城乡居民收入差距问题研究

城乡居民收入差距拉大,应引起高度重视。本文通过对城乡居民收入水平的实证分析,论证了差距形成的原因,从经济决策的角度提出了治理对策。     

负所得税：我国最低生活保障制度改革的方向

尽管经济学家对负所得税有种种反对意见,其在我国的具体实施也面临一些难题,但是在处理公平与效率、调动低收入者的积极性方面负所得税仍不失为一种较好的解决之道。我国政府应尽快实施负所得税政策来充实我国的最低生活保障制度。     

社会资本视角下的中国农民增收

从社会资本的视角出发,可以发现,农民的人际关系资源短缺、特殊主义的信任观以及合作意识的匮乏等消极性社会资本阻碍了农民收入的增长。因此促进农民增收,既需要提升农民的物质资本与人力资本的存量,也需要通过改变农民的关系网络结构、增强农民的组织能力与组织化程度、树立现代性信任观等来提高农民的社会资本存量。     

Transfer Pricing in BEPS Project and China's Response

A major concern on base erosion and profit shifting (BEPS) is transfer pricing, which is discussed in BEPS Action Items 8–10 and 13. Actions 8–10 contain revised guidance, which ensures that transfer pricing rules secure outcomes that better align operational profits with the economic activities that generate them, as well as guidance on transactions involving cross-border commodity transactions and on low value-adding intra-group services. Action 13 contains a three-tiered standardized approach to transfer pricing documentation, including a minimum standard on country-by-country reports (CbCRs). However, the approach of Actions 8–10 still focuses on the restoration of the dysfunctional rules built on the arm’s length principle, which is rooted in the principle of separate independent entity. The threshold of Action 13 excludes many large multinational enterprises (MNEs) from the CbCR requirement and deprives developing countries access to the information of MNEs below the threshold. Chapter 6 of the Chinese Corporate Income Tax Law, under the title “Special Tax Adjustments,” provided the legal foundations of transfer pricing and transfer pricing documentation in China. To effectively implement the BEPS package in China and to comprehensively update the existing Circular 2, the State Taxation Administration (STA) released a Discussion Draft of a Circular on Implementation Measures for Special Tax Adjustments in September 2015, ranging from Action 3 (controlled foreign company rules), Action 8–10 (aligning transfer pricing outcomes with value creation) to Action 13 (transfer pricing documentation and country-by-country reporting) in details. Right now, a series of patches, such as the STA Bulletins 45, 42, 64, and 6, have been made to replace a substantial part of Circular 2.     

Education and economic growth in the United States: cross-national applications for an intra-national path analysis

Do the leading predictors of economic growth found in the cross-national research have a capacity to predict economic growth at the state level in the United States (US)? Are the effects of education spending on economic growth underestimated because research fails to examine the indirect effects of spending on economic growth? This article presents the findings from a study investigating the relationship between education and economic growth in US states while controlling for the effects of the leading predictors of economic growth from the cross-national research. It also utilizes a path model to examine direct and indirect relationships between education spending and economic growth measured as per capita income growth. The results indicate that spending on higher education and highway expenditures demonstrate a positive association with growth in per capita income, while K12 (kindergarten through 12th grade) spending and K12 pupil–teacher ratios demonstrate a negative association with income growth from 1988 to 2005. Moreover, K12 spending and population growth indirectly affect income growth through their relationship with K12 pupil–teacher ratios, and spending on higher education indirectly affects income growth through college attainment rates. Overall, all but one variable from the cross-national research demonstrates a significant direct or indirect relationship with income growth during at least one time-period investigated. Treating K12 pupil–teacher ratios and college attainment as mediating variables also enhances our understanding of the dynamics that explain growth in per capita income at the sub-national level in the US. However, some unexpected findings emerge when the data are analyzed on the basis of two eight-year sub-periods.     

The Case Against Participation Income—Political,Not Merely Administrative

This article develops the position we have taken in debate with Anthony Atkinson that a participation income (PI) would be problematic from an administrative and political point of view. We argue that Atkinson remains far too optimistic about the magnitude of administrative difficulties a PI would face. Negotiating these difficulties will inevitably involve the sort of political trade‐offs PI is supposedly able to avoid when compared to its more controversial cousin, the unconditional basic income. The enduring significance of ‘The case for a participation income’, we argue, lies in the often neglected point that Atkinson intends a PI as a supplement to an eroding contribution‐based welfare state. In the current political and fiscal environment, the case for a universal support scheme set below the rate of subsistence, and supplemented by other forms of welfare support, deserves careful re‐examination.     

Work,Leisure, and Care: A Gender Perspective on the Participation Income

In ‘The case for a participation income’, Anthony Atkinson identified unconditionality as an obstacle to support for a citizen's income. He advocated prioritising the universality and individuality of a citizen's income but replacing its unconditionality with a ‘participation’ requirement. At the time, Atkinson's critique read as political realism: to eliminate means‐testing, make a concession to the fear of free‐riding. Ironically, Atkinson remained opposed to unconditionality despite his own critical contributions to documenting the growing income and wealth inequality that have increased support for an unconditional basic income. In this article I consider the ‘participation’ requirement from a gender perspective in order to uncover the problematic notions of ‘dependence’, ‘independence’, reciprocity, and free‐riding that underlie normative arguments for conditional over unconditional benefits. Employing such a perspective demonstrates the superiority of unconditional benefits in achieving more efficient and effective income support and reducing inequality—Atkinson's core commitments throughout his distinguished career.     

Do Local Economic Conditions Affect Homelessness? Impact of Area Housing Market Factors,Unemployment, and Poverty on Community Homeless Rates

This article estimates the impact of local housing and labor market conditions on area homelessness using the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development's (HUD’s) annual point-in-time counts of homelessness from 2007 to 2014. In cross-sectional models, the median rent, the share of households in rental housing, and the poverty rate have strong positive impacts on homelessness. Once area-fixed effects are included, only the median rent remains positive and significant. However, fixed-effect models find a positive relationship between poverty and homelessness in communities that maintain right-to-shelter policies, suggesting constraints in shelter bed supply may limit responses of homelessness to changes in economic conditions.     

Impact of trade and investment on income surge in Bangladesh: Evidence from trade liberalization regime

Trade and investment are crucial drivers of economic growth. Successful execution of trade and investment policy can elevate a developing country to a sustained growth path and make it self-reliant. Bangladesh implemented a trade liberalization policy in the 1980s, deviating much from its conservative trade policy. This article assesses the impacts of trade, investment in physical as well as human capital, and a few trade policy variables on income surge for the liberalized regime. The econometric analysis finds that export, import, and domestic investment stimulate income. The impact of foreign investment is not conducive. Public spending on education also contributes to the income surge. Among the policy variables, trade openness and currency depreciation produce a beneficial impact. Population growth retards economic growth. The baseline results hold in the estimations involving several specifications of variables and testified as robust. The article views that a comprehensive approach to trade and investment policy would ensure the comparative advantage of trade and the well-being of Bangladesh.