Using the fiscal datasets from 1993 to 2003 in China, this paper studies fiscal disparities and the equalization effects of fiscal transfers at the county level. The results indicate that there are huge fiscal disparities across regions, and this kind of inequality takes on a lasting upward trend. The persistence of fiscal inequality is very high, and also trends upward. Moreover, transfers fro...

The Poggendorff illusion refers to the phenomenon that the human brain misperceives a diagonal line as being apparently misaligned once the diagonal line is interrupted by two parallel edges, and the size of illusion is negatively correlated with the angle of interception of the oblique, i.e. the sharper the oblique angle, the larger the illusion. This optical illusion can be produced by both r...

la question de l’interaction entre le lecteur et le personnage est cruciale en toute étude en littérature fictionnelle. pourtant, malgré l’intérêt que les chercheurs portent depuis longtemps à l’examen de cette relation, celle-ci n’a été que rarement l’objet d’une étude méthodique. c’est pour combler ce manque que vincent jouve propose sa théorisation sur « l’effet-personnage ». le modèle prése...

We report a novel fat face illusion that when two identical images of the same face are aligned vertically, the face at the bottom appears 'fatter'. This illusion emerged when the faces were shown upright, but not inverted, with the size of the illusion being 4%. When the faces were presented upside down, the illusion did not emerge. Also, when upright clocks were shown in the same vertically a...

Fiscal rules specify quantitative targets for key budgetary aggregates. In this paper, we review the experience with such rules in Japan and in the EU. Comparing the performance of fiscal policy in the 1980s and 1990s until 2003, we find that the fiscal rule of the 1980s exerted some but not much disciplinary influence on Japanese fiscal policy. The fiscal rule of the Maastricht Treaty had a si...

The rubber hand illusion is a perceptual illusion in which a model hand is experienced as part of one's own body. In the present study we directly compared the classical illusion, based on visuotactile stimulation, with a rubber hand illusion based on active and passive movements. We examined the question of which combinations of sensory and motor cues are the most potent in inducing the illusi...

This article presents a monitoring indicators system that predicts whether a local government in Taiwan is heading for fiscal distress and identifies a suitable fiscal policy that would allow the local government to achieve fiscal balance in the long run. This system is relevant to stockholders’ interest, simple for national audit bodies to use, and provides an early warning of fiscal distress ...

The search for “fiscal indicators” to provide a short-hand (and preferably quantitative) picture of the size, direction, and nature of intergovernmental finance – and, ideally, some guidance for policy designed to improve outcomes – appears to be neverending. “Fiscal balance” and “fiscal sustainability” are, for example, terms commonly heard in discussions of intergovernmental fiscal relations....

Empirical and experimental evidence documents that money illusion is persistent and widespread. This paper incorporates money illusion into a stochastic continuous-time monetary model of endogenous growth. We model an agent’s money illusion behavior by assuming that he maximizes nonstandard utility derived from both nominal and real quantities. Money illusion affects an agent’s perception of th...