China’s 家电下乡 subsidised purchase of electronic goods for rural areas

China government’s 家电下乡 "subsidised purchase of electronic goods for rural areas" is one of China’s policies to boost internal consumptions.

家电下乡信息管理系统(Information Management System)
The website has information on announcements, laws & regulation, provincial activities, industrial activities etc regarding 家电下乡.

Q&A on the policy:

Questions & answers by China’s Ministry of Finance
Q&A on other website

Some compilations on 家电下乡on websites:
website 1
website 2

The policy is of good intention, subsidising rural folks on purchase of modern electronic goods for improvement of living standard, while providing much needed orders for electronic goods manufacturers to prevent further spread of bankruptcies and unemployment in the industry.

Its effectiveness depends on real needs of rural folks and actual executions of the program.
The devils are in the details.

Examples of concerns voiced (some are already happening), seen from various websites:
1. Unfair competitive pressure and crowding out effect on small and medium companies that models are not selected for the program.

2. Poor rural folks cannot afford to buy even with subsidy.

3. Even if it is affordable, it may not be usable, for example TV in areas with poor reception of TV programs.

4. Even if it is affordable and usable, cost of ownership may be too high, for example electricity bills, maintenance/repair/parts costs, subscription cost (for example TVs) etc..

5. Perception of the models being selected : lower quality goods, obsolete models ?

6. Ease and hidden costs of getting subsidies

7. Fraudulent goods that made to imitate selected models

8. Incentives for rural distributors to promote selected models will not be there if profits are squeezed too thin compared to other not-selected models

You may see that even if a policy is of good intention, its financial outcome depend greatly on the interaction of its different participants and transaction cost/information cost of participants.

Singapore Budget 2009 - Singapore fiscal stimulus

Singapore Budget 2009
Detailed documents on Singapore Budget 2009:
website

The "Budget Highlights" is a summary. Refer to website above for details.

Its key initiatives:
Jobs for Singaporeans
Stimulating Bank Lending
Enhancing Business Cashflow and Competitiveness
Supporting Families
Building a Home for the Future

There is a "If I were the Finance Minister" game in Singapore Budget website.
link to the Game
Cool ! This is a creative way to show the tradeoff on fiscal policies and what to consider as a Finance Minister.

As what Milton Friedman said, "There is no such thing as free lunch."

Malaysia's first and second Economic Stimulus Packages

From Malaysia’s Treasury, details of the Economic Stimulus Package:

Malaysia’s 1st Economic Stimulus Package
PDF file

Malaysia’s 2nd Economic Stimulus Package
PDF file
its appendices
PDF file

US Stimulus Package - Bush's TARP/EESA; Barack Obama's American Recovery and Reinvestment Bill

For investors who wish to look at details of US Stimulus Package:

Bush’s Stimulus Package
Name: Troubled Assets Relief Program (TARP) under Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008 (EESA)

Troubled Assets Relief Program (TARP) under Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008, is passed and became Public Law No: 110-343 (H.R.1424 prior to enactment)

H.R. 1424 (from Library of Congress)
link

H.R. 1424 pdf file (from GPO)
PDF file

Public Law No: 110-343
PDF file

Obama’s Stimulus Package
Name: American Recovery and Reinvestment Bill
Summary of American Recovery and Reinvestment Bill (from Committee of Appropriations) – (as passed by the house on 28 Jan 09) (refer to Committee of Appropriations for updates)
PDF file

Full text
PDF file

Note:
If you like this post, you may be interested on my other posts on US and fiscal stimulus.
Feel free to check them out and comment.

US: Obama-Biden plan (1)

Obama-Biden plan from Change.gov (the Office of the President – Elect)
Obama-Biden plan link
However, whether it will exactly be the same may depend on how the crisis will further proceed.
It is better to get to this direct source for information on Obama-Biden plan.

But some questions remain:
How will it be modified ?
Will it be successful in lifting US from financial turmoil ?

Excerpt from the initial Obama-Biden plan:
(for details of Obama-Biden plan, refer to the website; updates may be available from its Newsroom)

plan to revitalize the economy
1. Immediate Action to Create Good Jobs in America

• A New American Jobs Tax Credit
  ($3,000 refundable tax credit for each additional full-time employee hired)
• Raise the small business investment expensing limit to $250,000 through the end of 2009
• Zero capital gains rate for investment in small businesses
• Save one million jobs through immediate investments to rebuild America's roads and bridges and repair our schools
  ($25 billion immediately available in a Jobs and Growth Fund)
• Partner with America's automakers to help save jobs and ensure that the next generation of clean vehicles is built in the United States
  ($50 billion in loan guarantees)
  

2. Immediate Relief for Struggling Families

• A tax cut for 95 percent of workers and their families -- plus seniors
  permanent tax cut of $500 for workers and $1,000 for families
  extend these expedited tax credits to senior citizens who are retired as a down payment on his plan to eliminate taxes for all seniors making up to $50,000.
• Extend unemployment insurance benefits and temporarily suspend taxes on these benefits
• Penalty-free hardship withdrawals from IRAs and 401(k)s in 2008 and 2009
  allow withdrawals of 15% up to $10,000 from retirement accounts without penalty (although subject to the normal taxes)
• Instruct the Treasury to allow seniors to delay required withdrawals from 401(k)s and IRAs
• Funds to counteract high heating costs this winter
  

3. Direct, Immediate Assistance for Homeowners, Not a Bailout for Irresponsible Mortgage Lenders

• Instruct the Secretaries of the Treasury and Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to use their existing authority to more aggressively modify the terms of mortgages
  HOPE for Homeowners Act
• Reform the bankruptcy code to assist homeowners and remove legal impediments to encouraging broader mortgage restructuring
• Enact a 90-day foreclosure moratorium for homeowners who are acting in good faith
• Provide $25 Billion in state fiscal relief to help avoid painful property tax increases
• Create a universal mortgage tax credit for homeowners
  10 percent refundable tax credit on the mortgage interest paid by hardworking American families who do not itemize their taxes
  

4. A Rapid, Aggressive Response to Our Financial Crisis, Using All the Tools We Have

• Be prepared, if necessary, for broader assurances for credit to banks
• Extend asset purchases to unfreeze other critical sectors
• Make credit available to small businesses and state or local governments
• Address the credit crisis facing our states and localities
• Address the credit crisis facing our small businesses
  two immediate steps:
  (1) a nationwide emergency lending facility for small businesses that could be run through the SBA's Disaster Loan Program, which helped thousands of businesses in the wake of 9/11;
  (2) temporarily eliminating fees on the SBA's 7(a) and 504 loan guarantee programs for small businesses, to help increase private lending for small businesses.

Fiscal stimulus packages (1) - China

As there is a great possibility of recession spreads globally, many countries are having their own fiscal stimulus packages to encourage internal needs (since export will be harder) and promote economy growth.

I hope government will take this opportunity to really improve infrastructure (for examples utilities, transport, medical, education etc. ), especially for rural areas and set the stage to reduce poverty.

We can get useful information from the stimulus packages. Hopefully, we will have a glimpse of how government spending will trickle down and on what "pathway".

China’s 10-point fiscal stimulus package:
中国出台扩大内需促进经济增长十项措施
website

How big is the stimulus package ?
Excerpt:
到2010年底约需投资4万亿元。
今年四季度先增加安排中央投资1000亿元，
明年灾后重建基金提前安排200亿元，带动地方和社会投资，总规模达到4000亿元.