公務員提供司法、教育與健康等公共服務，在一國經濟發展中扮演關鍵性的角色，然而回顧過去的相關文獻，對於公務人力與經濟成長間的關係，尚無法產生一致的結論，且目前並沒有相關實證文獻以台灣為研究對象，探討公務人力與經濟成長的關係。 本文以公務人力作為政府規模的衡量指標，採用1996年至2005年台灣地區23縣市的追蹤資料，由於使用固定效果模型時產生計量上問題，故改以處理混合資料為主的普通最小平方法進行實證估計。研究結果發現，地方政府規模對地區性經濟成長之影響，係隨規模的增加由正轉負，符合 Armey curve的非線性關係，亦即倒U型的曲線關係，也就是說，適當的政府規模對整體經濟有利，過小或過大的政府規模將會阻礙經濟發展。且因地方政府規模對地區性經濟成長之間存在倒U型的曲線關係，可發現能使地區性經濟成長率達最大化的地方政府最適公務人力規模為21.49，平均而言，台灣地方政府規模仍低於此一最適水準。 在本研究中亦發現，同時加入實證模型的其他解釋變數對於地區性經濟成長存在顯著的作用，包括了房屋稅收入、地價稅收入、土地增值稅收入結構比以及相對薪資率具有正向的刺激效果，而政府預算赤字以及人事費用的增加將不利於地區性經濟成長。 / The role of public employment is significantly important to the economic development because public employees are the only vivid resource of government to offer public service, such as justice、education and health etc. However existing researches about the expansion of public employment also have inconstant effect on economic growth. The Armey curve infers that the government size and economic growth have an inverse U shape, and that one can find the optimal government size that promotes the greatest economic growth rate. This study measures public employment as government size and employs the panel data and ordinary least squares regression model to test whether the Armey curve exists in the local government in Taiwan. The result indicates that a non-linear relationship of the Armey curve indeed exists in the local government in Taiwan. And the average size of the local government in Taiwan is smaller than the optional size that promotes the greatest regional economic growth rate.

Workers who earn wage premiums for adverse job characteristics face a higher tax-price than peers of equal human capital working under more favorable conditions. Facing a higher cost per unit for public goods, they in turn demand a relatively small public sector. This may explain patterns of political affiliation across industries where differences in nonpecuniary aspects are often significant. I test this with county level data on fatality rates and support for the Republican candidate in the 2004 US Presidential election, finding that fatality rates remain positive and significant drivers of GOP support through various regression specifications. These results are robust to cross-sectional and panel data on individual contributions reported to the Federal Election Commission for the 2004, 2008, and 2012 US Presidential elections.

Over the past few decades, many countries have experienced a marked decline in the volatility of output. However, there is still a significant difference between developed and developing countries in the level of output volatility. A proposed explanation for this phenomenon is the impact of economic policies on output volatility in developing countries. The empirical results reported in this study support this view. Trade openness and discretionary fiscal policy seem to increase volatility in developing countries, while the converse is true in developed countries. Furthermore, a flexible exchange rate regime is desirable to decrease volatility. However, many developing countries still use fixed rates for reasons such as a fear of floating, which contributes to volatility. The impact of monetary policy was found to be stabilising, but this could be the result of a favourable global economic environment. It should be noted, however, that uncontrollable factors such as financial systems and institutions play a vital role in all the above relationships. / Economics / M.Com. (Economics)

<p>This paper investigates the impact of Economic Freedom on FDI inflows to developing countries and the Middle East in particular. Four forms of Economic Freedom were tested as variables determining FDI inflow. These four variables were Freedom from Corruption, Government Size, Trade Freedom and Investment Freedom. Cross-sectional data for twelve Middle Eastern countries and forty-three other developing countries were gathered for 1995 and 2006. It was revealed that only Trade Freedom and Invest-ment Freedom were significant in both Middle East and other regions. Apart from one case, the general positive sign of the significant variables confirms our hypothesis re-garding the positive effects of these Economic Freedoms on FDI inflows. Based on these findings it can be recommended to improve the investment environment and re-duce the barriers to trade in order to attract more FDI.</p>

1980年代起中國通過財政體制改革與「放權讓利」，促使各地方政府積極推動各項經濟發展事業，獲得非凡的成就。已有相關實證文獻主張政府規模與經濟成長兩者之間的關係為非單一線性關係，且兩者乃倒U型關係的論點，並在不同國家取得驗證。本研究試圖檢驗此現象是否亦存在於中國的地方政府。通過中國31個省市地區自1995至2005年的地區別資料，將地方政府規模變數之平方項納入實證模型並以two way固定效果模型進行估計，試圖捕捉到更全面性的中國地方政府規模與地區性經濟成長之關係。此外，中國財政體制至今仍未臻完善，特別是預算管理制度與世界先進國家仍有重大差異，本研究亦會針對此中國特殊國情詳加說明。 分類號：B23；C33；E62；H72 / / The purpose of this study is to investigate the inverse-U relations argument whether also exists between China local government size and the regional economic growth ever since fiscal reform was embarked upon and the budget act was embarked upon in 1994. By using of the China 31 province-level data from 1995 to 2005, this study establishes four empirical models with square item of the local government size as an independent variable and are estimated by two way fixed effect model which attempts to catch the relation more comprehensively between China local government size and the regional economic growth. This research empirical result shows that China's local government size has the positive effect on its regional economic growth, and actually the inverse-U relations (Armey-curve) exists between them. This confirms that the Armey-curve phenomenon also exists in a country's secondary government

This paper investigates the impact of Economic Freedom on FDI inflows to developing countries and the Middle East in particular. Four forms of Economic Freedom were tested as variables determining FDI inflow. These four variables were Freedom from Corruption, Government Size, Trade Freedom and Investment Freedom. Cross-sectional data for twelve Middle Eastern countries and forty-three other developing countries were gathered for 1995 and 2006. It was revealed that only Trade Freedom and Invest-ment Freedom were significant in both Middle East and other regions. Apart from one case, the general positive sign of the significant variables confirms our hypothesis re-garding the positive effects of these Economic Freedoms on FDI inflows. Based on these findings it can be recommended to improve the investment environment and re-duce the barriers to trade in order to attract more FDI.

Over the past few decades, many countries have experienced a marked decline in the volatility of output. However, there is still a significant difference between developed and developing countries in the level of output volatility. A proposed explanation for this phenomenon is the impact of economic policies on output volatility in developing countries. The empirical results reported in this study support this view. Trade openness and discretionary fiscal policy seem to increase volatility in developing countries, while the converse is true in developed countries. Furthermore, a flexible exchange rate regime is desirable to decrease volatility. However, many developing countries still use fixed rates for reasons such as a fear of floating, which contributes to volatility. The impact of monetary policy was found to be stabilising, but this could be the result of a favourable global economic environment. It should be noted, however, that uncontrollable factors such as financial systems and institutions play a vital role in all the above relationships. / Economics / M.Com. (Economics)

Submitted by Gustavo Moreira de Souza (gustavo.souza@fgvmail.br) on 2014-09-30T10:57:02Z No. of bitstreams: 1 tese2.pdf: 627931 bytes, checksum: 6803828198abb7c93382d2d995199ba2 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by BRUNA BARROS (bruna.barros@fgv.br) on 2014-10-02T19:02:15Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 tese2.pdf: 627931 bytes, checksum: 6803828198abb7c93382d2d995199ba2 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Marcia Bacha (marcia.bacha@fgv.br) on 2014-10-14T12:19:11Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 tese2.pdf: 627931 bytes, checksum: 6803828198abb7c93382d2d995199ba2 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2014-10-14T12:24:22Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 tese2.pdf: 627931 bytes, checksum: 6803828198abb7c93382d2d995199ba2 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2014-05-29 / This paper introduces simultaneous choices of the political, taxation and expenditure government systems in a dynamics macroeconomic model of political economy with incomplete markets where the size of government must be decided in each period. The paper also evaluates the effect of each one of these institutions on the political equilibrium. The inclusion of these variables makes the model more realistic and makes possible the study of how government policy is chosen by society. The more general specification of the model calibrated to the EUA reproduced the effective tax rate and capital-labor tax rate observed in data. / Esse paper introduz escolha simultânea do sistema político, sistema tributário e composição do gasto governamental em um modelo macroeconômico dinâmico de economia política com mercados incompletos onde o tamanho das arrecadações governamentais deve ser decidido a cada período. Além disso avalia o efeito de cada uma dessas instituições sobre a política fiscal de equilíbrio político. A inclusão dessas variáveis torna o modelo mais realista e possibilita o estudo de como a política econômica do governo é escolhida pela sociedade. A especificação mais geral do modelo calibrada para os EUA foi capaz de aproximar de maneira satisfatória a taxa efetiva e a relação tributária capital-trabalho observada nos dados.