The market price of fiscal uncertainty

Recent fiscal interventions have raised concerns about US public debt, future distortionary tax pressure, and long-run growth potential. We explore the long-run implications of public financing policies aimed at short-run stabilization when: (i) agents are sensitive to model uncertainty, as in Hansen and Sargent (2007), and (ii) growth is endogenous, as in Romer (1990). We find that countercyclical deficit policies promoting short-run stabilization reduce the price of model uncertainty at the cost of significantly increasing the amount of long-run risk. Ultimately these tax policies depress innovation and long-run growth and may produce welfare losses.     

Statistical tests for multiple forecast comparison

We consider a multivariate version of the Diebold–Mariano test for equal predictive ability of three or more forecasting models. The Wald-type test, $S$, which has a null distribution that is asymptotically chi-squared, is shown to be generally invariant with respect to the ordering of the models being compared. Finite-sample corrections for the test are also developed. Monte Carlo simulations indicate that $S$ has reasonable size properties in large samples but tends to be oversized in moderate samples. The finite-sample correction succeeds in correcting for size, but only partially. For the size-adjusted tests, power increases with sample size, as expected. It is speculated that further finite-sample improvements can be achieved using Hotelling’s $T^2$ or bootstrap critical values.     

消费者行为对财政政策的异质反应——以城镇分层收入者为例

对于财政政策与居民消费的关系,主要存在凯恩斯观点、生命周期观点和李嘉图等价命题三种研究视角.但对中国而言,当前的转型经济环境将使现实中符合上述三种视角的居民会同时存在,亦即不同消费群体对财政政策的反应是异质的.文章构建了一个扩展的生命周期理论框架,其中凯恩斯观点和李嘉图等价命题均为这个框架下的特殊形式,从而为消费者行为对财政政策的异质反应提供了一个理论性的解释.此外,文章将我国城镇居民按收入等级分为五组进行相关的经验检验,发现各居民户组对财政政策的反应模式大致按收入水平由高到低表现为李嘉图等价情形、扩展的生命周期情形和凯恩斯情形,这意味着财政政策的制定对各收入阶层的居民具有歧视性效果.文章最后从优化政府购买的支出结构和调整当前税制结构两个方面提出了若干政策建议以刺激国内居民消费的增长.     

“零库存”管理思路浅谈

当前长距离输送管道施工市场竞争日趋激烈,国际市场上众多石油石化巨头同台竞技,实力与管理优势明显者占据着高端利润市场,弱势者即使争得到工程,也常常是环境恶劣,施工难度大,利润微薄.国内市场的竞争也很激烈,多家油田工建单位异军突起,奋力竞争工程份额,他们依托着丰厚的油田收入,为开拓新市场而不惜缩减利润.这对于以长距离输送管道施工为主业的企业而言,无异于雪上加霜.面对残酷的行业现状,只有进一步控制成本,压缩工期,持续提升企业经营效益,才是生存之道.     

“3S”技术在内蒙古资源环境调查实践教学中的综合应用

本文以3S技术综合应用实践教学在资源环境与城乡规划管理专业本科教学中的重要性为切入点,以内蒙古科尔沁左翼后旗土地荒漠化动态监测为例,将遥感技术、GIS空间分析、全球定位系统技术等技术在资源与环境经济学教学实践中有机结合起来,提高学生综合运用专业知识和技术手段解决实际问题的能力和水平,以期加强资环专业学生的就业竞争优势。     

Social capital effects on the discovery and exploitation of entrepreneurial opportunities

Social capital refers to social networks and the norms of reciprocity, cooperation and trust associated with them. It can be studied at different levels of analysis. As previous literature suggests, social capital has aspects at both the individual and collective levels. However, theory development and empirical research have focused on separate, sometimes diverging levels. In an attempt to address this, this research examines the simultaneous influence of individual and regional social capital on the discovery and exploitation of entrepreneurial opportunities using individual-level data from the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor linked with regional-level data on social capital. The results show that individuals from regions with higher social capital are more likely to discover and to exploit entrepreneurial opportunities. Moreover, individuals having networks with other entrepreneurs are also more likely to identify a business opportunity and to become an entrepreneur. Also, we found that social capital at individual level had a greater effect than social capital at regional level in the two stages of the entrepreneurial process.     

El desempeño económico financiero y responsabilidad social corporativa Petrobrás versus Repsol

Alterations in the institutional environment, as a result of the markets integration process and the consequent alterations in stakeholders’ conduct are one of the important vectors of changes in companies’ behavior. In that context, in addition to their yields those companies happen to worry about their attitudes in relation to social and environmental factors. Thus, the corporate social responsibility (CSR) is seen as one more strategy to maintain or increase their income and to harness the enterprise development. The main purpose of this study is the verification of the existing relation between Social Responsibility and the economic and financial performance of two companies in the business of Petroleum, Gas and Bio-combustibles. The investigation was based on a comparison of social-environmental practices developed by Petrobras S/A (Brazil) and Repsol S/A (Spain). For the purpose of verification of the relation between social-environmental performance and the economic-financial one, a linear regression analysis was carried out.