通过加入WTO ,中国承诺将逐步降低关税税率,消除非贸易壁垒,开放国内市场,并允许资本的跨国流动。根据理论和政策界的一个流行见解,如果一个国家实现了自由贸易政策,则该国终将实现高经济增长率(OECD,1998 ;IMF ,1997;Kruger,1998)。然而,近期的一项研究系统地考察了现有理论文献和实证证据后发现,开放的贸易政策与经济增长之间并不是显著相关的(Rodriguez and Rodrik,1999)。实际上,即使我们接受开放度的增大会导致经济增长这一理论主张,但是,我们也应当看到,并不是每一个人都能够从全球化中获益,至少在短期内如此。这有两方面的原因:第一,更大的开放度意味着生产分工的扩大。因此,一国根据经济比较优势进行结构调整是不可避免的。第二,由于一个开放度较高的经济所拥有的生产结构的多样化程度较低,因此,就很容易承担由于世界市场波动所引发的风险。外部风险的增大意味着国内收入和消费的易变性,而这将对一些社会集团产生较大的危害。
全球化收益的不平衡分配可能会产生两大后果。一方面,全球化所产生的一些困境可能使全球化进程中的“输家”(losers)在经济和社会体制中处于隔离状态。随着经济不安全的增大,这些社会群体可能会拒绝继续支持现行的自由化改革。如果他们认为全球化发展将趋于恶化,则他们可能会公开反对这种自由化改革。另一方面,全球化中的不公平和其他两极化现象可能会激发全球化过程中的“赢家”和“输家”之间的分配性冲突。这种冲突会通过好几个途径妨碍未来经济增长趋势。第一,分配性冲突可能会将注意力、资源和能源从生产性领域转移到关于全球化成本负担和租金分配的谈判过程中去(Rodrik,1998)。第二,通过在经济中造成一些不确定性,这种分配性冲突可能会导致低于最优水平的投资率(Alesina and Perotti ,1996)。第三,分配性冲突可能会使得应对外部冲击的一致意见的达成或构造富有凝聚力的发展目标变得非常困难。
面对税收的增加,纳税人有两种选择:或“退出”或“发表意见”。此处的“退出”选择意味着通过各种手段进行税收规避,而“发表意见”则是指在交纳税收的同时通过政治行动试图改变现行税收法律(Hirschman ,1977)。如果缺乏民主参与机制,则“发表意见”的选择也就实际上被抑制了。因此,在这种情形下,纳税人只有选择“退出”机制。如果公民获得了影响政府决策的权利,则他们对税收的依从程度就会提高。这是因为,在这种制度环境下,政府在没有获得利益将会受到影响的纳税人同意的条件下将无法��施征税和消费。如果公民授予政府以征税和按照公民利益进行支出的权利,那么,公民对于税收的依从程度就会增大(Bates and Lien,1985)。当然,这并不意味着合法性政府可以消除“搭便车”问题。即使是一个支持政府的纳税人,他也会试图通过获取利益而不支付相应的成本。然而,如果政府能够给予纳税人以更大的政策选择的权利,那么纳税人肯定会更愿意交纳税收。如果能够降低实施成本,则政府所获得的收入水平也就会提高(Levi,1988)。
回想一下,我们可以说,中国的改革有利于所有人。可以说,自1978年以来,几乎没有一个家庭的福利水平没有得到改善。然而,对近期中国改革的仔细考察后不难发现,中国改革实际上经历了两个显著不同的阶段。第一个阶段是1978—1993年。在这一阶段里,改革是一个“双赢博弈”(win-win game),即所有社会群体都从中获益。不同之处仅仅在于有些社会群体所获得的收益可能要比其他群体大。[3] 大约从1994年开始,中国改革进入了第二阶段,这一阶段的特征就是失业的恶化和不平等的增加。当然,肯定也还有一些社会群体从最近的改革中获取了很多好处。然而,另外一些社会群体第一次成为实际上的“输家”,不仅从相对角度看如此,而且从绝对量上看也是如此。这些“输家”的福利水平实际上是下降的。从有人以其他人受损为获利基础的角度看,这一新的改革阶段已经变成了一个“零和博弈”(zero-sum game )。
第三,地区差距是一个多因素现象。不管从哪种因素看,地区差距都很大。富裕省份和落后省份之间并不仅仅在人均GDP 上有所差距,而且,在经济和社会生活中的几乎每一个方面都显示出地区差距的影响。例如,以人类发展指标(Human Development Indicators)来衡量,中国最发达地区和最不发达地区的差距几乎相当于世界上西方工业化国家与那些最贫穷国家之间的差距(UNDP,1995)。
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