论社会风险应对中财政责任的限度

风险社会中,社会成员难以应对所有的社会风险,因此,政府需要承担一定的财政资金给付责任。政府参与社会风险应对的财政责任来源于社会公民权的行使,其法律属性是法定的保护义务,是社会基本权这一积极权利实现的保障。然而,如果应对社会风险的财政责任没有限度,就可能引发财政风险、甚至财政危机,同时也构成对国民财产权的过度侵害。基于均衡保护国民财产权与社会基本权的制度理念,财政责任必须以使公民享有免予匮乏的自由为限度。     

The role of deficit and debt in financing growth in West Africa

Empirical literature on debt–growth nexus and deficit-growth nexus indicate that government debt and fiscal deficit could have negative effects on economic growth after a certain threshold level. However, the impacts of debt and deficit on economic growth via the financial sector have not been thoroughly explored. Thus, this study examines the effects of debt and deficit on finance–growth nexus in West African region. It employs empirical strategies that account for various economic and econometrics issues. Evidence from the study reveals that the impact of financial development on growth varies with the levels of debt and deficit. Specifically, the marginal effects of financial development on growth turn negative when debt and deficit exceed the threshold levels of 48.6% and −13.5% of GDP, respectively. The implication of this study is that the financial sector is one of the channels through which debt and deficit exert their influences on economic growth. Thus, an increase in financial development would not produce the desirable long-run economic benefits unless it is accompanied by a reduction in government debt and fiscal deficit. Based on the findings, the study makes some policy recommendations.     

Indigenous family life in Australia: A history of difference and deficit

Indigenous family life has been a key target of family and child policies in Australia since colonisation. In this paper, we identify four main policy eras that have shaped the national and state policy frameworks that have impacted Indigenous families: the protectionism, assimilation, self-determination and neoliberalism eras. Our analysis of these national and state policy frameworks reveals an enduring and negative conceptualisation of Indigenous family life. This conceptualisation continues to position Indigenous families as deficient and dysfunctional compared with a white, Anglo-Australian family ideal. This contributes to the reproduction of paternalistic policy settings and the racialised hierarchies within them that entrench Indigenous disempowerment and reproduce Indigenous disadvantage. Further, it maintains a deficit paradigm that continues to obfuscate the positive aspects of Indigenous family life that are protective of Indigenous well-being.     

The indelible ink of the special stamp: an insider’s research essay on imprints and erasures

The medical profession ascribes otherness to people with disabilities through diagnosis and expertism, which sets in motion discursive powers that oversee their exclusion through schooling and beyond. In this paper, I present a narrative pieced together from personal experiences of ducking and weaving the deficit discourse in ‘inclusive’ education, when seeking employment and in day-to-day family interaction as a person with severely impaired vision. This work builds on previous qualitative research I conducted in Queensland, Australia with a group of young people with impaired vision who attended an inclusive secondary school. I frame this discussion using Foucault’s conception of normalising judgement against the hegemony of normalcy, and consider that inclusion for people with disabilities is reminiscent of a haunting. Through this analysis, I demonstrate how my ideology is formed, and how it in turn shapes a research agenda geared toward seeking greater inclusion for young people with disabilities in schools.     

‘We the People’ versus ‘We the Heads of States’: the debate on the democratic deficit of the European Union

The Eurozone crisis has rekindled the debate on the democratic deficit of the European Union (EU). In this paper, the debate is reconsidered by contrasting the modus vivendi of ‘We the People’ in the USA with the modus vivendi of ‘We the Heads of States’ in the EU. It is demonstrated that many of the solutions to the alleged democratic deficit focus on how more voice can be given to ‘We the People’ on the input side, but that this goes against the functional logic of the EU system, thereby undermining its ability to govern. Instead, we argue that more attention should be given to how to increase output legitimacy, and a number of proposals are put forward. Such a reshuffling of the analytical focus is the best way forward to escape the current impasse in the debate on how to ‘fix’ democracy in the EU.     

浅析英语霸权和英汉文化逆差

英语在全球化的过程中作为一种主导性语言,成了一把双刃剑。一方面它加速了全球化的进程,方便了各国国家和民族之间的交流合作;另一方面,它充当了新时期“文化帝国主义”对外扩张的工具,对输入国的语言和文化产生威胁。面对这迅猛而来的冲击,我们应该积极迎接挑战,让汉语及其文化在全球化过程中发挥应有的作用。     

居民消费、财政支出与区域效应差异 ——基于动态面板数据模型的经验分析

 本文在构建了居民消费与财政支出间的动态模型基础上,分别利用全国30个省及东、中、西各地区所含省份1998～2006年的省际面板数据对分类财政支出的居民消费效应进行了实证分析。结果表明,科教文卫支出挤入了居民消费,政府消费性支出对居民消费有挤出作用,经济建设支出对居民消费的作用微弱;同类财政支出的居民消费效应在地区间显示出一定的差异性。     

论区域公共管理的制度创新

在全球化和区域一体化浪潮滚滚而至,市场化、工业化、城市化和现代化进程加速推进的背景下,我国区域性公共问题急剧滋生起来,由此引发新型的治理形态--区域公共管理。区域公共管理要求政府打破行政区划的刚性桎梏,摒弃狭隘的行政区行政的种种制度缺失,建构“科学发展观”与“和谐社会”视野下区域公共管理的制度基础和政策框架。因此,文章分析了区域公共问题的滋生及其成因,剖析了我国区域公共管理中存在的制度缺失,并探讨了创新区域公共管理制度的政策建议。     

The political budget cycles in the presence of a fiscal rule: The case of farm debt waivers in India

Farm debt waivers which are meant to be a one-time settlement of loans have become common in India. This paper finds, after controlling for variables related to farming distress, that the timing of waiver announcements by state governments between 2001-02 and 2018–19 is associated with the timing of elections. This points toward a pattern of policy manipulation that suggests election-year targeting of the largest special interest group in India, namely farming households. The debt waivers, either announced as policies by incumbent governments prior to upcoming elections or as election pledges by political parties which are fulfilled after winning elections, are unanticipated shocks to government revenue expenditure. We find that the waivers are associated with an increased revenue deficit, which is accommodated by a nearly 1/3rd cut in capital outlay to control the fiscal deficit, given the presence of a fiscal rule. Given its path dependence, lower capital expenditure also reduces the quality of government spending in subsequent years.     

Geographies of Local Government Stress after the Great Recession

Local governments in the USA are facing increased levels of fiscal stress after the Great Recession. We conducted a national survey in 2012 to assess differences in sources of stress and service delivery responses (privatization, inter‐municipal co‐operation, and public delivery) across places. Our discriminant analysis on 1,889 US cities and counties contributes to the literature on state rescaling. We differentiate three types of stress: fiscal, housing market decline and demographic. Fiscal stress and demographic stress are linked and highest in metro core and rural places, while housing market decline is associated with population density and revenue diversification. Diverse revenue sources can ameliorate some of the fiscal challenges brought on by housing market decline. Regarding service delivery, we find privatization and co‐operation are higher in suburbs. State aid dependence is highest in rural and metro core areas with greater need, but decrease in state aid is highest in the South and West, where fiscal stress is also highest. Decentralization has exacerbated spatial inequality in the wake of the Great Recession challenging the efficiency claims of fiscal federalism. More redistributive state policies are needed.