A tale of two Italies: ‘access-orders’ and the Italian regional divide

ABSTRACT

This paper uses the ‘access orders’ paradigm developed by North, Wallis, and Weingast [(2009). Violence and social order: A conceptual framework for interpreting recorded human history. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press] to analyse the case of the Italian North–South economic divide. In line with their framework, we collect and discuss several social and political indicators over the long-run, at the regional level. Firstly we looked at data on the pre-conditions for the establishment of an open-access order, such as murders per capita (a proxy for control over violence), voting turnout and referendums participation (proxies for political legitimacy), and the impersonality of exchange. We then showed evidence of different access orders in the North and in the South, using the information on human capital formation, women participation in the labour market, and referendum results. On the basis of this evidence, we argue that, despite being part of the same State and subject to the same formal institutions, the North of the country progressively developed into an open-access order, while the South remained a form of limited access order.

Institutional differences are linked to specific aspects of the economic performance of the two areas, thus the ‘access order’ paradigm appears to be an effective conceptual scheme to explain the North–South economic divide.     

Revising price history: consumer price index for Norway 1492–2018

ABSTRACT

The paper presents a new combined annual cost of living and consumer price index for Norway covering 1492–2018, indicating that Norwegian price history has to be revised. The new historical price index is constructed on a significantly richer data material, which also makes it cover a longer period of price history than the existing one. This is made possible by the compilation of quantitative data from numerous sources, mostly originating from the eighteenth, nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, with grain prices stretching back to 1492. The new combined cost of living and consumer price index is constructed by a Laspeyres approach with shifting baskets for commodities and expenditure groups.

The index makes it possible to follow annual inflation and deflation in Norway for a period of 526 years. When comparing to existing indices, the new series reveals that revisions are needed in Norwegian price history. These make the historical price development more in line with those of the neighbouring countries and more in line with the pattern of wholesale prices.     

India's Economic Reforms: Achievements and Next Steps

This paper reviews the impact of India's reforms since 1991 on the performance of the Indian economy. It shows that the reforms definitely achieved a significant acceleration in growth and they also succeeded in reducing poverty. However, they have been less successful in generating good quality jobs. There was progress in providing better access to education, health services ,and clean drinking water and sanitation, but less than was hoped. The area where performance has been most disappointing is environmental sustainability. The paper concludes by identifying some of the critical policy challenges in the years ahead.     

经济新常态下煤炭企业发展战略研究

着眼于当前我国煤炭企业的新环境,我们要转变视角,致力于探索推动我国煤炭行业发展的新途径和新方法,为了更好地保护矿工的合法权益,保障煤炭行业的可持续发展,煤炭企业需要引进一些创新性技术和先进管理理念。论文主要基于关心矿工生命安全和煤炭企业安全发展的角度,对目前我国煤炭企业的发展提出一些思考和策略。     

江苏省农田保护经济补偿政策绩效评价与空间差异研究

［目的］分析评价江苏省现有农田保护经济补偿政策绩效与空间差异对建立完善长效的农业生态补偿机制和推动我国农业生态环境的可持续发展具有重要意义。［方法］以江苏省为研究区域，运用熵权-TOPSIS法，选取2010—2017年全省及苏北、苏中、苏南三个区域内11个指标，计算江苏省及三大区域农田保护经济补偿政策综合绩效值与经济、生态和社会效益单项绩效值，进行比较分析。［结果］（1）江苏省农田保护经济补偿政策在2010—2017年8年综合绩效值由0189波动增长到0841，效果初现且具有较强推广价值。（2）经济效益绩效值以年均257%的增长率由0增长到1，效果最为显著，社会效益次之，生态效益自2013年后为绩效值中最低值，与前两项最大差距在05左右，反映出环境改善、农田质量提高效应远低于农户创收、社会公平效应，政策拟合度不高。（3）江苏省农田保护经济补偿政策效果存在空间差异，综合来看政策效果表现为苏南>苏中>苏北，苏南凭借经济优势在2016年和2017年的综合绩效值上比苏中苏北高出01、在经济与社会绩效值以002的差距领先且生态绩效值没有下降拐点，具有长效可持续性。［结论］现阶段农田保护经济补偿政策效果依赖地方政府经济实力，尚未形成良性长效机制，需从制度体系、环境经济手段、差别化补偿措施、农业补贴结构和宣传等5方面着手，推进农田保护经济补偿政策更好地服务生态环境。     

Impact of state-dependent oil price on US stock returns using local projections

In this paper, we investigate the impact of oil prices on both aggregate and industry US real stock returns over the period 1973–2017. The empirical analysis contributes to the related literature introducing a state-dependent oil price (high and low) and the local projections approach. Our main finding is that, depending on the nature of the shock and industry, the negative effects of oil price shocks become exacerbated -and the positive effects get moderated- if oil prices are already high.     

Salvador Allende's development policy: Lessons after 50 years

Last year, 2020, was the 50th anniversary of the opening of the ‘Chilean road to socialism’ by Salvador Allende. Although the Allende government is the political reference for the 'socialism of the 21st century’ in Latin America, international supporters tend to disregard the primary cause of its downfall, focusing instead on the circumstances of Allende's death. This article explains the link between the Allende government's development policies and its macroeconomic outcomes between 1970 and 1973. It finds that Chile's economic collapse had an endogenous cause related to government policies. This supports the views of Mises and Hayek on the feasibility of socialist economic policies. Policymakers and commentators should recognise essential lessons from the Chilean experience to learn from past errors and effectively promote Latin America's economic development.     

推动消费升级 引领经济发展——创新江苏消费经济发展新阶段

2018年9月,中共中央、国务院联合发布《关于完善促进消费体制机制,进一步激发居民消费潜力的若干意见》文件。文件根据习近平中国特色社会主义思想,认为“消费是最终需求,既是生产的最终目的和动力,也是人民对美好生活需要的直接体现。”对消费在国民经济中的重要作用进行了深入阐述,将扩大和升级消费放在战略高度来进行谋划和部署,为今后如何进一步发展国民消费指明了前进方向。改革开放以来,江苏省的消费与全国一样发生了巨大变化,但是我们也应看到,江苏消费虽然增长较快,但是与党和国家的要求还存在一定的差距,消费能力、消费意愿、消费供给消费三要素的发展不充分,在消费水平、消费规模和消费结构等方面还存在一定的问题,在满足人民日益增长的需要方面还需要继续努力。特别是在推动江苏经济发展上要发挥更大的作用,通过消费对经济的调节、引领、带动机制促进江苏经济创新发展。因此,我们要继续贯彻党和国家“两个一百年”、江苏率先小康的“强富美高”战略目标,采取得力措施来解决消费矛盾,激发居民消费潜力,通过消费升级使江苏消费和经济均上升到一个新阶段。     

发展无锡文化创意产业 提升城市文化软实力

无锡作为我国“吴文化”起源地之一,经济实力有目共睹,而文化软实力一直是无锡的弱项。在产业结构优化的背景下,第三产业中的创意产业被证实拉动经济成效显著,因此无锡提升文化软实力,可以从创意产业发展入手,是实现“弯道超车”的有效途径之一。文章研究了无锡城市文化现状与问题,包括历史文化产业发展受阻,经济发展后劲不足;无锡城市文化发展趋“利”少“韵”;创意人才缺少等问题。提出发展无锡文化创意产业,提升城市文化软实力的具体建议:发展创意产业,弥补先天历史文化短板;发展创意文化经济,着眼长期效益;建立创意产业人才引进体系、激励体系与培养体系。     

俄罗斯国家经济安全对中俄经贸合作的影响

20世纪以来,俄罗斯经历了乌克兰危机、西方经济制裁、国际油价下跌等外部因素的冲击,经济安全遭受严重威胁,在此背景下的俄罗斯政治经济战略势必波及中俄经贸合作,进而影响丝绸之路经济带建设。本文从贸易合作和对外直接投资合作方面,基于计量模型剖析俄罗斯国家经济安全对中俄经贸合作的影响过程及关联因素。研究表明俄罗斯国家经济安全危机提升了中国在俄贸易伙伴国中的地位,促使俄与中国产能合作的意愿强烈,直接投资和产能合作逐渐成为推动中俄经贸合作向纵深发展的强劲动力;俄罗斯国家经济安全危机对中俄罗贸易有显著负向影响,中俄政治关系对贸易合作有显著正向影响。这是提高中国对俄罗斯投资、提升高新技术产品在俄罗斯进口比重的机遇期,亦是推进丝绸之路经济带的重要机遇期。经济强势崛起的俄罗斯和经济体系全面崩溃的俄罗斯对丝绸之路经济带的推进均有重要影响,在与其发展战略协作伙伴关系过程中,中国恰到好处地拿捏平衡其中的大国利益边界至关重要。