Engineering the Financialization of Urban Entrpreneurialism: The JESSICA Urban Development Initiative in the European Union

Urban entrepreneurialism and neoliberal urban governance are assuming new forms under finance‐dominated accumulation. We examine and contribute to theorizing the mechanisms through which urban governance is financialized, taking as a case study JESSICA, one of the European Union's initiatives to implement an ‘urban sensitive’ policy for sustainable and integrated development. Like other initiatives promoting financialization, JESSICA deploys the logic of finance to select and fund urban social initiatives and development projects on the basis of their potential return on investment (ROI). Understanding this process requires placing questions of political economy—how urban governance is shaped by the broader political‐economic context—with questions of governmentality—how stakeholders are enrolled in and come to take for granted new governance initiatives. Following the multi‐scalar institutional infrastructure is crucial to understanding how this works. Taking a relational multi‐scalar approach, we trace how changes at the supranational scale filter down to shape urban policy selection and performance in Sofia, Bulgaria, where we document how ROI calculations conflict with social welfare priorities. Contrasts between the trajectory of financialization of urban governance in the European Union and the United States demonstrate how this is geographically variegated, shaped by the broader context/conjuncture within which such financialization is embedded.     

An innovation to improve health outcomes in Amajuba district,KwaZulu-Natal,South Africa

Systems’ thinking places high value on understanding the context. This study focused on the collection of disaggregated data in order to understand the context, to facilitate improvement of health outcomes. The aim of this article was to assess the implementation of municipal ward-based health data collection (disaggregated data) and health care workers’ perceptions of this data collection process. This cross-sectional study used mixed methods in Amajuba district. The participants were professional nurses at the Primary Health Care level. Of the 131 respondents, 123 (93.9%) collected municipal ward-based health data, and found it useful. Opportunities for improving data collection were identified. Disaggregation of the data at ward level contributes to a better understanding of the target population’s health, assists planning for health needs and enables provision of targeted interventions in order to improve health outcomes, to prevent financial regression and waste of health resources.     

Some Potential Linkages for Input-Output Analysis with Flow-of-Funds

Three major, interrelated accounting statements, at the frontiers of quantitative economic analysis, are three interrelated systems, namely: (1) National income and product accounts (NIPA), (2) The input-output tableaux, (IO), and (3) flow-of- funds accounts (FF). The third-mentioned system is somewhat less available and used in only limited areas of macroeconomic analysis. This paper is mainly concerned with use of FF accounting systems. This system shows where financial resources originate, and where they go in support of real capital formation. In this respect, interest rates and other market-based financial rates are of key importance. While much macroeconomic analysis is based on the rates that fit the yield curve, showing the interest rate structure over various maturities of debt associated with a given degree of risk. In contrast, the FF accounts throw light on the whole spectrum of interest rates, across maturities and debt qualities. For example, in analysis of the real estate market and funding of capital formation there, it is important to have a full understanding of the course of mortgage rates of different maturities and qualities. In short, it is necessary to develop a full appreciation of supply and demand forces in the mortgage market, which often is not obviously related to movements of the operative rate for monetary policy, such as very short-term inter bank rates or call money rates. This paper attempts to provide material from the flow-of-funds accounts that would make it possible to analyze the movement of relevant mortgage rates or whatever other rates are needed to understand the financing of capital formation in real estate.     

Intergovernmental transfers and fiscal behavior insurance versus aggregate discipline

This paper evaluates the trade-off between the advantages of risk sharing and the perils of common pool problems in federal fiscal arrangements. Under the assumption of asymmetric information we evaluate two alternative regimes of intergovernmental transfers. In one regime, the central government pre-commits to a certain level of transfers that compensate vertical fiscal imbalances and provide some limited ex-ante insurance. In the other regime, it accommodates ex-post the fiscal needs of the different provinces. In this second case, full-insurance results, but the economy is subject to a tragedy of the fiscal commons, with excessive subnational spending, insufficient local taxation, and reduced production of federal public goods. We find the range of parameters for which one or the other institutional regime will be preferable. The result is a fiscal-federalism version of the usual trade-off between rules and discretion.     

发展我国养老保险的思考

本文分析了现阶段养老保险中人口老龄化的压力日益加剧，覆盖范围明显过窄，已入保群体“空账运行”，养老待遇过低等问题，提出了提高退休年龄、降低缴费比率、将社会统筹基金与个人账户基金实行分账管理、让基金保值增值加快社会保障制度立法等若干相关政策建议。     

论养老保险制度中政府与市场的关系

从经济学视角考察了一般意义上政府和市场关系的发展脉络。以此作为理论依据，对养老保险制度中政府与市场的职能定位做出了具体划分，进而得出了充分发挥政府和市场的共同作用，完善中国当前养老保险制度的相关启示。     

北京市基本养老保险基金现状与对策研究

基本养老保险基金是国家为保障法定范围内的退休人员的基本生活所筹集的资金，充足的基本养老保险基金是确保基本养老保险制度顺利运行的物质基础，加强基本养老保险基金在征缴、营运和给付方面的管理具有重要意义。由于北京市基本养老基金不够充足，使基本养老保险制度存在一定风险，亟待采取措施加以解决。     

论我国金融生态圈优化与金融创新的功效

金融生态圈与金融生态环境不应被混淆,前者能更深刻地揭示和刻画金融体系中各构成部分之间彼此依存、互为前提的关系.发达国家的金融生态圈因其良好的系统循环关系值得我们思考和借鉴.如果人为地限制某些金融品种的发展,就会使金融"食物链"发生脱节.我国目前的金融生态圈存在系统性缺陷,金融种类不符合现代金融良性循环的要求.应通过金融创新补足缺失的金融种类,并通过制度创新构建良好的创新响应机制.     

我国开放式基金投资风格评价方法研究

基金业绩评价与其投资风格是密切相关的，投资者通过对基金投资风格的研究分类。可以选择适合于自己投资偏好的基金进行投资。本文在对开放式基金进行分类研究的基础上。抓住不同类型基金之间的主要差别，提出了两种新的基金风格评价指标。同时在我国现有的开放式基金中，选取15支样本进行了实证分析和检验，实证结果表明，我国开放式基金的投资风格趋于相同，投资者对于基金宣称的择时能力不可轻信。应该结合投资风格分析进行决策。     

论保单持有人最后一道安全屏障:保险保障基金

保险公司退出市场的形式一般分为解散、撤消、破产等。从经济角度来看，保险公司退出的核心问题是保险公司的破产。出于保险公司的经营涉及到多方面的利益，如果简单允许保险公司破产，必然影响整个金融体系的稳定和社会经济的正常发展。因而，在引入竞争机制的同时，还必须建立科学的保险保障基金制度。