后发国基于服务外包的产业升级风险及规避路径

国际服务外包是经济全球化的新标志和国际产业转移的新兴主流方式,对后发国来说,发展服务外包可以使本土企业在全球价值链分工网络中占据更有利环节,对加快产业转型升级有着重要意义。然而,后发国基于发展服务外包实现产业升级的模式也许是个"美丽"陷阱。文章对后发国以发展服务外包为依托的产业转型升级模式的风险进行了分析,并提出相应的治理策略。     

产业集群治理结构与网络权力关系配置

产业集群治理的目标在于增加集群剩余,提升整体竞争力,这就必然涉及到集群剩余的索取、控制及分配问题,其中的决定因素包括两个方面:一是集群剩余的规模,二是集群网络中各个治理主体获取集群剩余能力的大小;而二者都与集群治理主体在集群网络权力关系中的权力序阶也即权力比例结构或权力关系有关。本文重点研究集群网络权力关系配置及其演进规律,进而提出推进我国产业集群发展的政策建议。     

社会资本的治理机制——以硅谷风险投资为例

本文以硅谷高新技术产业集群中的风险投资为背景,在分析硅谷中社会网络的结构以及社会资本构成的基础上,探讨了在风险投资中企业治理过程中,社会资本的治理作用与机制。提出硅谷中风险投资网络和社会资本特征能有效地减少交易成本,有利于信息的扩散以及知识和技术的溢出,特别是社会资本独特的治理机制创造了有利于自我实施模式实现的治理环境,促进了技术创新,推动了整个产业集群的发展。     

我国虚拟集群治理模式与协同效应研究:以服务业为例

随着互联网的发展和新兴产业的兴起,传统产业集群逐渐向虚拟集群演化。虚拟集群以产业"组织行为接近"的关系取代了传统产业集群"地理位置接近"的空间集聚,成为当今促进产业发展的重要组织形式。然而,虚拟集群同传统产业集群一样,也存在集群利益相关者之间关系冲突等问题,探索有效的虚拟集群治理模式,提高集群协同效应,对集群企业和产业协同发展具有重要意义。从集群治理主体和治理机制两个维度,提出虚拟集群4种治理模式,利用我国服务业样本数据,比较分析了不同治理模式下智力资本协同效应。结果发现,自主协商-非正式治理模式下人力资本协同效应最为显著,自主协商-正式治理模式最有利于形成企业社会资本协同效应。     

产业集群成长中的企业家社会网络演化--一种"撒网"模型

企业家社会网络是一种具有重要意义的社会资本.文章在产业集群成长的背景中研究了企业家社会网络演化的规律.文章发现,产业集群中的企业家社会网络演化类似于一个"撒网过程":在产业集群出现阶段,企业家的社会网络主要由局限于狭隘区域的强联系所组成;在产业集群的成长阶段,企业家的社会网络主要由跨区域的弱联系所组成;在产业集群的成熟阶段,企业家的社会网络主要由地理范围更广的强联系所组成.     

产业集群治理:一个基于浙江省企业社会责任实证的视角

治理是一个比较宽泛的概念,适用于国际、国家、社区的不同领域的管理,治理的形式一般有企业治理、区域治理等。产业集群治理的提出与多重背景有关:全球化的迅猛发展、产业集群系统的复杂性和产业集群组织失灵的存在。产业集群治理包括外部治理和内部治理。外部治理主要是通过全球价值链治理来进行,而内部治理主要是网络治理。在治理结构中,企业社会责任是一个重要的约束条件。文章分析了企业社会责任与集群治理结构的关系,并以浙江产业集群为例进行了实证研究,认为从企业社会责任的视角探求产业集群治理具有重要的理论价值和实践意义。     

高新技术产业集群中社会资本的探究——夯实创新平台打造高新企业

高新技术产业集群是发展高新技术产业的有效模式,文章探讨了高新技术产业集群中社会资本的来源,包括社会网络、信用和共同信念。分析了高新技术产业集群中社会资本对集群内知识创造、知识转移和知识保护的重要作用和我国高新技术产业集群中社会资本缺失的原因及对策,从而有效地提升了知识为基础的产业集群的创新能力。结合实际,夯实创新平台,打造高新企业。     

高新技术产业集群中社会资本的探究——夯实创新平台打造高新企业

高新技术产业集群是发展高新技术产业的有效模式,文章探讨了高新技术产业集群中社会资本的来源,包括社会网络、信用和共同信念.分析了高新技术产业集群中社会资本对集群内知识创造、知识转移和知识保护的重要作用和我国高新技术产业集群中社会资本缺失的原因及对策,从而有效地提升了知识为基础的产业集群的创新能力.结合实际,夯实创新平台,打造高新企业.     

试论“消费资本”参与财务治理的动因、环境与路径

“消费资本化”使传统意义上的消费行为具有了“投资”的意义，从而赋予消费额“资本”的内涵。文章以“消费资本”内生的双重属性，即兼具债务资本和权益资本的双重属性为切入点，探寻消费资本参与财务治理的内外动因；消费资本发挥财务治理效应的技术环境、组织环境和信息技露环境；最后提出赋予消费资本相应的剩余索取权并将其引入企业相机治理机制。     

基于ANP的产业集群社会资本评价

社会资本是我国产业集群形成和发展的重要基础。根据产业集群社会资本的特点，提出采用网络层次分析法对我国产业集群社会资本评价。基于网络层次分析法的理论和算法，综合考虑各指标之间的影响，构建了基于网络层次分析法的县域产业集群社会资本评价指标体系，为指导产业集群的发展提供了决策依据。     

Pleasure and belief in Hume's Decision Process

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to introduce explicitly pleasure and belief in what aims at being a Humean theory of decision, like the one developed in Diaye and Lapidus (2005a). Although we support the idea that Hume was in some way a hedonist – evidently different from Bentham's or Jevons' way – we lay emphasis less on continuity than on the specific kind of hedonism encountered in Hume's writings (chiefly the Treatise, the second Enquiry, the Dissertation, or some of his Essays). Such hedonism clearly contrasts to its standard modern inheritance, expressed by the relation between preferences and utility.

The reason for such a difference with the usual approach lies in the mental process that Hume puts to the fore in order to explain the way pleasure determines desires and volition. Whereas pleasure is primarily, in Hume's words, an impression of sensation, it takes place in the birth of passions as reflecting an idea of pleasure, whose “force and vivacity” is precisely a “belief”, transferred to the direct passions of desire or volition that come immediately before action. As a result, from a Humean point of view, “belief” deals with decision under risk or uncertainty, as well as with intertemporal decision and indiscrimination problems.

The latter are explored within a formal framework, and it is shown that the relation of pleasure is transformed by belief into a non-empty class of relations of desire, among which at least one is a preorder.     

Globalization,Neoliberalism and the attack on social security

Neoliberal political movements advocate privatization of public pension systems. Globalization imposes pressure on nations to conform to neoliberal policy views with respect to the design and structure of social insurance, including public pension systems. The paper begins with an investigation of the economic, ethical and ideological dimensions of the privatization debates in the U.S.; it argues that privatization advocates may be largely moved by ideology, since the other reasons advanced appear weak or unfounded. The second part discusses the history of Social Security, the purposes for its creation, and some of its economic effects. Differences between public and private pension systems are considered. A brief international comparison of some aspects of public pension system finance and benefit structures is presented. The final section considers the ethical, macroeconomic and distributional implications of privatization, prefunding and payroll tax funding, and argues for a pay as you go system financed with income taxes. In order to promote equity, economic security, community, and social cohesion, public pension systems should be universal in coverage. In order to reduce the inequality, income insecurity, and aged poverty generated by market economies, public pension systems ought to be progressive: benefit/contribution ratios should be inversely proportional to income, and progressive income taxes should finance the system. To promote economic growth, the systems should be financed on a pay-as-you-go basis, and should not be prefunded except for an emergency reserve. The fiscal policy recommendations partially depend upon the theory developed by Abba Lerner in the 1940s, and recently advanced by Wynne Godley and Randy Wray: Lerner's “principle of functional finance.”     

Interest on reserves and inflation

The payment of interest on reserves has been a common practice in inflationary economies. This policy may seem paradoxical since it involves returning part of the seigniorage, generated by the inflation process, with the intention to finance the fiscal deficit. This paper argues that the motivation for this policy can be captured by the discretionary regime, where the policymaker pays interest on reserves because he is concerned with the erosion of real liquidity by inflation, which is in part beyond his control. However, this policy is an unlikely outcome in the commitment regime, where the policymaker is in full control of inflation.     

Bayesian estimation of duration models: An application of the multiperiod probit model

The multiperiod probit model is presented and Bayesian estimation using the Gibbs sampler with data augmentation is described. As an empirical illustration, the multiperiod probit model is then used to estimate a duration model using employment duration data for the Canadian province of New Brunswick. Bayesian estimation with unobserved heterogeneity is shown to be a simple extension of estimation of a duration model with no unobserved heterogeneity. More importantly, perhaps, some numerical problems encountered by other authors using Maximum Likelihood are avoided.I would like to thank M. Baker, G. Koop, A. Melino and D. Poirier for helpful comments and discussions. I would also like to thank M. Baker for providing his data.     

Scenarios and creativity: Thinking in new boxes

To be creative and make change happen, leaders must do more than simply ‘think outside the box’, as the traditional business manuals suggest, using the popular American expression. After all, the space outside the box is infinitely expansive. Moreover, there can be no guarantee that a solution to the problem will be found. The answer: ‘Think in new boxes.’ This requires developing the right new box; in other words, useful new models, a helpful new approach to a problem. That is the real art of practical creativity. This short article outlines the approach (Thinking in New Boxes) and its application to classic scenario planning with a few examples. The authors also present the ‘Expressway to Scenarios’, an approach that wins in impact and practicality what it loses in deep analysis, by having top executives involved in key steps.     

On the Role of Paradigms in Understanding Economic Globalization

Any adequate analysis of economic globalization necessarily requires fundamental understanding of the worldviews underlying the views expressed with respect to the nature and role of economic globalization. This paper is based on the premise that any worldview can be associated with one of the four basic paradigms: functionalist, interpretive, radical humanist, and radical structuralist. It argues that any view expressed with respect to economic globalization is based on one of the four paradigms or worldviews. It, therefore, discusses four views with respect to the nature and role of economic globalization which correspond to the four broad worldviews. The paper emphasizes that the four views expressed are equally scientific and informative; they look at the nature and role of economic globalization from a certain paradigmatic viewpoint. Emphasizing this example in the area of economic globalization, the paper concludes that there are opportunities for each paradigm to benefit from contributions coming from the other three paradigms.     

A Humean theory of choice of which rationality may be one consequence

For the reader who considers economic theory of choice as a special case of a more general theory of action, Hume's discussion of the determinants of action in the Treatise of Human Nature (1739?–?40), in the Enquiry on Human Understanding (1748) and in the Dissertation on Passions (1757) deserves attention. However, according to some modern commentators, Hume does not seem to have given any evidence that would favour what nowadays we would consider as the kind of rationality involved in modern theories of rational choice. On the contrary, this paper arrives at the conclusion that consistency between preferences and choice, like the usual properties of completeness and transitivity, may be considered as outcomes of a mental process, described by means of a decision algorithm that aims to represent Hume's theory of choice.     

The concept of freedom and its relation to economic development--a critical appreciation of the work of Amartya Sen

Following a brief review of the conception of freedom as employedin economic discourse, this paper focuses on the evolution ofthe concept of freedom in the work of Amartya Sen. It tracesthe development of Sen's thought from the capability analysisof the late 1970s to his more recent separation of freedom intoits opportunity and process aspects. While broadly appreciativeof Sen's development of the concept of positive freedom, thepaper identifies some difficulties arising from his definitionof capability as a set of options as well as from his separationof the opportunity and process aspects of freedom. Aspects ofthe relationship between Sen's conception of freedom and thatof Marx are discussed briefly in the context of Sen's recentdiscussion of the market as a source of freedom.     

How chaebol restructuring after the 1997 crisis has affected corporate decision and performance in Korea: debt financing,ownership structure,and investment

ABSTRACT

Korean chaebol firms, characterized by excessive debt financing and overinvestment, experienced restructuring after the 1997 crisis. By reducing debt financing and thus overinvestment, they tried to reorganize financing structure and ownership structure. Chaebols’ debt reduction turns out to have improved performance. However, polarization between chaebol and non-chaebol firms has become more significant. Even after the crisis, firms that give higher cash flows to a controlling shareholder take more capital investment, indicating that agency problems still exist within chaebols. Chaebol-affiliated firms continue to be more active in R&D than non-chaebol firms. However, the pattern is limited to the group of top 10 chaebols after the crisis.

Abbreviations: KFTC: Korea Fair Trade Commission     

Types of technology

Technology is a concept rife with confusion. Here, I argue that technologies can be distinguished as a combination of type of producer and an idealized artefact life history. Using this definition, a number of technologies are identified. The first technology historically, in the Protostomes, was the production of individual or family dwellings. Next came objects such as spider webs for trapping prey. Stigmergy followed, with the social insects, as a collective endeavour to construct a mega-structure using simple rules of accretion. Some birds and primates began to make tools, or simple technological objects whose function is closely related to their form. Humans are distinguished by their ability to make machines. Traditional technology took place once people voluntarily organised into groups with specialised knowledge to produce more complex objects and structures. Monumental objects like ceremonial pyramids came with the command economies of the early agrarian societies, which also resulted in a new category of artefact, the network. Finally, with modern civilizations came ad hoc accretion, or population-level adding-on, to make truly complex technological systems. Developing a theoretical framework within which artefacts, production processes and ways of interacting with them are identified should help the study of technology to become more scientific.