完善我国研发支出的财税政策

随着经济发展,研发创新活动已经成为各国竞争的重要手段之一。科技创新可以优化一个国家的资源配置,提高国家的综合竞争力。各国政府为了研发创新活动的开展,都在积极探索并制定研发创新的财税政策。本文分析了我国目前研发支出财税政策存在的不足之处,如财税政策的受益范围窄且力度小、财税支持方式不合理及法律法规不健全等问题。接着介绍国外激励研发创新的财税政策,总结出对我国财税政策的启示。最后从扩大财税政策激励范围、丰富财税政策激励方式以及完善我国财税的法律法规等方面提出优化我国研发支出财税政策的建议。     

Too big to fail? The dynamics of EU influence and fiscal consolidation in Italy and Spain (2008–2016)

ABSTRACT

The article studies the dynamics of fiscal consolidation and public sector reforms in Italy and Spain under the EU governance that took shape as a reaction to the Eurozone crisis. We show how three types of EU pressure – fiscal and economic coordination rules, conditionality, and back-room diplomacy have operated in conjunction. We also show that Italy was more willing than Spain to resist EU pressure. Based on a Two-Level Game framework, we argue that this can be explained by the greater opposition to European integration that has developed in Italy compared to Spain.     

财政分权体制下地方政府的自利性行为研究

财政分权体制是我国经济转轨和社会转型的出发点和重要保障。新中国成立60多年来，我国的财政体制先后经历了由统收统支的财政体制到财政包干制再到分税制的演化过程，文章系统地阐述了在财政分权体制背景下地方政府的自利性行为的内涵及特征，并分析了其具体影响的表现形式。通过研究得出克服政府自利性的三大路径的结论：一是构建约束政府自利性的制度安排，二是合理界定政府职能，三是加强政府官员行政伦理素质的改造。     

Intergovernmental competition for donations: The case of the Furusato Nozei program in Japan

This paper shows that municipalities compete excessively for donations under a unique program called Furusato Nozei (Tax payment to hometown) in Japan. Under the program, people make donations to their favorite municipalities and municipalities that have received donations give reciprocal gifts in return. This causes governments to compete for donations by setting “return rates” — the value of a gift as a percentage of the donation received. Our estimates show that, in the most likely case, this competition reduces net revenue by at least 7.5% compared to when the municipalities do not compete for donations.     

The fiscal consequences of public health investments in disease-modifying therapies for the treatment of multiple sclerosis in Sweden

Abstract

Background and aims: The economic consequences of multiple sclerosis (MS) are broader than those observed within the health system. The progressive nature suggests that people will not be able to live a normal productive life and will gradually require public benefits to maintain living standards. This study investigates the public economic impact of MS and how investments in disease-modifying therapies (DMTs) influence the lifetime costs to government attributed to changes in lifetime tax revenue and disability benefits based on improved health status linked to delayed disease progression.

Methods: Disease progression rates from previous MS Markov cohort models were applied to interferon beta-1a, peginterferon beta-1a, dimethyl fumarate, and natalizumab using a public economic framework. The established relationship between expanded disability status scale and work-force participation, annual earnings, and disability rates for each DMT were applied. Subsequently, we assessed the effect of DMTs on discounted governmental costs consisting of health service costs, social insurance and disability costs, and changes in lifetime tax revenues.

Results: Fiscal benefits attributed to informal care and community services savings for interferon beta-1a, peginterferon beta-1a, dimethyl fumarate, and natalizumab were SEK340,387, SEK486,837, SEK257,330, and SEK958,852 compared to placebo, respectively. Tax revenue gains linked to changes in lifetime productivity for interferon beta-1a, peginterferon beta-1a, dimethyl fumarate, and natalizumab were estimated to be SEK27,474, SEK39,659, SEK21,661, and SEK75,809, with combined fiscal benefits of cost savings and tax revenue increases of SEK410,039, SEK596,592, SEK326,939, and SEK1,208,023, respectively.

Conclusion: The analysis described here illustrates the broader public economic benefits for government attributed to changes in disease status. The lifetime social insurance transfer costs were highest in non-treated patients, and lower social insurance costs were demonstrated with DMTs. These findings suggest that focusing cost-effectiveness analysis only on health costs will likely underestimate the value of DMTs.     

The performance of fiscal policy under an inflation targeting regime: What can be learned by the Brazilian fiscal rules?

This paper aims at, on the one hand, analyzing the Brazilian fiscal performance since the implementation of inflation targeting regime (ITR), June 1994, and the usefulness of fiscal rules to reach fiscal discipline in Brazil. On the other hand, it tries to evaluate what would have happened to the Brazilian government deficit if the new fiscal regime, that was implemented in 2016, would have been applied after the implementation of the ITR. Into this direction, we present an empirical analysis to describe three different fiscal rule scenarios, which includes a restriction related to inflation, depending on the preferences of the fiscal authorities: the austere, the symmetric or indifferent or the growth‐promoting environment. The main result of our empirical analysis is that, even in a context of ITR, the use of proper fiscal rule (countercyclical fiscal policy) helps to rationalize fiscal consolidation efforts by promoting a favorable environment for economic growth.     

Fiscal policy under a minimum‐time objective

In an endogenous growth model, we characterize the fiscal policy driven by a minimum‐time objective of economic development. We find that in equilibrium government should levy the highest possible consumption taxes, reduce public expenditures to the lowest possible level, and keep labor income tax rate and capital income tax rate satisfy a substitution relationship at the balanced budget constraint. We also identify the condition under which income tax rate should be set to zero. We further find that the equilibrium fiscal policy is equivalent to the growth‐maximizing fiscal policy, whereas it generally deviates from the welfare‐maximizing fiscal policy. We hence identify a circumstance where setting the policy goal of reaching an economic‐performance target as soon as possible cannot be justified in the sense of maximizing the welfare of households.     

Endogenous trade policy in general equilibrium: An interaction of redistribution rule,trade openness,and labor market condition

Using a general equilibrium framework, the paper derives trade policy endogenously for a small country. It shows that, contrary to the existing literature, a lobbying industry is not guaranteed trade protection; it may even face trade taxes. Besides lobbying, trade policy depends on other factors such as the trade revenue distribution rule, income distribution across groups, trade openness, factor substitutability in production, industry employment size, and labor market flexibility. The paper also shows that the observed phenomenon of government preference for import tariffs over export subsidies—a long overdue puzzle—is an inherent outcome of lobbying equilibrium. It also shows that trade policies such as import tariffs and export taxes that have the same impact on economic market—Lerner symmetry (1936)—are driven by the same forces in the political market.     

试论宋代盐钞对社会经济运行的影响

盐钞是宋朝财政收入的重要组成部分,它的发行对宋代社会经济运行产生了较大的影响,增加了国家的财政收入、缓解了宋政府的财政压力,改变了地方政府与中央的盐利分成方式,弥补了宋政府因养兵导致的军需不足等问题。宋政府通过发行盐钞,实现了食盐从直接专卖到间接专卖的转变,这种转变一方面为商人获利提供了机会,另一方面也为政府剥削盐商提供了便利。     

建立鄱阳湖流域生态补偿机制的财税政策研究

文章从鄱阳湖提供的生态经济价值、保障长三角水生态安全及促进江西经济更好更快发展这三个角度,分析建立鄱阳湖流域生态补偿机制的必要性,并依据流域的生态资源特点和经济基础,结合流域现有的财税政策,通过借鉴国内外生态补偿政策的相关经验,从优化相关财政政策和建立生态税收体系两方面提出保障鄱阳湖流域生态补偿机制建立的相关具体财税政策。