|
on Public Economics |
| By: | Randall S. Jones; Satoshi Urasawa |
| Abstract: | With gross government debt surpassing 200% of GDP, Japan’s fiscal situation is in uncharted territory. In addition to robust nominal GDP growth, correcting two decades of budget deficits requires a large and sustained fiscal consolidation based on a detailed and credible multi-year plan that includes measures to control spending and raise revenue. On the spending side, reforms to contain ageing-related outlays are the priority, while the consumption tax should be the main source of additional revenue, given that its impact on economic activity is less negative than other taxes. The plan should target a primary budget surplus large enough to stabilise the public debt ratio by 2020. The fiscal policy framework should be improved to help reinforce confidence in Japan's fiscal position and prevent a run-up in interest rates. Higher consumption taxes should be accompanied by well-targeted social spending, including the introduction of an earned income tax credit, to prevent a rise in inequality and poverty. This Working Paper relates to the 2013 OECD Economic Survey of Japan (www.oecd.org/eco/surveys/japan)<P>Rétablir la viabilité des finances publiques au Japon<BR>Avec une dette publique brute dépassant 200 % du PIB, les finances publiques japonaises sont en territoire inconnu. Outre une forte croissance du PIB nominal, il faudra, pour remédier à deux décennies de déficit budgétaire, un assainissement important et soutenu des finances publiques dans le cadre d’un plan pluriannuel détaillé et crédible qui comprenne des mesures visant à limiter les dépenses et accroître les recettes. S’agissant des dépenses, la priorité est donnée aux réformes destinées à contenir les dépenses liées au vieillissement, et l’impôt sur la consommation devra constituer la principale source de recettes supplémentaires puisqu’il a, sur l’activité économique, une incidence moins négative que les autres impôts. Le plan devra viser un excédent budgétaire primaire suffisant pour stabiliser le ratio d’endettement d’ici 2020. Le cadre de la politique budgétaire devra être amélioré pour aider à renforcer la confiance dans les finances publiques japonais et éviter une remontée rapide des taux d’intérêt. La hausse de l’impôt sur la consommation devra s’accompagner de dépenses sociales bien ciblées, notamment d’une réduction de la fiscalité dur travail, pour empêcher une aggravation des inégalités et de la pauvreté. Ce Document de travail a trait à l’Étude économique de l’OCDE du Japon, 2013 (www.oecd.org/eco/etudes/japon). |
| Keywords: | public debt, fiscal policy, pensions, social security, fiscal consolidation, fiscal sustainability, poverty, consumption tax, Japanese economy, inequality, Abenomics, debt dynamics, fiscal management strategy, independent fiscal councils, reconstruction spending, dette publique, politique budgétaire, sécurité sociale, viabilité budgétaire, pauvreté, assainissement budgétaire, économie japonaise, inégalité, impôts sur la consommation, Abenomics, dynamique de la dette, stratégie de gestion budgétaire, conseils budgétaires indépendants, dépenses de reconstruction |
| JEL: | H2 H5 H6 |
| Date: | 2013–05–23 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oec:ecoaaa:1050-en&r=pbe |
| By: | Oliver Denk; Robert Hagemann; Patrick Lenain; Valentin Somma |
| Abstract: | Income inequality and relative poverty in the United States are among the highest in the OECD and have substantially increased over the past decades. These developments have been associated with a number of other worrying statistics, including low intergenerational social mobility and weak real income growth for many households. A more inclusive pattern of growth would require less pronounced gaps in outcomes and opportunities across social groups and a broader sharing of the benefits of growth. The present paper analyses the causes of US income inequality and relative poverty in an OECD context, especially the role of the tax-and-transfer system, and suggests public policies to promote inclusive growth. To a significant degree, high income inequality is attributable to the large dispersion of earned income, which should be addressed by reforming education, so as to provide disadvantaged students with the skills needed to fully realise their potential. In addition, taxes and transfers contribute less to income redistribution than in other OECD countries. If well designed, reforms that promote inclusive growth could also help reduce the market distortions resulting from the current tax-and-transfer system. In particular, phasing out personal and corporate tax expenditures that disproportionately benefit high earners would lower income inequality and improve resource allocation. As well, social transfers could be more effective in alleviating poverty through better targeting of the truly needy while reducing administrative complexity.<P>Inégalités et pauvreté aux États-Unis : Des politiques publiques en faveur d'une croissance inclusive<BR>Les inégalités de revenus et la pauvreté relative aux États-Unis sont parmi les plus élevées de l’OCDE et se sont considérablement accentuées au cours des dernières décennies. Ces phénomènes se doublent d’un certain nombre d’autres données préoccupantes, notamment la faiblesse de la mobilité sociale intergénérationnelle et l’évolution du revenu réel de nombreux ménages. Une structure de croissance plus inclusive impliquerait de combler les écarts dans la situation et les opportunités offertes aux différents groupes sociaux et un plus large partage des bénéfices de la croissance. La présente étude passe en revue les causes des inégalités de revenus et de la pauvreté relative aux États- Unis par rapport aux pays de l’OCDE, notamment le rôle du système de prélèvements et de prestations, et propose des mesures pour promouvoir une croissance mieux partagée. L’ampleur des inégalités de revenus s’explique dans une large mesure par la forte dispersion des revenus du travail, à laquelle il faudrait s’attaquer en réformant l’éducation pour que les étudiants issus de milieux défavorisés puissent acquérir les compétences dont ils ont besoin pour réaliser pleinement leur potentiel. En outre, le système de prélèvements et de prestations contribue moins à la redistribution du revenu que dans d’autres pays de l’OCDE. À condition d’être bien étudiées, des réformes favorisant une croissance inclusive pourraient également aider à réduire les distorsions de marché induites par le système actuel de prélèvements et de prestations. En particulier, la suppression progressive des dépenses fiscales en faveur des particuliers et des entreprises, qui favorisent les hauts revenus de manière disproportionnée, aurait pour effet d’atténuer les inégalités de revenus et d’améliorer l’allocation des ressources. De même, les transferts sociaux pourraient être employés plus efficacement à faire reculer la pauvreté si l’on ciblait mieux les bénéficiaires réellement nécessiteux tout en réduisant la complexité administrative des programmes. |
| Keywords: | tax system, United States, capital taxation, poverty, income inequality, tax expenditures, social welfare system, inclusive growth, education systems, income redistribution, transfer system, social insurance, means-tested transfers, États-Unis, dépense fiscale, pauvreté, système éducatif, inégalité des revenus, imposition du capital, système fiscal, croissance inclusive, redistribution du revenu, bien-être social, système de transferts, assurance sociale, transferts sous condition de ressource |
| JEL: | D31 D63 H2 H5 H7 I3 |
| Date: | 2013–05–27 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oec:ecoaaa:1052-en&r=pbe |
| By: | Callan, Tim; Savage, Michael |
| Keywords: | taxes/Ireland/Comparative/qec |
| Date: | 2013–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:esr:resnot:rn2012/4/1&r=pbe |
| By: | Karim Azizi (CES - Centre d'économie de la Sorbonne - CNRS : UMR8174 - Université Paris I - Panthéon-Sorbonne); Nicolas Canry (CES - Centre d'économie de la Sorbonne - CNRS : UMR8174 - Université Paris I - Panthéon-Sorbonne); Jean-Bernard Chatelain (CES - Centre d'économie de la Sorbonne - CNRS : UMR8174 - Université Paris I - Panthéon-Sorbonne, EEP-PSE - Ecole d'Économie de Paris - Paris School of Economics - Ecole d'Économie de Paris); Bruno Tinel (CES - Centre d'économie de la Sorbonne - CNRS : UMR8174 - Université Paris I - Panthéon-Sorbonne) |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates the relevance of the No-Ponzi game condition for public debt (i.e. the public debt growth rates has to be lower than the real interest rate, a necessary assumption for Ricardian equivalence) and of the transversality condition for the GDP growth rate (i.e. the GDP growth rate has to be lower than the real interest rate). First, on the unbalanced panel of 21 countries from 1961 to 2010 available in OECD database, those two conditions were simultaneously validated only for 29% of the cases under examination. Second, those two conditions were more frequent in the 1980s and the 1990s when monetary policies were more restrictive. Third, in tune with the Keynesian view, when the real interest rate is higher than the GDP growth, it corresponds to 75% of the cases of the increases of the debt/GDP ratio but to only 43% of the cases of the decreases of the debt/GDP ratio (fiscal consolidations). |
| Keywords: | Government solvency; austerity; fiscal consolidation; No-Ponzi game condition; transversality condition; Keynesian countercyclical budgetary policy; monetary policy; economic growth |
| Date: | 2013–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:cesptp:halshs-00825446&r=pbe |
| By: | Richard Blundell (Institute for Fiscal Studies and University College London); Monica Costa Dias (Institute for Fiscal Studies and Institute for Fiscal Studies); Costas Meghir (Institute for Fiscal Studies and Yale University); Jonathan Shaw (Institute for Fiscal Studies) |
| Abstract: | We consider the impact of tax credits and income support programs on female education choice, employment, hours and human capital accumulation over the life-cycle. We analyse both the short run incentive effects and the longer run implications of such programs. By allowing for risk aversion and savings, we quantify the insurance value of alternative programs. We find important incentive effects on education choice and labour supply, with single mothers having the most elastic labour supply. Returns to labour market experience are found to be substantial but only for full-time employment, and especially for women with more than basic formal education. For those with lower education the welfare programs are shown to have substantial insurance value. Based on the model, marginal increases to tax credits are preferred to equally costly increases in income support and to tax cuts, except by those in the highest education group. |
| Date: | 2013–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ifs:ifsewp:13/10&r=pbe |
| By: | HASEGAWA Makoto; KIYOTA Kozo |
| Abstract: | The design of international tax policies, including whether and how to tax corporate incomes earned in foreign countries, has received a great deal of attention from policymakers and economists. The United States taxes foreign source income upon repatriation under the worldwide tax system and has long discussed changing the current corporate tax system to a territorial tax system that exempts foreign income from home taxation. Japan had a worldwide tax system similar to that in the United States, but moved to a territorial tax system by introducing a foreign dividend exemption in April 2009. This paper examines the effect of dividend exemption on profit repatriations by Japanese multinationals. We find that while the dividend exemption system stimulated dividend payments by foreign affiliates on average, their responses to dividend exemption were heterogeneous. Foreign affiliates not paying dividends under the worldwide tax system did not start to do so as a result of the legislation. On the other hand, dividend exemption increased dividend repatriations by foreign affiliates that had paid dividends under the worldwide tax system. We also find that more profitable firms paid larger amounts of dividends under the worldwide tax system and increased dividend payments further in the first year of the new exemption system. |
| Date: | 2013–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:eti:dpaper:13047&r=pbe |
| By: | Hansjörg Blöchliger; Balázs Égert; Kaja Bonesmo Fredriksen |
| Abstract: | Intergovernmental fiscal frameworks usually reflect fundamental societal choices and history and are not foremost geared towards achieving economic policy objectives. Yet, like most institutional arrangements, fiscal relations affect the behaviour of firms, households and governments and thereby economic activity. This paper presents empirical research on the potential effects of fiscal decentralisation on a set of outcomes such as GDP, productivity, public investment and school performance. The results can be summarised as follows: decentralisation, as measured by revenue or spending shares, is positively associated with GDP per capita levels. The impact seems to be stronger for revenue decentralisation than for spending decentralisation. Decentralisation is strongly and positively associated with educational outcomes as measured by international student assessments (PISA). While educational functions can be delegated either to sub-central governments (SCG) or to schools, the results suggest that both strategies appear to be equally beneficial for educational performance. Finally, investment in physical and – especially – human capital as a share of general government spending is significantly higher in more decentralised countries.<P>Le fédéralisme budgétaire et son impact sur l'activité économique, l'investissement public et la performance des systèmes éducatifs<BR>Les cadres budgétaires intergouvernementaux sont habituellement le reflet de choix sociétaux fondamentaux ainsi que de l’histoire, et n’ont pas pour vocation première d’atteindre des objectifs de politique économique. Pourtant, comme la plupart des modalités institutionnelles, les relations budgétaires influent sur le comportement des entreprises, des ménages et des pouvoirs publics et, partant, sur l’activité économique. Le présent document fait une synthèse des études empiriques consacrées aux effets potentiels de la décentralisation budgétaire sur une série de résultats comme le PIB, la productivité, l’investissement public et les performances des établissements scolaires. Ces résultats peuvent être résumés comme suit : la décentralisation, mesurée en pourcentage des recettes ou des dépenses, est corrélée positivement avec le niveau de PIB par habitant. L’impact semble plus marqué pour la décentralisation des recettes que pour celle des dépenses. La décentralisation semble être fortement et positivement corrélée avec les résultats de l’éducation tels que mesurés par le Programme international pour le suivi des acquis des élèves (PISA). Si les fonctions éducatives peuvent être déléguées soit aux échelons infranationaux de l’administration, soit aux établissements scolaires, les résultats donnent à penser que les deux stratégies semblent également bénéfiques pour les performances des écoles. Enfin, l’investissement dans le capital physique mais, plus particulièrement, dans le capital humain exprimé en part des dépenses des administrations publiques, est nettement plus élevé dans les pays décentralisés |
| Keywords: | productivity, fiscal federalism, public spending, PISA, fiscal decentralisation, economic growth, public investment, education decentralisation, croissance économique, productivité, dépenses publiques, fédéralisme budgétaire, PISA, décentralisation budgétaire, investissement public, décentralisation de l’éducation |
| JEL: | H10 H70 H75 H77 I22 O43 |
| Date: | 2013–05–29 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oec:ecoaaa:1051-en&r=pbe |
| By: | Kunstadt, Robert; Maggioni, Ilaria |
| Abstract: | Modern advances give us the ability to re-engineer the taxation system to benefit from computerized automation and the insights of modern psychology. People like to do things that bring a tangible reward. Tax-paying should be made FUN, not a chore. You will want to participate if you perceive a direct benefit. This new model selectively adapts the old English system of raising money by granting royal monopolies. A tax-paying entity would be allowed to make a bid on the percentage of tax it would pay for acquiring monopoly rights on a particular venture, posted publicly on a government-auction website for others to see and to post their alternative bids. Proposals put out for bid could immediately be tested for market viability by getting a thumbs-up/thumbs-down from the general public. The rewards to the proposer and to the public can be immediately perceived by all. Hence, the conditions for a positive stimulus-response-reward loop are fulfilled. Tax-paying becomes both fun and profitable, even more gratifying than betting in Las Vegas, because the bidder gets a perceptible benefit from it right away. The advantage to the state and its citizens is that monopoly efficiency does not just serve the monopolist but also the public. The would-be monopolist must make a precise calculation of how much to offer the state in taxes; upon pain of losing the auction to a competitor. With minimal government intervention, the “invisible hand” of economic theory is put to the task of serving the public good. (Journal of Economic Literature (JEL) Classification: H2 - Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue; H21 - Efficiency; Optimal Taxation; H25 - Business Taxes and Subsidies; H27 - Other Sources of Revenue) |
| Keywords: | Revenue; Efficiency; Optimal Taxation; Business Taxes; Sources of Revenue; Monopoly; Bid; Bidding; Internet; Automation; Auction; Competition |
| JEL: | H2 H21 H25 H27 |
| Date: | 2013–05–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:47432&r=pbe |
| By: | Braunerhjelm, Pontus (Entrepreneurship Forum, CESIS, KTH); Eklund, Johan E. (Entrepreneurship Forum, JIBS) |
| Abstract: | This paper examines the tax administrative burden and its effect on new firm formation. It is well recognized that entrepreneurship and new firm formation are critical factors in determining economic growth and development. New firm entry into the marketplace enhances welfare in two distinct ways: 1) by promoting innovation, productivity and economic growth and 2) by increasing competition, which lowers prices and expands output. It is also well documented that barriers to entry reduce the likelihood that new firms will enter various sectors. We argue that the burden imposed by tax codes and tax compliance constitutes a barrier to entry that has been neglected in the previous literature. We use data from the World Bank to measure the administrative burden that the complexity of tax policy imposes on new firm. Additionally, we use a measure of new firm formation—entry density. Our data cover 118 countries over a period of six years. We find that the entry rate is significantly reduced by the tax administrative burden and that this effect is unrelated to general taxes on corporate profits and is robust to the inclusion of several important control variables. |
| Keywords: | tax administrative burden; entry; entrepreneurship; new firm formation; regulations; tax policy |
| JEL: | D22 H20 K20 L26 L51 |
| Date: | 2013–05–27 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:cesisp:0312&r=pbe |
| By: | Nasir Iqbal (Pakistan Institute of Development Economics, Islamabad); Musleh ud Din (Pakistan Institute of Development Economics, Islamabad); Ejaz Ghani (Pakistan Institute of Development Economics, Islamabad) |
| Abstract: | This study attempts to analyse the impact of fiscal decentralisation on economic growth. It also examines the complementarity between fiscal decentralisation and democratic institutions in promoting growth. The modelling framework is the endogenous growth model augmented with the measures of fiscal decentralisation and democratic institutions. To capture the multidimensionality, three different measures of fiscal decentralisation are used. The overall analysis shows that revenue decentralisation promotes economic growth while expenditure decentralisation retards economic growth. Composite decentralisation positively influences economic growth implying that simultaneous decentralisation reinforces each other to promote economic growth. Analysis also shows that democratic institutions play a significant role in realising the benefits of fiscal decentralisation. Various policy implications emerge from this study. |
| Keywords: | Fiscal Decentralisation, Democracy, Economic Growth, Pakistan |
| JEL: | C26 E02 H11 H72 O11 |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pid:wpaper:2013:89&r=pbe |
| By: | Peter Funk |
| Abstract: | Human capital not only generates market income but is a direct source of utility as well. The interaction between the non-economic motive for effort and the standard economic motive can generate multiple stationary solutions for individual household optimization. Depending on the initial distribution of skills, this multiplicity divides each group of otherwise identical households into two perpetually separated groups: one rich and educated, one poor and uneducated. If the rich have an interest in the education of the poor, polarized equilibria are typically Pareto-inefficient. While unconditional transfers only reduce the incentive of the uneducated to accumulate skills, there exist activating tax-transfer systems that Pareto-dominate any non-redistributing system. Transfers are transitory and there is a negative marginal income tax on household income below a certain threshold. |
| JEL: | D91 H21 I30 |
| Date: | 2013–04–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:kls:series:0062&r=pbe |
| By: | Joseph J. Capuno (School of Economics, University of the Philippines Diliman) |
| Abstract: | While gerrymandering in developing countries is often pushed by local authorities to secure political advantages, fiscal grants systems under decentralization may also have result in the same. We investigate this issue to identify the correlates of the growth in the number of cities in the Philippines in 2001-2010. Using a panel of municipal-level data, incremental fiscal transfers are found to drive cityhood. Also, political payoffs -- like the incumbent mayor's re-election or having another member of the same political clan elected to the same position -- motivate the creation of new cities. Reforms in the country's fiscal transfer program are suggested. |
| Keywords: | Gerrymandering, fiscal grants, decentralization |
| JEL: | H11 H73 H77 |
| Date: | 2013–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:phs:dpaper:201304&r=pbe |
| By: | Dimitri B. Papadimitriou; Greg Hannsgen; Michalis Nikiforos |
| Abstract: | As this report goes to press, the official unemployment rate remains tragically elevated, compared even to rates at similar points in previous recoveries. The US economy seems once again to be in a "jobless recovery," though the unemployment rate has been steadily declining for years. At the same time, fiscal austerity has arrived, with the implementation of the sequester cuts, following tax increases and the ending of emergency extended unemployment benefits just two months ago. Our new report provides medium-term projections of employment and economic growth under four different scenarios. The baseline scenario starts by assuming the same growth rates and government deficits as the Congressional Budget Office's (CBO) baseline projection from earlier this year. The result is a new surge of the unemployment rate to nearly 8 percent in the third quarter of this year, followed by a very gradual new recovery. Scenarios 1 and 2 seek to reach unemployment-rate goals of 6.5 percent and 5.5 percent, respectively, by the end of next year, using new fiscal stimulus. We find in these simulations that reaching the goals requires large amounts of fiscal stimulus, compared to the CBO baseline. For example, in order to reach 5.5 percent unemployment in 2014, scenario 2 assumes 11 percent growth in inflation-adjusted government spending and transfers, along with lower taxes. As an alternative, scenario 3 adds an extra increase to growth abroad and to private borrowing, along with the same amount of fiscal stimulus as in scenario 1. In this last scenario of the report, the unemployment rate finally pierces the 5.5 percent threshold from the previous scenario in the third quarter of 2015. We conclude with some thoughts about how such an increase in demand from all three sectors—government, private, and external—might be realistically obtained. |
| Date: | 2013–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:lev:levysa:sa_mar_13&r=pbe |
| By: | Marx, Ive (University of Antwerp); Salanauskaite, Lina (University of Antwerp); Verbist, Gerlinde (University of Antwerp) |
| Abstract: | There is a long-standing controversy over the question of whether targeting social transfers towards the bottom part of the income distribution actually enhances or weakens their redistributive impact. Korpi and Palme have influentially claimed that "the more we target benefits at the poor, the less likely we are to reduce poverty and inequality". The basic empirical underpinning of this claim is a strong inverse relationship at the country level between social transfer targeting and redistributive impact. We show that this no longer holds as a robust empirical generalisation. The relationship between the extent of targeting and redistributive impact over a broad set of empirical specifications, country selections and data sources has in fact become a very weak one. For what it matters, targeting tends to be associated with higher levels of redistribution, especially when overall effort in terms of spending is high. We try to make substantive sense of this breakdown of the originally established relationship by focusing on two questions: first, what has changed in the countries originally included in the study and, second, what is different about the countries now additionally included in the analysis? |
| Keywords: | targeting, tax benefit policies, redistribution, inequality |
| JEL: | H1 H2 H53 |
| Date: | 2013–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp7414&r=pbe |
| By: | Bennmarker, Helge (IFAU - Institute for Evaluation of Labour Market and Education Policy); Calmfors, Lars (Institute for International Economics Study, Stockholm University); Larsson Seim, Anna (Department of Economics, Stockholm University) |
| Abstract: | Although there is a large literature on employment effects of earned income tax credits (EITCs) and unemployment benefits, less is known about wage effects. In our model the impact is via the net (after-tax) replacement rate. Using a panel of individuals from Sweden, we find a positive relationship between the net replacement rate and wages with semi-elasticities in the range 0.2-0.4. This implies that a one percent reduction in the unemployment benefit level or a one percent increase in the net-of-tax rate is associated with a fall in the before-tax wage of 0.1-0.2 per cent. EITCs and unemployment benefit reductions are thus likely to induce wage moderation. |
| Keywords: | Earned income tax credit; unemployment benefits; wage formation |
| JEL: | H24 J31 J38 |
| Date: | 2013–05–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:ifauwp:2013_012&r=pbe |
| By: | Ben Westmore |
| Abstract: | This paper uses panel regression techniques to assess the policy determinants of private sector innovative activity – proxied by R&D expenditure and the number of new patents – across 19 OECD countries. The relationship between innovation indicators and multifactor productivity (MFP) growth is also examined with a particular focus on the role of public policies in influencing the returns to new knowledge. The results establish an empirical link between R&D and patenting, as well as between these measures of innovation intensity and MFP growth. Innovation-specific policies such as R&D tax incentives, direct government support and patent rights are found to be successful in encouraging the innovative activities associated with higher productivity growth. However, direct empirical evidence of the positive effects of these policies on productivity is less forthcoming. A pervasive theme from the analysis is the importance of coupling policies aimed at encouraging innovation or technological adoption with well designed framework policies that allow knowledge spillovers to proliferate. In particular, the settings of framework policies relating to product market regulation, openness to trade and debtor protection in bankruptcy provisions are found to be important for the diffusion of new technologies.<P>R&D, brevets et croissance : le rôle des politiques publiques<BR>Ce document utilise des techniques de régression en panel pour évaluer les déterminants politiques de l'activité d'innovation du secteur privé – représentée par les dépenses de R & D et le nombre de brevet - à travers 19 pays de l'OCDE. La relation entre les indicateurs de l'innovation et la croissance de la productivité multifactorielle (PMF) est également analysée avec une attention particulière sur le rôle des politiques publiques pour influencer les rendements de nouvelles connaissances. Les résultats établissent un lien empirique entre la R & D et les brevets, ainsi qu'entre ces mesures de l'intensité de l'innovation et la croissance de la PMF. Des politiques spécifiques d'innovation telles que des incitations fiscales pour la R & D, le soutien direct de l'État et les droits de brevet sont avérées efficaces pour encourager les activités innovantes associées à une plus forte croissance de la productivité. Toutefois, les preuves empiriques directes des effets positifs de ces politiques sur la productivité sont plus rares. Un thème récurrent de l'analyse est l'importance du couplage des politiques visant à encourager l'innovation ou l'adoption technologique avec des politiques-cadres bien conçues qui permettent une plus large diffusion des connaissances. En particulier, les paramètres des politiques-cadres relatives à la réglementation des marchés de produits, l'ouverture au commerce et à la protection du débiteur dans les dispositions de la faillite sont jugés importants pour la diffusion des nouvelles technologies. |
| Keywords: | productivity growth, innovation, public policy, intangible assets, politiques publiques, croissance de la productivité multifactorielle (PMF), innovations, immobilisations incorporelles |
| JEL: | L20 O30 O40 |
| Date: | 2013–05–22 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oec:ecoaaa:1047-en&r=pbe |
| By: | Hans Peter Grüner |
| Abstract: | Europe is going through an unprecedented period of fiscal consolidation and structural economic policy reforms. However, reforms undertaken in times of financial market stress may not be politically viable in the long run if they lack the necessary social balance. This paper studies the distributional consequences of European fiscal consolidation and structural reforms and the scope for further reforms. Suggestions for the efficient bundling of reforms are made. The paper also makes suggestions regarding the strategy of international advice to countries which need structural reforms and it discusses the design of international incentives and a possible role for international mediation. |
| JEL: | D70 H30 P11 |
| Date: | 2013–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:euf:ecopap:0487&r=pbe |
| By: | Dan Andrews; Chiara Criscuolo |
| Abstract: | Investment in knowledge-based capital (KBC) – assets that have no physical embodiment, such as computerised information, innovative property and economic competencies – has been rising significantly. This has implications for innovation and productivity growth and requires new thinking on policy. The returns to investing in KBC differ significantly across countries and are partly shaped by structural policies, which influence the ability of national economies to reallocate scarce resources to firms that invest in KBC. In this regard, well-functioning product, labour and venture capital markets and bankruptcy laws that do not overly penalise failure can raise the expected returns to investing in KBC by improving the efficiency of resource allocation. While structural reforms offer the most cost-effective approach to raising investment in KBC, there is a role for innovation policies to raise private investment in KBC towards socially optimal levels. Indeed, R&D tax incentives and, as a finding that contrasts with previous research, direct support measures can be effective, but design features are crucial in order to minimise the fiscal cost and unintended consequences of such policies. Well-defined intellectual property rights (IPR) are also important to provide firms with the incentive to innovate and to promote knowledge diffusion via the public disclosure of ideas. However, such IPR regimes need to be coupled with pro-competition policies to ensure maximum effect while the rising costs of the patent system in emerging KBC sectors may have altered the trade-off inherent to IPR between the incentives to innovate and the broad diffusion of knowledge.<P>Actifs intellectuels, innovation et mobilité des ressources<BR>L'investissement dans le capital intellectuel – c'est-à-dire dans des actifs incorporels tels que les données informatisées, le capital d'innovation et les compétences économiques, ne cesse de progresser. Ces développements ont des implications pour l'innovation et l'accroissement de la productivité et exigent de repenser l'action des pouvoirs publics. Le rendement de l'investissement dans le capital intellectuel diffère sensiblement d'un pays à l'autre et est en partie formé par les politiques structurelles qui influent sur la capacité des économies à réaffecter les ressources limitées dans les entreprises qui investissent dans le capital intellectuel. Le bon fonctionnement des marchés des biens et services, du travail et de capital risque, ainsi qu’une législation sur le règlement des faillites ne pénalisant pas excessivement l'échec, peuvent augmenter les rendements attendus des investissements dans le capital intellectuel en améliorant l'efficacité de l'allocation des ressources. Si les réformes structurelles constituent l'approche la plus rentable pour accroitre les investissements dans le capital intellectuel, les politiques d'innovation peuvent jouer un rôle dans l’augmentation de l’investissement privé dans le capital intellectuel à un niveau plus optimal pour la collectivité. En effet, les incitations fiscales en faveur de la R-D ainsi que les mesures de soutien direct, peuvent être des dispositifs efficaces ; cependant, leur élaboration et mise en oeuvre est cruciale afin de minimiser le coût fiscal et les conséquences non souhaitées de ces politiques. Des droits de propriété intellectuelle (DPI) bien définis sont également essentiels pour inciter les entreprises à innover et à promouvoir la diffusion des connaissances par la divulgation publique des idées. Toutefois, les régimes des droits de propriété intellectuelle doivent être associés à des politiques stimulant la concurrence pour en assurer un effet maximal, dans un contexte où les coûts croissants du système de brevets dans les domaines émergents du capital intellectuel ont affecté l’équilibre entre les incitations à innover et une diffusion plus large du savoir, inhérent aux DPI. |
| Keywords: | growth, reallocation, innovation, intangible assets |
| JEL: | L20 O30 O40 |
| Date: | 2013–05–28 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oec:ecoaab:4-en&r=pbe |
| By: | Javiera Bravo |
| Abstract: | This paper presents research on the effect of unconditional grants on local government revenue in Chile: the receipt of transfers may engender an income effect that reduces the collection effort of municipalities. Grants are endogenous and we exploit a kink in a component of the Chilean formula for resource distribution for a panel of 340 Chilean municipalities from 1990 to 2007. We find empirical evidence that for Chilean municipalities, unconditional grants have a negative effect on local revenue. Specifically, an increase in per capita grant amount of one standard deviation is associated with a decrease of between 0.25 and 0.32 standard deviations in local per capita revenue. |
| Keywords: | fiscal decentralization, intergovernmental grants, local revenue collection, regression kink design |
| JEL: | H2 H3 H7 R5 |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ioe:doctra:437&r=pbe |
| By: | Dirk Czarnitzki; Otto Toivanen |
| Abstract: | This paper establishes theoretically a link between investments in economic growth and investments in R and D. This raises the importance of innovation policies as they are designed to narrow the gap between the socially optimal and the privately optimal levels of R and D. As innovation policies may be subject to crowding-out effects, we, second, empirically test whether R and D subsidies stimulate private investment in two countries of the European economic area. We employ Belgian and German firm level data for estimating treatment effects models. It turns out that public R and D grants stimulate private investments in both countries. Furthermore, the estimated treatment effects vary with the innovation experience of firms and their past labor productivity. |
| JEL: | G38 H25 L59 O31 O38 |
| Date: | 2013–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:euf:ecopap:0482&r=pbe |
| By: | Tortosa-Ausina Emili (INSTITUTO VALENCIANO DE INVESTIGACIONES ECONÓMICAS (Ivie) UNIVERSITY JAUME I); Peiró Palomino Jesús (Universidad Jaime I) |
| Abstract: | This working paper analyzes the impact of social capital on economic growth in Spain during the 1985-2005 period. The literature in this context is virtually nonexistent and, in addition, whereas most studies, regardless of their context, have used survey data in order to measure social capital, we use a measure whose construction is based on similar criteria to other measures of capital stock. In addition, compared with more standard measures of social capital and trust, the measure we use is available with a high level of disaggregation, and with annual frequency for a long time period. Following a panel data approach, our findings indicate that social capital has a positive impact on GDP per capita growth in the context of Spanish provinces, implying that social features are important for explaining the differences in wealth observable across Spanish provinces. Following some recent contributions, we also explore the transmission mechanisms from social capital to growth, finding a highly positive relation between social capital and private physical investment. |
| Keywords: | Growth, physical capital investment, province, social capital |
| JEL: | Z13 O18 R11 |
| Date: | 2012–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fbb:wpaper:2012122&r=pbe |
| By: | Peter N. Gal |
| Abstract: | Recent OECD research has utilised harmonised cross-country firm level data to explore the contribution of public policies to cross-country differences in productivity, innovation and resource allocation. This paper describes the steps taken to and the trade-offs involved in constructing firm-level total factor productivity (TFP) measures using ORBIS, a cross-country longitudinal firm-level database available from Bureau van Dijk, an electronic publishing firm. First, it shows that not all productivity measures can be calculated using readily available variables for all countries, and presents possible solutions to this problem by using imputations for certain variables. Second, it assesses the accuracy of these imputations on a set of countries where the available data in ORBIS provides a good coverage, for a wide range of TFP measures. Indeed, an extensive comparison of the actual and the imputed values of TFP for those countries suggests that TFP measures using imputations provide a reasonable approximation for the "true" values. Furthermore, to improve representativeness, resampling weights are constructed - which help correcting for the underrepresentation of small firms - while for the sake of international comparability, industry-level PPP conversions are also applied. Finally, as a plausibility check and to illustrate the potential of the database, the paper explores the country-composition of the globally most productive firms, the forces of convergence to the productivity frontier and the impact of regulation on productivity growth, in a sample of 18 OECD countries.<P>Mesurer la productivité totale des facteurs au niveau de l'entreprise à l'aide de la base de données OCDE-ORBIS<BR>Des travaux récents de l'OCDE ont utilisé des données harmonisées d’entreprises des pays de l’OCDE afin d’étudier la contribution des politiques publiques aux différences entre pays dans la productivité, l'innovation et l'allocation des ressources. Ce document décrit les mesures prises pour et les compromis impliqués dans la construction des séries au niveau de l’entreprise, de la productivité totale des facteurs (PTF) à l'aide d’ORBIS, une base de données d’entreprises longitudinale mises à disposition par le Bureau van Dijk, une maison d'édition électronique. D'abord, il montre que toutes les mesures de la productivité ne peuvent être calculées à l'aide de variables facilement disponibles dans tous les pays, et présente d’éventuelles solutions à ce problème en utilisant des imputations pour certaines variables. Deuxièmement, il évalue l'exactitude de ces imputations sur un ensemble de pays où les données, disponibles dans ORBIS, offrent une bonne couverture pour un large éventail de mesures de la PTF. En effet, une comparaison approfondie des valeurs réelles et imputées des PTF pour ces pays suggère que les mesures de la PTF, utilisant des imputations, constituent une approximation raisonnable des valeurs «réelles». En outre, afin d'améliorer la représentativité, des poids de rééchantillonnage ont été construits – afin d’aider à corriger la sous-représentativité des petites entreprises - pour des raisons de comparabilité internationale, des conversions en PPP ont également été appliquées au niveau des industries. Enfin, comme contrôle de plausibilité et pour illustrer le potentiel de la base de données, ce document examine la composition pays des entreprises les plus productives au niveau mondial, les forces de convergence vers la frontière de la productivité et l'impact de la réglementation sur la croissance de la productivité, dans un échantillon de 18 pays de l'OCDE. |
| Keywords: | firm level data, productivity measurement, cross-country analysis, données sur les entreprises, mesure de la productivité, analyses comparatives entre pays |
| JEL: | D22 D24 O47 |
| Date: | 2013–05–21 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oec:ecoaaa:1049-en&r=pbe |
| By: | IKEUCHI Kenta; YoungGak KIM; KWON Hyeog Ug; FUKAO Kyoji |
| Abstract: | Recent studies on productivity dynamics analysis using plant-level data found that major sources of the decline in aggregate productivity growth is due to the negative exit effect, in which the productivity level of exiting plants is higher than the industry average, and the total factor productivity (TFP) of small plants has stagnated. Using matched data of the Census of Manufactures and the Report on the Survey of Research and Development for 1987 and 2007, we examine two issues by focusing on regional economics. First, we decompose the aggregate productivity growth in Japan's manufacturing sector and prefectural level to investigate in which prefecture did negative effects occur. We found that a large negative exit effect occurred in manufacturing plants agglomerations such as Tokyo, Osaka, and Kanagawa after 1995. Second, we analyze the effect of research and development (R&D), private R&D spillovers, and public R&D spillovers on productivity growth in the Japanese manufacturing sector. Our findings are as follows. (1) The effect of R&D spillovers from other firms is attenuated by distance. (2) The effect of R&D spillovers across firms has remarkably declined since the late 1990s by exits of plants which belong to R&D intensive firms in the agglomerations. This means that the exits by such plants bring simultaneously the negative exit effect and stagnation of TFP growth in small plants. (3) The effect of public R&D spillovers is more likely to decline. This is caused by the reduction of R&D in public research organizations since the late 1990s. |
| Date: | 2013–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:eti:rdpsjp:13036&r=pbe |