Institutional dynamics and access to non-farm employment in rural China, 1950–1996

This article examines non-farm employment in the context of Chinese rural institutional change, based on evidence from discrete-time logistic models for event history analysis using the Life History and Social Change survey. We find the transition to non-farm sector rose rapidly during the Great Leap Forward and market reform, while the Cultural Revolution saw it reach the lowest ebb. While male advantage prevailed exclusively during the Cultural Revolution and early marketization, education possessed a stable positive effect in all historical periods. Although the returns to different kinds of political capital vary along with institutional dynamics, intergenerational reproduction was greatly reduced after the Cultural Revolution.     

The Benefit of Frequent Corporate Philanthropy

Applying behavioural economic theory, we argue that the frequency of philanthropic activity is important in determining corporate philanthropy's economic outcome. Using Chinese data from 2003 to 2016, we find that firms with more frequent philanthropic activities obtain more government subsidies than firms that only engage in one-off charitable donations. Firms with better corporate governance, such as higher management ownership and more independent directors, are more likely to adopt a strategy of frequent donation. Furthermore, firms are more likely to be frequent donors when management or local government officers have a long tenure. Our findings provide insight into the giving process and suggest that firms can maximize the benefit of corporate philanthropy if they strategically consider the donation frequency and donation amount simultaneously.     

“十四五”时期推进新旧动能转换的思路与策略

“十四五”时期是国际经济秩序重塑的关键期、新一轮科技革命和产业变革由孕育发展向形成高潮的关键过渡期、我国跨过高收入门槛的关键期和改革攻坚的关键时期,也是我国新旧动能接续转换的关键时期。加快新旧动能转换对于促进经济持续稳定健康增长、抢占新一轮科技革命机遇和实现高质量发展等意义重大,是我国转换发展方式、调整经济结构、建设现代化经济体系和实现体制机制转型的重要途径。必须深化对新旧动能转换内涵和特征的认识,厘清思路,明确新旧动能转换重点;深化体制机制改革,激发新旧动能转换活力;培育主体,做优做强一批新旧动能转换领军企业和优质中小企业;加快集群建设,形成一批新旧动能转换高地;创新优化要素支撑,夯实新旧动能转换基础;提升对外开放水平,拓展新旧动能转换空间。     

深化学科认知与构建中国特色社会主义政治经济学理论体系

对学科的认知包括认识学科内涵、学科性质与任务、学科发展进路等核心问题,关系到如何构建学科体系,是学科建设的重要内容。从深化学科认知的视角,中国特色社会主义政治经济学的学科发展与理论体系构建,要坚持几个重大原则,包括把中国特色社会主义政治经济学建立在历史唯物主义的基础之上;要以生产关系分析为核心来构建中国特色社会主义政治经济学的理论范式;坚持以人民为中心是中国特色社会主义政治经济学的本质属性;把共同富裕作为中国特色社会主义政治经济学的逻辑主线;以问题为导向研究新时代中国特色社会主义建设的重大理论与实践问题;《中国特色社会主义政治经济学》教材要体现学科的创新发展。     

Preventing motor vehicle crash injuries and deaths: science vs. folklore lessons from history

Abstract

Not long after the beginnings of motorization in the early 1900s, deaths and injuries from motor vehicle crashes became a problem in a number of high-income-countries (HIC)s, especially the United States. With the biggest problem the US led early efforts to address this issue, and for six decades these efforts were based on folklore (ie a body of widely held but false or unsubstantiated beliefs). They were not evaluated, but clearly were unsuccessful as crash deaths and injuries continued to rise. It was not until the 1970s that a broader range of countermeasures began to be adopted and was scientifically evaluated, and as a result, crash deaths and injuries declined. This history has important lessons today for many low-and-middle-income countries that have growing numbers of motor vehicle crash deaths and injuries, many of which are pedestrians and motorcyclists. This is because there continue to be advocates for many of the failed approaches (especially educational) that dominated the early efforts in HICs.     

东南亚国家社交商务与非本土节日消费行为分析——以中国春节为例

在世界范围内,中国春节越来越受消费者欢迎,特别是东南亚消费者会在社交商务中参加中国春节活动。然而,现实中却存在一个矛盾的现象,即一些东南亚消费者春节期间热衷于购买中国商品,而春节过后却抵制中国商品。实证研究发现,东南亚消费者并未完全从态度上偏好中国春节和中国商品,只是出于社交商务的需要才参与中国春节和购买中国商品。东南亚消费者可区分为文化杂食型和节日身份型两个细分市场。其中,文化杂食型消费者包容并喜欢多元文化,会长期偏好中国节日和中国商品;节日身份型消费者仅在中国节日期间会参与中国节日和购买中国商品。这样的结论对指导中国企业实践具有重要价值,首先,为更好地响应“一带一路”倡议,应树立中国品牌意识,在“一带一路”沿线国家培育偏好中国文化和产品的朋友圈,转变消费者态度;其次,为更好地实施“走出去”战略,应在国际市场进行文化杂食和节日身份的细分,对文化杂食型消费者以文化为纽带培育其长期稳定的消费习惯,对节日身份型消费者通过营销策划刺激其消费;其三,为成功进入东南亚市场,对在东南亚运营的社交商务,应侧重培育消费者亲中国文化与产品的态度,并增加其使用社交商务平台的愉悦感。     

加快构建支撑高质量发展的现代化经济体系——以安徽省蚌埠市为例

建设现代化经济体系是破解新时代中国特色社会主义主要矛盾的根本途径。面对即将到来的“十四五”时期,蚌埠既面临安徽省内激烈的区域竞争,又担负着建设“两个中心”的重任,必须加快建设符合现代化要求的产业体系和经济体制,以产业发展为抓手,以科技创新为引擎,以园区建设为载体,以优化环境为保障,加速构建支撑蚌埠高质量发展的现代化经济体系。     

Cacao Capitalism and Extended Urbanization: On the Contradictory Origins of Bounded Urbanism in Nineteenth‐century Coastal Ecuador

This article challenges both contemporary and classic urban theory by analyzing the historical case of coastal Ecuador. Working from primary and secondary sources, I track the urbanization of coastal Ecuador during the long nineteenth century, when cacao exports determined not only the economic wellbeing of the city of Guayaquil, but of the entire tropical lowland region. I argue that this extended urban geography was both experienced and practiced as an unbounded economic and cultural region. As the value of cacao exports skyrocketed, capitalists in the city invested in infrastructural projects and financial instruments, divorcing money‐making from cacao production. After the Gran Incendio (great fire) of 1896, the city was rebuilt according to the ideals of modern liberal planning that further separated the city from the country symbolically, despite their continued material interconnection. This work suggests that long histories of capitalist urbanization provide material and theoretical support for critiquing bounded urban theory both past and present, by moving beyond the city and highlighting the processes undergirding spatial production under capitalist social relations. Likewise, this historical case study argues that city‐centrism, rather than being constituted epistemologically, was tied to liberal notions of the urban based on nineteenth‐century ideologies of modernization and progress.     

Developing and validating a Chinese cultural value scale in tourism

Chinese cultural values are important in understanding Chinese tourists’ behaviour. However, the literature is void of a relevant scale measuring Chinese cultural values in tourism. This research aims to develop and validate a Chinese cultural values scale in tourism (abbreviated as CCV-T). Following a rigorous scale development procedure and applying multi-stage studies, the research identified a 5-factor measurement scale of CCV-T, composed of 17 items with sufficient reliability and validity. The five Chinese cultural value factors are Leisure and Life Enjoyment (LLE), Filial Piety and Relationship (FPR), Self-fulfilment, Righteousness, and Humanity. The CCV-T scale provides a simplified and holistic structure measuring tourism-related Chinese cultural values. This research provides a solid base to further understand the relationships between Chinese cultural values and tourist behaviour.     

Crony capitalism,the party-state,and the political boundaries of corruption

We build a model that puts together crony capitalism, the hierarchy of the Chinese communist party-state, and the decision-making process inside the Party Center. We show that inefficient economic institutions create local corruption that raises realized productivity, while generating rents that flow along the party-state hierarchy up to the provincial level, threatening the Center’s control in potential crises. Although both stronger crisis control and higher economic performance help the Center’s goal to stay in power, we show that given a general fat-tailed risk of crisis, the Center will maximize crisis control at the expense of the economy when choosing its tolerance of local corruption. Power structure and corruption within the Center and reciprocal accountability between central and provincial leaders are also analyzed. Our analysis suggests conditions under which China’s communist regime will or will not deal with the existential threat presented by corruption.