COMPARING PPP WITH TRADITIONAL PROCUREMENT: THE CASE OF SCHOOLS PROCUREMENT IN IRELAND

Advocates of public‐private partnerships (PPPs) argue that they can deliver public infrastructure more efficiently than traditional procurement through timelier completion and superior value for money. Despite these claims comparative analysis of the performance of both procurement methods has received scant attention in the PPP literature to date. This paper addresses this issue by providing an in‐depth, case‐based comparison of PPP versus traditional procurement in the schools sector in Ireland. Through detailed semi‐structured interviews with key stakeholders and an examination of the available documentation, we assess whether the key objectives of using PPP have been achieved. Overall, we find no evidence that PPP leads to faster delivery of infrastructure when the overall procurement process from contract notice to delivery is accounted for. In addition, we find only limited evidence to suggest that PPP results in better value for money.     

建立中国-东盟自由贸易区对中国农产品出口的影响及其对策

针对中国与东盟农产品贸易的现状,采用显性比较优势分析中国农产品的优势,以及CAFTA的建立对中国农产品出口的影响,就如何扩大中国农产品出口提出了对策和建议。     

Endogenous human capital accumulation, comparative advantage and direct vs. indirect redistribution

Recently, several papers have reexamined the so-called production efficiency theorem and the Atkinson and Stiglitz theorem on commodity taxes in the optimal taxation literature. Naito [J. Public Econ. 71 (1999) 65] showed that indirect redistribution through production distortion or consumption distortion can Pareto-improve welfare and that the two theorems do not necessarily hold when different factors are imperfect substitutes and factor prices are endogenous. On the other hand, Saez J. Public Econ. (2002) forthcoming argued that in the long run, where human capital accumulation is endogenous, the two theorems are still valid. This paper develops reasonable alternative models where individuals accumulate human capital based on their comparative advantage. The present paper shows that the production efficiency theorem is not necessarily valid and that indirect redistribution from the able to the less able such as tariffs and production subsidies can increase efficiency even when skill accumulation is endogenous.     

Catching up and falling behind,a vintage model approach

The literature on catching up suggests that due to diffusion and imitation, relatively backward countries should grow at a faster rate. A model along lines suggested by Abramovitz is constructed to examine this. A country's change in productivity (technological gap) is supposed to depend on the productivity gap itself (relatively backwardness), social capability of adopting new technology, and R&D-activity. Together with a vintage growth model, this set-up gives a lot of different possible explanations of why growth rates differ among nations. The possibilities of both catching up and falling behind are considered.     

Core structure and comparative statics in a hybrid matching market

Flexible firms compete by means of wages in the Assignment market while rigid firms have no flexibility over terms of appointment in the Marriage market. Workers trade with both kinds of firms in the hybrid market.Examples show that standard results that characterize the core of the Marriage market (respectively, Assignment market) are not robust to the entrance of flexible (respectively, rigid) firms to this market. A new algebraic structure provides a different characterization for the core of the hybrid model and reflects a sort of robustness to the exit of rigid (respectively, flexible) firms from this market. Meaningful comparative static results are derived.     

全面风险管理框架与内部控制整体框架的比较分析

2004年美国COSO委员会在其1992年发布的《内部控制整体框架》基础上,吸收各方面风险管理研究成果,颁布了《全面风险管理框架》(Enterpris Reisk Management Framework),旨在为各国的企业风险管理提供一个统一术语与概念体系的全面的应用指南。本文首先回顾了《内部控制整体框架》的产生及其贡献与不足,其次阐述了风险管理与内部控制的关系,最后比较分析了《全面风险管理框架》与《全面风险管理框架》的联系与区别,以期对理解、掌握和执行《全面风险管理框架》有所裨益。     

动态比较优势与中国目标产业选择实证分析

通过动态比较优势的理论模型，可揭示后进国家政策介入的必要性和有效性；采用独立随机增量过程马尔可夫链方法，可对中国制造业动态比较优势进行经验验证和预测。结果显示，弱比较劣势产业是目标产业。该些产业的优势状态保持不变或上移的概率高达80％以上，表明它们具有较大的潜在比较优势。     

中美贸易背后的利益分析

文章首先介绍了中美贸易的不平衡发展，然后重点分析了在中美贸易中的贸易利益流向和对双方的经济影响，进而找到解决此问题的积极可行的对策。     

Distributional consequences of political representation

We investigate, both theoretically and empirically, the effect of the geographic concentration of representatives on the geographic distribution of fiscal transfers. Our theoretical model predicts that more representatives residing in a geographic area leads to higher government funds to that area. Our empirical analysis uses the fact that in Germany, due to Germany׳s electoral rules in state elections, the number of representatives varies across electoral districts. Controlling for various socio-economic, demographic, and political variables and using a variety of estimation methods, we find that districts with a greater number of representatives receive more government funds.     

Does risk sharing increase with risk aversion and risk when commitment is limited?

I consider a risk-sharing game with limited commitment, and study how the discount factor above which perfect risk sharing is self-enforcing in the long run depends on agents׳ risk aversion and the riskiness of their endowment. When agents face no aggregate risk, a mean-preserving spread may destroy the sustainability of perfect risk sharing if each agent׳s endowment may take more than three values. With aggregate risk the same can happen with only two possible endowment realizations. With respect to risk aversion the intuitive comparative statics result holds without aggregate risk, but it holds only under strong assumptions in the presence of aggregate risk. In simple settings with two endowment values I also show that the threshold discount factor co-moves with popular measures of risk sharing.