Unions, progressive taxes, and education subsidies

Progressive income taxes moderate distortionary wage demands by trade unions and thereby reduce unemployment, and at the same time underlie disincentives to acquire skills and decrease labour productivity. Governments can respond by combining progressive taxes with subsidies to investment in human capital. A system of generous education subsidies and steep progressive tax rates is more likely to emerge, the greater the market power of trade unions and the better the ability of governments to influence private education decisions. Empirical analysis for several OECD countries provides results consistent with these propositions. A policy mix of high education subsidies and relatively progressive income taxes is found in countries where union membership is significant.     

高职院校思想政治教育工作创新研究

和谐社会是以人为本的社会,人素质的提高和全面发展必须依靠教育。针对高职院校思想政治教育工作面临的新形势,必须对其进行机制改革和方法创新,通过对学生人性的充分肯定,对学生的智慧和潜能进行正确引导和开发,使之对自由与秩序、公平与正义满怀信心和追求,从而调动他们的积极性,最大限度地激发其创造力,成为构建社会主义和谐社会、推动社会协调发展的重要力量。     

农科类院校形势政策教育调查研究——以某农业大学为例

农业类院校肩负为实现我国农业现代化和建设社会主义新农村培养拔尖创新人才的历史使命。形势政策教育在这一过程中具有教育引导功能。通过调查了解,目前农科类院校在校大学生整体认为形势政策教育非常有必要。加强和改进形势政策教育应以学生为本,在内容上加强针对性,在方式上加强灵活性,开展教育的老师需具备专业知识和活动组织能力。     

关于生态经济教育的若干思考

本文以设问的形式论述了开展生态经济教育的意义，并通过对生态经济教育实践的回顾，着重探讨了深入进行生态经济教育所要解决的教育形式、教材建设、师资队伍、经费来源以及组织领导等问题。     

Externalities of investment, education and economic growth

We present a growth model in which investment in physical capital shows positive externalities which build up knowledge capital. A prerequisite for these spillovers to take place is that a country devotes time to education. Externalities associated with investment need education to raise the stock of knowledge capital. Analysing the competitive economy we demonstrate that the model may explain why some low-income countries show convergence whereas others do not. Furthermore, we demonstrate that in the social optimum the level of investment is always higher than in the competitive economy whereas the time spent for education may be lower or higher. We also show how the competitive economy may replicate the social optimum for an appropriate choice of a lump-sum tax and an investment subsidy. Empirical evidence is provided in order to demonstrate the plausibility of our model.     

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.     

Institutions, education, and development: The role of entrepreneurs

Entrepreneurs are instrumental for structural transformation. They create and organize new firms and hire workers with a minimum level of human capital. Entrepreneurs encourage workers to invest in their own education in order to move into the modern production sector. Better institutions lead to less income diversion, which creates a greater supply of entrepreneurs, a larger demand for human capital, and faster structural transformation. Education policy alone is not as effective, although it, too, raises the number of entrepreneurs. Simulations and evidence from Brazilian states support the theory.