Yen or Yuan? The law of one price and economic integration in Asia

Using highly comparable local retail prices of 146 goods and services across 18 Asian countries over 1990–2014, we analyse price dispersion and test convergence to the law of one price (LOP ) for these prices around three price benchmarks—Asia‐average, Japan and China prices—to gain insight about market integration in overall Asia as well relative integration of Asian economies to Japan and China. Cross‐Asia price dispersion around China‐price benchmark, for both tradables and non‐tradables, diminishes significantly over the sample period whereas that around Japan‐price benchmark increases considerably, particularly after the 2008 crisis. There is convergence to the LOP for about half of goods and services in China‐ and Asia‐average price benchmarks. The percentage of convergent prices is significantly smaller in Japan‐price benchmark. Direct estimates of the convergence speed parameter also confirm these observations. Overall, our results show evidence of increasing economic integration in Asia in the last two decades. The process of price convergence appears to be driven by the emergence of China as the centre of economic gravity in the region. There is much room for improvement as economic integration in Asia is still far below that in Europe in the 1990s or USA in the 1980s.     

An examination of the effects of 2014 concealed weapons law in Illinois on property crimes in Chicago

The purpose of the present study is to determine the effects of ‘may issue’ Concealed Carry Weapons (CCW) law implemented in early 2014 in Chicago. Based on the daily community-level crime data from January 2006 to December 2015, using zero-inflated negative binomial difference-in-difference specification with Philadelphia as the control group, the property crimes in Chicago declined after the implementation of ‘may issue’ CCW law. The findings are robust to alternate treatment windows and to a placebo test using time windows before implementation of the law.     

Natural resources,technological progress,and economic modernization

The present inquiry focuses on the modernization perspectives of the commodity‐exporting countries through the lens of development economics. To this end, the study adopts the Kaldorian framework to address the modernization effects, epitomized in the absorption of surplus labor. To trace the process of economic modernization, the study augments Lewis’s dualistic economy model by the extractive sector. Three different scenarios for the management of resource revenues are scrutinized. An altruistic mode, which implies a pure redistribution of the revenues among the poor swaths of the population, protracts the process of economic modernization, requires a greater amount of capital stock, and harbors a greater risk of a poverty trap. This effect is less pronounced if the modern sector is more capital‐intensive. A productive mode, which elicits full reinvestment of the commodity revenues, in contrast, accelerates the pace of economic modernization. Further, predicated on the scrutiny of a more realistic scenario, a bargaining mode, the study derives the condition for a net positive (or negative) modernization effect. The study identifies technical progress alongside capital accumulation as a further important source of economic modernization.     

土地复垦监管行为规范的主体性合作治理形式选择

研究目的:根据相关主体性意愿的指引,阐明合作治理范式在土地复垦监管行为领域展开具体运用的现实性,及其可能的规范设定方向,进而尝试在相应行为规范维度来检视行政行为法理论的发展任务命题。研究方法:文献分析法。研究结果:土地复垦监管行为的形式选择往往与相应的合作治理主体性意愿有关,该意愿主要表征为利益导向、工具载体以及协同组织选择意愿。应厘清该类选择意愿指引于土地复垦监管行为规范所分别呈现的形式选择:逐利心态与信任习惯选择、科学事实工具与行政规制工具选择、内部协同组织与外部协同组织选择。研究结论:土地复垦监管行为在行为观念和当事人方面与合作治理的主体性意愿在一定程度上是相互耦合的,有必要构建一种合作行政模式下的治理型土地复垦监管行为规范。     

现代治理视域下行政审批机构改革研究

推进行政审批机构改革是新时代完善现代国家治理体系和提升现代国家治理能力的必然要求。行政审批局改革模式的现代治理意涵在于优化配置制度建设主体要素以及重构革新治理主体组织结构,并在制度依据、机制运行和治理效能三个层面建构起改革运行机理。尽管通过集中审批权限、实现"一枚印章管审批"大力提升了审批效率,但行政审批局模式依然面临有悖"职权法定"、纵横协调不足、制度建设不充分和资源配置不合理的四重困境。现代治理视域下,应从树立科学合理的审批改革理念、完善行政审批机构改革的顶层设计以及创新行政审批局具体工作模式等方面不断完善和深化行政审批机构改革。     

非住宅建设用地使用权续期规则的思考

研究目的:分析非住宅建设用地使用权续期活动的规则与性质,提出完善续期规则的建议。研究方法:规范分析法,比较分析法。研究结果:非住宅建设用地使用权的续期规则存在疏漏,使续期申请的起止期间难以清晰界定,以私法视角理解续期活动也不妥当。研究结论:续期是申请人取得重新设立的建设用地使用权的过程,因此要求在续期过程中必须清晰界定续期权利的设立与灭失期间,保证续期或救济得以顺利进行。续期也是获得行政特别许可的结果,应当采用协议出让方式予以确认。     

2017年土地科学研究重点进展评述及2018年展望 ——土地管理领域分报告

研究目的：归纳分析2017年国内外土地管理领域的研究进展，展望研究趋势。研究方法：文献统计法。研究结果：2017年国内外在土地制度改革、土地权属与登记以及土地政策法律三个方面有着共同研究焦点。国外研究关注了土地管理与管制问题，国内研究主要围绕农村“三块地”改革、不动产登记政策效应和配套法律存在的问题、农村土地确权政策绩效和存在的问题、农村土地“三权分置”的法律关系、土地财政与土地违法和土地腐败等之间的关系、土地用途管制与耕地保护以及土地管理学科研究等方面。研究结论：2017年土地管理领域研究仍基于实践导向的探索、总结与凝练，围绕农村土地制度改革路径、土地管理体制机制与政策效应研究有所发展。2018年将重点关注农村土地制度三项改革试点成效和修法研究、农村土地“三权分置”的政策绩效和法律关系、租购并举及集体土地建设租赁住房的体制机制、土地管理供给侧结构性改革、自然资源资产管理体制和耕地保护政策与生态补偿机制研究等。     

Effects of subject pool culture and institutional environment on corruption: Experimental evidence from Albania

This research uses experimental methods to investigate whether subject pool culture and institutional environment have an effect on participants’ corrupt behavior in the laboratory. While we find that subject pool culture does not affect the overall magnitude of corruption of laboratory participants, it does affect the likelihood of corruption and its distribution. Additionally, we find that the effect on corrupt behavior differs with the framing of the experiment’s instructions. Interestingly, in the context of a weak rule of law and high levels of corruption, loaded negative instructions positively affect corrupt behavior of firms and public officials. Previous research in the context of a country exhibiting a strong rule of law and low levels of corruption finds no framing effects. We also find that increasing the probability of detection significantly reduces corruption as measured by the amount of the bribes offered/accepted and the probability of offering/accepting a bribe. Finally, we find that individual risk preferences negatively affect the level of corrupt behavior.     

美国贸易法301条款的修订及其启示

美国贸易法301条款是一项可以单方启动调查并认定他国法律、政策、行为违反协定或者不公平继而实施报复制裁的对外贸易措施,分为普通301条款、特别301条款与超级301条款。301条款最初简明规定了总统的权力和国会的否认权,但其后的修订对301条款的内容进行了扩展并使其更具体化。特别是301条款根据《2015年贸易便捷和贸易促进法》做出重大修改,涵盖了WTO体系尚未涵盖但最近已纳入自贸协定的新领域。然而,这些针对外国贸易活动的单方决定和措施附加等至今备受争议,且已对强调多边贸易争端解决的WTO体系构成严重威胁。美国贸易法301条款的修订主要围绕着美国贸易代表办公室(USTR)的措施、决定、对外国政府相关政策的监督、确认贸易自由化的优先顺序以及知识产权不适当保护的应对等内容进行。针对美国不断启动的301条款调查,我国应与美国积极开展沟通与协商,加强与美国产业界的接触和交流,发挥全球化程度高的企业的作用,力争以谈话和谈判化解矛盾;促进产业转型升级,重新审视“走出去”战略;履行加入WTO时的承诺,完善全方位的开放体制;合理拓展中国企业的海外利益,完善风险防范机制。     

Marx 200: The Abiding Relevance of the Labour Theory of Value

ABSTRACT

Marxist political economy is alive and well, and not just because of the habitual turn to Marx in response to any crisis of capitalism. Both through Capital and through the continuing evolution of Marxism, Marxist political economy offers valuable insights that can illuminate the modalities of social and economic reproduction and the relationships between (different aspects of) the economic and the non-economic. Marxism’s presence has been felt through its own internal debates and debates with other approaches to political economy, and even through its influence on those reacting against Marxism. The key to the continuing relevance and analytical strengths of Marxist political economy lies in its capacity to provide a framework of analysis for unifying disparate insights into and critiques of the contradictions of capitalism across the social sciences. The instrument for forging that unity is Marx’s theory of value, the potential of which is examined and illustrated with reference to the Sraffian critique and two key concepts in Marxian political economy: the value of labour power and financialisation. They are explored in the light of the processes of commodification, commodity form and commodity calculation.