财政学 哈维罗森 第七版 课后习题答案英文1.docx

财政学 哈维罗森 第七版 课后习题答案英文1.docx

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财政学哈维罗森第七版课后习题答案英文1

财政学哈维罗森第七版课后习题答案（英文）

（1）

Chapter1-Introduction

Instructor’sManualtoaccompany

PublicFinance,SeventhEdition,byHarveyS.Rosen

SuggestedAnswerstoEnd-of-ChapterDiscussionQuestions

Someofthequestionshavenosingle“correct”answer–reasonablepeoplecangooffin

differentdirections.Insuchcases,theanswersprovidedheresketchonlyafewpossibilities.

Chapter1-Introduction

1.a.Putin’sstatementisconsistentwithanorganicconceptionofgovernment.

Individualsandtheirgoalsarelessimportantthanthestate.

b.Rehnquistmakesaclearstatementofthemechanisticviewofthestate.

2.a.Apersonwithanorganicconceptionofthestatemightreactfavorably,arguing

thatevenifanindividualownerisworseoffbecausehemustshowonlyFrench

movies,thenationisbetteroffbecauseitachievesmoreunity.

b.Alibertarianwouldcertainlyrejectthispolicyandthereasoningbehindit--there

isno“nationalinterest”independentoftheinterestsofindividuals,andpeople

shouldhavetherighttoruntheirlivesinthewaythattheyprefer--including

seeingwhatevermoviestheywant.

c.Asocialdemocratwouldtrytobalancethesetwoaims,anditishardtopredict

howheorshewouldcomeout.

3.Themechanisticviewofgovernmentsaysthatthegovernmentisacontrivancecreated

byindividualstobetterachievetheirindividualgoals.Withinthemechanistictradition,

peoplecoulddisagreeontheobesitytax.Libertarianswouldsaythatpeoplecandecide

whatisbestforthemselves-whethertoconsumehighcaloriefood-anddonotneed

proddingfromthegovernment.Incontrast,socialdemocratsmightarguethatpeopleare

tooshortsightedtoknowwhatisgoodforthem,sothatgovernment-provided

inducementsareappropriate.

4.a.Ifthesizeofgovernmentismeasuredbydirectexpenditures,themandatedoesnot

directlyincreaseit.Costsofcompliance,however,maybehighandwouldappear

asanincreaseina“regulatorybudget.”

b.It’shardtosaywhetherthisrepresentsanincreaseordecreaseinthesizeof

government.OnepossibilityisthatGDPstayedthesame,andgovernment

purchasesofgoodsandservicesfell.Anotheristhatgovernmentpurchasesof

goodsandservicesgrew,butataslowerratethantheGDP.Onemustalso

considercoincidentfederalcreditandregulatoryactivitiesandstateandlocal

budgets.

Part1–GettingStarted

c.Thefederalbudgetwoulddecreaseifgrants-in-aidwerereduced.However,if

stateandlocalgovernmentsoffsetthisbyincreasingtaxes,thesizeofthe

governmentsectorasawholewouldnotgodownasmuchasonewouldhave

guessed.

5.Theinflationerodestherealvalueofthedebtby0.021x?

311billionor?

6.5billion.The

factthatinflationreducestherealdebtobligationmeansthatthisfigureshouldbe

includedasrevenuetothegovernment.

6.Thefederalgovernmentgrewby$450billion.However,becausethepricelevelwentup

by16percent,intermsof2001dollarsthisamountedtoarealincreaseof$224billion

（=$1.86trillion-1.16*$1.41trillion=$1.86trillion-$1.64trillion）.Notethattheincrease

inpricesof16percentintheRosentext（p.18）differsfromofficialsources.According

tothe2004EconomicReportofthePresident（TableB-60）,theCPI-Uwas177.1in2001

andwas144.5in1993,anincreaseof22.5percent,not16percent.Ifoneusesthese

numbers,governmentspendingincreasedinconstant2001dollarsfrom$1.72trillionin

1993to$1.86trillion,or$140billion.AsaproportionofGDP,federalspendingin1993

was21.2percentandin2001itwas18.2percent.Hence,byonemeasure,thesizeof

governmentfellandbytheothermeasure,itgrew.Togetamorecompleteanswer,one

wouldwantdataonthepopulation（tocomputerealspendingpercapita）.Also,itwould

beusefultoaddinexpendituresbystateandlocalgovernments,toseeifthetotalsizeof

governmentfell.Also,althoughitwouldbehardertomeasure,onewouldwanttotryto

gainsomesenseofhowtheregulatoryburdenontheeconomygrewduringthistime

period.

Chapter2–ToolsofPositiveAnalysis

1.Therealitythatastronomersaretryingtounderstandisnotinfluencedbyany“policies”

thatastronomersmightimplement.Thatis,planetsandstarsdoactanydifferentlywhen

theyarebeinganalyzed,whereaspeoplecanchangetheirbehavior.Moreover,the

parameterswithwhichastronomersmustdealareconstantovertime（atleastinthe

“short-run”ofhundredsofyears）,whiletheparametersineconomicscanquicklychange

overtimeandacrossgeography.

2.Achangeinthemarginaltaxratechangestheindividual’snetwage.Thisgeneratesboth

anincomeeffectandasubstitutioneffect.Aslongasleisureisanormalgood,these

effectsworkinoppositedirections.Hence,onecannottellaprioriwhetherlaborsupply

increasesordecreases.Onecouldasktaxpayerstodescribehowtheywouldchangetheir

behaviorundertheproposal,butitishardtoimaginethatthiswouldyieldusefulresults.

Inasocialexperiment,acontrolgroupwouldconfrontthestatusquo,andan

experimentalgroupwouldfacethenewtaxregime.Thisisclearlyinfeasible.

Econometricinvestigationoflaborsupplyseemsthebestapproach,particularlyifdata

associatedwithpastchangesintaxratescanbebroughttobearontheproblem.

3.Generally,economicoutcomesareaffectedbyanumberofvariablessomeofwhichare

observedandothersofwhichareunobserved.Economistsoftencannotperform

controlled,randomizedexperiments,whichmakesitdifficulttoassesshowanysingle

2

Part1–GettingStarted

variableaffectsagivenoutcome.Moreover,eveninthecaseswhenexperimentsarerun（e.g.,theNegativeIncomeTaxexperimentortheRANDHealthInsuranceExperiment）,anumberofunintendedbehaviorscanarisebecausepeopleknowtheyareintheexperimentforashortamountoftimeandbecauseoflackofgeneralizability.Inthemedicalexamplehere,brainimpairmentmaybeduetoanumberoffactorsthatareeitherobservedareunobserved.Ecstasyusersclearlyarenotarandomsampleofthepopulation,butarelikelytodifferintermsoftheirattitudestowardsrisk,theirdiscountrates,andpotentiallymanyotherways.Hence,onecannotdefinitivelyconcludewhetherbrainimpairmentisduetoEcstasyorsomevariablethatiscorrelatedwithEcstasyuse.Therearenumerousnon-experimentalmethodsthatmaybehelpfulininferringthecausaleffectofEcstasy.Forexample,iftherewereaplausible“instrumentalvariable”（perhapsthepunitivenessofthedruglawsinastate）thatwascorrelatedwiththesupplyofEcstasybutnototherwisecorrelatedwiththeoutcomesofinterest,onemaybeabletoestimatethecausaleffectofEcstasyonlong-rundevelopmentalproblems.

4.Thetextpointsoutthepitfallsofsocialexperiments:

theproblemofobtainingarandomsampleandtheproblemsofextendingresultsbeyondthescopeoftheexperiment.Participantsinthestudyhadfoundittotheiradvantagetobeapartoftheexperiment,whichmayhaveresultedinaself-selectedpopulationunrepresentativeofthewidergroupofhealthcareconsumers.Inaddition,theRANDHealthInsuranceExperimentwasoflimitedduration,afterwhichtheparticipantswouldmovetosomeotherhealthplan.Thisdesigncouldinducecertainbehaviorintheshort-runthatwouldnotnecessarilybepresentifthehealthinsurancecoveragewerepermanentratherthantransitory.Further,physicians’“standardpractices”arelargelydeterminedbythecircumstancesofthepopulationasawhole,nottherelativelysmallexperimentalgroup.

5.First,itisimportanttonotethatthenumbersonpage32ofRosen’stextactuallyshow

thesurplus,notthedeficit.Thatis,thenegativesurplusof$221.2in1990isactuallyadeficit,whilethepositivesurplusof$236.4isasurplus.Thereisaveryweak,negativerelationshipbetweensurplusesandinterestrates（thecorrelationcoefficientis-.043）,orputdifferently,aweak,positiverelationshipbetweendeficitsandinterestrates.Howeveritisexpressed,itisweak--by“eyeballing”thedata,itmightappearthatlargerdeficitsleadtolowerinterestrates（forexample,bycomparingthedatafrom1980withthedatafrom2000）.Oneclearlywouldneedmoredatatoinvestigatethisquestion.Onewouldwanttolookatdeficitsrelativetosomebenchmark,suchasGDP.Onewouldwanttoexpressbothinterestratesanddeficitsinrealterms,ratherthannominalterms.Onewouldliketocontrolforotherfactorsthatcanaffectinterestrates,suchasmonetarypolicyandthelevelofeconomicactivity.Finally,onewouldwanttodeterminewhichwaythecausalityruns–dolargerdeficitscausehigherinterestrates,ordohigherinterestratescauselargerdeficits（since,byconstruction,oneofthelargestitemsinthefederalbudgetisinterestonthedebt）.

Chapter4–PublicGoods

1.a.Wildernessareaisanimpurepublicgood–atsomepoint,consumptionbecomes

nonrival;itis,however,nonexcludable.

3

Part1–GettingStarted

b.Waterfromamunicipalwatersupplyisbothrivalinconsumptionandexcludable.

Myconsumptionofwaterprecludesyoufromconsumingthesamewater,thusitis

rival.Themunicipalitycancontrolwhoconsumeswaterbyshuttingofftheflow

tocustomers,thusitisexcludable.Thisisausefulquestionforshowingthatnot

allpubliclyownedfacilitiesarepublicgoods.

c.Medicalschooleducationisaprivategood.

d.Televisionsignalsarenonrivalinconsumption.

e.AnInternetsiteisnonrivalinconsumption（althoughitisexcludable）.

2.Weassumethat