Time consistent export quotas in an oligopolistic world market

We investigate the strategic behavior between exporting countries that face endogenous terms of trade on the world market. In a non-cooperative setting, if production decisions occur before consumption decisions, the ex-ante optimal export quota is not time consistent as the ex-post elasticity of the residual foreign import demand curve is lower than the ex-ante elasticity. However, we show that the exporters’ inability to irrevocably commit to their quota may be welfare superior to the precommitment solution. If exporters can sell forward a proportion of their exports before production decisions are made, they will do so even though, in equilibrium, it may decrease welfare compared to a situation in which forward markets do not exist. Moreover, the equilibrium with forward markets is welfare inferior to the commitment equilibrium for exporters.     

金融危机背景下贸易保护政策有效性检验——基于人工神经网络的系统仿真视角

国际金融危机愈演愈烈,贸易保护主义暗潮涌动,政府当何去何从?文章在人工神经网络和系统仿真技术支持下模拟出双寡头企业的市场演化,从多个视角对两大传统贸易保护政策工具——关税和配额的经济效应进行了检验。结果表明:随着进口限制越发严格,进口商品和国货价格同时上升,消费者剩余明显下降,国内产业利润有所提高,国外利润显著减少,世界总福利因此大幅下降,但伴随国内外产品质量趋同,进口限制对世界总福利的损害有所降低。另外,当国货质量较低时,国内总福利随配额的减少而降低;当国货质量较高时,国内总福利随配额的减少而提高。     

Policy reform and farmers' wheat allocation in rural China: a case study*

Market‐oriented policy reforms often have important effects on farm‐level grain production and utilisation decisions in developing countries. China's grain farmers are of particular interest because of China's importance in world grain markets and because of China's recent major agricultural policy advances and retrenchments. An empirical evaluation of market liberalisation among farmers located in two provinces in China on farm‐level wheat consumption, market sales and on‐farm storage during 1994 is presented. The results indicate that policymakers should account for such changes in farm household behaviour in designing and assessing the consequence of market liberalisation programs for agricultural sectors in developing countries.     

利用森林价格机制促进非公有制林业发展

从经济学的角度对森林价格机制进行分析,试图采用以森林采伐限额为基础的最低限价和价格支持为非公有制林业的发展提供一种更为有效的激励机制,促进非公有制林业的发展。     

Conflicting uses of marine resources: can ITQs promote an efficient solution?*

This paper examines the allocation problem arising from conflicting demands for marine resource use by (i) commercial fishers, (ii) recreational fishers, and (iii) conservationists. It is shown that decentralised trading of individual transferable quotas (ITQs) is capable of an efficient allocation of resource use between the first two parties. In contrast, it is found that the standard ITQ system is not capable of performing the same ideal co‐ordination between the conflicting interests of extractive users, that is, all fishers, and the non‐extractive ones, that is, conservationists. The reason is that quota trades between individual fishers and conservationists are inevitably accompanied by (positive) externalities on both other fishers and conservationists. As a result, decentralised quota trades between these parties cannot be efficient. The fundamental economic observation is that quotas for conservation and for extraction constitute two different goods. It follows that a socially optimal market allocation of these two goods requires two prices instead of the single quota price in the standard ITQ system. Thus, to achieve efficiency, the ITQ system has to be extended to incorporate both types of goods. It is shown in the paper that if fishers and conservationists can organise themselves into groups, trades of conservation quotas between the two groups can in principle lead to fully efficient allocation. An interesting implication of this modified ITQ system is that the need for a fisheries authority to set the total allowable catch (TACs) disappears.     

Dairy Tariff-Quota Liberalization: Contrasting Bilateral and Most Favored Nation Reform Options

A highly disaggregated, "tariff line," source-differentiated, partial equilibrium model of U.S. specialty cheese imports is developed to investigate reform options for tariff-rate quotas (TRQs). A mixed-complementarity framework is used to represent bilateral and most favored nation (MFN) tariff quotas. The impacts of liberalizing U.S. specialty cheese imports via bilateral and MFN quota expansions, out-of-quota tariff cuts, and simultaneous liberalization scenarios are evaluated. We find that the path of liberalization is quite different, depending on the reform approach undertaken, particularly if the United States adopted an MFN quota administration mechanism for specialty cheese imports.     

Singapore''s experience with car quotas: Issues and policy processes

This paper examines the policy processes behind Singapore's car quotas. The policy, when filtered through the market mechanism, had a number of unintended consequences. The public's unhappiness with certain features and ‘loopholes’ of the system resulted in many changes to the rules. The effects of recent measures to curb speculation on quota premiums are evaluated. Problems with Singapore's Weekend Car Scheme are also discussed. The lesson for transport policy makers elsewhere is that in attempting to deal with the road congestion problem through car ownership policies, an asset market for vehicles should be taken into account.     

Efficiency Gains and Cost Reductions from Individual Transferable Quotas: A Stochastic Cost Frontier for the Australian South East Fishery

In this paper efficiency gains and associated cost reductions from increases in traded quota are estimated with a stochastic cost frontier for the Australian South East Trawl Fishery (SETF). Estimation of this frontier also provides key information on the relative importance of input costs in the SETF, returns to scale, variations in costs as a result of trade in quota and the economic performance of each fishing vessel, year to year. Final estimations indicate that increases in the volume of quota traded have resulted in considerable efficiency gains and cost reductions in the SETF, ranging from 1.8 to 3.5 cents per kilogram for surveyed vessels for every 1% increase in the volume of quota traded, or 1–2.4% of total variable costs, with considerable gains also accruing to crew and skipper in the form of larger share payments. Mean vessel efficiency is relatively high in the SETF, estimated at over 90%, and increases further to 92% over the sample period with increased trades in quota.Jel Classification: Q22, Q28     

Efficient Environmental Policy with Imperfect Compliance

Discussions of efficient environmental policytend to recommend taxes rather than quotas ongrounds of efficiency; a uniform tax willequalize marginal abatement cost betweenpolluters. When polluters' actions are imperfectly observable, the distinction betweentaxes and quotas becomes less clear. Taxes maybe evaded by underreporting of emissions, whilequota violations will not always be discovered.This paper explores the conditions under whichthe efficiency properties of taxes continue tohold even when evasion is possible, and theextent to which the fine for quota violationsplays the same role as a tax on emissions withsimilar efficiency properties.     

基于资源禀赋和经济发展区域分异的中国新增建设 用地指标分配研究

研究目的:新增建设用地指标合理分配是实现建设用地总量控制和减量化,建立节约集约用地激励和约束机制的重要途径之一。本文考虑资源禀赋和经济发展区域分异,构建包括人口、二三产增加值、固定资产投资、耕地保有量、建设用地可拓展空间的新增建设用地计划下达指标分配体系,并结合区域建设用地经济增长贡献率分配城乡建设用地增减挂钩折抵指标,为全国新增建设用地指标分配提供方法参考。研究方法:综合评价法、经济计量法和对比分析法。研究结果:(1)基于经济发展阶段和资源禀赋差异构建新增建设用地计划下达指标分配体系,既考虑社会经济发展的用地需求,又兼顾区域资源禀赋的供给约束,评价体系更为全面;(2)考虑不同区域建设用地对经济增长的贡献,分配城乡建设用地增减挂钩折抵指标,优化了新增建设用地供给结构,能够兼顾资源配置的效率。研究结论:本文为新增建设用地指标分配提供了更为科学的方法。