试论中古西欧的慈善观念

在中世纪这个信仰虔诚的时代,由基督教"博爱"精神而衍生的慈善观念成为了西欧社会慈善济贫事业的指导思想。作为检验信徒虔诚信仰、获取恩宠救赎的神学手段,慈善客观上起到了慰藉人心、缓解贫富、稳定社会的战略功能,它是基督教会在西欧构建宗教"神圣秩序"的核心价值手段。     

中国贫富两极分化的成因与消解对策

从基尼系数的持续走高和民众对贫富分化的切身感受两个方面看,中国已初现贫富两极分化。贫富两极分化的直接诱因是拉大收入差距的收入分配制度,这一制度在精英们的支撑下得以成型并固化,深层原因是制度的制定模式。贫富两极分化将成为中国社会稳定与社会和谐的隐患,因而亟需消解。政府消解贫富两极分化的根本措施是彻底变革制度制定模式,引入参与式治理。     

收入分配改革:权力和权利

居民收入差距扩大、贫富分化现象造成社会心态的日益失衡,已成为中国社会向前发展必须攻克的一道难关.在这种期盼之下,千呼万唤之后,酝酿了8年之久的收入分配改革方案终于出台,这似乎给解决中国的贫富分化和收入差距投下了一缕曙光.不过,对于国家大事而言,坐言起行并非振臂一呼、振衣而起那么简单,言行之间是漫漫长道,荆棘遍布.     

当前我国贫富差距拉大原因的“市场根源论”辨析

尽管市场经济的内在运行机制的确会导致贫富分化甚至两极分化,但是,事实上,当前我国贫富差距扩大的根本原因尚不是市场经济的过与不及造成的,而是腐败、垄断、政策的部分失误造成的。市场优胜劣汰或两极分化的机制尚未在中国产生巨大影响;彻底市场化并不是解决贫富分化的灵丹妙药。整治腐败、健全民主监督机制,实现机会公平的竞争;打破垄断,实现起点公平的竞争;以人为本,落实科学发展观,实现决策科学化、民主化才是解决贫富分化的现实出路。     

都铎时期英国贫民救济体系的确立

都铎王朝时期,为应对日益严重社会贫困问题,英国政府陆续颁布一系列济贫法令,结合不断变化贫困状况,救济措施也在不断完善,由惩治为主转向惩治和救济相结合,日趋合理.1601年,都铎政府颁布著名《济贫法》(史称《伊丽莎白济贫法》),这是第一次政府以立法方式介入贫困救济,是社会救济工作的一个重要里程碑.     

我国各地区内部贫富分化影响因素分析

本文利用stata软件对2005年1%全国人口调查数据中的"居民月收入"变量进行计算,结果表明,我国几乎所有省(区)的基尼系数都接近或超过了0.4的收入分配贫富差距的国际"警戒线",贫富分化程度已经十分严重.为分析其影响因素,挑选相关指标构建回归方程进行分析.因变量为各省的基尼系数,自变量分为人口发展类、经济发展类、社会发展类三大类13个变量.结果表明,市场化、私有化的程度越高的地区,基尼系数越高,贫富分化越严重.而经济社会发展水平的提高有利于通过中间变量来缓解这种贫富分化.     

济贫法变革反映出的英国社会的变化

通过对济贫法从1601年"旧济贫法"颁布到1834年"新济贫法"的实施这一过程的研究,分析了济贫法变革所体现出来的英国社会的变化.     

我国城乡收入差距扩大成因及变动趋势研究

当前,学术界对我国贫富分化问题特别是城乡收入差距问题的研究越来越多,并取得了可喜成果。但在现有研究中亦存在一些不容忽视的问题,具体而言就是存在着或以"不患寡但患不均"的传统观念来评判我国的改革成果,或生搬硬套西方所谓基尼系数过分渲染我国贫富差距等倾向。因此有必要对"基尼系数排行"滥用和"倒U假说"误导予以批判,并在揭示我国城乡贫富分化现象的本质和症结所在的基础上给出解决之策。     

令人堪忧的贫富差距

改革开放20多年来,我国的社会经济发展取得了举世瞩目的辉煌成就,人民生活水平不断提高,但也出现了贫富差距拉大的社会现象。本文试就这一社会现象的成因、功能进行分析,提出一些可行的政策和措施建议。一、我国贫富差距现象产生的原因1.改革开放的代价。在二十几年前,人们不敢讲富,以穷为荣,越穷越光荣,没有贫富分化。从某种方面看,我国出现贫富分化属于社会的进步,但从另一方面看,贫富分化是改革开放政策所带来的社会财富重新分配的结果;对于这种社会财富重新分配,国家没有很好的掌握,造成贫富两极过于分化。比如,改革开放的推进序列和东…     

"中庸适度"思想对当代中国社会的启示——读亚里士多德《政治学》的感悟

"中庸适度"不仅是亚里士多德在伦理学方面所崇尚的中庸美德,更是他在政治学上认为政体上"最好的".中产阶级作为国家"中庸"化身的思想对当前贫富分化日益悬殊的中国社会发展危机是一剂良药.     

收入、收入类别与环境库兹涅茨曲线

利用2000-2009年我国省际面板数据,对人均收入、收入类别与六种污染指标之间的关系进行了实证检验.结果表明:环境库兹涅茨倒U型关系取决于污染指标的选择,在样本期内,部分污染指标呈现出倒U型EKC关系;在倒U型曲线的转折点处,城镇人均可支配收入的临界水平高于农村人均纯收入的临界水平.     

我国城乡收入差别对居民总收入差别的影响

1985年以来,我国城乡收入差别在波动中呈扩大趋势,成为我国居民总收入差别的主体及其扩大的主因.1985-2004年,城乡收入差别对居民总收入差别的贡献平均达到56%,而且1999年以来,更是达到了60%以上,其变动对居民总收入差别变动的贡献平均达到83%,因此,缩小我国居民总收入差别的关键在于缩小城乡收入差别.     

Income Inequality and Income Mobility in the Scandinavian Countries Compared to the United States

This paper compares income inequality and income mobility in the Scandinavian countries and the United States during 1980–90. The results suggest that inequality is greater in the United States than in the Scandinavian countries and that this inequality ranking of countries remains unchanged when the accounting period of income is extended from one to eleven years. The pattern of mobility turns out to be remarkably similar, in the sense that the proportionate reduction in inequality from extending the accounting period of income is much the same. But we do find evidence of greater dispersion of first differences of relative earnings and income in the United States. Relative income changes are associated with changes in labor market and marital status in all four countries, but the magnitude of such changes are largest in the United States.     

Income splitting among the self-employed

Abstract .  Under individual taxation with progressive marginal tax rates, households in which the distribution of income is unequal benefit from attributing income to the lower income household member. Self-employment provides greater potential to 'split' income in this way because of the absence of a third party reporting income. Using the Canadian experience as a case study, this paper develops a unique estimator of the incidence of illegal income splitting among self-employed couples. The results suggest that the incidence of income splitting among self-employed men in Canada is non-trivial; but no evidence is found that self-employed women attribute income to their spouses.     

Income Mobility and Income Inequality in Rural China

The economic literature has argued for a long time that income mobility could attenuate the degree of cross-sectional inequality by offering people opportunities to improve their socio-economic position. Using the longitudinal data from the China Health and Nutrition Survey (CHNS) from 1989 to 2011, we measure income mobility as the degree to which longer-term incomes are distributed more or less equally than yearly income. Five main results are emphasized. First, there is strong income mobility in rural China that partly offsets yearly income inequality. Second, income mobility has decreased since the 2000s, indicating that income distribution is becoming more rigid. Third, mobility is mainly associated with transitory income fluctuations, particularly in the two tails of the distribution. Fourth, income mobility has an equalizing effect on income distribution. Fifth, we show that non-agricultural income mobility has substantially increased over the period and that its equalizing nature has also recently increased. While the development of the non-agriculture sector in rural China was a crucial factor in explaining the increase in rural inequality until the mid-2000s, we suggest that the large-scale generalisation of such non-agricultural opportunities partly accounts for the decline in rural inequality observed since the mid-2000s.     

Reference Income Effects in the Determination of Equivalence Scales Using Income Satisfaction Data

We estimate household equivalence scales, i.e. the needs of additional adults and children relative to a single adult, using income satisfaction data from the German Socio‐Economic Panel. We extend previous studies applying this approach by taking reference income into account. This allows separating needs‐based from reference effects in the determination of income satisfaction. We show that this adjustment helps to overcome a bias causing an overestimation of adults’ and an underestimation of children’s needs‐based equivalence weights. Our results indicate that controlling for income comparisons substantially increases children’s equivalence weight relative to that of adults.     

从农民收入来源构成看农民增收

如何实现农民增收,是“三农”问题重中之重。本文通过分析当前我国农民收入的现状,试图从改革开放以来农民收入来源变化与构成特点入手,寻求增加农民收入的有效途径:保证农村经济持续稳定增长,从农业增效中增加农民收入;拓宽农民增收渠道,转移农村剩余劳动力;加强财政支持政策体系建设;重视制度创新和组织创新。     

Sectoral Income

What is the income of each sector of an economy? E.g., in the case of a country endowed with petroleum resources, what is the income of its petroleum sector? Here we present a definition of sectoral income, which is compatible with an important line of theoretical literature on comprehensive national accounting. We do so first by splitting national income into individual income and then defining sectoral income by considering the contributions to individual income that the sectors give rise to.     

International Trade as Determined by Income and Income Distribution

Abstract

In standard trade theory, consumption is normally assumed to be homothetic. Consequently, income and its distribution have no role in determining international trade patterns. This paper examines the assumption and its implications. The assumption of homothetic preferences is rejected at the 1% level. It further demonstrates that the Heckscher–Ohlin–Vanek (HOV) model modified by allowing for non-homothetic taste improves the performance of HOV prediction and explains some of the trade puzzles and paradoxes.     

论农民增收的难点、成因及对策

本文从农产品价格、农村剩余劳动力向非农产业转移等方面出发 ,对农民增收的难点、成因进行了深入分析 ,在此基础上 ,结合我国农业发展新阶段的特点 ,就如何实现农民收入持续增长提出了对策。