China News Service, June 29th: To solve the problem of inequality in income distribution, these top scholars at home and abroad say this
China-Singapore Finance and Economics reporter Pang Wuji
Inequality in income distribution is a global challenge.
Good public policies can help address inequality on a global scale and allow a wider range of people to enjoy inclusive economic growth.
How can we achieve scientific policy design and innovation?
How to incorporate knowledge of scientific laws into policy considerations?
A number of top scholars in the field of behavioral economics at home and abroad focused on "Policy Experiments and Behavioral Boosting for Common Prosperity" at the second session of the Guanghua Idea 2022 Summer Forum on the evening of the 28th, exploring global economic policy innovation and inclusive growth solutions.
John List, a professor of economics at the University of Chicago, discusses how to scale good ideas in the policy arena, in conjunction with his new book, The Voltage Effect.
Based on his own research and related cases, Liszt put forward five important indicators for judging whether it can be scaled: First, is there any misunderstanding, maybe the possible laws discovered in the initial success are just accidental phenomena, not real laws?
Second, does the original audience represent a larger number of people?
Third, did the initial success come from the "chef" (the professionals), or the "ingredients" (the components of the idea itself)?
Fourth, do ideas and creativity have spillover effects?
Fifth, after scale, whether it can shape advantages on the supply side or the cost side.
By developing a scientific playbook, behavioral economics can drive better government decision-making.
Dean Karlan, a professor at Northwestern University's Kellogg School of Management and founder of the Poverty Alleviation Initiative, said that addressing poverty means facing many problems at the same time, but it does not mean that all problems must be solved at the same time. .
We need to find the right balance of educating individuals or families how to use resources and maximize their value, increasing their "capacities".
"Capacity" is changeable, and there are programs that help people develop "capacity" and help them use resources better, more effectively and efficiently.
The improvement of "capacity" can be carried out in the whole field of poverty alleviation. In addition, the improvement of "capacity" is complementary to the effect of other economic projects, and may gain a stronger overall effect.
AI can go a long way in reducing costs today, but it may be a long time before AI can design projects and customize projects for homes, because some parts of human interaction are difficult to truly replicate and identify.
Shawn Cole, a professor at Harvard Business School, shared his exploration of how to provide agricultural services through mobile phones to help change farmers' behavior to improve agricultural decision-making and improve agricultural yields.
In his empirical research, he found that: providing farmers with low-cost agricultural information push and agricultural question and answer services can effectively increase agricultural output; providing farmers with easy-to-understand and personalized fertilizer recommendations can change farmers' fertilizer use behavior.
In addition, he suggested using satellite measurement technology to scientifically assess the effectiveness of booster measures.
Bai Jie, an assistant professor at Harvard Kennedy School of Business, said that in recent years, e-commerce has flourished, and governments around the world have introduced many measures to promote the development of e-commerce, but at the same time, problems such as market congestion, information friction, and consumers' difficulty in predicting product quality have also appeared. .
Bai Jie and his collaborators found through research that if a large number of small and medium-sized enterprises were given comprehensive training and access subsidies regardless of the quality of the enterprises, the policy would actually increase market congestion and slow down the development of high-quality sellers.
To this end, she suggested that more effective policies should be introduced to promote the e-commerce market to gather more high-quality sellers, especially to help them reduce the friction in the initial stage of entering the market, which can effectively promote the development of the e-commerce market.
Professor Shen Qiaowei from the Guanghua School of Management of Peking University believes that the issuance of small-amount consumer coupons can indeed effectively stimulate new consumption, and the use of consumer coupons has no significant negative impact on consumption in the later period.
She and her collaborators found through empirical research that 1 yuan of government subsidies can drive 3.5 yuan of new consumption, and it is of great help to the catering and food sectors that have been severely affected by the epidemic, while "mental accounts" and "loss aversion" can explain consumption. This pulling effect of coupons.
In addition, it was also found that those consumer coupons with fewer restrictions, simpler coupon types, moderate denominations, and shorter validity periods can better drive new consumption.
To this end, she suggested: first, good policy design can combine consumer behavior and psychological factors; second, policy design can be continuously optimized through experimental methods and data analysis.
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