Social identity,inequality, and conflict: correction and extension

This paper corrects and extends the analysis in Social Identity, Inequality, and Conflict by James Robinson (Economics of Governance, 2(1), 2001). For conflict along class lines, Robinson finds the total impact of mobility on conflict to be ambiguous. Contrary to his result, I show that, under his assumptions, the effect of social mobility on class conflict is unambiguous. Higher mobility always decreases conflict. In my extension to Robinsons model, I explore mobilitys impact on class conflict in a society where the tax rate is not fixed. I demonstrate that if the tax rate is proportional to the population of the group in power relative to the total population of the society, then the effects of social mobility on class conflict are indeed ambiguous.Submitted: February 2002, Accepted: July 2003,I am grateful to an anonymous referee and Amihai Glazer for their comments. I would also like to thank Herschel Grossman for his help along the way.     

Sadat's Negotiations with the United States and Israel: From Sinai to Camp David

A bstract . Anwar Sadat was generally praised by Western leaders and scholars for his vision, courage, and negotiating skills. A critical examination of the documentary record shows that at least as far as negotiations and decision-making, the dominant Western view is self-serving. The two Egyptian-Israeli disengagement agreements of 1974 and 1975 started Sadat on the road to the American-sponsored peace, the price of which Sadat must have known to be the establishment of an Egypto-American-Israeli strategic alliance at the expense of Egypt's traditional role in the Arab world. Having accepted this outcome Sadat allowed his alternatives to narrow and bargaining power to diminish until they almost exclusively and entirely rested on what the United States and Israel were prepared to offer. To the extent that the overall strategic goal of Henry Kissinger was to separate Egypt from Arab and Palestinian aspirations, and further isolate the "radical" forces in the region, thus weakening Soviet influence and paving the way for a settlement acceptable to Israel, the American negotiator achieved his goal, with hardly any opposition from Sadat. In fact, in his eagerness to accelerate his admission into the American camp, Sadat adopted a negotiating style and made concessions which surprised the Americans themselves.     

From Buchanan to Khomeini

A bstract . Nobel Laureate James Buchanan and his colleagues and followers have applied the tools and methods of neoclassical economics to the study of politics , developing the theory of Public Choice , the economic study of non market decision-making. In an effort to subject this hypothetical system to empirical validation, it is confronted with the phenomena of Ayatollah Khomeini's "ideal" Islamic State as described in the leader of Iranian theocracy's writings and as developed in contemporary Iran. The prophet Muhammad recognized no separation of politics and religion , of church and state. Faith in Islam required faith not only in the oneness of God and Muhammad's prophethood but also in the prophet's religious, moral, legal and political commands. Khomeini's revolutionary heterodoxy views his theocratic despotism as establishing the rule of the "just jurists"—the upper echelons of the clergy—and makes them and property owners the beneficiaries. Thus it is not "class neutral" as Public Choice theory requires.     

Feints

In both economic and military situations, agents may try to mislead rivals about their true types or plans, whatever they may be. We consider a simple model in which one player attacks and the other player defends. We show that such environments have two types of possible equilibrium behavior, depending upon the signaling technology. If the signal is not very revealing about the attacker's plans, then the attacker always invests more resources in attack than in misdirection. If the technology is revealing, then the attacker does not always feint, but when he feints, he invests more than half of his resources into misdirection. Comparative statics also depend on whether the technology is revealing.

" Always mystify, mislead and surprise the enemy, if possible ."

— General Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson     

从“番茄花园事件”谈中国软件业知识产权战略

文章以"番茄花园事件"为启发,从消费者和软件开发商双重角度出发探讨其所引发的知识产权问题,纵观中国软件业发展史,试图为中国软件业知识产权战略发展提供一点建议,为解决"盗版"问题提出理论参考。     

John R. Commons's "Five Big Years": 1899–1904

Economics should be built upon a sociological foundation, believed John R. Commons. While pursuing this conviction his chair in sociology was terminated in 1899. From then until 1904, exiled from academia, he investigated afield for the U.S. Industrial Commission and the U.S. Bureau of Labor and participated in the National Civic Federation, amassing first–hand knowledge of conflict resolution arranged by capitalists'"combinations" and by labor unions' bargaining with employers. These experiences inspired ideas concerning sociology and economics and beliefs that public policy should turn away from antitrust law and instead attempt to create counterbalancing power in the economic system. He published his ideas in various journals and magazines, and in nearly three dozen unsigned editorials in The Independent . This essay critically examines his thought during this period that he brought with him when he began the work based in Wisconsin that would carry him to fame.     

关于我国控制性详细规划问题与改革的再思考——基于一个规划选址案例的分析

控制性详细规划是我国城市土地开发控制的直接法定依据。然而,由于社会经济发展过程中各种不确定性因素的影响,控规在我国城市建设中并没有起到预期的作用。基于一个规划选址案例的分析,进一步探讨了控制性详细规划所面临的"刚性"与"弹性"的根本矛盾,并从控规编制内容和方法、控规编制和实施体制等方面提出了相应的对策建议,其中,特殊发展单元规划层级的设置和土地发展权市场交易机制的引入,对于控规规划制度的改革具有尤其重要的意义。     

Reconciling Weber and Mises on Understanding Human Action

A bstract .   Max Weber and Ludwig von Mises were two of the 20^th century's foremost theorists of human action. Mises held Weber, his senior by some 17 years, in great esteem and often discussed his theories, even weaving some, such as Weber's model of ideal types, deeply into the fabric of his own social thought. However, at least at first glance, there seems to be a deep rift between the two men's conceptions about the rationality of action. Weber classified "social actions" into several distinct categories, some of which he saw as exhibiting little, if any, rationality. Mises, in contrast, held that all action is rational by conceptual necessity. Various writers have taken their views to be obviously incompatible, among them, Mises himself. This article suggests that the appearance of a conflict is produced by the failure to discern that Weber and Mises were addressing different sorts of questions and constructing frameworks to support different modes of analyzing social phenomena. I contend that, if that divergence of aim is properly understood, then the apparent contradiction will be seen as illusory.     

吉祥无线电股份有限公司的资产剥离计划

本案例展现了一家公司拟对两个分厂实施剥离时,在发展战略、公司财务、生产经营、人力资源等各方面所要面对的问题,以及董事会内部的意见冲突。面对复杂的局面,董事会最终会作出怎样的决策呢?     

Francois Quesnay: Interpreters and Critics Revisited

A bstract . Francois Quesnay is held by many to be the first truly modern economist. In 1750, Quesnay outlined a framework for input-output analysis , perfected by Leontiefin 1930's; he developed a general equilibrium theory perfected in the 20th century by Walras and Keynes ; and Quesnay was among the first to analyse economic growth theory as a function of capital accumulation. As the main representative of the Physiocrats he proclaimed the libertarian motto of laissez faire. But his "libertarian ideas" were quite limited to domestic agricultural trade. The Physiocrats were tied with the aristocratic and autocratic "ancien regime" and Quesnay himself did not promote individual freedom and abhorred class struggle. By proclaiming "laissez faire la nature," the physiocrats believed in the natural order of things, with governments enforcing this natural order. In this order, agriculture is the source of all wealth and everything else is sterile: agricultural development means economic development. The physiocratic philosophy contributed to the 18th century "enlightenment" from the outside; it was too tied with the past to induce radical changes. The Physiocrats were forerunners of much of the economic theory and tools used today; but the economics system they envisioned was not meant to widen welfare or economic freedom.     

会计准则中的资产和负债要素问题的探讨

资产定义中的“拥有”与“控制(广义)”有相同的含义,在表述时不应将其并列使用。资产要素是指企业经营管理的具有获利能力的现时资源。修订稿中的“法定义务”和“推定义务”都是法律规定的义务,应将其改为订立合同的义务和没有订立合同的义务。考虑预计负债因素后的负债要素的定义是:过去的交易、事项形成或很可能形成的企业的现时义务,履行该义务预期会导致经济利益流出企业。     

Radical Individualism vs. Institutionalism, I The Division of Institutionalists into 'Humanists' and 'Behaviorists'

A bstract . David Seckler has filled an important gap in the methodological literature of economics by providing a "radical individualist" critique of American institutionalism (1). Seckler argues that institutionalists have been unable to develop a coherent methodology because of their ambivalence on the issue of " free will versus determinism." Thorstein Veblen, he says, entertained both "humanistic" and "behavioristic" hypotheses in his explanations of human behavior and, consequently, descended into obscurantism. The institutionalist literature in general reflects these contradictory methodological tendencies; for example, John R. Commons was a "humanist" , whereas Clarence Ayres was a "behaviorist." Seckler's critique is not, however, persuasive. He fails to recognize the difficulties inherent in the philosophical dualisms posited by "radical individualism," and he employs them credulously in his critique of institutionalism. Equally damaging to his argument is his failure to give adequate consideration to the meaning and significance of the "institutional dichotomy" in institutional analysis.     

案例教学对于MBA学员管理能力提升的实证研究

本文采用实证研究的方法，对大连、山东、北京等地的216名MBA学员进行了案例教学有效性认知的问卷调查，并选择了一个31人的MBA班进行了案例教学与传统讲授的教学效果比较研究。研究结果表明：案例教学在”学习分析问题的思路”、“提高解决问题能力”、“改善思考方式”和“锻炼沟通能力”等方面的效果大大优于传统讲授；而且在本研究的八项管理能力中，除了“创新能力”外，案例教学对于其他七项管理能力提升的有效性都得到了MBA学员的高度认可。     

Professor Ludwig M. Lachmann (1906-1990): Scholar, Teacher, and Austrian School Critic of Late Classical Formalism in Economics

Ludwig M. Lachmann was born in Berlin in 1906 and died in Johannesburg in 1990. For more than forty years, until his retirement in 1972, Lachmann established himself as a prominent South African economist and for a time served as head of the economics department at the University of Witwatersrand. From 1974 to 1987, he worked with Professor Israel Kirzner in New York City to give new shape and life to the older Austrian school of economics. Lachmann influenced a small army of modern Austrians to discard the elaborate formalisms of orthodox economics for a "radical subjectivism" that had its roots in the teachings of the founder of the Austrian school, Carl Menger. Here a small platoon of scholars offer their thoughts about Lachmann, his contributions to economic reasoning, and his eccentric but engaging character. First hand reports explain what their mentor taught and what his students took away. Lavoie makes the case that Lachmann's "radical subjectivism" took a rhetorical turn toward the end of Lachmann's career in New York City. In addition, Kirzner reports on his long and most productive relationship with Lachmann and provides additional insights about the seminal role of the Austrian Economics Seminar at New York University from 1985 to 1987 in giving shape to the modern Austrian revival. This article is the written version of a "Remembrance and Appreciation Session" held on June 28, 1999 at the History of Economics Society meeting at the University of North Carolina in Greensboro. It is one of an ongoing series that appears in the July issues of this journal.     

An Illuminating Exchange The Construction of Social Reality

A BSTRACT . In his The Construction of Social Reality , Searle presents an account of rights, responsibilities, obligations, duties, and similar entities in terms of the formula X counts as Y in context C , where " X " refers in the simplest case to some physical object or event and " Y " to the result of imposing upon X some deontic power or function. Smith attempts to show the limitations of this formula, focusing especially on the examples of contested property rights (where C is not uniquely defined), and of money in bank accounts and other phenomena (where no physical X -term is available). Searle responds to these criticisms, above all by pointing to the fact that some of the problems Smith raises are to be addressed not by an ontological analysis of social reality but rather through legal or political means.     

大桩距搅拌桩加固软土技术在工程中的应用

通过现场复合地基静载荷试验和桩土应力比的测试,探讨了水泥土复合地基在桩距S＞2.5d的情况下其承载性状和桩土应力比.试验结果表明复合地基在“有效桩长“范围内,承载力可以满足要求,并形成“加筋垫层“,有效扩散应力,使沉降变形减小;桩土应力分布合理,使桩和土体各部分的承载潜能均可以得到较好的发挥,从而使复合地基可以较好满足承载和沉降的要求.     

数字经济时代下企业组织惯性的重构路径研究

组织惯性研究中"选择决定论"与"组织适应论"的视角冲突,割裂了企业对组织惯性的认知,难以形成相匹配的应对模式。文章从资源基础理论视角切入设计案例研究,研究发现企业组织惯性的重构路径会经历三个主要阶段:(1)组织外围结构先行演化,不断试错,形成可被纳入核心结构的能力;(2)基于形成的能力进行资源动员,丰富可能的资源和能力组合方案;(3)通过解构与重组惯性的方式构建动态调节机制。研究结论有助于丰富组织惯性和资源基础的研究文献,弥合了组织惯性研究的视角冲突,在组织变革中引入了管理者的资源管理能力;同时可为企业无法准确识别环境变化时提供一个处理组织惯性的可行指导方案,促使企业组织的成长演化过程向进化转变。     

Social identity, inequality and conflict

I extend the standard materialistic rational choice model of conflict to consider groups. In particular, I consider how the aggregate amount of conflict in society depends on which groups form and oppose each other. The study is motivated by empirical findings about the relationship between inequality, conflict and economic development. I focus on a salient comparison: ethnic groups vs. social classes. I show that, contrary to the conventional wisdom, class conflict is not necessarily worse than ethnic conflict. In fact, ethnic conflict is general worse when the distribution of income is more equal. I also investigate the impact of the fact that while ethnicity is immutable, since there is social mobility, class is not. I show that the direct impact of mobility of conflict is as conventionally believed, but that there are important indirect effects which make the net effect ambiguous. Received: June, 1998 / Accepted: November 22, 1999     

Henry George and Europe:

A bstract Henry George's Progress and Poverty was translated into German and published in Germany in 1881, a little more than a year after its publication in America But it was not through George's own words that his ideas first became known there Germany already had land reformers , organized in small societies They made his teachings known However, unlike the case in Britain, Germany's leftists did not welcome George's land reform ideas True, Karl Marx recognized and wrote about the role the land question played in the exploitation of labor and in his third volume of Capital took basic positions parallel to George's, it was published long after Progress and Poverty The hostility of Wilhelm Ltebknecbt toward land reform reflected the German public's disinterest in the land question and may explain why Marx concentrated on appealing to the urban industrial worker