摘要:

International financial relationships should be interpreted in the context of a comprehensive conceptual framework; this paper advocates the use of concepts developed to measure and analyze balance of payments flows. Broad‐based, empirical estimates of the international wealth of most countries of the western world are presented on the basis of cumulating balance of payments flows over a lengthy period. Among the more interesting aspects of the results are: the importance of intra‐industrial country capital flows in a global context; the propensity of debtors to regard a larger share of their aggregate external debt as long term than do their creditors; the overwhelming importance of banks located in the industrial countries in global external asset and liability positions, and the preponderance of short‐term positions taken by those banks; and the tendency for balance of payments records to report more direct investment assets than liabilities. The paper also contains some observations, based on the cumulations of balance of payments capital flows, concerning the nature and size of certain deficiencies in alternative sources–particularly the World Bank's Debtor Reporting System, and the Bank for International Settlements' banking data–of information on outstanding external debt

ISSN:0034-6586    

DOI:10.1111/j.1475-4991.1980.tb00156.x

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:1980

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

Provision of “market goods” follows the decision rules of traditional microeconomics; pricing and resource allocation for such goods tend towards Pareto optimality. The provision of “collective goods,” by contrast, depends on political (or quasi‐political) collective decision processes; beneficiaries often receive a share of collective goods free of charge or well below average or marginal (private or social) costs. No inherent tendency towards optimality may be presumed and separate analysis of collective goods becomes an essential part of national goals accounting.The national‐income‐accounts (NIA) distinction between personal consumption expenditures (PCE) and government purchases of goods and services correspondsroughlyto a division between market goods bought by the consumer and a major category of “collective goods” (i.e. “public goods” provided by government). However, a significant proportion of PCE represents “collective goods” paid for by government, business, or nonprofit organizations and providedon behalfof the consumer, whereas a part of NIA government purchases represents services paid for by the consumer (i.e. “market goods”).This article develops operationally meaningful distinctions among “market goods,”“collective goods,” and “tied aid” (a mixed category with market‐good and collective‐good characteristics). These distinctions are determined by the nature of thedecision processes–rather than by the characteristics of the beneficiary or the supplier. This classification is related to the national income accounts and major discrepancies are pinpointed. The blurring of the distinction among market goods, collective goods and tied aid is found to be most consequential in the NIA treatment of “education” and “medical care” services. NIA data for these two services are restructured for national goals accounting purposes in order to illustrate both the quantitative importance and the empirical feasibility of clas

ISSN:0034-6586    

DOI:10.1111/j.1475-4991.1980.tb00157.x

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:1980

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

This paper explores the choices and potential biases involved in valuing one type of government expenditure, medical transfers, and in estimating its antipoverty impact. Three methodological approaches–(a measure of) government costs, (a measure of) cash‐equivalent values and (a measure of) funds released–are contrasted both in concept and in practice. We assign benefits to individuals after assuming that Medicare and Medicaid provide insurance to all those who are eligible. The resulting estimates for 1968 and 1974 illustrate the efficacy of these medical transfers in reducing the number of persons in poverty. Two recent studies, one by the Congressional Budget Office, and the other by Morton Paglin, further highlight the importance of medical transfers for estimating poverty, despite the fact that we do not wholly agree with the methodologies which they employ. Our results indicate that in the aggregate, while medical care transfers have a substantial impact on poverty, the choice of a specific estimation approach has little effect on poverty estimates. However, for the elderly and possibly also for other groups (e.g. the rural poor), choice of estimation technique is quite crucial for estimating the extent of po

ISSN:0034-6586    

DOI:10.1111/j.1475-4991.1980.tb00158.x

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:1980

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

From a survey of the 150 members of the United Nations it appears that only one country could at present provide the full range of balance‐sheet statistics called for in the United Nations guidelines on this topic. Seven countries could compile balance sheets confined to conventional types of assets and liabilities–excluding assets like consumer durables and mineral deposits. A further 31 countries presently publish some statistics on certain balance sheet items, but as the data have generally not been collected with a view to constructing national balance sheets they tend to be deficient for such purposes both in coverage and valuation. In other countries only rather trivial kinds of balance‐sheet data are available, such as certain banking statistics collected by the central monetary authority for purposes of bank regulation.A review of sources and methods shows that for financial assets and liabilities extensive use is made of company accounts and enterprise surveys. The estate multiplier method is used in several countries for measuring household assets and net worth. As regards producers' fixed assets, countries with centrally‐planned economies generally take direct surveys of assets, while in countries with market economies the perpetual inventory method is preferred.It is noted that many of the purposes for which balance‐sheet statistics are used can be adequately served without constructing a complete set of accounts. To date balance‐sheet statistics have therefore tended to be developed in a piecemeal fashion with priority going to those parts of the accounts whose uses for economic analysis are most obvious. Chief among these are statistics on the financial assets and liabilities of corporate enterprises and statistics on the stock of producers' fixed assets. These two areas also predominate in countries' plans for the future development of balance‐she

ISSN:0034-6586    

DOI:10.1111/j.1475-4991.1980.tb00159.x

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:1980

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

The view is expressed that the well‐known formulae for measuring changes in terms of trade cannot be used to conclude whether a country is better off or not. Other variables which reflect the impact upon production, employment, and the competitive position should also be taken into account.Similarly, changes in terms of trade between the industrial sectors of an economy cannot be used to conclude whether one sector is better off than others. Other factors which play a role include increases in productivity per man‐hour. These may help to explain why in some sectors prices increase less than in others. An attempt is made to illustrate this point using some statistics for the Netherla

ISSN:0034-6586    

DOI:10.1111/j.1475-4991.1980.tb00160.x

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:1980

数据来源: WILEY