Should public policy respond to positional externalities?

A nice suit is one that compares favorably with those worn by others in the same local environment. More generally, a positional good is one whose utility depends strongly on how it compares with others in the same category.¹A positional externality occurs when new purchases alter the relevant context within which an existing positional good is evaluated.² For example, if some job candidates begin wearing expensive custom-tailored suits, a side effect of their action is that other candidates become less likely to make favorable impressions on interviewers. From any individual job seeker's point of view, the best response might be to match the higher expenditures of others, lest her chances of landing the job fall. But this outcome may be inefficient, since when all spend more, each candidate's probability of success remains unchanged. All may agree that some form of collective restraint on expenditure would be useful.In such cases, however, it is often impractical to negotiate private solutions. Do positional externalities then become legitimate objects of public policy concern? In attempting to answer this question, I employ the classical libertarian criterion put forth by John Stuart Mill³, who wrote the state may not legitimately constrain any citizen's freedom of action except to prevent harm to others. I argue that many positional externalities appear to meet Mill's test, causing not just negative feelings but also large and tangible economic costs to others who are ill-equipped to avoid them. I also discuss an unintrusive policy remedy for positional externalities, one modeled after the use of effluent charges to curb environmental pollution.The paper is organized as follows. Section 1 notes the deep similarity between the conditions that give rise to positional arms races and those that give rise to conventional military arms races. Section 2 follows with a review of evidence concerning the strength of concerns about relative position. Section 3 describes some of the tangible economic costs that people experience as a result of positional externalities arising from such concerns. Section 4 takes up the question of whether collective action directed against positional externalities is consistent with respect for individual rights. Section 5 describes how a progressive consumption tax could neutralize many of the most costly effects of positional externalities.     

论征收补偿协议的行政法效力

房屋征收系政府行为,征收补偿协议系政府职能部门与被征收入签订的、解决征收补偿问题的法律行为。《国有土地上房屋征收与补偿条例》（以下简称《征收条例》）第25条规定：“房屋征收部门与被征收入依照本条例的规定,就补偿方式、补偿金额和支付期限、用于产权调换房屋的地点和面积、搬迁费、临时安置费或者周转用房、     

企业业绩评价:会计收益与经济收益的博弈

本文在对传统经济收益和会计收益的基本内涵及现时外延分析的基础上,阐述了传统收益的特点和在当前经济环境中遇到的挑战,从经济收益与会计收益选择的博弈与修正中,认为会计学中全面收益理想内涵是与经济学收益完全契合的概念,是经济收益与会计收益博弈过程中达到和谐和统一。同时在分析美英等发达国家的全面收益报告模式的基础上,依据现行经济环境和会计计量条件,提出具有中国特色的全面收益表报告模式。     

Cost control based on value chain paying equal attention to earning more income and cutting down expense

According to the idea of cost control based on the value chain, several important factors are necessary. Firstly, it is necessary to have enough resources, which must be invested to create advantageous value chain based on customer value. It is also necessary to be sure of the cost advantage of the value chain. Secondly, the consumption of resources must be reduced as much as possible to enable the smallest operating cost for the value chain and make sure of the cost advantage based on maximum business value or profit. It is a kind of cost control from the whole view of creation and supply of value. In practice, it is also a kind of cost control system based on the value chain. It includes enough control and necessary resource investment from the view of the value creation, and keeps consumption of resources to a reasonable level from the view of the value supply. The main object of the first factor is to construct the advantageous value chain from creating customer value; and the second factor is to strengthen the advantageous value chain from supplying or producing customer value. Therefore it is a new kind of idea to explore this cost control from the whole view of creation and supply of value. It is more profitable for businesses to gain sustainable competitive advantage.     

Social identity and perceived income adequacy

Economists are increasingly interested in subjective well‐being, but the economic literature on perceptions of income adequacy, which is one of the factors that shape subjective well‐being, is little. Our paper fills this lacuna. We utilize nationally representative data on perceptions of amounts considered as remunerative earnings from self‐employment in India and examine how these are earnings shaped by social identity, namely, caste. We also investigate if institutional change such as the introduction of an employment guarantee scheme alters these perceptions. Finally, we examine the relationship between caste identity and actual earnings. We find that caste identity does shape both perceptions of income adequacy and actual earnings: lower‐ranked groups perceive lower amounts as being remunerative and also earn lower amounts. Further, the employment guarantee scheme alters self‐perceptions differentially for different caste groups, but in more nuanced ways than our ex‐ante beliefs.     

我国台湾经济增长阶段的城市规划功能演变

针对我国台湾自1895年农业社会迄今各政治环境及经济增长阶段,归纳台湾的城市规划功能演进.日治时代农业社会的城市规划强调环境卫生以及城市分工体系;光复后,城市规划的功能在于将土地资本转为工业资本,城市规划与土地政策开始紧密相连.因此到了工业发展阶段,城市规划的执行经费主要依靠各项土地政策筹措,以达成完善规划工业区的功能,并通过公私协力模式以及成立由学者及民意代表组成的审议委会员,实现协调社会利益的功能.进入后工业化时代后,走向由经济、城市以及土地的专门人才统筹及审议城市规划,实现以城市规划促进经济增长的功能.台湾通过强化城市规划与土地政策的配套以推动各项城市规划功能,值得我国大陆借鉴参考.     

企业所得税法对企业组建税务筹划主要方法的探讨

依法纳税是纳税人应尽的义务,而税务筹划亦是其应当享有的正当权利。在现实经济生活中,税务筹划已逐步成为纳税人理财的重要手段之一。在新形势下,企业作为纳税人,怎样熟悉了解我国企业所得税相关法律制度,利用税法所提供的优惠政策及可选择性条款,合法合理进行税务筹划,为企业提高经济效益已经成为当今企业一个必修的课题。     

How do services of owner-occupied housing affect income inequality and redistribution?

This paper aims at analyzing the redistributive impact that the inclusion of the imputed rental market value of owner-occupied housing would have if used for quantifying the ability to pay rather than imputation based on cadastral values. We consider the Spanish personal income tax as reference, due to the differential treatment that it provides for imputed income from owner-occupied housing, together with the exceptionally high percentages of home ownership in Spain. By means of micro-simulation we explore the consequences of alternative possibilities for dealing with implicit income from owner-occupied housing.     

我国农产品冷链物流现状分析及优化研究

我国农产品冷链物流的发展相对落后,严重影响了农业的发展。文中从界定农产品冷链物流概念的基础出发,分析其构成、条件、特点,指出目前存在的问题,并在此基础上提出了优化措施。     

递延所得税负债及递延所得税资产的确认

新会计准则实行后,所得税差异的处理方法变化较大。文章主要就资产负债表债务法的核心,即递延所得税负债和递延所得税资产的确认和计量进行了探讨。