论权力在市场经济条件下的变化及定性

权力作为一种社会控制力量,在市场经济条件下必然发生从集中到分散,从直控到间控、从弱约束到强约束等一系列变化.与此相适应,领导者正确认识权力在市场经济条件下的应有定性,具有至关重要的意义.     

Federal Intervention in the Municipal Bond Market: The Effectiveness of the Build America Bond Program and Its Implications on Federal and Subnational Budgeting

The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA) included several new federal programs intended ostensibly to “unfreeze” the credit markets as a result of the global financial crisis. One such program, the Build America Bond (BAB) program, aimed to lower the borrowing costs for state and local governments by increasing their access to capital and providing a more generous federal subsidy than the traditional indirect tax exemption subsidy. BABs are taxable bonds sold by subnational governments, which carry a 35 percent direct federal payment subsidy to the borrower. In creating this program, the federal government hoped that the large direct federal subsidy along with greater potential investor interest in taxable securities would result in lower borrowing costs for state and local governments vis‐à‐vis traditional tax‐exempt bonds. This research study examines the relative effectiveness of the BAB program and details the various quantitative and qualitative implications on federal and subnational budgeting by moving from an indirect to a direct federal subsidy approach in facilitating state and local government capital raising.     

Accelerating Municipal Bond Market Development in Emerging Economies: An Assessment of Strategies and Progress

The advantages of using municipal bonds to finance urban infrastructure are increasingly evident to policymakers in emerging economies, some of whom are undertaking efforts to accelerate the development of municipal bond markets in their countries. Many of these efforts use the strengths of the U.S. municipal market as a guide to suggest the kinds of market characteristics necessary to attract issuers as well as investors to the marketplace. Features of the U.S. market are often difficult to recreate in these countries in the short run, but policymakers are using a variety of innovative techniques to approximate essential market characteristics. This article reviews these efforts in four emerging economies: Indonesia, the Philippines, Poland, and South Africa.     

No Guaranties: The Decline of Municipal Bond Insurance

The credit crisis that roiled the financial and housing markets in late 2007 and early 2008 resulted in well‐publicized budget challenges for state and local governments. Less visible has been a dramatic change in the bond insurance market, which alters how governments issue long‐term debt. Debt issuance data from Texas are used to model bond insurance premiums and examine utilization following the crisis. The results provide evidence that insurance premiums rose dramatically following the fiscal crisis, even when controlling for widening credit spreads and changes in the underlying credit quality of issuers.     

Municipal Bond New Issue Transaction Costs

As with any market, there are transaction costs associated with the sale of municipal bonds. Only a small number of studies have examined this topic, and therefore we have only a limited understanding of the magnitude and determinants of new issue municipal bond transaction costs. We use data on California municipal bond transaction costs from 2007 to 2009 to test whether scale economies exist. We find that there are considerable transaction cost scale economies for California municipal bonds and that pooling bond sales would likely save substantial amounts of money.     

Municipal Bond Insurance: Trends and Prospects

Privately sold bond insurance is the most common form of credit enhancement for municipal bonds. Research generally finds that bond insurance reduces interest costs for lower rated, long–term debt issues. Researchers have concluded that these results are consistent with presumed investor risk aversion, as well as more "rational" risk management behaviors, and with theories concerning the efficiency–enhancing properties of financial intermediation in imperfect markets. We propose a research agenda based both on traditional theories and on additional hypotheses that seek to account for the observed use of bond insurance where net savings would not normally be predicted.     

市场经济与资本主义——论资本主义的反市场经济实质

自由、平等和互利合作是市场经济的基本价值理念和内在需求。资本主义在实现剩余价值最大化的目的驱动下,最终走向非平等的剥削和非自由的垄断,资本主义的实质是反市场经济。资本主义从私人垄断到国家垄断,再到国际垄断的发展过程,也是为应对和缓和与市场经济价值理念和内在要求日渐冲突的过程。把市场经济等同于资本主义或认为资本主义是市场经济适宜的社会制度,都是一个误区。     

Do State Bond Banks Have Cost Advantages for Municipal Bond Issuance?

State bond banks are created to extend management expertise, subsidies, and economies of scale to local government issuers, but bond banks incur issuance and program costs. This research examines whether state bond banks appear to achieve lower than average borrowing costs, once the costs of issuance are controlled for. We find that bond banks are associated with significantly lower borrowing costs for two of the three programs we examine, and determine that these savings are due largely to reductions in costs of issuance.     

Is Management Performance a Factor in Municipal Bond Credit Ratings? The Case of Texas School Districts

Municipal bond ratings are an important determinant of interest costs that a bond issuer must pay. The three major bond rating firms profess that economic and management factors are considered in assigning a bond rating. The management component is of particular interest to public administrators because they can exert more direct control over management factors. Management factors have not been studied empirically in the literature because management performance is generally difficult to quantify. However, the public education sector has seen advances in performance measures and at the same time has increasingly relied on municipal bonds to finance construction. The ordered probit estimation provides support that management performance, as measured in the districts performance on standardized test scores and success in student college admission rates, does influence Texas school district bond credit ratings.     

市场经济实质是民主经济--对“市场经济实质是法制经济”提法的思考

近年来,围绕市场经济与法制建设同步发展的思路与实践,我国法学界提出了"市场经济就是法制经济"的命题,并成为普遍承认流行的观点.毋庸置疑,市场经济是法制经济的提法在我国传统的大背景下,在改革向深层次推进的过程中,曾经对于法制的完备、经济的发展起过积极的作用.但结合我国市场经济和依法治国实践的进一步发展,我们就会发现这一提法有着许多方面的局限性.本文拟就此谈点个人看法.     

When States Discriminate: The Non-uniform Tax Treatment of Municipal Bond Interest

There is a long history of states using tax systems to encourage residents to invest in bonds issued by jurisdictions within their state. This preferential or discriminatory tax treatment was ruled unconstitutional in 2006 by the Kentucky Court of Appeals. The Kentucky court decision, which sets the stage for this essay, was overturned by the U.S. Supreme Court in 2008. This essay addresses the possible implications of this and similar discriminatory tax policies. Such discriminatory policies are the foundation of the municipal bond market, and altering the practice would have significant implications for revenue collections and borrowing costs in most states and localities. While the Supreme Court's position has been rendered, the case has caused policy makers and administrators to scrutinize discriminatory tax policies and their impact on budgets and borrowing costs.     

Municipal Bond Issuance: Is There Evidence of a Principal-Agent Problem?

Is there evidence of a principal-agent problem in the municipal bond industry? Do public managers, either on their own or through private sector agents, act to increase their own utility at the expense of the public? This article examines municipal bond decisions in the context of principal-agent theory based on data collected through a random sample survey of municipal bond issuers. Principal-agent theory is not well developed in the public sector. In the municipal bond industry, however, we have evidence that it helps explain the actions of public managers and elected officials, in particular for pay to play and the importance of interest rates vis-à-vis relationships. These actions carry potential costs to citizens.     

Municipal Bond Sales in Foreign Markets: Experience and Results

This article reviews the issue of state economic development financial incentives and the more development specific issue of engaging foreign capital markets as a source of funds for state industrial incentive in the post-TRA86 environment. An ex post empirical analysis of such a transaction is provided by revisiting the KDFA yen bond transaction. Observations and policy conclusions are also discussed.     

Competition and Selection in Municipal Bond Sales: Evidence from Missouri

This article describes the results of an interest cost analysis of local government debt issuance in the State of Missouri. In Missouri the vast majority of municipal bonds are sold on a “no bid” basis. We discuss the theoretical arguments for and against competition and selection. Then we determine the degree to which cost differences exist while correcting for any potential selection bias. We use data on local government general obligation bonds sold from May 2004 to May 2005 provided by the Missouri State Auditor's office. We find that this substantial lack of competition imposes significant costs on Missouri governments.