What is the Real Size of China's Economy?

On December 20, 2005, China's National Bureau of Statistics adjusted China's nominal GDP by CNY 2.3 trillion. The bulk of this upward adjustment was attributed to improved coverage of value-added by services. The service industry now makes-up 40 percent of GDP. Based on previous studies and other observations, this paper point out that there is still significant under-reporting of the service industry and, hence China's GDP is likely underestimated. We find a plausible share of service industry in GDP to be in the range of at least 45 to 55 percentChina, National Account

Implicit pension debt, transition cost, options, and impact of China's pension reform : a computable general equilibrium analysis

The main problems with China's pension system--the pension burdens of state enterprises and the agency of the population--have deepened in recent years. Using a new computable general equilibrium model that differentiates between three types of enterprise ownership and 22 groups in the labor force, the authors estimate the effects of pension reform in China, comparing various options for financing the transition cost. They examine the impact that various reform options would have on the system's sustainability, on overall economic growth, and on income distribution. The results are promising. The current pay-as-you-go system, with a notional individual account, remains unchanged in the first scenario examined. Simulations show this system to be unsustainable. Expanding coverage under this system would improve financial viability in the short run but weaken it in the long run. Other scenarios assume that the transition cost will be financed by various taxes and that a new, fully funded individual account will be established in 2001. The authors compare the impact of a corporate tax, a value-added tax, a personal income tax, and a consumption tax. They estimate the annual transition cost to be about 0.6 percent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) between 2000 and 2010, declining to 0.3 percent by 2050. Using a personal income tax to finance the transition cost would best promote economic growth and reduce income inequality. Levying a social security tax and injecting fiscal resources to finance the transition costs would help make the reformed public pillar sustainable. To finance a benefit of 20 percent of the average wage, a contribution rate of only 10 percent-12.5 percent would be enough to balance the basic pension pillar. Gradually increasing the retirement age would further reduce the contribution rate.Pensions&Retirement Systems,Environmental Economics&Policies,Banks&Banking Reform,Economic Stabilization,National Governance

The N terminus of phosducin is involved in binding of βγ subunits of G protein

Phosducin is a soluble phosphoprotein found in retinal photoreceptor cells and in the pineal gland. It binds to the βγ subunits of guanine nucleotide-binding proteins (G proteins) (Gβγ) and may regulate G-protein function. In this study, the ability of specific regions of phosducin to bind Gβγ was characterized. A series of deletion mutants were made in bovine phosducin. They were tested in cotransfection assays for their ability to inhibit Gβγ-mediated phospholipase C β_2 isoform activation. Overexpression of the N-terminal half of phosducin showed inhibition, whereas overexpression of the C-terminal half did not. The first 63 amino acid residues were required for inhibition. A tryptophan-to-valine substitution at residue 29, which is part of a well conserved 11-amino acid sequence, severely impaired phosducin inhibitory function. Glutathione S-transferase-phosducin fusion proteins were expressed in Escherichia coli to study phosducin-Gβγ interaction in vitro. The N-terminal 63-amino acid fragment was able to bind to Gβγ. In contrast, the C-terminal half failed to bind to Gβγ. The substitution mutants showed little or no binding. Furthermore, direct measurements of interaction between Gβγ and fragments of phosducin, using surface plasmon resonance technology, confirmed the assignment of binding activity to the 63-amino acid fragment and the importance of the tryptophan residu

A PLCβ/PI3Kγ-GSK3 Signaling Pathway Regulates Cofilin Phosphatase Slingshot2 and Neutrophil Polarization and Chemotaxis

Neutrophils, in response to a chemoattractant gradient, undergo dynamic F actin remodeling, a process important for their directional migration or chemotaxis. However, signaling mechanisms for chemoattractants to regulate the process are incompletely understood. Here, we characterized chemoattractant-activated signaling mechanisms that regulate cofilin dephosphorylation and actin cytoskeleton reorganization and are critical for neutrophil polarization and chemotaxis. In neutrophils, chemoattractants induced phosphorylation and inhibition of GSK3 via both PLCβ-PKC and PI3Kγ-AKT pathways, leading to the attenuation of GSK3-mediated phosphorylation and inhibition of the cofilin phosphatase slingshot2 and an increase in dephosphorylated, active cofilin. The relative contribution of this GSK3-mediated pathway to neutrophil chemotaxis regulation depended on neutrophil polarity preset by integrin-induced polarization of PIP5K1C. Therefore, our study characterizes a signaling mechanism for chemoattractant-induced actin cytoskeleton remodeling and elucidates its context-dependent role in regulating neutrophil polarization and chemotaxis

Background to a Mathematical Model of Price Reform in China

China is currently undergoing an extensive economic reform. The reform has provided the economists with an excellent opportunity to compare and analyze the centrally planned economy and the market economy in regard to their merits and shortcomings. Most of the analytical tools in modern economics stem from the market economy of the Western world to which many top economists have dedicated so much and on which they have developed valuable theories and practical experience over the past century. While identifying and summarizing the internal rules of the market economy, these economists also pointed out the shortcomings and faults of such an economic model. Obviously there is a big difference in the cultural background and social and economic structures between China and the West. Mechanically applying some conclusions or analysis from contemporary economic theory to explain what is happening in today's economy in China will surely lead nowhere. Economists should never overlook one fact: One-third of the world's population lives in the centrally planned economic system. China, with its population of one billion, is trying to discover a new way for economic reform in an attempt to break through the limitation of the outdated planned economic system. A new economic theory is needed for this new situation. We should not only evaluate the fitness of analytical tools of present economic theory for China's economic reform, but also develop and improve on them.

Tax Reform in China

Selected papers from the\u27 Zhongguo shui zhi gai ge guo ji yan tao hui\u27 conference, held Aug. 9-11, 1996 in Toronto, Canada. Written in Chinese; English table of contents.https://digitalcommons.osgoode.yorku.ca/faculty_books/1296/thumbnail.jp

The Effect of China’s Real Exchange Rate Appreciation in the Next Decade— An Investigation of a Recursive Dynamic CGE Analysis

Although recent empirical studies indicate that the renminbi is undervalued, few people discuss how to adjust it effectively. The essential objective behind this paper is to explore the effect of the alternative adjustment of China’s real exchange rate. Different with the simulation designs of IIE’s Asian currency devaluation study, which discussed renminbi’s real exchange rate change and its competitiveness if China’s overall trade surplus reduces to zero. This paper considers the formation mechanism of the real exchange rate. By assuming the same change of factor’s price during different time periods and using the recursive dynamic computable general equilibrium model, the two different scenarios are simulated against the baseline, one is to adjust the macro-structural imbalance by decreasing the gross national saving rate in China and the other is to adjust the micro-structural imbalance by increasing the real wage rate of Chinese labor. It can be seen that, first, the external imbalance will be improved by the internal structural adjustment in the long-term; second, the effect of macro-adjustment is more significant than the micro-adjustment; third, a real appreciation would be sufficient for China to improve its terms of trade and change the export-oriented model of development into demandoriented model of development in the next decade

The Effect of China’s Real Exchange Rate Appreciation in the Next Decade— An Investigation of a Recursive Dynamic CGE Analysis

Although recent empirical studies indicate that the renminbi is undervalued, few people discuss how to adjust it effectively. The essential objective behind this paper is to explore the effect of the alternative adjustment of China’s real exchange rate. Different with the simulation designs of IIE’s Asian currency devaluation study, which discussed renminbi’s real exchange rate change and its competitiveness if China’s overall trade surplus reduces to zero. This paper considers the formation mechanism of the real exchange rate. By assuming the same change of factor’s price during different time periods and using the recursive dynamic computable general equilibrium model, the two different scenarios are simulated against the baseline, one is to adjust the macro-structural imbalance by decreasing the gross national saving rate in China and the other is to adjust the micro-structural imbalance by increasing the real wage rate of Chinese labor. It can be seen that, first, the external imbalance will be improved by the internal structural adjustment in the long-term; second, the effect of macro-adjustment is more significant than the micro-adjustment; third, a real appreciation would be sufficient for China to improve its terms of trade and change the export-oriented model of development into demandoriented model of development in the next decade

Crisis management in Asian countries

The approaches the Asian countries have undertaken to manage their economic crisis prevail in three different patterns: the Malaysian style, the Indonesian style, and the Thai-South Korean style. They present similarities in terms of restructuring their economy and adopting new economic policies, given that the main causes of the crisis have been originally embedded within their economic structures themselves. The differences among these patterns, however, concern their response toward international help, especially the IMF, as a means to save their falling economy.