区域经济学regional economic development第十章.pptVIP

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * One of the long-standing debates in economics is the question of whether there is necessarily a trade-off between efficiency and equity. Efficiency relates to using factors of production in the best way possible, both in terms of what is produced and how it is produced. Equity is concerned with who gets what is produced. Those who say there is a trade-off between efficiency and equity argue that when government changes the distribution of output or interferes with the allocation of resources, by setting minimum wages, for example, that this leads to a loss of efficiency because the incentives dictated by the market are changed and as a result, efficiency will be sacrificed. This argument gets made regarding redistribution amongst individuals, or regions or countries. The question then is whether this is true and if it is, what are the implications for regional development policy, here in China or elsewhere in the world. The first point to note is that markets are less than perfect and as such, it is not true that markets necessarily produce the most efficient use of resources. And if markets do not necessarily produce the greatest efficiency, then it is also true that changing the market outcome through government may not reduce efficiency. A second point is that not all redistribution reduces efficiency; some redistribution may actually increase efficiency. Workers who are better fed or more healthy, for example, will be more productive workers. Workers who do not have to worry about how to feed their families or pay for school for their children, are likely to also be more productive. Third, there may be a number of different externalities that are derived from different redistribution schemes that may produce benefits for society that far outweigh, or at the very least partly or wholly offset , any efficiency losses that are the result of the redistribution. Some examples are education externalities, technology external