Do citizens care about government debt? Evidence from survey experiments on budgetary priorities

Ever since the Great Recession, public debt has become politicised. Some research suggests that citizens are fiscally conservative, while other research shows that they punish governments for implementing fiscal consolidation. This begs the question of whether and how much citizens care about debt. We argue that debt is not a priority for citizens because reducing it involves spending and tax trade-offs. Using a split-sample experiment and a conjoint experiment in four European countries, we show that fiscal consolidation at the cost of spending cuts or taxes hikes is less popular than commonly assumed. Revenue-based consolidation is especially unpopular, but expenditure-based consolidation is also contested. Moreover, the public has clear fiscal policy priorities: People do not favour lower debt and taxes, but they support higher progressive taxes to pay for more government spending. The article furthers our understanding of public opinion on fiscal policies and the likely political consequences of austerity.     

Norm-making,norm-taking or norm-shifting? A case study of Sino–Japanese competition in the Jakarta–Bandung high-speed rail project

This paper’s main aim is to contribute to the debate on the impact of China’s rise on the established norms and practices in the field of international development. To do so, it zooms in on a single infrastructure project, the Jakarta-Bandung high-speed rail line, which involved intense competition between China and Japan. Specifically, it examines how competition between China, a non-Western emerging power, and Japan, an OECD member, led to a recalibration of both China and Japan’s approaches to infrastructure financing in the region. The findings suggest that rather than straight convergence or competition between diverging models, there is an ongoing process of two-way adjustment between China, and representatives of the dominant global norms and practices. We also argue that to understand the implications of China’s participation in the field of international development, and its impact on the ‘rules of the game’ of global governance, researchers should avoid positioning inquiries within the premises of China’s one-directional impact on the development assistance regime. Rather, it is necessary to take into account a complex set of relationships including China, host countries and other ‘socialised’ actors, and the process of negotiation between them.     

论个人独资企业债务承担

个人独资企业虽不具有法人人格,但其独立的商事主体地位不可否认。我国法律对个人独资企业转让后的债务承担问题并未明确。本文通过对国内外不同观点及立法例的比较认为,个人独资企业转让后,原投资人对在其经营期间欠下的债务应当与现投资人承担补充连带责任;个人独资企业财产不足以清偿企业债务时,应当适用双重优先原则,使企业债务和投资人个人债务均能得到合理受偿。     

城投债的实质及规范发展研究

城投债是我国地方政府为规避《预算法》的规定而采用的一种新型融资方式,在当前的经济环境下,其存在有一定的合理性,但企业债券的外观和政府债券的本质导致其发展面临着一系列的问题.从长远来看,应赋予地方政府发行市政债券的权力,但目前国家应认可城投债特殊的法律地位,并从监管和信息披露等方面规范城投公司的发债行为.     

西方主权债务危机与人民币国际化

长期以来,人民币国际化一直是一个备受争议的问题。随着美国金融危机的逐步加深,西方主要国家爆发了大规模主权债务危机。美欧经济必将进入一个新的历史节点,世界经济也会因此而进行一次重新洗牌,我国人民币国际化问题因此也面临着全新的挑战与机遇。     

Financial Risk Analysis on Establishing Tibet Carbon Sink Areas

正Tibet has a vast area of forest and grasslands with a powerful potential for decreasing the quantity of CO2.We should exploit such ecological advantages by setting up a special Tibet carbon sink areas.As Tibet has not formed the perfect financing mechanism,the Tibetan carbon sink trade faces financing risk.This paper discusses the reasons for this risk from the perspectives of the recovery period for carbon     

加快黔东南州融资性担保公司建设的调研报告

加快黔东南州融资担保公司建设意义重大。通过对担保公司自身建设及其与银行、企业合作过程中存在的问题的分析研究,加快黔东南州融资性担保公司建设,应进一步做强做大现有州内融资性担保机构,从加强公司自身管理、加大与银行业务合作和加强政府管理服务工作等方面着力。     

The G20 after Los Cabos: Illusions of Global Economic Governance

The failure of the Los Cabos summit to satisfactorily address the European sovereign debt crisis and ominous world economic outlook, let alone agree on concrete measures to improve the oversight and functioning of the global economy, appears to confirm the diminishing effectiveness and relevance of the G20 as an organ of international governance since its inception in December 2008. While few accomplishments were achieved in the area of global governance during the Mexican presidency, acute collective action problems, made worse by the present economic crisis, paralysed the G20 in the lead-up to and during the Los Cabos summit. These collective action problems and the ensuing failure of global governance are attributable to the absence of leadership evident at both the global and European levels, which in turn testifies to the excessive dispersion of state economic and political power within the international system.     

破解小微企业融资困境的法律对策

融资难是制约小微企业发展的一个主要问题,而造成小微企业融资难的原因是多方面的.本文认为,应从完善融资担保方式、大力发展小型融资机构、加大政策性金融支持力度、实施差异化金融监管、拓展直接融资渠道等方面解决小微企业的融资难题.     

吉林省民营企业融资难的法律思考

民营经济在我国国民经济中占有举足轻重的地位。但当前,制约民营经济发展的主要原因是融资问题。吉林省民营经济融资难不仅有金融体系的缺欠问题,也有民营企业自身的诚信问题,更有法律法规政策等大环境的因素。因此,解决吉林省民营经济融资难的问题是一个系统工程,政府、金融机构、民营企业都应积极创新融资理念,拓宽融资渠道,充分发挥律师在解决吉林省民营企业融资难问题中的作用。