Does higher government debt link to higher social expenditure? New method,new evidence

Scholars believe that higher social expenditures are usually linked with higher government debts, whereas higher debts reduce social expenditures. However, it is reasonable to speculate that higher government debt may contribute to higher social spending, while fiscal deficits occur during a recession, which commonly creates greater demand for social expenditure. For a deeper investigation, this paper revisits the dynamic relationship between social spending and public debts in the time-frequency domain, using the novel wavelet-coherency analysis as well as the phase-difference technique to derive the co-moved and causal relationships between social spending and public debts in 13 OECD countries. The evidence identifies a dynamic relationship between variables. While higher social expenditures increase government debts, the shocks from government debts to social expenditures are conversely uncertain. We discover that higher government debt does reduce social expenditures, but it may be linked to higher social spending. The robustness of partial coherency and phase-difference discovers the role of a political party in the decision over social welfare programmes in the sample countries.     

Risk management instruments for debt driven conservation efforts: The case of India's Project Tiger

Project Tiger has been India's premier case of conservation success. Since mid 1990s select Project Tiger Reserves in India were chosen for intensive funding by the Global Environment Facility, the International Development Agency (IDA) and the Government of India under the ‘India Eco-Development Project’. This project marked a modest shift towards debt based funding. The GEF Project has become a benchmark for tiger conservation in India both in terms of management outcomes and scale and scope of funding. However in the absence of large-scale budgetary support or self-generating income flows, it becomes difficult for the GEF type of project to be replicated in other tiger reserves of the country. Debt instruments hold promise as enablers of conservation finance. The paper proposes issue of ‘tiger bonds’ to meet the financial requirements of tiger reserves. Though attractive as a debt instrument, a ‘tiger bond’ could nevertheless entail interest rate and default risks.Bioprospecting activities form good revenue sources for tiger reserves to pay off their debts. However bioprospecting activities do not provide assured returns to tiger reserves. Pharmaceutical companies that prospect for genetic resources and practice ‘real options’ approach to R&D investment planning, adopt multi-phased investment systems and sequential searches that gives them the flexibility to abandon R&D projects. From the point of view of genetic resource providing entities like Project Tiger Reserves, the ‘postponement value’ generated by real options, enables a drug company to tap substitutes for the genetic resources that form the subject matter of bioprospecting contracts. To obviate possible repayment risks by tiger reserves, the paper advocates the institution of ‘put bonds’ as a risk management tool for Project Tiger Reserves in order to hedge themselves against loan defaults arising from possible loss in bioprospecting income. The paper also brings out the mechanics of the issue of tiger bonds in the Indian context. It is argued that a put bond not only hedges default risks but would also aid ‘value discovery’ and payment for ecosystem services as far as the Project Tiger Reserves of India are concerned.     

财政收入、财政支出与居民消费率

从财政政策收入分配功能的角度就财政收支对居民消费率的影响进行了理论分析,并采用全国数据和省级面板数据就财政收支对居民消费率的影响进行了实证分析。研究结果表明,我国过高的税负率对我国居民消费率的提高有负面影响,以间接税为主的财政收入结构不能实现社会财富再分配的均等化,不利于促进我国居民消费率的提高。财政消费性支出对居民消费具有挤出效应,而保障性支出有助于提高居民消费率。因此改变财政收支结构,强化财政收支的收入再分配功能是提高居民消费率的关键。     

新兴技术向战略性新兴产业演化中政府政策分析

战略性新兴产业的形成首先需要新兴技术的支撑,而新兴技术从形成到商业化都面临着巨大的不确定性。本文分析了新兴技术商业化中各个阶段的影响因素,阐述了政府政策的作用,提出政府在新兴技术商业化的不同阶段为有效促使新兴技术尽快向战略性新兴产业演化应采取的政策。     

促进经济和谐与建设“和谐社会”探析

经济和谐是“和谐社会”的主要内容和重要支撑，由于特定时期中国存在经济结构不匀衡的各种矛盾。应从税收、公共支出和公共行政等方面采取相关措施。促进经济与社会的共同发展与繁荣。     

金融发展水平对地方政府债务适度规模的影响研究

在考虑金融发展水平对地方政府债务规模影响的基础上,构建了以金融发展水平和地方政府债务规模的门槛面板模型。实证研究发现,金融发展水平对地方政府债务规模存在“门槛效应”,金融发展水平越高的地区,地方政府债务规模门槛值也较高;金融发展水平中等的地区,地方政府债务规模门槛值相对较低;而一旦地方政府规模超过最高“门槛值”,地方政府较难通过金融市场来缓解债务压力。因此,长期来看,地方政府应将债务控制在一定适度范围内,并加强债务风险管控能力。     

地方政府支出规模与结构的居民收入分配效应及制度根源

本文以中国居民营养和健康调查数据为基础,考察了地方政府支出规模与结构的居民收入分配效应及其制度根源。研究表明,地方政府支出规模与结构总体上加剧了我国省份居民收入分配状况的恶化,其中经济性支出比重增加带来的不利影响更为突出,社会支出比重的影响并不显著。财政分权体制对地方政府支出规模与结构的居民收入分配效应具有重要影响:支出分权总体上加剧了地方政府支出规模与结构对省份居民收入分配的不利影响,收入分权则有助于遏制地方政府支出规模对城镇居民收入差距以及经济性支出比重对城乡收入差距的负面效应,但也强化了社会性支出比重对居民收入分配的不利影响。     

我国政府环境信息公开的立法创新与反思

通过法律规范政府环境信息公开是我国环境法领域和行政法领域共同关注的问题。《政府信息公开条例》和《环境信息公开办法（试行）》已对我国政府环境信息公开进行了许多立法创新,但也存在一些值得我们反思的问题,如公开的主体范围拓展不够、公开的内容微观不足、救济制度有待完善、问责制度应当健全。     

商业银行资本结构研究

资本结构对于实现商业银行的财务目标和稳健经营起着至关重要的作用.本文从一般的资本结构决定理论出发,探讨银行资本结构决定中的特殊性,最后得出的结论是:政府为银行业提供的担保会促使商业银行提高财务杠杆系数,而监管当局的最低资本充足率要求则限定了商业银行的资本结构选择空间.     

我国人口流动与中央财政转移支付相对力度的区域差异分析

为了缩小东中西部地区的发展差距,中央财政加大了对中西部地区的转移支付力度,但在促进区域经济发展收敛和实现地区财政均等化方面其效果如何,文章试图从一种新的视角加以分析与诠释。改革开放以来大规模的人口跨地区流动,特别是年轻劳动力从中西部地区向发达的东部地区流动,改变了各地区的人口结构和总扶养比,进而影响中央财政转移支付的实际效果。研究结果表明,由于西部地区总扶养比高于东部地区,中央财政对西部地区的转移支付相对力度反而低于东部地区。文章最后提出将地区人口负担差异纳入中央财政预算分析体系,通过增加中央财政对经济落后地区的转移支付促进地区经济增长收敛和提高地区财政帮扶的实效性。