基于居民收入倍增视角下我国民生财政发展与问题研究

十八大报告明确指出我国在2020年实现居民收入倍增,为我国经济发展指明了方向。自新中国成立以来,随着经济的发展,我国公共财政逐渐向民生财政发生演变。笔者通过Eviews软件分析了民生财政与经济增长之间的密切相关性,同时指出虽然民生财政支出结构在经济增长的环境下不断优化,但是还存在一般公共服务支出占民生财政比重过大、医疗卫生比例还需要提高、教育支出占民生财政支出比重不均衡、社会保障和就业支出整体水平偏低等问题,因此,在居民收入倍增的计划下,优化民生财政结构尤其重要,应通过降低一般性公共服务支出、提高医疗卫生比例和教育支出、增加社会保障和就业支出等措施满足居民收入倍增环境下对社会保障的需要。     

论我国区域税收增长与区域经济发展关系

在我国的区域经济发展中,税收水平的增长差异对区域经济发展的差异产生了一定的影响.一方面,东部地区和中西部地区相比,宏观税率和税收增长率对经济增长的抑制效应不同;另一方面,由于我国区域经济发展存在很大的不平衡性,与之相联系的经济结构调整、产业结构转移、扩大对外开放、经济逐渐融入全球化、市场化和城市化等差异深刻地影响了税收增长的程度和方式.因此,要提高中西部地区经济增长的税收贡献度,应建立中西部地区经济增长与宏观税负之间良性互动的影响机制;增强中西部地区承受税收负担冲击的能力及处理税收与财政支出关系的理财能力.     

论地方财政社会保障支出区域差异的影响因素及其效应——基于西北五省区面板数据实证分析

采用西北五省区1998-2010的数据,先通过利用时间序列数据对其财政社会保障支出做出定性的分析,然后通过面板数据模型对西北五省区的财政社会保障支出的影响因素及其效应进行了实证分析.研究表明,各因素对财政社会保障支出存在差异,但影响具有区域一致性.实证分析意义在于,财政社会保障支出怎样才能更好的为这一地区服务,并且应重视变量间的长期关系,以保障西北地区经济良性互动,通过对实证结果的分析,提出合理的政策建议.     

调整财政支出结构,促进政府职能转变

财政支出结构取决于政府该做的事情中，哪些该多做就多支出，哪些该少做则少支出。政府职能的实施，是以一定的财力作后盾，作为物质基础的。因此，财政支出结构与政府职能之间存在着内在的、必然的联系。 一、我国与市场经济国家财政支出结构的比较 我国目前的财政支出结构与市场经济国家如美国相比较，如下表所示： 从上表资料可以看出，两国资源配置结构出入较大，具体表现在三个方面：第一，中国生产支出占财政总支出的比重为美国的７．４倍；第二，美国的社会保障支出占财政总支出的比重为中国的６．３倍；第三，中国行政管理费用支出…     

河北省社会保障水平的适度性分析

社会保障水平是反映一个国家或地区经济发展和人民生活水平的重要指标。本文应用社会保障理论与适度水平测算模型,对河北省社会保障支出水平的适度性问题进行了系统分析,并进一步提出相应的政策建议。     

财政分权与地方政府行政管理支出——基于中国省级面板数据的实证研究

行政管理支出具有双重属性:过多的支出不利于经济增长,使地方政府在竞争中处于劣势而不利于官员的晋升,同时有违中央政府的宏观政策目标;但能直接提高地方政府官员个人的福利水平。所以,地方政府及官员对行政管理支出存在两难选择。本文利用我国30个省(自治区、直辖市)1998—2006年的面板数据对财政分权与行政管理支出的关系进行实证研究和稳健性检验。主要结论是:在中国特色财政分权的制度环境下,地方政府在财政支出自由裁量权扩大时,总体效应是加大了行政管理支出的规模。同时,行政人员规模与行政管理支出存在显著的正相关关系。地区经济发展水平、资源禀赋、社会结构等因素对行政管理支出也有显著性的影响。在公共财政体制改革的背景下,其他公共财政支出项目(社会保障支出除外)对行政管理支出存在显著的"挤出"效应。     

着力落实以民生为导向的财政政策

近年来我国实施以民生为导向的财政政策,民生状况有了很大改善.但其在实施过程中还存在着许多问题,主要表现为:用于民生领域的财政支出仍显不足,财政支出管理和控制机制尚未健全,民生支出难以实现持续高增长等.因此,要着力落实以民生为导向的财政政策,不断优化财政支出结构,完善财政转移支付制度,规范权力运作机制,支持社会保障体系建设,完善收入分配政策,建立充分反映民意的利益表达机制和以民生为导向的政府绩效评估机制,健全各级政府财力与事权相匹配的财政体制.     

中国公共卫生财政资源分配公平性研究——基于社会剥夺的视角

"社会剥夺"是社会心理学的重要概念体系,本研究旨在基于社会剥夺的视角,对中国公共卫生财政分配的公平性及其公平性缺口进行定量评估.研究发现中国大部分西部和中部地区比多数东部地区具有较高的社会剥夺水平;较高社会剥夺水平的地区,其居民健康需求也较高;中国公共卫生财政资源地区间分布的公平性较差且部分地区公平性缺口较大;但公平性有逐年变好的趋势,这主要归功于政府对人均投入均等化的关注而并非对居民健康需求差异的关注.建议在新一轮医改中,政府应对公共卫生服务的"均等化"准确定位;应逐步建立以需求为导向的平等可及的转移支付机制,重点关注农业人口比重较大的地区,优先支持公平性缺口较大的地区;尽早开发科学有效的财政资源分配工具等.     

社会保障水平与经济发展的适应性关系研究

在对社会保障水平发展系数诠释的基础上,对社会保障水平增长与经济发展之间的适应性关系进行了实证研究,认为在社会保障制度发展初期,社会保障水平增长普遍慢于经济的增长,社会保障能充分发挥其基本功能;在社会保障制度的高度发达乃至危机时期,社会保障水平增长普遍快于经济的增长,而社会保障水平增长过度会产生不良的社会经济影响;在社会保障制度改革时期,社会保障水平增长回落,又恢复到与经济发展的适应性状态。近年来,我国城市社会保障水平增长同经济增长基本适应,而农村社会保障水平增长波动性较大,与经济发展不相适应,主要是因为农村社会保障缺乏稳定的制度安排。当前我国社会保障制度发展的重点应是:一方面加强对城市社会保障水平增长的适度控制;另一方面加快农村社会保障制度建设的步伐。     

云南省财政支出结构与城乡居民收入差距的实证研究

本文利用云南省1995-2005年数据对云南省财政支出结构与城乡居民收入差距进行了实证研究,结果发现:基本建设支出、农业支出、财政转移支付支出、文教科学卫生事业支出及企业挖潜改造支出占财政总支出份额的增加缩小了城乡居民收入差距,而行政管理支出占财政总支出份额的增加则拉大了城乡居民收入差距.因此有必要对云南省的财政支出结构进行优化,最大限度地发挥财政政策对统筹城乡经济发展的积极作用.     

Regional differences and sustainable development in China

Sustainable development has become a significant consideration in economic development and environment policy in China. Because of its size, China’s sustainable development has global implications. The issue is further complicated by China’s growing regional differences. Excessive regional disparties are obviously harmful to the interests of the less developed regions. They are even more unpalatable in this socialist country which takes pride in reducing inequalities. Serious regional disparities will bring along social and political instability, and may even generate demands for regional autonomy. This article first attempts to analyze regional development in China in the context of sustainable development; and to examine the inter-relationships among poverty relief, population growth, environment protection, natural endowment and regional differences in China. The Chinese leadership in recent years has shown considerable commitment to accelerate the development of the central and western regions to reduce regional disparities. Before 2010, however, the Chinese leadership can only aim to slow down the expansion of regional disparities. The authors would like to express their gratitude for a generous grant from the Pacific Cultural Foundation in Taiwan in support of this research project. He is also a vice-president of the Senior Professors’ Association of China.     

India's regional disparity and its policy responses

Regional disparities are an alarming issue in India, and it has been widening in spite of various policy initiatives by the government to develop backward areas. The fruit of high growth have not been distributed fairly across India's different regions and have given rise to the threat of regional inequality. Disparities in social and economic development, employment, and infrastructure amenities across the regions and within regions have been a major challenge to policy makers and economists. This paper is an attempt to understand the recent picture of regional imbalance in India across its states. The paper tries to analyze the existing regional disparity in India in terms of macroeconomic aggregates, social and economic infrastructure, and human development. The paper also examines the various policy initiatives taken by the government of India to achieve the regional balance in development.     

Cohesion in the European community: Illusion or reality?

The EC's regional policy is faced with the issue of the impact of market integration on the goals of economic and social cohesion in the Community. There are two major approaches in the literature in predicting the consequences of market integration on cohesion. The first approach stresses the divergence of levels of development while the second predicts that a gradual reduction of disparities will take place. To test these two hypotheses an analysis of regional and national level data covering the first nine member states of the Community over a 40‐year period is conducted. The results demonstrate that there has been a constant and significant convergence in levels of economic and social cohesion in the Community and within nation states during the last 40 years.     

Regionalism through social policy: collective action and health diplomacy in South America

Abstract

This paper is concerned with the place of social policy as a driver of region building in South America. The contention is that while much has been written about economic integration, institutions and security communities in regionalism, a discussion of the significance of other regional projects has lagged behind. Social policy, particularly in the Americas, has been neglected as a policy domain in the account of regionalism. Changes in the political economy of Latin America in the last decade suggest that we need to engage afresh with regional governance and social policy formation in the Americas. By looking at the institutions, resources and policy action in the area of health within the Union of South American Nations (UNASUR) this paper reconnects regionalism and social policy and explores two interrelated, yet largely unexplored, issues: the linkages between regional integration and social development beyond the historical hub of trade and finance; and the capacity of UNASUR to enable new policies for collective action in support of social development goals in the region, and to act as a broker of rights-based demands in global health governance. In so doing, the paper contributes towards a more nuanced understanding of regionalism and regionalization as alternative forms of regional governance.     

China,the United States,and order transition in East Asia: An economy-security Nexus approach

A dualistic-order thesis has been emerged as a widely-used concept to describe East Asia’s regional dynamics. According to the thesis, the economic and security spheres of the region have become divorced from one other, whereby China and the United States dominate the economic and security realms, respectively. This paper demonstrates the deficiencies of this thesis, based on a comprehensive assessment of the economic and security developments in the region, as well as the strategic choices of small and middle regional powers. In order to form a more accurate and systematic understanding of regional prosperity and stability, this paper develops an economy-security nexus approach by integrating the interactions of regional actors in both the economic and security realms into a unified framework. From this perspective, East Asian regional order is sustained by a delicate coupling of regional economic and security configurations: ‘hot economics’ is accompanied with cooperative security interactions. Although China and the United States are not the dominant actors in either field, their relatively benign interactions in both realms collectively play a significant role by shaping the strategic environment for regional actors, allowing them to enjoy a large degree of strategic flexibility and increase their security and prosperity.     

Trade,export controls,and non‐proliferation in the Asia‐Pacific region

Abstract

Stemming the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction (WMD) — nuclear, biological, and chemical — and the missiles to deliver them comprises a crucial element in contemporary security policies. Many observers believe the utility of export controls in this effort is diminishing. While the authors believe that controls on the transfer of military and dual‐use items remain relatively effective and efficient compared to the alternative policy tools, they argue for the development of a more compelling rationale for export controls than restraining proliferation. The authors suggest that an emphasis on the links between non‐proliferation, regional stability, and economic prosperity could help policymakers transcend the more traditional view that such controls sacrifice economic gain for military security. Specifically, the authors argue that proliferation is bad for regional stability and regional economic growth, and that a prudent multilateral system of controls on dual‐use items establishes a foundation for both greater economic and security benefits.     

Environmental protection and US–Asia relations: a policy of disconnect

Despite the post-September 11 focus on regional security and the continued emphasis on regional economic cooperation, environmental degradation should not be overlooked as an important issue for US policy in and relationship with the Asia-Pacific. It is an important issue in its own right, presenting the countries of the region with ecological, economic and social (human security) challenges. There are both ethical and instrumental impulses for the United States, as a rich indus­trialised country and as a disproportionate consumer of resources and polluter of global waste, to provide environmental assistance to the Asia-Pacific. Despite global demands that the ‘new’ new world (environmental) order should be based on solidarity and collective responsibility, neither US environmental policy towards the region nor the regional consequences of its international environmental policy more generally meet this test. The US is fundamentally self-regarding rather than other-regarding in the various dimensions of its environmental relationship with the region. The consequences for both the region and for the US may be substantial. Continued environmental degradation in the region has the potential to undermine other US policy goals, in terms of its reputation, it economic objectives and even its more orthodox geopolitical security objectives.     

Pipelines,crisis and capital: understanding the contested regionalism of Southeast Asia

Abstract

Via an analysis of the trans-ASEAN gas pipeline project (TAGP), in this article we argue for a reconceptualising of the regional dynamics of Southeast Asia and the forces shaping them. For this task, we propose an analytical framework based upon social conflict theory that delves within and beyond the state, and which places emphasis upon the roles of both material and ideological factors operating across time in the reordering of particular geographical spaces. The framework reveals that the tensions acting within and upon ASEAN and the TAGP influence regionalism in such a way that the gas pipeline project – much like other ‘regional’ projects – is unlikely to ever come close to fulfilling its brief of enhancing regional security and cohesion. What is more probable is that the project's form will continue to be conditioned by entrenched politico-economic realities and the influence of dominant ideologies – factors which have the capacity to exacerbate existing regional animosities and disparities.     

Learning from the Philippine occupation: nation‐building and institutional development in Iraq and other high security risk nations

Outcomes of armed conflict in Afghanistan and Iraq indicate that the U.S. has been unprepared to fully address problems related to establishing social and economic stability, security and governance in the aftermath of war. This is unfortunate, given that U.S. policy makers' nation‐building efforts to achieve stability, security and good governance in these nations do not reflect what they should already have learnt about organisational and institutional development from past experiences providing significant development assistance to highly unstable nations. Based on the analysis rendered in this article, ‘smart practice’ development administration in such nations comprises the following key points that link nation building to institutional/organisational development:

• Nation building (creating new national sovereignty) is different from, and harder than, building government capacity (creating or strengthening institutions and organisations).
• Given that building government capacity typically requires years of patient assistance and financing, it is better to build on existing indigenous institutions like the civil service and military.
• The time and expense of development assistance to high security risk nations means that it is advisable to establish a multi‐lateral development assistance plan and a multi‐national, multi‐institutional framework for financing development to pay for all that is necessary over a long period of time (i.e. 20–50 years).
• Policy makers should emphasise social stability and stable economic growth under self‐governance to prevent actual or perceived economic exploitation.
• Policy makers' diplomatic efforts should secure accommodation of various stakeholders sufficient to permit compromise leading to formation of an independent government.
• Where occupation appears necessary to achieve security and stability, policy makers should allocate enough troops and money to do the job, and accurately assess and report all costs of military occupation and nation building.
• Once occupation has occurred, policy makers should not withdraw military support in a way that would increase the likelihood of civil war.
• Premature withdrawal of security, economic and political support prior to the point where high security risk nations are capable of governing themselves will cause a power vacuum, and may result in fragmented regional leadership by warlords. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

     

Political and social rights for second country nationals: freedom of movement and citizenship in Australasia

Agreements allowing regional freedom of movement inevitably raise questions about the citizenship status and rights of those who exercise regional mobility. In the case of the European Union, such questions have received considerable academic attention, particularly since the creation of European citizenship in 1992. Little attention has been paid to Australasia, where a long-standing freedom of movement agreement, the trans-Tasman Travel Arrangement (TTTA), permits New Zealanders and Australians to live and work indefinitely in each others' country. As the two countries pursue a single economic market, the TTTA has played a central role in facilitating the creation of a regional labour market. Changes to Australian social security and citizenship legislation, however, have meant that many New Zealanders permanently resident in Australia have limited social and political rights, and no access to citizenship. This article extends debates about whether the political and social rights of citizenship ought to be granted to second-country nationals into the Australasian context. It examines a range of arrangements by which citizenship could be protected during the current period of intense economic integration in Australasia, asking which provides the best fit with existing constitutional and political arrangements.