中国服务业结构变动与增长的关联分析

1991年以来我国服务业发展呈现出明显的结构变动特征。本文通过对我国服务业内部结构与服务业增长之间相关关系进行动态和静态的实证分析,得出结论认为我国四个层次服务业的合理发展次序应为三、一、二、四。我国第二、四层次服务业发展速度应低于第一层次服务业,第三层次服务业发展速度应高于第一层次服务业,目前我国第一层次服务业增长速度趋缓不利于拉动我国服务业的进一步增长。文章最后给出了结论与政策性启示。     

基于BP神经网络的征地区片综合地价评估

文章提出了征地区片综合地价的BP神经网络系统的基本构造,并在充分考虑城市规划和生活水平对征地区片土地价格影响的基础上,对神经网络的评估系统进行了设计.给出了征地区片综合地价评估的指标体系及特征指标的量化计算公式.以雅安市雨城区最新的征地区片综合地价为基础,利用改进的BP神经网络模型对它们进行了训练和模拟,取得了良好的模拟结果,证明了ANN法用来测算征地区片综合地价的可行性和先进性.     

Kenneth Boulding: Economics from a Different Perspective

The article calls attention to gender as a dimension of the expansion of U. S. consumer borrowing. The first section emphasizes that gender is not a dummy variable, but an evolution of habits of thought. The second section discusses how changing gender relations are connected to gendered product differentiation and market expansion. The final section connects gendered market expansion and changing gender habits of thought to the expansion of consumer borrowing. We argue that, in addition to the acknowledged role of credit, gender relations also mask the structural financial fragility of households.     

The Emptiness of Peasant “Rationality”: “Demirationality” as an Alternative

This article discusses consumption as a social process that is part of social provisioning and is in an evolutionary interplay with other social processes. The analysis provides grounds for a context-specific research that explores consumption in the context of a culture-nature life process, and draws on material from various disciplines. The article seeks to contribute to the literature on social provisioning as an organizing concept in heterodox economics. The first section explains what is meant by social process and delineates its elements. The second section formulates a categorization of social processes, and locates a consumption process within a system of culture-nature life processes. The rest of the article delineates the elements of the consumption process, providing illustrations based on literature from various disciplines. Specifically, the third section discusses consumption activities. The fourth section discusses institutions and systems of provision of goods and services. The fifth section applies the concept of habits of life and thought to the consumption process. Finally, the article concludes that the formulated analysis transcends dualisms such as social-economic, cultural-material, society-nature, and micro-macro, and draws implications for heterodox economics.     

A case for water utilities as cooperatives and the UK experience

This article explores the creation of consumer cooperatives as a means of privatizing water utilities. The first section examines the structure of ownership and sets out Hansmann's theoretical basis for determining which category of persons is most efficiently assigned ownership. The section extends the discussion of market contracting costs by considering the externalities and social costs associated with a water utility. The heart of the paper is the second section which applies the theory of efficiently assigned ownership to the case of water utilities. The third section briefly reviews the literature on the relative efficiency of private and public utilities and also succinctly applies the theory of the firm to the question of vertical integration in the case of water utilities. The fourth section discusses the UK's experience with water utilities. The final section draws together the paper's conclusions.   The application of Hansmann's general theoretical scheme for assigning ownership leads to the conclusion that water utilities should be consumer cooperatives. Consumer-owned utilities would confront lower market contracting and ownership costs, than would investor-owned utilities. Additionally, the social costs and externalities that are particular to water are better left to consumers who are more prone to take them into account in their decisions.     

The Law of Diminishing Marginal Utility in Alfred Marshall's Principles of Economics *

The goal of this paper is to clarify the content of the Marshallian Law of Diminishing Marginal Utility. The paper is divided into seven sections. In the first one, I present the eight formulations of the Law that I record in the Principles and the foundation that Marshall provides for it. In the second and third sections, I present a couple of objections raised by Marshall himself against the universal validity of the Law; in my opinion, his answer to them is not sound. I contrast my interpretation with those of the other authors. In the fourth section, The Law of Utility is distinguised from the Law of Demand. In section five, l present the two meanings in which Marshall employs the term ‘utility’: as pleasure, and as a formal notion. In section six, I attempt to build an explanatory framework for the encountered difficulties. Finally, the seventh section is devoted to conclusions.     

The Political Economy of Real Exchange Rate Behavior: Theory and Empirical Evidence for Developed and Developing Countries, 1960–2010

Empirical results of testing the PPP hypothesis have constantly shown that relative prices do not converge to the same level, either in the short or the long run. Therefore, the PPP explanation of the real exchange rate does not provide a reasonable measure of competitiveness at the international level. This article puts forth a different approach based on the works of Ricardo, Marx, Harrod and Shaikh. It argues that the real relative unit labor cost is the main factor explaining the long-run behavior of the real exchange rate. The second section of the article explains the theoretical underpinnings of our approach. The third section analyzes the role of the real interest rate differential in explaining real exchange rate misalignments. In the fourth section, we present a graphical analysis of the interrelation among the real effective exchange rate, the real unit labor cost ratio, the short-run real interest rate differential and the trade balance for 16 OECD countries, Taiwan and three developing countries for the period 1960–2010. The fifth section investigates the long-run relationship between the latter three indexes through co-integrating and error correction models using the ARDL–ECM framework. The last section provides our conclusions.     

Feminist Geopolitics: Unpacking (In)Security,Animating Social Change

This piece is the introduction to a special section on Feminist Geopolitics focusing specifically on securitisation. This introduction provides an overview of the field of feminist geopolitics and situates the contributions of the articles that follow. We argue that the contributions to the section push the field in two distinct ways. First, a number of the pieces draw important connections between geopolitical and geoeconomic processes. Second, the pieces continue to excavate the complex relationship between geopolitical processes and everyday life. Taken as a whole, this special section highlights the utility of feminist geopolitical approaches for gaining analytic clarity and thinking through and enacting positive social change.     

A New Economic Strategy for the USA: A Framework of Alternative Development Notions

This paper seeks to provide a new economic strategy for the United States while considering a range of development-related impediments to the country’s recent economic performance. It is argued here that strategic industrial policy needs to come to the center stage if local production growth, competency upgrading, and competitiveness improvement are to be aggressively pursued. The first section outlines the present context of the US economy by discussing economic and socio-cultural aspects. The second main section frames an alternative development paradigm for the United States. Policy recommendations are discussed in the third section. Some brief conclusions end the paper.     

应用基础研究类原始性创新的演化机理研究

将应用基础研究类原始性创新视为一类特殊的发明,在引入现象(规律)、原理和技术3个关键概念的基础上,对其核心环节也就是创新研究环节进行剖析,完成了此类原始性创新的重新界定,归纳了其核心环节的一般步骤。此后,由核心环节拓展到整个演化过程,从匹配的角度来阐释此类原始性创新的演化机理。最后依据其演化机理给出了若干有助于此类原始性创新研究成功率提升的建议,具体包括创新团队应该加强领域内现象(规律)、原理和技术的积累与整合,注重团队成员天赋的发挥与独特思维和工作方式的推广,充分利用前人的研究成果,以及积极吸纳两类关键性人才。     

协同推进四川灾后重建与主体功能区建设的发展路径

主体功能区建设是优化空间结构的重要途径,四川地震灾后重建是一次强制性的空间结构变迁。四川主体功能区建设和地震灾后重建具有内在的统一性。论文在分析四川地震灾后对主体功能区建设的影响的基础上,重点对主体功能区建设促进灾后重建的路径进行了探索。     

中国城镇居民预防性储蓄实证研究

本文选择中国城镇居民 1 991— 1 998年间平行面数据 ,采用工具变量和广义矩估计方法 ,对预防性储蓄模型进行估测 ,研究结果表明我国城镇居民存在显著的预防性储蓄动机。本文第二部分对国内外同类研究扼要综述 ,并着重介绍Dynan的预防性储蓄模型。第三部分是对本研究中所采用的数据及估测方法的说明 ,最后给出本研究对中国城镇居民预防性储蓄动机的实证研究结果 ,以及对居民预防性储蓄产生原因所作的理论分析。     

Anonymous exploitation: non-individual,non-agential and structural

Abstract

On contemporary standard accounts exploitation is of man by man: One individual exploits another through a particular transaction. This paper offers a departure from the individualist transactional paradigm of exploitation by formulating an account of anonymous exploitation. The departure is threefold. Anonymous exploitation may occur as non-individual exploitation in cases where exploiter, exploited or both are not individuals but group agents, it may occur as non-agential exploitation in cases where exploiter, exploited or both are not agents but non-agential groups and it may occur as structural exploitation in cases where structures are exploitative. I shall argue that anonymous exploitation in its three variants is a real, independent and non-mysterious phenomenon. To miss its significance is to miss the ‘genius’ or even to remain blind to important instances of exploitation. My argument proceeds in seven steps. In section 1, I offer a brief analysis of the concept of exploitation and spell out the desiderata that a successful theory of exploitation would have to satisfy. In section 2, I explain what I mean by anonymous exploitation. Section 3 explores the idea of non-individual exploitation; section 4 presents an account of non-agential exploitation and section 5 proceeds likewise with the idea of structural exploitation. Section 6 puts the individual steps of my argument together and I conclude in section 7.     

Religion and the sociological critique of political economy: Altruism and gift

Abstract

This article shows that there is a strong connection between the religious component of French sociology and the critique of political economy. In the first section, I consider how selfish behaviour, or egoism, became treated as a major threat endangering the creation of industrial society by those concerned about the diffusion of political economy. I then summarise the methodological critique set forth in the Cours, before connecting this critique to the economic content of the Système and the concept of altruism. In the following section, Spencer's view of altruism is contrasted to that held by Comte, and then I consider the reaction of French political economists, defending the moral value bought about by their science. In the final section, I explain how the Comtean approach was re-enacted by Durkheim and then by Mauss, at the head of the “sociology of religion” section of L'Année sociologique, the Durkheimian journal, to give birth to the theory of gift-giving behaviour that Mauss used to critique political economy in the 1920s.     

Dynamics of the economic transition in Poland: An attempt at interpretation

The objective of this analysis is to describe, interpret, and assess the socioeconomic changes that took place in Poland during 1989 to 1997. This is a dynamic approach that considers the relationships that exist between successive phases of transformation and is characterized by both quantitative and qualitative analysis. The study is in three sections. The first section sets forth analytical tools and methods to study systemic transformation at large. It searches for the promising manner of a transition appraisal. The second section discusses division of the economy into sphere of regulation and real sphere. In turn, the third section includes a dynamic analysis of interrelationships between those spheres that are subject to changes in the course of transformation and, in various ways, shape the economic performance in Poland. Finally, this paper draws conclusions concerning the failures and successes of the economic transition.     

Tracing the Origins of Personalist Economics to Aristotle and Aquinas

Personalist Economics has identified a central problem in Neoclassical Economics that originates in its representation of the economic agent as homo economicus and its grounding in individualism. Both flaws are directly addressed by Personalist Economics that has a different perspective on human nature as set forth in Personalism. Our remarks are presented in three sections. In the first section we address why individualism is an unsatisfactory philosophical foundation for modern economic theory. In the second section we trace the origins of Personalist Economics to Aristotle and Aquinas. While others, such as Heinrich Pesch and Joseph Schumpeter, played important roles in the evolution of Personalist Economics, here our efforts are restricted to the contributions of Aristotle and Aquinas. In the third section we explore how, in terms of 18 tenets, Personalist Economics and a Personalist economy differ from Mainstream Economics and the individualistic market economy.     

Globalization with a human face

This paper has six parts. The first part defines globalization. The second discusses globalization eras. The third discusses the irreversibility and inevitability of globalization. The fourth section discusses the benefits and costs of globalization. The fifth section asks what is to be done. The sixth section contains my conclusions.     

Where are we in the political economy of reform?

We review the experiences of developing countries with market-oriented reforms, using the tools of modern political economy. We impose intellectual discipline by requiring that actors behave rationally using available information and that basic economic relationships such as budget constraints be accounted for. We attempt to integrate two approaches, one based on dynamic games played by interest groups, with one that focus on limited information and the dynamics of learning.

We describe the “starting point” as the set of “old” policies and we attempt to explain the dynamics (political, economic and informational) that lead to reform (section II). We analyze strategies for reformers subject to political constraints (section Ш). We evaluate the aggregate and distributional costs of reforms, emphasizing the importance of looking at the right counterfactuals (section IV).

We conclude by pointing to the challenges ahead: the second-stage institutional reforms necessary to take off from underdevelopment.     

Globalization with a human face

This paper has six parts. The first part defines globalization. The second discusses globalization eras. The third discusses the irreversibility and inevitability of globalization. The fourth section discusses the benefits and costs of globalization. The fifth section asks what is to be done. The sixth section contains my conclusions.     

Vested Interests and the Common People in Developing Countries: Understanding Oppressive Societies and Their Effects

The standard economic model of how economies work is that activities are essentially productive. This is not a correct view of reality. The principal difficulty is that there is economic activity that is unproductive and harmful (from the point of view of those being harmed). This is a central feature of the economic organization of these societies, and creates poverty. The first section of the article discusses the concept of harm. The second section describes how societies are run on this basic set of principles: Take and maintain control of the government and other aspects of society, and use the power of government to obtain income. The third section of the article describes how this system harms the common people. Topics include corruption, misappropriation of natural resources, conflict and other harm engendered by the struggle for control, the influence on present society of the past operation of harmful economic systems, and discrimination as well as other “barriers to entry.”