Experimental evidence on the resilience of a cap & trade system for land consumption in Germany

The German government has committed to substantially limiting future land consumption. Among the most prominently discussed policy instruments is the implementation of a cap & trade system for land consumption, in which a limited amount of certificates is allocated to and traded by municipalities. Since these certificates would be a prerequisite for conducting building projects, this system is expected to reduce urban sprawl and foster the efficient allocation of land consumption projects. While previous empirical studies have supported these projections, the potential fragility of a cap & trade system in the case of macroeconomic shocks has not been considered. In three laboratory experiments, we simulate the impact of economic and budgetary crises within a cap & trade scheme for land consumption. We find that a market-based system succeeds in compensating macroeconomic disturbances with only minor welfare losses. Certificate prices in auctions and trading are somewhat more volatile before shocks, yet normalize afterwards. Trading volumes and the specifics of project realizations remain largely unaffected. Unrelated to the macroeconomic shocks, auction and market prices persistently diverge, leading to income redistributions to the state. Overall, our evidence supports the introduction of a market-based certificate scheme to reduce land consumption in Germany due to its resilience against potential shocks.     

The impact of fiscal-monetary policy interactions on government size and macroeconomic performance

This paper analyzes the relationship between inflation, output and government size by reexamining the time inconsistency of optimal monetary and fiscal policies in a general equilibrium model with staggered timing structure for the acquisition of nominal money à la Neiss (Neiss, Katharine S. (1999), Discretionary Inflation in a General Equilibrium Model, Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, 31(3), pp. 357–374.), and public expenditure financed by means of a distortive tax. It is shown that, with predetermined wages, the equilibrium rate of inflation is above the Friedman rule and the equilibrium tax rate is below the efficient level. In particular, the discretionary rate of inflation is nonmonotonically related to the natural output, positively related to government size, and negatively related to the degree of central bank conservatism. Finally, a regime with commitment leads to welfare improvements over a regime with discretion.     

Political actions in business networks a Swedish case

In international business studies, as well as in political science, the influence of political rules on business firms is assumed to be homogeneous and unidirectional. However, if the relationship between the political and the business actors is seen as an interaction, a different conclusion will be reached. We would like to add more knowledge to international business studies by analysing the interaction between governmental bodies and business units using a network model. In this paper, we study a ‘political case’ — the Bofors-India case — and analyse how this affair influenced other Swedish companies and their way of doing business in India. The question addressed is how the interaction between some parts of the government and a company — the development of one business relationship — is interwoven with other relationships. One conclusion reached is that a political act toward one MNC will affect other companies, although not in the same way. The degree to which and the way in which the other companies will be influenced depends on where they are positioned within the networks in relation to the problematic relationship.     

Development Zones Flourish in Beijing

Based on the Beijing Municipal Govern- ment's plans for developing the city and neighboring suburbs,and after more than 10 years in development,the Beijing De- velopment Zones have taken shape,each with their own characteristics.Beijing now has three state- level development zones:Zhongguancun Science Park,the Beijing Economic and Technological De-     

地方政府债券的风险及其防范机制构建*--基于广东省政府自行发债的经验分析

地方政府债券既是金融市场的投资产品,又是地方政府的融资工具,具有金融领域和财政领域的双重风险。本文在考察广东省政府自行发债的风险现状和法制障碍的基础上,提出构建和完善相关风险防范机制的建议。     

促进新能源汽车发展的财税政策研究——以上市汽车企业为例

面对环境与能源对汽车产业发展的双重约束,新能源汽车发展己成为当前和今后较长时期内政府、企业、消费者及其他组织机构重点关注的难点与热点问题.基于汽车上市公司相关财务数据,通过对企业税负、政府补贴程度和企业研发费用及其对汽车上市企业净利润的影响分析,不难发现未来时期中国在科学合理引导和激励企业发展新能源汽车的过程中,财税政策干预领域的税收制度设计与政府补贴至关重要.     

Complementary or Exclusion： The on Volunteering in the Construction of Impact of Government Action Welfare Society System in China

一国（地区）居民所获得的社会福利服务是多种力量的总和,政府行动与志愿行动是其中两种典型的力量。近年来我国财政社会性支出水平的上升显示了政府力量的增强。本文基于2001—2007年的省级面板数据,采用SYS—GMM估计法,考察了政府力量的增强对民间志愿行动的影响。实证研究表明,财政社会性支出的比重提升1个百分点会使社区服务志愿参与率水平大约下降10％,显示政府行动在整体上排斥了民间志愿行动。为了推动我国普惠型福利社会体系的建设,政策层面应着力解除对民间志愿行动和志愿组织的束缚并创新政府的支持模式,以此实现政府行动与志愿行动的互补效应。