Do U.S. citizens support government intervention in agriculture? Implications for the political economy of agricultural protection

The persistence of agricultural protectionism throughout the world is intriguing given the widely recognized benefits of free trade. The political economy literature over the last decades has considered groups’ interest, politicians’ preferences, and their interactions within domestic politics as the primary forces driving agricultural protection. Yet, a growing body of studies suggests that it would be judicious to weigh in consumers’ or taxpayers’ perspectives in deciphering the nature of agricultural protection. This study examines U.S. citizens’ preferences about government intervention in agriculture and trade. Results show that they are in strong support of agricultural protection and their perceptions of national food security, family farms, environmental sustainability, and multifunctionality of agriculture play a significant role in shaping their support/opposition toward government intervention. The conventional political economy literature theorizes that consumers or taxpayers would oppose public policies that increase their tax burden; however, in the case of the farm sector, they have little incentive to voice their objections given the costs of farm programs are spread across a large number of consumers and taxpayers. U.S. citizens’ support for government involvement in agriculture as reported in this and other prior studies does not lend support for such political economy explanation.     

知识产权壁垒研究综述

在国际贸易往来中,知识产权作为贸易保护主义的一种工具被发达国家越来越频繁地使用,形成了一种新型的贸易壁垒即知识产权壁垒,随着贸易摩擦的频率与次数逐渐增多,其对贸易国家尤其是发展中国家构成了较大的威胁与障碍。立足于我国实际,通过结合国内外学者最新研究成果对知识产权壁垒研究进行梳理与总结并得出启示,提出我国相关产业与企业应客观看待并积极应对知识产权壁垒,不断提高自主创新能力与国际竞争力。     

美国第二轮量化宽松货币政策的影响及中国对策

美联储第二轮量化宽松货币政策预计对美国经济的刺激作用有限,并会对其他国家特别是新兴市场带来较严重的负面溢出效应。其中,美元泛滥可能引发较为严重的通货膨胀,并刺激贸易保护主义抬头。中国需要采取＂堵疏结合、攻防有序＂的手段,严格监控风险度高的短期流动资金,将长期资金流入有效疏导到金融短板加以利用,力保经济平稳较快发展。同时,应加强与国际社会的协作,对美国量化宽松政策形成一定的制约。     

市场分割的制度基础与概念内涵——基于组织社会学制度理论的视角

中国的市场分割是中国经济转型在特定阶段出现的一种市场结构或状态。从组织社会学制度理论的视角看中国市场分割可以发现:中国的市场分割存在着行为权力的分割现象,市场分割不仅源于制度和政策的差异,同时也有制度与政策执行中的差异。市场分割中的地区性行政垄断、地方保护主义行为及非整合状态,反映出现阶段的中国经济体制中存在的问题。     

A Note on Laurence Seidman’s Article

Mihail Manoilescu was among the foremost intellectual figures of the interwar period in Romania. He was known as a politician and central banker, as well as an economist. From the very beginning of his theoretical and practical career, or at least from the late 1920s onward, Manoilescu’s ideas and theories (especially his corporatist theory) were marked by clear continuity and consistency based on the theory of protectionism grounded on productivity differences. By developing his model — an alternative to the theory of comparative advantage — Manoilescu endeavored to show the need for protectionist measures to promote the development of peripheral countries. His defense of protectionism is usually presented as clumsy and founded on an incorrect method, even if he is often recognized as the forerunner of the theory of unequal exchange and the dependency theory. Few scholars note the similarity of Manoilescu’s theory with Karl Marx’s labor theory. This paper contributes to validating Manoilescu’s conclusions, the soundness of which we test here by reconstructing the theory from a Marxian perspective. A reconstruction of this type offers new possibilities of evaluating his theory and a better understanding of its contributions and limitations.     

Anatomy of Russia’s market segmentation1

Based on a relationship between price difference and demand difference among locations, the role of various market frictions in causing segmentation of the Russian goods market is analysed. The spatial sample covers most of Russian regions (70 of the 89); the data are annual, spanning 1992 to 2000. Spatial disconnectedness of regions is found to be responsible for about 70 percent of the average price differential, while the rest is caused by ‘artificial’ impediments to market integration such as regional protectionism, organized crime and intra‐region shipping conditions.     

国际投资保护主义的历史演进、特点及应对策略研究

近年来,中国跨国公司的全球化进程不断加快,海外并购和绿地新建的规模和速度不断提升,但与此同时,并购受阻、整合失败的案例不绝于耳,中国企业在"走出去"的过程中遇到很多障碍和壁垒,受到很多歧视。为此,回顾了二战后国际投资保护主义的演进历史,并对其特点进行分析梳理,总结归纳出应对国际投资保护主义的对策建议。     

金融危机下贸易保护对中国出口影响的实证分析——以对美出口机电产品遭遇技术性贸易壁垒为例

伴随着美国金融危机引起的世界经济衰退,贸易保护主义出现抬头趋势。文章以机电产品对美出口遭遇技术性贸易壁垒为例,通过协整分析、脉冲响应、方差分解等方法对金融危机下贸易保护对我国出口的短期冲击进行实证研究。结果表明,金融危机下经济的不景气反而促进了中国的出口,但有可能恶化出口商品结构,而贸易保护和总需求下降是严重抑制中国出口的主要因素,引入金融危机冲击这一虚拟变量后,贸易保护的影响加剧。因此,扩大国内外需求和冲破贸易壁垒限制是解决出口下行的根本途径。     

金融危机正在改变世界

当前金融危机是经济周期的必然结果，其直接原因是以美元为核心的单体国际货币体系和保护主义日益严重导致的全球经济的长期失衡，要通过这场金融危机来平衡全球金融体系和经济的关系。因此，建立多元的国际货币体系，是这次金融危机之后最重大的金融制度的变革。目前金融还是现代经济的核心和心脏，不能因为金融危机而停止中国金融的市场化改革的步伐；同时，金融危机给中国带来了两个难得的机遇，即人民币的国际化和全球金融中心的构建。     

中国食品行业应诉国外反倾销的特点

近年来,中国食品行业在国际市场上屡遭反倾销投诉,企业损失惨重。因此,深刻了解国外对中国食品行业反倾销调查的特点,并采取相应措施,已成为中国企业进一步开拓国际市场的当务之急。针对上述现状,并结合国外对中国食品行业实施反倾销的四个特点,对其遭遇反倾销的原因及损害进行了深层次的分析。中国食品行业应该培养并形成自己的核心竞争力,并强化反倾销意识,这样可以从根本上改变食品行业出口频频遭遇反倾销的状况。