CAN A NEW NUCLEAR PROGRAMME BE JUSTIFIED?

The moratorium on the building of new nuclear power stations in the UK that has existed since the 1980s may be ended as a result of government concerns about the security of energy provision and the environmental impact of fossil-fuel-based energy supply. This viewpoint argues that the case for nuclear power on both counts is unproven. Moreover, renewed government support for a civil nuclear power programme may be a case of government attempting to pick winners, when the evidence suggests that such decisions are best taken by energy suppliers, producers and consumers.     

Buchbesprechungen

Ohne Zusammenfassung     

Development policies in the presence of unemployment and non-traded intermediate goods

The role of non-traded intermediate goods has not been satisfactorily studied in the context of a developing economy with involuntary unemployment. In this paper we examine this phenomenon within the framework of a Harris-Todaro-type migration model. We show that the presence of the intermediate good creates a strong linkage between the rural and urban regions. Under certain reasonable assumptions on factor intensities, this linkage causes an increase in the price of the urban good to benefit the intermediate good as well, and an expansion in the urban output to drive an expansion in the production of the intermediate good. Finally, wage subsidies to urban firms increase the unemployment rate, despite the ameliorating effect of the inter-sectoral linkage.We would like to thank M. Ali Khan, Bela Balassa, Will Carrington, and the members of the J. H. U. Trade and Development and Summer Seminars for advice and comments. We would also like to thank two anonymous referees for pointing out several errors in an earlier draft. Any remaining errors are, of course, ours.     

On The "Stickiness' Of The Economic Equilibrium Paradigm

Abstract . Thomas S. Kuhn, Imre Lakatos and Mark A. Zupan have made important contributions to our understanding of why paradigms of thought tend to be quite resistant to displacement, or even revision. Their work is extended in an attempt to explain the staying power of the economic equilibrium paradigm. It is argued that this paradigm is particularly “sticky” due to its pedagogical, methodological and protective properties. The implications of this for paradigm assessment and evolution are discussed.     

Dimensions of innovative climate in Chinese R&D units

This paper reports on the application of Rickards' and Bessant's 'Creativity Audit' in 141 research and development units in the People's Republic of China during 1982 and 1983. The objective of the paper is multifold: 1) to employ factor analysis in order to determine key dimensions of innovative climate and through these to be able to reduce the original instrument to a more convenient size; 2) to compare the concept of innovative climate between R&D performing units in a developing country, and an economy characterized by relatively strong central control, with the original British data; and 3) to utilize the dimensions of innovative climate to consider some hypotheses concerning the performance of R&D in developing countries and in China in particular.     

Einzelbesprechungen

Ohne ZusammenfassungAus dem Italienischen übersetzt von Dr. R. MeyerAus dem Italienischen übersetzt von Dr. R. Meyer, WienAus dem Englischen übersetzt von Alexander Gerschenkron, WienAus dem Russischen übersetzt von Dr. Alexander Gerschenkron, Wien