Macroeconomic consequences of state fragility in sub‐Saharan Africa

Are poor macroeconomic outcomes primarily the result of economic policies, or of deeper underlying state fragility problems in sub‐Saharan Africa? We attempt to answer this question by using carefully specified dynamic panel regression techniques to show how state fragility conditions help to explain the differences in the macroeconomic performance of sub‐Saharan African economies, and to identify the most plausible mechanisms of transmission. We find that countries with greater fragility suffer higher macroeconomic volatility and crisis; they also experience weaker growth. When we disaggregate state fragility into its various components, we find that it is the security and social components that have the strongest causal impact on macroeconomic outcomes, while the political component is, at best, weak. Therefore, we conclude that it is state fragility conditions, and not necessarily macroeconomic policies, that are of first‐order importance in explaining the differences in macroeconomic performance for African countries. The knock‐on effects are mostly mediated through the fiscal channel, the aid channel, and the finance channel. Accordingly, we recommend that interventions in fragile states should best focus on exploiting the potential for using fiscal policy, aid, and finance as instruments to improve macroeconomic outcomes in sub‐Saharan Africa.     

Mechanisms for controlling expenditure in the Spanish Royal Household, c.1561-c.18081

The purpose of this article is to examine the accounting and auditing in the Spanish Royal Household between 1561 and 1808. The Royal Household was the third most important item of expenditure that the State Treasury financed, after the Army and Navy and the National Debt. On studying spending control in the Royal Household, we have rejected the idea, often advanced by historiography, that there was no spending control within this institution. On the contrary, treasurers and accountants were only able to release funds for expenditure purposes on the basis of prior authorization. However, the efficiency of spending control was very limited due to technical, administrative and, above all, social and political elements.     

Party alternation,divided government,and fiscal performance within US States

The literature on US state government fiscal performance has examined the role of institutional factors such as budget rules and divided government, but has largely ignored the impact of party alternation. This paper primarily focuses on whether party alternation in the governor’s office affects fiscal performance. Our hypothesis is that frequent party changes create a political environment that impacts fiscal performance. To further assess the impact of party alternation on fiscal performance, we consider our primary hypothesis in conjunction with the degree of division that exists between the governor’s office and the legislature. Using panel data from 37 states between 1971 and 2000 we test the hypothesis that frequent party alternation can be expected to affect fiscal performance and find strong support for the hypothesis. An earlier version of this paper was presented at the 2005 Public Choice Society Meetings. The authors would like to thank the conference participants, William Shughart, Charles Register, Jocelyn Evans, John D. Jackson, Amihai Glazer, and two anonymous referees for their comments. We would also like to thank Craig R. Stiller for his help in the collection of data. Any remaining errors remain the responsibility of the authors.     

国有公司财务监督问题研究

现行的国有公司财务监督中缺少真正代表国有资本所有者行使监督职权的机构和人员，董事会、监事会和财务人员管理体制的缺陷以及外部审计监督的不力使得国有公司经营管理者有机会违规获取个人利益，结果必然导致国有资产流失。应考虑建立国有公司出资者监督代表的再监督制度和对财务监督人员的激励约束制度，推行国有公司年报审计的公开招标制。     

改革现行会计委派制 建立会计代理制

对于国有企业(及国家机关部门和事业单位)来说,建立“外派”会计制度是内在的要求,应该坚持做好。“外派”会计是财务监督会计,与企业内部管理会计并行不悖。不过,现行的会计委派制确实增加了企业经理人员和委派会计人员或财务总监之间产生对立或合谋的可能性,某种意义上成为政府干预企业的新机制、新形式,这影响到会计委派制的实际效果。而由会计师事务所等中介服务机构来充当企业的财务总监的会计代理制却能较好地隔离政府与企业,并在两者之间形成适当的平衡。     

用科学发展观推进国有企业的深化改革

必须用科学发展观指导国有企业的深化改革，否则难以实现国企改革的目标。当前深化国企改革的要点有三：一是国有企业改制和产权转让的规范化问题；二是改革的配套协调问题：三是政府转型问题。     

国有商业银行资本充足率探析

资本充足率是《巴塞尔协议》的核心内容,是全球银行共同遵守的风险管理标准。然而我国的国有商业银行的资本充足率没有达到规定的标准,影响了这些银行在国际上的评级和融资能力,因此这篇文章的写作目的在于探索国有商业银行提高资本充足率的途径,以提高国有商业银行抗风险的能力,保障整个国家的金融安全。     

国有企业审计监督体系构建研究

在我国现行国有资产管理体制下,国有企业不仅要接受国有资产监管体系内部多种形式的监督,而且还要同时接受政府审计、社会审计和内部审计的监督。由于各种审计主体职责重复、各自为政,在导致审计资源严重浪费的同时,还造成许多国有企业长期缺乏有效的审计监督。本文从我国国有资产监管体系的现行架构出发,对政府审计、社会审计、内部审计及其他多种审计主体的分工与配合问题进行了研究,为国有企业建立合理有效的审计监督体系提供参考。     

基于可持续发展的国有企业绩效评价体系研究

本文以可持续发展理论为指导,论述了社会绩效、环境绩效和公司治理水平与企业财务业绩及可持续发展的关系,提出了国有企业绩效评价体系在财务业绩评价基础上,应增加社会绩效、环境绩效和公司治理指标,设计了盈余质量系数对企业的净利润进行修正,以克服企业利润操纵对财务业绩的影响,使财务业绩的评价更具客观性;提出了通过行业效率评价来解决行业差异对企业绩效影响的建议。     

从国营到国有——国家股转让效果分析

本文系统地研究了从1997年到2000年在上海证券交易所和深圳证券交易所发生的国有资产局将控制权转让给国有独资企业和国有法人企业的案例数据。研究发现国家股控制权转让后公司业绩有了明显的改善,同时证券市场对国家股转让行为做出了积极的反应,产生了明显的超额收益。