict subsequent returns. We attribute the difference in predicative power to differences in trading mechanisms on the two exchanges and to differences in the share turnover rates.     

A Stochastic Frontier Production Function with Flexible Risk Properties

This paper considers a stochastic frontier production function which has additive, heteroscedastic error structure. The model allows for negative or positive marginal production risks of inputs, as originally proposed by Just and Pope (1978). The technical efficiencies of individual firms in the sample are a function of the levels of the input variables in the stochastic frontier, in addition to the technical inefficiency effects. These are two features of the model which are not exhibited by the commonly used stochastic frontiers with multiplicative error structures.An empirical application is presented using cross-sectional data on Ethiopian peasant farmers. The null hypothesis of no technical inefficiencies of production among these farmers is accepted. Further, the flexible risk models do not fit the data on peasant farmers as well as the traditional stochastic frontier model with multiplicative error structure.