中国住宅投资引领经济增长吗?

本文运用1985—2009年中国各省、直辖市、自治区的数据,对住宅投资与经济增长之间的领先—滞后关系进行分析。结果表明,无论是1985—2009年全时段还是以1998年大规模房改为分界线的分时段,无论是全国各省市还是分区域的各省市面板数据,经济增长引领住宅投资的单向Granger因果关系是稳定的;不同于一些研究和政策措施所主张的住宅投资引领经济增长的观点,本文认为找不到证据来支持住宅投资带动经济增长的论点。由此可见,所谓"住宅引领增长假说"在我国并不成立,而我国自上世纪90年代中期以来一直大力促进住宅投资以带动经济增长、把住宅建设当作国民经济的新增长点和支柱产业的政策值得反思。     

The price relationship between organic and non-organic vegetables in the U.S.: evidence from Nielsen scanner data

This study investigates price relationships between organic and conventional carrots, tomatoes, and lettuce in the U.S. utilizing Nielsen scanner data from 2006–2015. We employ a threshold vector error correction model (TVECM), threshold vector autoregressive model (TVAR), and threshold cointegration test to test whether market integration exists between organic and conventional vegetables as well as the existence of asymmetric price transmission. The results find positive long-run relationships between organic and conventional prices of carrots and tomatoes and show the existence of asymmetric price transmission in price pairs of lettuce and tomatoes. Our findings suggest that the price relationship between organic and conventional vegetables varies by characteristics, such as shelf life, volatility in the price premium, and substitutability.     

由临街地价推算区片价的方法探讨

如何利用临街样点地价推算区片平均地价及基准地价始终是城镇基准地价评估的一个难点。文章利用赤峰市的实际调查数据,分别采用临街贡献率和面积加权两种方法推算区片平均地价,并采用回归分析方法探讨区片价与临街地价之间的关系,结果证明两种方法所推算的区片平均价是基本一致的,而且区片价与临街地价之间呈“反S”曲线关系。     

Strategic Firm Behavior Under Average-Revenue-Lagged Regulation

Price caps have been shown to have incentive properties superior to traditional rate of return regulation. Average-revenue-lagged regulation (ARL) is attractive in that steady-state prices are known to be efficient. We show that the ARL scheme can be manipulated by the firm so as to yield the unregulated global profit maximum. While tests exist that can provide the regulator with evidence of this strategic behavior, we also demonstrate that the unregulated global profit maximum will not be attainable if Laspeyres (L) regulation is employed.Jel classification: L43, L51I would like to thank Michael Crew and an anonymous referee for their extremely helpful suggestions.     

公共产品缺乏是造成住房价格偏高的重要原因

近年来，我国住房价格不断上涨，但房价仍在消费者承受范围内；房地产开发企业并未出现普遍的暴利行为；居民人均购房与建房支出占家庭收入的比重也没有明显的增加。由于公共产品不足，居民家庭教育和医疗支出所占的比重迅速提高，消费者对未来收入和支出的不确定性预期增强，购房能力相对下降。消费者越来越不敢花钱，也就越来越觉得住房价格高，因此，公共产品缺乏是造成住房价格偏高的重要原因。     

论中国期货市场价格操纵行为监控体系的构建

为防范我国期货市场的价格操纵行为，在详细剖析期货市场价格操纵行为的具体表现形式及其成因的基础上，采用定性与定量相结合的方法系统构建了防范期货市场价格操纵行为的监控体系，包括监控组织机构、监控数据库系统、价格和仓单自动监控系统、大户监控报告系统、不当交易举报系统和监控反应机制六个部余对扼制我国期货市场的价格操纵行为给出具体的对策建议。     

如何界定反倾销调查中的"生产成本"概念

“生产成本”是反倾销调查中的核心问题。该文通过国际反倾销法“生产成本”概念的界定，分析了反倾销调查中企业“生产成本”的差异，提出了按照国际惯例进行调整的方法，以及为反倾销调查取证提供的承诺。     

Investor efficiency in the face of takings

Governmental entities at all levels are empowered to acquire private property for the public's benefit, provided that just compensation is paid. The level of compensation typically viewed by courts as just is market value, but questions arise as to whether market value compensation motivates the private owner of land, potentially subject to a taking, to improve the property to a degree that is socially efficient. Earlier works have found market value to be a compensation level too high to promote efficiency. The present paper offers an analysis, based on a simple model of investor profit maximization, that provides a unified view of models presented in some important earlier works. In a special application of the general case, it is shown that market value can be too low a level of compensation to promote efficient behavior by the land owner.     

The Effects of Megamergers on Efficiency and Prices: Evidence from a Bank Profit Function

This paper examines the efficiency and price effects of mergers by applying a frontier profit function to data on bank megamergers. We find that merged banks experience a statistically significant 16 percentage point average increase in profit efficiency rank relative to other large banks. Most of the improvement is from increasing revenues, including a shift in outputs from securities to loans, a higher-valued product. Improvements were greatest for the banks with the lowest efficiencies prior to merging, who therefore had the greatest capacity for improvement. By comparison, the effects on profits from merger-related changes in prices were found to be very small.     

Strategic Price Discrimination in Compulsory Insurance Markets

This paper considers price discrimination when competing firms do not observe a customer’s type but only some other variable correlated to it. This is a typical situation in many insurance markets—such as motor insurance—where it is also often the case that insurance is compulsory. We characterise the equilibria and their welfare properties under various price regimes. We show that discrimination based on immutable characteristics such as gender is a dominant strategy, either when firms offer policies at a fixed price or when they charge according to some consumption variable that is correlated to costs. In the latter case, gender discrimination can be an outcome of strategic interaction alone in situations where it would not be adopted by a monopolist. Strategic price discrimination may also increase cross subsidies between types, contrary to expectations.JEL Classification No.: L13, G22