Large-scale participatory co-shaping of technological developments: First experiments with PARDIZIPP

A future-oriented participatory procedure on the basis of the Delphi method was developed and empirically tested a first time with the goal to improve the shaping of technological developments. The technology under study here was micro-electronics or rather their relationship with labor and the test took place in NorthRhine-Westphalia.Today problems exist in all walks of life. There is a lot of talk about today's problems as if they were new, though one has heard similar arguments throughout history. How do we assess if we are really in danger of bringing the world to an end? Although this danger appears real, it would not be the first time in history that people have thought and felt like this--However, one thing that is new are the consequences of modern sciences and technology, which are not suited to given social and environmental requirements. They have given rise to questions concerning the quality of the decision-makers. The questioning of many of these decisions has increased for some time and is now getting more and more specific, with a demand for quality and information rather than managerial skills and competitiveness from the decision-makers. The term ‘decision-maker’ describes those who determine the application of technology, science and technical equipment which has either existed for a long time already or has recently been developed.--It is not easy to change the structures and processes of decision-making so that new structures and processes will be more suited to social and environmental requirements. We have tested our ideas as to how this could be done, in an empirical project. Although we called it ‘Project NRW-2000’, it would probably be better described as an experiment.--We persuaded 90 ordinary people to participate in this project as ‘experts on daily life and work’. This group was asked to work in six regional sub-groups and discuss, with reference to three given normative societal scenarios for the year 2020, the relationship between microelectronics and labour markets of the year 2020, on the basis of a participatory Delphi procedure. Before we elaborate on the concept of our project in Section 3, we would like to outline it in terms of the mainstream of the sociology of technology as well as with research on ‘acceptance’ in Section 1. In Section 2 we will briefly illustrate the framework of the research programme ‘Socially Oriented Shaping of Technology’ of the state of Northrhine-Westphalia, which funded our research project. Section 4 particularly deals with the participatory elements of our project, while Section 5 is devoted to the development of the scenarios. Section 6 sums up the results of the ‘scenario-construction’. Regarding specific elements, we restrict ourselves to topics concerning technology, labour, and the relationship between women workers/employees and technology. As a final outlook we deal with the political implications of our approach. All that is left is to remind our readers that we regard this project as a first application or experiment within our overall approach.     

改革开放30年的历史回顾与总结

通过对改革开放30年的历史回顾与总结,阐述了改革开放是新中国经济发展的必然选择,提出科学发展观是作为马克思主义关于发展的世界观和方法论的集中体现,是对我国改革开放30年发展历程做出科学总结的产物,科学发展是中国改革开放未来的必由之路.     

MODELING LIQUIDITY EFFECTS IN DISCRETE TIME

We study optimal portfolio choices for an agent with the aim of maximizing utility from terminal wealth within a market with liquidity costs. Under some mild conditions, we show the existence of optimal portfolios and that the marginal utility of the optimal terminal wealth serves as a change of measure to turn the marginal price process of the optimal strategy into a martingale. Finally, we illustrate our results numerically in a Cox–Ross–Rubinstein binomial model with liquidity costs and find the reservation ask prices for simple European put options.     

Ownership concentration and corporate governance practices: substitution or expropriation effects?

The objective of this study is to analyze the relation between ownership concentration and corporate governance practices of a group of Canadian companies listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange. We rely on the corporate governance index developed by the Report on Business (ROB) in 2002. Our empirical results are consistent with the expropriation effect argument that predicts a negative relation between deviation from the one share‐one vote rule and corporate governance best practices. In this context, the dominant shareholder has incentives to maintain weak internal controls in order to facilitate expropriation. In addition, consistent with prior research, our results give partial support to the substitution effect argument by showing a negative impact of ownership concentration on the board composition subindex. Copyright © 2007 ASAC. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

When trade hurts: Consumption indivisibilities and labor market distortions

We present a simple model where complementarities between wages and demand due to factor market distortions can make a transition economy worse off from trade. Prior to trade, a virtuous circle prevails: high wages in industry support a high demand for indivisible industrial goods, which in turn supports high wages. However, factor market distortions in the transition economy create a comparative disadvantage in industry. Opening up to trade results in the import of indivisibles and a fall in manufacturing wages, breaking this virtuous circle. Consequently, trade liberalization without structural reform can have serious adverse effects in a transition economy.     

中国入境旅游外汇收入季节调整实证分析

旅游业的行业特点决定了中国入境旅游时间序列的发展趋势中存在明显的季节变动因素及不规则因素.本文利用X-12-ARIMA季节调整方法,把中国入境旅游外汇收入序列具体分解为长期趋势因素、季节变动因素及不规则因素,并对各构成因素作了简要分析,以期能对中国入境旅游业的变动规律给出一个相对客观的认识.     

我国农产品电子商务发展研究

目前,我国农产品电子商务的总体水平不高,其原因主要在交易主体参与农产品电子商务的意识和能力有限;交易对象的标准化、品牌化建设滞后;交易媒介建设薄弱;交易环境不够完善。为此,要提升交易主体的素质、改进交易对象的品质、加强交易媒介的建设、完善交易环境以促进我国农产品电子商务的发展。     

关于企业税收流失与涉税人员的关系分析

对企业方面的税收流失与会计人员、企业负责人、税务人员、行政长官及社会监督人员的关系进行分析 ,提出税收流失重点在于预防 ,关键在于提高全体社会成员的税收意识 ,最终实现税收流失的源泉控制。     

对国有地勘单位改革发展认识“误区”的分析--学习十八届三中全会精神的几点感悟

党的十八届三中全会决定指出,“紧紧围绕市场在资源配置中起决定性作用深化经济体制改革”和“加快事业单位分类改革”。文章对国有地勘单位改革发展、地质工作的能否由市场配置资源以及基金项目扩大化的问题进行了深入阐述。现行的全供预算政策在事业单位分类改革过程中具有过渡性、不确定性,对地勘单位事企分开、分体运行实践也应持观望态度,地勘企业要通过合法合规的方式“反哺”地勘事业单位,增强地勘单位改革发展的系统性、整体性、协同性。     

中国经济奇迹原因探析——全球视野中的中国道路

中国改革开放以来的经济奇迹震撼了世界,其根本原因在于：中国不相信任何教条,从国情出发走出了一条适合自己的现代化道路——中国特色社会主义道路.中国特色社会主义制度是中国奇迹的根本保障.新中国前30年的经济建设成就则为后来的经济起飞奠定了雄厚的物质基础.