Intergovernmental Vertical Fiscal Relations Reform and Grassroots-Level Government’s Finance Guarantee:Based on Quasi-Natural Experimental Analysis

Grassroots-level government’s financial capability is crucial to the performance of financial functions of the whole country.How to adjust the intergovernmental vertical fiscal relations in order to improve grassroots-level government’s finance situation is important for accelerating the establishment of a modern fiscal system.In recent years,Province-Directly-Governing-County(PGC)fiscal reform has been an important attempt to straighten out vertical fiscal relations between governments,and thus has made it possible for studying the effects of vertical fiscal relations reform on grassroots-level government’s finance based on quasi-natural experimental analysis.Therefore,this article empirically analyzes the PGC fiscal reform based on nationwide county-level data applying Propensity Score Matching with Difference-in-Difference Method(PSM-DID),in order to investigate the effect of the reform on county governments’disposable revenue and identify the influence path.The results indicate that PGC fiscal reform has a significant effect on promoting fiscal disposable revenue of county governments.Furthermore,we find that the reform increased upper-government transfer payment more than county-level own revenue,which manifests the reform increase county governments’fiscal disposable revenue by means of restraining prefecture-level cities’from grabbing county-level transfer.

ESTIMATION OF VERTICAL DISTRIBUTION OF RELATIVE HUMIDITY USING SATELLITE DATA

In this paper, an attempt has been made to find out the vertical distribution of RH at levels of 850, 700 and 500 hPa by using satellite-derived radiation parameters (i.e., albedo, outgoing longwave fluxes, absorb- ed solar radiation and net radiation). For this purpose, multiple regression equations are derived from MONEX-79 upsonde and dropsonde data over the Arabian Sea for the period 11--20 June 1979. Satellite- estimated RH fields have been compared with ECMWF RH fields obtained from FGGE level ⅢB data. The RMS error and error variance for satellite-estimated RH fields have been found to be less than for those of ECMWF. Satellite-estimated isohygric patterns show good agreement with the cloudiness patterns of GOES satellite, whereas ECMWF isohygric patterns do not show much resemblance with the cloudiness patterns. The results of the study suggest that satellite-estimated RH fields could be more useful than ECMWF RH fields and they can be used with some confidence in NWP models.

Upstream SOEs in the mixed-ownership reform

This article explores possible options of the upstream mixed-ownership reform with imperfect substitute products in a vertically related market composed of one upstream SOE and two downstream profit-maximising retailers.Its focus is not only on incorporating the issue of privatisation into a vertical market structure,but also on extending the traditional upstream–downstream competition model by allowing the active contribution of retailers to enhance values at different costs.It finds that in a vertically related market where retailers’effort matters,the socially optimal policy towards the upstream SOE is partial privatisation regardless what product differentiation is involved,but the specific degree of privatisation is negatively correlated to the level of effort costs.By contrast,in a vertically related market without retailers’effort,the government tends to choose full nationalisation of the firm.

Influence of shock absorber condition on pavement fatigue using relative damage concept

Considering the importance of the road transportation nowadays, concerns related to pavement deterioration and maintenance have become relevant subjects. Especially for commercial vehicles, the vertical dynamic load （characterized by the tire-road interaction） is directly related to wear on the road surface. Given this, the main objective of this paper is to analyse effects of vertical loads applied on the flexible pavement, considering the variation of the condition of shock absorbers from a truck＇s front suspension. The mea- surements were performed on a rigid truck, with 2 steering front axles, in a durability test track located in Brazil. With a constant load of 6 tons on the front suspension （the maximum allowed load on front axles according to Brazilian legislation）, 3 different shock absorber conditions were evaluated： new, used and failed. By applying the relative damage concept, it is possible to conclude that the variation of the shock absorber conditions will significantly affect the vertical load applied on the pavement. Although the results clearly point to a dependent relationship between the load and the condition of the shock ab- sorbers, it is recommended to repeat the same methodology, in future to analyse the influence of other quarter car model variants （such as spring rate, mass and tire spring stiffness）.