推进公平是市场经济体制下政府的重要职能

推进公平是政府在市场经济体制下必须履行的重要职能 ,政府推进公平是协调经济利益关系、维持社会稳定的需要 ,是提高效率的保证 ,是对“市场缺陷”的弥补。公平是发展社会主义市场经济的最终目标之一。政府干预市场是为了实现效率与公平的兼顾与协调。为防止两极分化 ,我国政府须在推进起点公平、结果公平、环境公平上应采取切实可行的措施。     

Work performance and tax compliance in flat and progressive tax systems

Different tax systems, and their impact on work motivation and tax compliance are significant issues in contemporary political and economic debates. The proportional feature of a flat tax system is assumed to lead to higher performance, while the fairness of the redistributive progressive tax system is assumed to result in higher tax compliance. However, empirical findings on the topic are inconclusive. Both work performance and tax compliance under different tax systems were examined in an experiment, with special attention devoted to the effect of a change in tax systems. A flat tax system was supposed to induce greater work performance, whereas a progressive tax system was expected to increase tax compliance based on fairness perceptions, allowing for the opposite effect due to higher complexity. Furthermore, it was assumed that performance and tax payments would be influenced by motives of self-interest. The design included 20 rounds with a real-effort task in each round, determining participants’ experimental income. Participants (N = 191) made decisions about their tax payments from round-to-round in four different experimental conditions: (1) a flat tax system, (2) a progressive tax system, (3) starting with a flat and changing to a progressive, and (4) starting with a progressive and changing to a flat tax system. Results indicate higher work performance in a progressive system. However, a change from a progressive tax system to a flat system led to increased tax compliance.     

Moral values and increasing stakes in a dictator game

Using data from a large representative US sample (N = 1519), we compare hypothetical moral fairness values from the Moral Foundations Sacredness Scale with actual fairness behavior in an incentivized dictator game with either low or high stakes. We find that people with high moral fairness values fail to live up to their high fairness standards, when stake size increases. This violates principles from consistency theories according to which moral values are supposedly aligned with moral behavior, but is in line with temptation theories that question the absoluteness of morality values.     

Exploring Neglected Dimensions of Social Policy: The SDW, Fiscal Welfare and the Exemplar of Local Taxation in England

Titmuss's Social Division of Welfare (SDW) thesis is a vitally important but much neglected element of social policy analysis. This article seeks to explore the SDW, with a particular focus on fiscal welfare. Fiscal welfare has been described as forming a hidden welfare state, and while taxation is one of the main ways in which governments affect the lives of citizens, studies of welfare pay remarkably little attention to its impact. Fiscal welfare is examined by using, as an exemplar, local taxation in England, a subject that itself is neglected within social policy. Local taxation in England is of interest because it illustrates the impact of a system of taxation on different groups of citizens, and how this can operate to the benefit of rich over poor citizens. This is because the current system is highly regressive, meaning that those on low and middle incomes spend proportionately more of their income paying the tax than do those on high incomes. What is of further interest is how within the debate about reform of local taxation, concern with regressivity becomes obscured and ceases to be the focus of attention. We are thus provided with an example of how fiscal welfare remains a hidden issue. The article concludes by arguing that social policy analysis needs to move beyond the narrow confines of social welfare and develop a broader understanding of welfare, based on the SDW.     

论公平、效率与收入分配

经济体制转型过程中,"效率优先,兼顾公平"是我们进行分配领域改革的基本原则,对这一原则理解的失误导致收入分配差距日愈拉大.通过对公平与效率的重新反思,认识公平与效率是两个不同经济运行过程的运行原则.公平是分配过程的原则,它贯穿于收入分配的全过程,不管初次分配还是再分配,都要遵循这一原则.     

公平偏好、强互惠倾向和农民合作社生产 规范的演化分析

面对农民合作社的现实发展困境,在充分考量我国农户社会心理的基础上,将公平偏好和强互惠倾向纳入合作社农户的效用函数中;构建了合作社农户的生产行为演化博弈模型,分析了不同情形下合作社生产规范的演化逻辑;然后通过数值实验演示了公平偏好、强互惠倾向、守规农户初始比例等参数的变化对合作社生产规范演化趋势的影响。研究发现,守规农户越强的不公平厌恶程度以及搭便车农户越低的内疚程度,越容易导致合作社陷入全体农户生产低质量产品的困境;守规农户的强互惠倾向有利于维持合作社的稳定性;初始阶段较大的守规农户比例、生产高质量产品较低的额外成本以及较高的质量价格加成系数都有助于合作社向良性的生产规范演化。     

Reciprocal relationships in tax compliance decisions

Reciprocity considerations are important to the tax compliance problem as they may explain the global dynamics of tax evasion, beyond individual tax evasion decisions, toward a downward or upward spiral. To provide evidence on reciprocity in tax compliance decisions, we have conducted a laboratory experiment in which we introduced two types of inequities. The first type of inequity is called vertical, because it refers to inequities introduced by the government when it sets different fiscal parameters for identical taxpayers, while the second type of inequity is called horizontal because it refers to the fact that taxpayers may differ in tax compliance decisions. In this setting, taxpayers may react to a disadvantageous or advantageous inequity through negative or positive reciprocal behaviors, respectively. Our results support the existence of negative and positive reciprocity in both vertical and horizontal cases. When both inequities come into play and may induce reciprocal behaviors in opposite directions, the horizontal always dominates the vertical.     

Bargaining over waiting time in ultimatum game experiments

While preference-based explanations play an increasing role in economics and sociology, the accurate measurement of social preferences deserves more attention. Most laboratory experiments measure social preferences by studying the division of “a cake that nobody had to bake” (Güth and Kliemt, 2003). This article reports results of the first ultimatum game experiment with bargaining over waiting time. The experiment was created to avoid effects of windfall gains. In contrast to donated money, time is not endowed by the experimenter and implies a natural loss to subjects. This allows for a better measurement of the inherent conflict in the ultimatum game. We implemented three anonymity conditions; one baseline condition, one condition with anonymity among subjects and one double-blind condition in which the experimenter did not know the division of waiting time. While we expected to observe less other-regarding behavior in ultimatum game bargaining over time, our experimental results rather confirm previous ultimatum game experiments, in which people bargained over money. The modal offer was half of the waiting time and only one offer was rejected. Interestingly, anonymity did not change the results significantly. In conclusion, our experiment confirms other-regarding behavior in the ultimatum game.     

收入再分配政策能否兼顾效率与公平的经济学分析

长期以来,社会各界对于“收入再分配政策能否兼顾效率与公平”问题一直存在着激烈的争论,而对于这一问题的回答不仅具有深远的理论意义,而且具有重要的政策涵义.为此,本文通过构建数理经济模型的方法,参与对这一问题的理论探讨.根据本文理论模型的分析,得出一个关键结论:在一些参数条件下,再分配政策可以兼顾效率与公平;而在另一些参数条件下,“效率与公平”这两个政策目标之间存在冲突.本文的这一结论并没有简单支持以往的任何一种观点,而是表明:如果能够根据经济发展水平,合理设计收入再分配政策,就可以实现效率与公平兼顾的政策目标;如果再分配政策的设计与经济发展水平不相适应,那么旨在改善收入分配不平等状况的再分配政策就会阻碍经济增长.     

我国社会福利的发展取向:走进福利国家——基于风险社会理论的分析

风险社会理论是西方学者关于晚期现代性社会问题的一种思考。它虽然不能直接应用到我国语境中来,但能够促进我们对转型中的社会问题加以反思。从这个意义上,我国解决转型中的社会问题与社会风险的方略也与西方是不同的。当前中国正面临着多重社会风险,并且这些风险是不平等地分配的。要化解风险,需要我们建立制度化的社会福利制度,促进劳动力的去商品化、满足社会需要和维护社会公平。从长期来看,我们需要重返福利国家。