对外直接投资对母国收入差距的影响效应——基于跨国面板数据的研究

本文将企业异质性理论引入内生增长模型，讨论对外直接投资（OFDI）对母国收入差距的影响机理，并基于1981~2015年85个国家（地区）的面板数据，同时运用静态模型与动态模型验证了二者间存在"倒U型"关系，即随着对外直接投资强度的提升，母国收入差距呈现先扩大再缩小的态势；OFDI一方面通过促进母国的技术进步与产业结构升级、挤出部分国内投资等渠道加剧了收入不平等程度，另一方面以推动母国的金融发展与教育拓展等方式对收入差距产生削减效果；OFDI对收入差距的影响在不同经济发展水平、不同地理区位的国家中具有异质性：当人均GDP小于5767.53美元时，对外直接投资强度显著地扩大了母国收入差距，当人均GDP超过5767.53美元时，二者之间不存在显著的线性关系；欧洲国家的OFDI与收入差距之间呈现出"倒U型"关系，美洲、亚洲国家的OFDI促进了母国收入差距的扩大，非洲国家的OFDI对收入差距无显著影响；此外，OFDI对母国收入差距的影响具有跨期效应，随着时间推移与OFDI存量增加，其间接效应的边际效果有所减弱。     

Measuring departmental and overall regional performance: applying the multi-activity DEA model to Taiwan׳s cities/counties

This study measures the departmental and overall efficiency in Taiwan׳s counties/cities by applying a multi-activity data envelopment analysis (MADEA) model. The model overcomes the problems of panel data, undesirable outputs, shared inputs, and environmental variables and intertemporal efficiency changes (productivity) by applying the Malmquist–Luenberger (ML) index. We include data on the economic development, social welfare, police and security, and education departments for 20 counties/cities in Taiwan for the period 1999–2013. We find that the police security department is the most efficient in most counties/cities in the period 1999–2013, and the economic development department is the second efficient one in 2002–2005 and after 2009. Furthermore, there exist urban–rural gaps in the efficiency scores between counties and cities, between service-type and non-service-type counties/cities, and among different regions. With regard to the efficiencies over time (ML indices and their decompositions), we find that the production frontiers of the social welfare and education departments in Taiwan׳s counties/cities expanded continuously during this period. Finally, we also find that urban–rural gaps and gaps between service-type and non-service-type counties/cities exist in terms of technological changes and ML productivity indices in the social welfare and education departments. The area differences of technological changes exist in 4 departments and in overall. Our results will help the mayors of counties/cities understand the strengths and weaknesses of the regions they govern.     

代际公平与社会偏好视角下优势金属矿产定价权分析——基于古诺均衡模型的分析框架

我国优势金属矿产定价权的缺失对我国经济增长及经济安全产生了重要影响,这让很多学者构建相应的模型来解释定价权缺失。基于此背景,本文把代际公平均衡、社会偏好均衡与古诺模型相结合,解决代际价值补偿与策略性价值补偿计量的技术难题;并通过计量分析优势金属矿产市场的需求状况和开发税费科目,获得开发补偿的相关数据,展开理论模型结论的算例验证分析。理论模型与数值模拟结论表明,代际公平均衡与社会偏好均衡由于代际价值与策略性价值的产生,提升了我国金属矿产国际贸易市场势力,但社会偏好对市场势力影响路径并非一致,利他古诺均衡、互动公平古诺均衡变动具有一致的结果,非公平厌恶的古诺均衡具有损失厌恶特征,即在考虑非公平厌恶的古诺竞争时,古诺纳什均衡随非公平厌恶的同情和嫉妒偏好单调变换。这些结论与构建的理论模型实现了可持续发展理念与价值评价思维的有效结合,拓展了矿产资源定价权缺失的理论分析框架,为相关商品贸易的定价权解释提供了新的思路。     

基于一般均衡理论的区域差距控制

在一般均衡分析的框架下,建立了两地区四代间的收入转移支付模型,研究了政府通过收入转移支付来推动区域间平等的政策,分析了收入转移支付对两地区劳动者数量、工资、消费、退休者收入、地区和全国总产出,以及当地家庭福利所产生的影响,并以我国东部和西部地区为实例进行了模拟,模拟了2种区域差距下经济指标的变化.     

Tax and Education Policy in a Heterogeneous‐Agent Economy: What Levels of Redistribution Maximize Growth and Efficiency?

This paper studies the effects of progressive income taxes and education finance in a dynamic heterogeneous‐agent economy. Such redistributive policies entail distortions to labor supply and savings, but also serve as partial substitutes for missing credit and insurance markets. The resulting tradeoffs for growth and efficiency are explored, both theoretically and quantitatively, in a model that yields complete analytical solutions. Progressive education finance always leads to higher income growth than taxes and transfers, but at the cost of lower insurance. Overall efficiency is assessed using a new measure that properly reflects aggregate resources and idiosyncratic risks but, unlike a standard social welfare function, does not reward equality per se. Simulations using empirical parameter estimates show that the efficiency costs and benefits of redistribution are generally of the same order of magnitude, resulting in plausible values for the optimal rates. Aggregate income and aggregate welfare provide only crude lower and upper bounds around the true efficiency tradeoff.     

The Gatekeeping Function of Trust in Cross‐sector Social Partnerships

Hunger and deprivation, lack of education, sanitation, and health care are only a few pressing issues related to poverty in developing countries. Addressing such complex social issues requires pooling complementary resources of the civil, public, and private sector. Over the last decade, stakeholders tried to cocreate innovative solutions in cross‐sector social partnerships (CSSPs) at the base of the economic pyramid (BoP), but collaboration proved to be very challenging. Practitioners become increasingly frustrated with operational differences, intransparency, and mismatched goals in partnerships. This study unravels the black box of collaboration and delivers empirical insights on trust and power in CSSPs based on social exchange theory. Structural equation modeling (SEM) enables us explore relationships beyond case‐based insights. Our rigorous empirical analysis covers 207 interorganizational relationships and outlines a crucial gatekeeping function of trust in CSSPs. Findings provide strong empirical support for conceptual works calling for an “integrative orientation” in CSSPs. Furthermore, we pinpoint the role of intermediates and draw implications for future research.     

Absenteeism, turnover intention and inequity in the employment relationship

In this field study a preliminary social exchange model was proposed that related perceived inequity in the employment relationship to subsequent absenteeism and turnover intention. From an equity perspective, it was hypothesized that absenteeism and turnover intention are indirectly related to perceived inequity in the exchange relationship with the organization, mediated by feelings of resentment and poor organizational commitment. By employing covariance structure modelling, the model was tested among mental health care professionals (N = 90). The results demonstrated that the relationship between perceived inequity and turnover intention was fully mediated by poor organizational commitment, which was, in turn, partially triggered by feelings of resentment that were associated with perceived inequity. In contrast, there was a strong direct link between inequity in the employment relationship and absenteeism, not mediated by resentment and poor organizational commitment. It was concluded that absenteeism and turnover intention can both be considered to be withdrawal reactions to perceived inequity, but that the two reactions differ in their underlying dynamics. The implications of these findings were discussed.     

The Role of Automatic Stabilizers in the U.S. Business Cycle

Most countries have automatic rules in their tax‐and‐transfer systems that are partly intended to stabilize economic fluctuations. This paper measures their effect on the dynamics of the business cycle. We put forward a model that merges the standard incomplete‐markets model of consumption and inequality with the new Keynesian model of nominal rigidities and business cycles, and that includes most of the main potential stabilizers in the U.S. data and the theoretical channels by which they may work. We find that the conventional argument that stabilizing disposable income will stabilize aggregate demand plays a negligible role in the dynamics of the business cycle, whereas tax‐and‐transfer programs that affect inequality and social insurance can have a larger effect on aggregate volatility. However, as currently designed, the set of stabilizers in place in the United States has had little effect on the volatility of aggregate output fluctuations or on their welfare costs despite stabilizing aggregate consumption. The stabilizers have a more important role when monetary policy is constrained by the zero lower bound, and they affect welfare significantly through the provision of social insurance.     

Statistical Inference for Stochastic Dominance and for the Measurement of Poverty and Inequality

We derive the asymptotic sampling distribution of various estimators frequently used to order distributions in terms of poverty, welfare, and inequality. This includes estimators of most of the poverty indices currently in use, as well as estimators of the curves used to infer stochastic dominance of any order. These curves can be used to determine whether poverty, inequality, or social welfare is greater in one distribution than in another for general classes of indices and for ranges of possible poverty lines. We also derive the sampling distribution of the maximal poverty lines up to which we may confidently assert that poverty is greater in one distribution than in another. The sampling distribution of convenient dual estimators for the measurement of poverty is also established. The statistical results are established for deterministic or stochastic poverty lines as well as for paired or independent samples of incomes. Our results are briefly illustrated using data for four countries drawn from the Luxembourg Income Study data bases.     

The Impact of Dietary Changes Among the Inuit of Nunavik (Canada): A Socioeconomic Assessment of Possible Public Health Recommendations Dealing with Food Contamination

Inuit populations meet a large portion of their food needs by eating country food in which pollutants are concentrated. Despite the fact that they contain pollutants, the consumption of country food has many health, social, economic, and cultural benefits. A risk determination process was set up in order to help regional health authorities of Nunavik to deal with this particular issue. Based on Nunavik health authorities' objectives to encourage the region's inhabitants to change their dietary habits, and on both the risks and the benefits of eating country food, several management options were developed. The options aimed at reducing exposure to contaminants by either substituting certain foods with others that have a lower contaminant content or by store-bought foods. This article aims at assessing the potential economic impact of these risk management options before being implemented. Relevant economic data (aggregate income and monetary outlays for the purchase of food and equipment required for food production by households) were collected and identified to serve as a backdrop for the various replacement scenarios. Results show that household budgets, and the regional economy, are not significantly affected by the replacement of contaminated foods with the purchase of store-bought meat, and even less so if the solution involves replacing contaminated foods with other types of game hunted in the region. When financial support is provided by the state, the households can even gain some monetary benefits. Results show that public health authorities' recommended changes to dietary habits among the Inuit of Nunavik would not necessarily involve economic constraints for Inuit households.     

中国农村公共支出及其绩效分析——基于农民收入增长和城乡收入差距的经验研究

本文运用1978～2004年的数据,采用多变量回归和Granger因果检验方法对农村公共支出、农民收入增长以及城乡收入差距之间的关系进行实证研究。结果显示,国家财政的农村支出对农民收入增长起到了一定的促进作用,但由于公共支出的管理、运用效率低下,其作用在统计上并不十分显著;从支出结构看,与农业生产直接相关的生产性支出和基本建设支出占比过高,而农业科研和社会福利等方面的支出过低,而且,由于政府重视程度不够和目标偏差,使得政府公共支出在降低城乡收入差距上的作用不甚明显,从而限制了政府增进社会福利功能的发挥,进而不利于公平增长的实现。在此基础上,本文进一步讨论了如何改变农村公共支出结构以及如何将公共支出政策与农村金融政策相结合等问题。     

Multiple Health Risk Perception and Information Processing Among African Americans and Whites Living in Poverty

We investigated the risk‐information‐processing behaviors of people living at or near the poverty line. Because significant gaps in health and communication exist among high‐ and low‐income groups, increasing the information seeking and knowledge of poor individuals may help them better understand risks to their health and increase their engagement in health‐protective behaviors. Most earlier studies assessed only a single health risk selected by the researcher, whereas we listed 10 health risks and allowed the respondents to identify the one that they worried about most but took little action to prevent. Using this risk, we tested one pathway inspired by the risk information seeking and processing model to examine predictors of information insufficiency and of systematic processing and extended this pathway to include health‐protective action. A phone survey was conducted of African Americans and whites living in the southern United States with an annual income of ≤$35,000 (N= 431). The results supported the model pathway: worry partially mediated the relationship between perceived risk and information insufficiency, which, in turn, increased systematic processing. In addition, systematic processing increased health‐protective action. Compared with whites and better educated respondents, African Americans and respondents with little education had significantly higher levels of information insufficiency but higher levels of systematic processing and health‐protective action. That systematic processing and knowledge influenced health behavior suggests a potential strategy for reducing health disparities.     

考虑货币测度社会福利函数的社会福利最大化与资源消耗最小化问题研究

本文通过引入货币测度的社会福利函数,在文[1]的基础上建立了增加效率约束条件的社会福利最大化的优化模型和资源消耗最小化的优化模型,然后讨论了两者之间的关系,最后给出了消费税率及政府对不同收入消费者实行的个人所得税率与补贴率,并指出了福利最大化点与帕累托效率之间的关系。     

The distribution of mortality in the United States: the effects of income (inequality), social capital, and race

This article examines how absolute and relative income levels, social capital, and racial/ethnic composition interact to explain variation in age-adjusted mortality rates across the 48 contiguous U.S. states. Our data showed that social capital had a powerful, negative effect on age-adjusted mortality rates--higher social capital states had lower age-adjusted mortality rates. After controlling for other variables, median income moderately related to mortality, but unexpectedly three measures of inequality did not. Finally, states' percent African American positively related to mortality, though indirectly and mediated entirely by social capital. In contrast, the strong negative effect of percent Hispanic/Latino on mortality was partially suppressed by its negative association with social capital. Our understanding of the substantial impact of social conditions on mortality can help inform public policies and actions that may foster healthier and longer lives.     

技术赋能、用户规模与共享经济社会福利

以Airbnb和Uber为代表的共享经济业态已成为学术界关注热点，但当前研究侧重于商业模式，而忽视了凸显其"普惠"本质的社会福利分析。基于共享经济市场结构演进的三个典型阶段，本文构建理论模型刻画了技术赋能、用户规模与社会福利之间的内在关系。研究发现：在起步阶段，市场处于局部垄断状态，此时共享经济社会福利存在损失，且福利水平主要取决于技术赋能；在发展阶段，各个共享经济平台的市场范围产生重叠，平台企业间扩张用户规模的竞争将提升社会福利；在成熟阶段，平台间并购而形成"竞争性垄断"市场结构，此时社会福利可能再次得到提升。进一步的模型分析揭示了其内在机理：技术赋能对社会福利具有"替代"和"挖掘"的双重效应，而用户规模则对社会福利产生了"正负"两方面的外部性影响。本文为共享经济的平台战略和政府规制提供了有益指导。     

An Overview of Welfare Reform in Italy

Samuelson stated in 1967 that “the beauty about social insurance is that ... everyone who reaches retirement age is given benefit privileges that far exceed anything he has paid in”. Such an optimistic belief seems to have been widely shared in Italy, where until the beginning of the reform process in 1992 social security could be described as a continuous succession of highly generous and diversified promises of payment made by the state to the different categories of workers on the basis of salary earned in the final stage of working life. The pension reform introduced by the Dini government in 1995 led to the adoption of a contribution-based method of calculation, which meant a return to the forgotten “golden rule” that the financial equilibrium of pay-as-you-go systems is ensured only if the implicit yield is equal to the rate of growth of the taxable basis of social security contributions. Equilibrium would thus be safeguarded, restoring itself automatically after any accidental disruption caused by demographic or economic upheaval, and operating regardless of the capacity and will of governments and of the majorities supporting them. The great efforts made to build up sufficient consensus with respect to such radical modifications of principle were, however, accompanied by a marked caution in bringing the system into full effect. This has left the country with the problem of accelerating transition to the new mechanism of calculating contributions, applied initially only to the newly employed and pro rata to workers with less than 18 years of contributions paid in, thereby making for a very long period of transition. In such a connection, a recent proposal has suggested that the state should try to induce workers to agree freely to a reduction in their accrued pension entitlements through the public system in return for a share in the process of privatization. If government were to repay the pension debt “below par”, this would allow for greater savings on future expenditure by using part of the revenues of privatization to pay off the pension debt in advance rather than by using these sums to pay off the national debt. More radical approaches aiming at cutting back social spending, would fail to take into account the risks involved in the collapse of public trust and of the structures that have hitherto guaranteed the cohesion of Italian society and the conditions for entrepreneurial commitment. On the other hand, an unbridled bottom-up proliferation of networks of social cohesion, supplementary voluntary bodies and non-profit initiatives may involve the risk of further arbitrary action being taken in the name of income redistribution. The social market requires bottom-up action on the part of associations, but also the guarantee of state-imposed rules that are equal for all parties and of a market that is free from the distortions of competition regulated from the top. A welfare state that has too often disguised the redistribution of resources in non-transparent forms must be replaced by a transparent welfare system effecting an explicit redistribution of resources and allowing a suitably regulated market to operate without indulging continually in further forms of “correction”. This calls for the introduction of a microchip “citizen card”, able to offer characteristics both of uniformity and of fine-tuning in terms of specific conditions of age, income, assets, education, etc., so as to permit forms of selection and/or cost sharing where desirable. Some of the rights to welfare services incorporated in the “citizen card” could in fact be assigned in monetary form but restricted to specific uses. Such “social money”, conveniently based on modern technological transaction structures, could become the money of the state sector, the private sector, and the third sector of non-profit organizations and associations, enabling all parties to respond to the objective demand expressed by citizens in conditions of competition that are free of supply-side distortion.     

Experimental Analysis of Neighborhood Effects

Families, primarily female‐headed minority households with children, living in high‐poverty public housing projects in five U.S. cities were offered housing vouchers by lottery in the Moving to Opportunity program. Four to seven years after random assignment, families offered vouchers lived in safer neighborhoods that had lower poverty rates than those of the control group not offered vouchers. We find no significant overall effects of this intervention on adult economic self‐sufficiency or physical health. Mental health benefits of the voucher offers for adults and for female youth were substantial. Beneficial effects for female youth on education, risky behavior, and physical health were offset by adverse effects for male youth. For outcomes that exhibit significant treatment effects, we find, using variation in treatment intensity across voucher types and cities, that the relationship between neighborhood poverty rate and outcomes is approximately linear.     

生产性财政支出、经济增长与社会福利最大化

从理论与实证两个方面研究生产性财政支出对经济增长与社会福利的促进作用这一财政领域十分关注的问题.理论研究中,通过构建包含政府财政消费性支出和生产性支出的内生增长模型,推导了经济增长和社会福利最大化目标下各自最优的生产性财政支出结构,并分析了政府生产性财政支出在两目标下最优支出结构的差异及原因.实证研究发现,2004年～2012年间,中国的东、中、西三大经济带政府生产性支出在社会福利目标下的最优占比普遍低于经济增长目标;而在2004年～2008年间,政府实际的生产性财政支出占比还未达到两目标下的最优占比值,政府的生产性财政支出还有进一步提升的空间;但在2009年～2012年间,政府实际的生产性财政支出占比已接近甚至超过了两目标下的最优占比值,继续增加生产性财政支出将对经济增长与社会福利的提升都产生抑制作用,尤其在东部地区、中部地区更为明显.因此,在中国经济发展进入"新常态"时期,政府更需审时度势、通过适时优化财政支出以促进经济增长与社会福利的最大化.     

Providing health care to human beings trapped in the poverty culture

The culture of poverty impacts everything patients in this socioeconomic group think and do. If what poor patients say does not sit well with the way we think, that doesn't mean they are wrong. Physicians have to adjust their mental model and think in different cultural terms. The author recently completed his thirtieth year of a career dedicated to providing health care to people living in poverty. He shares seven concepts important in building a mental model that will enable physicians to successfully provide health care to this patient population: (1) Poverty is the number one health problem; (2) we see same diseases as everyone else; (3) patients are trapped in the poverty culture; (4) patients' behavior is often manipulative; (5) compliance is a unique challenge; (6) patients have limited resources; and (7) the ultimate contributors to poverty are unwanted adolescent pregnancy and substance abuse. These concepts can help physicians to be more effective in providing health care to patients living in poverty. They can help them understand what is happening, so that their experience might be fulfilling rather than demoralizing.