Fiscal consolidations and electoral outcomes in emerging economies: Does the policy mix matter? Macro and micro level evidence from Latin America

Do voters punish governments that introduce fiscal “austerity” measures? If so, does voter response vary according to the composition of fiscal adjustments? The empirical literature on the political economy of fiscal adjustments, which is mostly OECD-based, argues that consolidations do not have significant electoral consequences. In contrast, we find that voters punish fiscal consolidations at the polls in Latin America. To explain this result, we focus on the way fiscal adjustments episodes are implemented, both in terms of their design (taxes vs. spending) and timing. Such episodes rely fundamentally on increasing tax rates and bases of indirect taxes (such as the VAT) that hit broad segments of the population. Moreover, these policies are often implemented when politicians have no choice but to consolidate, that is, under severe economic circumstances. These macro results are corroborated with micro evidence from an original survey experiment that measures voter’s fiscal policy preferences over the business cycle in seven countries across Latin America. The experimental evidence shows that respondents prefer expenditure cuts to tax increases during downturns, which is the opposite of the type of consolidations that countries typically pursue.     

地勘单位潜亏的成因及防治

属地化后的地勘单位 ,在企业化经营过程中 ,潜亏已成为不可忽视的问题。文章分别从会计核算法规制度、预算管理制度、地勘单位法人及其二级实体代表、会计人员等方面 ,对地勘单位潜亏的成因进行了分析 ,并从风险防范、会计核算等方面分析指出了地勘单位潜亏的八种主要表现形式。对潜亏的防治提出了对策建议。     

投资于亚洲国家的主权债务更安全吗?

本文利用全球21个主要经济体的样本数据,通过跨期主权债务模型和实证模型的分析,探讨这些国家的主权债务风险情况,并给出各国所处的不同风险层级。研究结果表明世界上主要经济体的主权债务状况呈现较为明显的分化状态,且在区域内表现出明显的不对称性。亚洲和欧洲等地区都有国家分处在不同的安全级别,任何一个洲在整体上都不在主权债务安全水平上有特别的优势。本文的实证结果还同时甄别出现阶段主权债务风险较低的国家,为我国巨额外汇储备的投资组合提供了选择依据。     

Twin deficit or twin divergence? Fiscal policy, current account, and real exchange rate in the U.S.

In spite of concerns about “twin deficits” (fiscal and the current account deficits) for the United States economy, empirical evidence suggests that “twin divergence” is a more usual feature of the historical data, i.e., when fiscal accounts worsen, the current account improves and vice versa. This paper empirically studies the effects of fiscal policy (government budget deficit shocks) on the current account and the real exchange rate, during the flexible exchange rate regime period. Based on VAR (Vector Auto-Regression) models, we identified “exogenous” fiscal policy shocks after controlling for business cycle effects on fiscal balances. In contrast to the predictions of most theoretical models, the U.S. results suggest that an expansionary fiscal policy shock, or a government budget deficit shock, improve the current account and depreciate the real exchange rate. Increases in private savings and declines in investment contribute to the current account improvement while a nominal exchange rate depreciation, as opposed to a relative price level change, is mainly responsible for the real exchange rate depreciation. The “twin divergence” of fiscal balances and current account balances is also explained by the prevalence of output shocks, i.e. output shocks — more than fiscal shocks — appear to drive the co-movements of the current account and the fiscal balance.     

中国文化对外贸易发展策略研究

文化贸易作为促进各国各民族文化交流的重要方式,被发达国家用来作为推进其强势文化的手段,导致发展中国家出现巨大的文化贸易逆差。中国作为文化贸易的大国,却也是文化贸易逆差的大国。文章从分析中国文化贸易的现状入手,探究中国文化贸易逆差产生的原因,在此基础上提出中国发展文化贸易、改善文化贸易逆差的策略建议。     

透视美国巨额贸易逆差与经济增长并存的合理性

美国巨额贸易逆差既是美国经济增长的内在需要,也对美国经济增长做出了贡献,亦非美国失业率上升的根源,从而巨额贸易逆差与经济增长、低失业率长期并存。而美元的特殊地位和美国独特的进出口商品结构,以及跨国公司内部贸易和不同统计口径所得逆差数据的差异,也分别从不同侧面解释了美国经济增长中存在巨额贸易逆差的合理性。虽然巨额贸易逆差暂时未阻碍美国经济增长,但必须重视其未来潜在的风险。     

Structural breaks and the twin deficits hypothesis

Recent theoretical and empirical analyses of the relation between the current account and the government budget balance suggest that the “twin deficits” relation is subject to structural changes. Most previous empirical analyses impose the change point without resorting to econometric testing. In this paper we utilize time series data to evaluate the impact of structural breaks on the long- and short-run relation between current account, government balance and investment in 22 OECD countries. We found that when allowing for the possible existence of structural breaks of unknown date, the data reveal more clearly the long-run relation between the current account and its determinants. Moreover, the empirical results show that the degree of financial integration is generally increasing in most OECD countries, including the leading non-EU economies. This contrasts some recent evidence on the persistence of the so-called Feldstein–Horioka puzzle.

武汉市2003年生态足迹研究

生态足迹模型是一种定量评价区域可持续发展状况的模型,运用该模型对武汉市2003年生态足迹进行计算和分析,得到武汉市2003年的生态足迹为2.929555213 hm2,生态承载力为0.336233856 hm2,生态赤字为2.593321357 hm2,表明当前武汉市的发展处于不可持续状态.     

地方政府赤字财政下的物价控制与货币政策选择

货币经济学的一个基本观点就是,紧缩的货币政策能够降低通货膨胀,而扩张性的货币政策能够导致通货膨胀。费德斯坦指出,没有充分考虑财政政策的影响,这是货币经济学的严重缺陷。因此,文章结合我国当前的财政政策,探讨了在地方政府赤字财政下,中央银行如何控制和治理通货膨胀。文章认为,在地方政府赤字财政下,如果政府通过银行融资具有优先权的话,紧缩的货币政策不仅不能够控制通货膨胀,反而加速了通货膨胀。     

人民币汇率是中美贸易逆差的罪魁祸首吗

随着中美贸易逆差的不断扩大,人民币汇率问题逐渐成为中美贸易中的一个敏感话题。文章从中美贸易逆差现状入手,分析了人民币汇率对中美贸易逆差的影响,认为现行人民币汇率并不是激化中美贸易逆差的重要因素,现行人民币汇率符合两国的利益要求。