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.     

Globalization and State: Four Paradigmatic Views

Any adequate analysis of globalization and state necessarily requires fundamental understanding of the worldviews underlying the views expressed with respect to the nature and role of globalization and state. 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 globalization and state is based on one of the four paradigms or worldviews. It, therefore, discusses four views with respect to the nature and role of globalization and state 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 globalization and state from a certain paradigmatic viewpoint. Emphasizing this example in the area of globalization and state, the paper concludes that there are opportunities for each paradigm to benefit from contributions coming from the other three paradigms.     

GLOBALIZATION AND CHINA'S ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT

Abstract.  This paper studies the nature and implications of globalization in China's economic development since 1978. It covers the four aspects of the flows of goods, capital, technology/information and of people to and from China. It also analyzes the role of the exchange rate of renminbi in transmitting the effects of foreign trade and investment to the Chinese macroeconomy.     

Diffusion research in the industrial setting: Some conceptual clarifications

This paper deals with some conceptual and methodological issues concerning research into the diffusion of innovations. In particular, it examines differences in the research traditions of anthropological and sociological work on the one hand, and economic research on the other, and evaluates the usefulness of each field's paradigms in the study of industrial technological change. Such differences are found to exist with respect to the appropriate measure of diffusion, the role of information flows in the spread process, and the meaning of resistance to change. It concludes that explanations of diffusion processes in industry couched in terms of economic variables form a more solid basis for purposes of technological forecasting and planning.     

Biotechnology and the Potential for a Radical Shift of Technology in Forest Industry

Is biotechnology a revolutionary technology that will dramatically transform present technological systems, industries and society or will the entrance of biotechnology into industry rather take the shape of incremental innovations without any deeper impact on dominating technological paradigms? The vast science and technology research in this area has focused on pharmaceuticals and neglected the potential role for large scale biomass handling activities like the forest industry in general and pulp and paper industry in particular. In addition the industry itself has not focused its R&D activities towards utilization of biotechnology on inputs, processes or products. This is a study on the technological system for pulp and paper facing the challenge of a radical shift of technology. The confrontation between the genuinely science based biotechnology and its community on the one hand, and the pulp and paper community (highly scientific within the framework of a low-technology industry) on the other, is analyzed as are the industrial and economic potentials and limitations of biotechnology in this area.     

Wicksteed,Robbins and the Emergence of Mainstream Economic Methodology

Phillip Wicksteed's ideas played an important role in the history of economic methodology, first, because his views represent the starting point of the deliberate attempt to expel hedonism from marginalist economic analysis, and secondly because his ideas influenced his prominent disciple Lionel Robbins. The current mainstream view of an allegedly value-free economic science can be traced to Robbins. The paper examines Wicksteed's conception of economic science and the role of hedonism. His views on the nature and the role of economic man, and his analysis of egoism and of altruistic behaviour are also discussed. The paper assesses Wicksteed's influence, via Robbins, on the formation of mainstream methodological views.     

平台企业社会责任:逻辑起点与实践范式

本文沿着“认知—行为—评价”的基本思路,基于平台属性与平台情境的异质性,通过推演出四个核心命题厘清平台企业社会责任的一般性与特殊性,实现平台企业社会责任逻辑起点的正本清源。在此基础上,从“目的属性—内容嵌入”和“组织情境—主体选择”两种视角解构了传统社会责任实践范式的内容构面,并基于“情境选择—战略导向—平台基础”三维框架,将平台企业社会责任实践范式归结为“平台嵌入式”“平台嫁接式”“平台撬动式”与“平台新创式”四种类型。本文的研究为重新认识平台企业社会责任提供了一种新的逻辑框架,为平台企业更好地开展社会责任实践提供了新的范式选择思路。     

四维全球生产形态的国家竞争战略理论研究

本文在全球化的条件下,把霸权作为一个重要的系统变量引入国家竞争战略理论框架,在通过考察以美元霸权为基础的现实国际分工格局的变化以及对美国经济战略调整进行具体的历史分析基础上,构造了一个四维三极全球生产形态模型。这个模型可以恰当地描述创新型国家与追赶型国家相互之间的竞争行为,更深刻地刻画了国家竞争战略的本质特征。     

Globalization and economic growth: Evidence from two decades of transition in CEE

This paper examines the role of various aspects of globalization for economic growth in ten CEE economies. In contrary to previous papers, we restrict our analysis solely to the first two decades of transition. Using the globalization indexes published by the Swiss Economic Institute, we found strong and robust evidence of growth-stimulating effect of globalization processes, especially in social and economic dimensions. On the other hand, the role of political dimension of globalization was not found to be statistically significant in any research variant.The result, which seems to be particularly interesting, is that the development of the internet, television and trade in newspapers (the social dimension of globalization) had at least as strong positive impact on economic development in CEE economies in the first two decades of transition as the rise in international trade, growth of foreign investment, reduction of import barriers and development of a tax policy (the economic dimension).     

What You Should Know About Globalization and the World Trade Organization

This paper reviews the essentials of economic globalization, as well as the major institution that has recently gotten much of the credit and blame for it, the World Trade Organization (WTO). It first defines globalization, which is just the increasing economic integration of the world economy. It then asks who gains and loses from globalization, drawing primarily upon economic theory to identify its benefits and costs, and who within and among the world's economies get these benefits and costs. That part of the discussion concludes by asking briefly what can and should be done about globalization. The second half of the paper turns to the WTO, which was the focus of so much negative attention at its Seattle meeting in December 1999. The authors try to clarify several misperceptions about what it does, and why. Some groups gain and some lose from the WTO, some simply as a byproduct of its role in facilitating globalization, but others from particular WTO rules and procedures. The paper suggests what might be done to change both the WTO itself and the public's perceptions of it.     

The Impact of Globalization on the Structural Unemployment: An Empirical Reappraisal

This paper analyzes the direct effects of various measures of globalization on the structural unemployment in 87 countries for the period from 1991 to 2014. The model specifications are based on the Ricardian Comparative Advantage and the Heckscher–Ohlin models. It is found that one standard deviation increase in the trade openness approximately leads to 0.6 percentage point lower structural unemployment rate. The effects of economic, social, and political aspects of globalization on the structural unemployment are also negative, but they are found as statistically insignificant. The paper also implements various robustness checks and argues potential implications.     

Can social spending cushion the inequality effect of globalization?

This paper examines whether social spending cushions the effect of globalization on within‐country inequality. Using information on disposable and market income inequality and data on overall social spending, and health and education spending from the ILO and the World Bank/WHO, we analyze whether social spending moderates the association between economic globalization and inequality. The results confirm that economic globalization—especially economic flows—associates with higher income inequality, an effect driven by non‐OECD countries. Health spending is strongly associated with lower inequality, but we find no robust evidence that any kind of social spending negatively moderates the association between economic globalization and inequality.     

Institutions,Naturalism and Evolution

The paper recasts old and new institutionalist economics (OIE and NIE) in light of naturalism. While OIE views institutions as 'paradigms' which define the nature of the actor, NIE views institutions as 'conventions' which act as insubstantial traits, i.e. products of optimization subject to constraint. While the two conceptions are different, they are not alternatives: each one is a special theory limited to one kind of institution. In addition, the paper critically assesses the limits of OIE with regard to the theory of evolution of paradigms. The paper advances a developmentalist perspective of institutions which parallels non-Darwinian biological theory.     

全球制造业工资停滞之谜*——来自进口中间产品质量视角的经验证据

本文从快速增长的中间产品贸易及其质量视角研究了全球制造业工资停滞现象。首先，基于DS垄断竞争框架和Koch & Smolka(2019)的研究，本文重新构建开放条件下的工资决定模型，发现进口中间产品质量影响各国劳动工资。其次，借鉴Feenstra & Romalis(2014)的研究，本文构建全新的测度产品—行业—国家层面进口中间产品质量GEKS 指数法，估算1995—2011年37个国家从248个出口市场进口的制造业四位码中间产品质量指数，发现全球制造业进口中间产品质量上升趋势明显但分化严重，中等和低等收入国家质量指数持续上升，高等收入国家质量指数持续下降。最后，本文从跨国—行业层面定量识别进口中间产品质量对进口国制造业工资的具体影响，发现：(1)进口中间产品质量对全球制造业的劳动工资有显著负向影响，对中等收入国家、中级技术密集型行业、高技能劳动者以及进口矿物类中间产品制造业的工资降低效应最大；(2)进口中间产品质量通过“就业破坏效应”和“研发激励效应”两种机制造成全球制造业工资下降；(3)进口中间产品质量变化造成制造业工资下降是全球化中的市场性经济规律和暂时性“全球冲击波”。上述发现解释了全球制造业工资停滞之谜，并启示各国须尊重全球化的市场规律，加强国际合作，共同应对冲击，提高民众福祉，携手共建人类命运共同体。     

Research instrumentation and institutional innovation in canada

Science policy is being challenged. Conceptions of innovation and the nature of research are rapidly being forced beyond traditional views which see innovation as a linear process and science policy in terms of funding issues. Indeed, the policy challenge is being defined by the tension between trying to conduct or encourage research that is at or near an expanding research frontier, while simultaneously functioning within 'steady state' fiscal environments. One key manifestation of this challenge—which is underpinned by a new social contract between the scientific and government communities—is being expressed in terms of the changing role that research instrumentation is playing with regard to research management, research policy and research planning. This paper examines several Candian example f the changing nature of research, with particular reference to the role of instrumentation; it also outlines the particular challenges that small open econmies must face with respect to instrument-intensive research and offers a possible taxonomy for analyzing innovation and policy options.     

我国承接国际服务外包问题研究

近20年前后国际服务外包兴起,推动出现以服务业国际转移为特点的经济全球化新浪潮,对后起国家经济发展政策选择提供了新的机遇。本文在考察我国承接国际服务外包认识过程和发展现状基础上,从发展路径选择、硬件和人才基础条件、政策调整滞后等方面分析我国在这一领域相对落后根源,探讨促进我国承接国际服务外包政策措施。     

Personalist economics is human economics because it puts the human person at the center of economic affairs

The hard core of conventional economics consists of a set of four main premises regarding the economy. Simply put they are the law of nature, the individual, certainty, and contracts. Juxtapositioned to these four premises of conventional economics, there are four from personalist economics: institutions, the person, uncertainty and status. In sharp constrast with the overwhelming majority of our contemporaries in economics whose views on economic affairs are grounded in individualism, we think about economic affairs in a market system in terms of personalism. Personalist economics is human economics because it puts the human person at the center of economic affairs. Here our presentation focuses on three central economic activities: consumption, work and leisure. In addressing these activities we emphasize that (1) human persons are materialized spirits and (2) human nature is two dimensional — individual and social. In our remarks we rely heavily on Emmanuel Mounier and John Paul II. Mayo Research Institute In the field of scientific research, a positivistic mentality took hold which not only abandoned the Christian vision of the world, but more especially rejected every appeal to a metaphysical or moral vision. It follows that certain scientists, lacking any ethical point of reference, are in danger of putting at the centre of their concerns something other than the human person and the entirety of the person's life. Further still, some of these, sensing the opportunities of technological progress, seem to succumb not only to a market-based logic, but also to the temptation of a quasi-divine power over nature and even over the human being [John Paul II, 1998, sect. 46].     

Modern Money Theory: A Reply to Palley

Abstract

Modern Money Theory (MMT) has explained why monetarily sovereign governments have a very flexible policy space that is unconstrained by hard financial limits. It has provided institutional and theoretical insights about the workings of economies with monetarily sovereign and non-sovereign governments. It has also provided policy insights with respect to financial stability, price stability and full employment. Yet there have been many critics of MMT, including Palley (2014). Critiques of MMT can be grouped into five categories: views about the origins of money and the role of taxes in the acceptance of government currency, views about fiscal policy, views about monetary policy, the relevance of MMT conclusions for developing economies, and the validity of the policy recommendations of MMT. This paper addresses Palley's criticism of MMT using the circuit approach and national accounting identities, and by progressively adding additional economic sectors.     

The Significance of the Monetary Context of Economic Behavior

The dominant paradigm in economics views economic behavior as allocative activity in a neutral, C-M-C' economy. As a consequence, money is treated as a veil that is inessential to the real functioning of the economic system. This paper argues that one of Keynes's fundamental insights is the significance of the monetary context of economic behavior. This insight has been developed by the post-Keynesian theory of money as a "time-machine vehicle" that provides the causal link between uncertainty and unemployment. The Circuitist theory of money as the means of final payment provides a complementary radical perspective on the significance of the monetary context. This paper investigates the methodological and theoretical implications of these radical monetary theories and assesses their contribution towards the development of a general theory of a monetary production, M-C-M' economy.