On high fertility rates in developing countries: birth limits, birth taxes, or education subsidies?

In this paper, we consider two types of population policies observed in practice: birth limits and birth taxes. We find that both achieve very similar equilibrium solutions if tax revenue finances lump-sum transfers. By reducing fertility and promoting growth, both birth policies may achieve higher welfare than conventional education subsidies financed by income taxes. A birth tax for education subsidies can achieve the first-best solution. The welfare gain of the first-best policy may be equivalent to a massive 10–50% rise in income, depending on the degree of human capital externalities and the elasticity of intertemporal substitution.      

教育对经济增长贡献算法的改进

本文就教育对经济增长贡献已有的算法及其缺陷进行评述,考虑到AK模型能够比较好地刻画我国的经济增长以及教育本身的延时性,本文提出两条改进意见:发达地区可采用舒尔茨的教育资本存量法,非发达地区和全国范围宜在此基础上选用延期回归方程法,本文还结合深圳1978~1994和中国1978~1996年的样本对此作出解释和验证.     

Deconvolution methods for non-parametric inference in two-level mixed models

Summary.  We develop a general non-parametric approach to the analysis of clustered data via random effects. Assuming only that the link function is known, the regression functions and the distributions of both cluster means and observation errors are treated non-parametrically. Our argument proceeds by viewing the observation error at the cluster mean level as though it were a measurement error in an errors-in-variables problem, and using a deconvolution argument to access the distribution of the cluster mean. A Fourier deconvolution approach could be used if the distribution of the error-in-variables were known. In practice it is unknown, of course, but it can be estimated from repeated measurements, and in this way deconvolution can be achieved in an approximate sense. This argument might be interpreted as implying that large numbers of replicates are necessary for each cluster mean distribution, but that is not so; we avoid this requirement by incorporating statistical smoothing over values of nearby explanatory variables. Empirical rules are developed for the choice of smoothing parameter. Numerical simulations, and an application to real data, demonstrate small sample performance for this package of methodology. We also develop theory establishing statistical consistency.     

浙江流通产业演进动力研究

 本文分析了生产方式变革和消费需求升级及其矛盾对流通产业演进的影响,指出“生产方式引致的大量化”和“消费需求引致的大量化”在时间、空间、集散等方面发生的矛盾是推动流通不断演化与发展的动力。通过构建浙江流通演进的动力模型,实证分析“生产方式引致的大量化”和“消费需求的大量化”的相关系数为0.741,两者对浙江流通演进均具有正向促进作用,路径系数分别为0.68和0.42,前者的作用大于后者。     

月度工业生产发展速度指标解读：差异比较与经验启示 ——以OECD国家为例

 正确解读统计指标是准确理解和把握统计数据意义的关键所在。本文从指标的名称、定义、计算方法、空间规定和基础指标获得方式等方面,对OECD国家的工业生产发展速度指标进行了全面解读,以期从中得出经验与启示。     

Household structure and consumption insurance of the elderly

This paper examines the role of household formation in providing consumption insurance to the elderly. Using data from the Consumer Expenditure Surveys, raw tabulations of per adult equivalent consumption indicate that the elderly who live alone have higher levels of well-being relative to those who live with others. This is misleading, however, because the decision to live alone is clearly endogenous. The empirical estimation accounts for this endogeneity using data from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics. The results provide evidence that household formation plays a significant role in maintaining consumption levels. Without the opportunity to live with others, the welfare gap measured by the difference between per adult equivalent consumption levels of dependent and independent livers would be even larger. These findings suggest that co-residing with others effectively supplements social security, pensions, and private savings and helps the elderly to smooth consumption in old age.

Unemployment and consumption near and far away from the Mediterranean

We study the insurance mechanisms employed by households to absorb unemployment shocks using comparable data for four countries: Italy, Spain, Great Britain, and the US. Results on family transfers when the male household head becomes unemployed suggest that family networks are the weakest in Britain, while unemployment benefits there are instead the most generous across the four countries. Despite these differences, food consumption losses induced by unemployment of the male household head are similar across countries. These findings are consistent with the view that family support and the Welfare State substitute each other in mitigating the consequences of unemployment shocks. The first author is also affiliated with CEPR and CESifo, the second author with EUI, CEPR, CESifo, and IZA.     

澳门近十年人口自然增长概况

澳门是一个面积不到 2 4平方公里的地方 ,其人口在过去十年增加了近三成。人口的增加主要来源于移民 ,特别是来自中国内地的移民 ,他们同时亦对澳门人口的自然增长带来很大的影响 ,原因是来自中国内地的移民有较高的生育率。本文简单地介绍了这一现象 ,以及澳门人口自然增长的其他情况。     

社会转型与少数民族价值观变迁:以西南地区为例

从西南少数民族历史发展进程来看,其生活环境相对封闭,从而对少数民族成员的自我与他者认同构成了影响,形成特定的制度体系、交往体系和价值体系。但随着改革开放和社会转型的推进,少数民族的价值观体系也发生了变化,具体表现在价值主体、价值运行以及身份认知三个层次上,它们共同促进了少数民族的认同序列重构。     

Correlates of perceived effectiveness of the Safe Schools/Healthy Students Initiative

A three-level growth-curve model was applied to estimate perceived impact growth trajectories, using multi-year data from project and school surveys on outcome and program implementation collected from 59 sites and approximately 1165 participating schools in the Safe Schools and Healthy Students Initiative. Primary interest is to determine whether and how project-level and school-level correlates affect schools’ perceptions of the Initiative's effectiveness over time when the effects of the pre-grant environmental conditions, grant operations, and near-term outcomes are considered. Coordination and service integration, comprehensive programs and activities for early childhood development, and change in school involvement were found to be significant predictors of school-perceived overall impact when the effect of poverty was considered. Partnership functioning, perceived importance of school resources, and school involvement were found to be significant predictors of school-perceived impact on substance use prevention when the effect of poverty was considered.