Policy Issues Raised by For-Profit Spinoffs from Professional Associations: An Evaluation of a Recent AICPA Initiative

This paper provides an evaluation of the spinoff of a for-profit company from the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA), a nonprofit professional association. The evaluation is based on a review of the literature on public policy issues surrounding organizational conversions from nonprofit to for-profit legal status. Many criticisms of this for-profit spinoff were voiced by professional leaders and accounting regulators, and we demonstrate that these criticisms are grounded in widely recognized policy principles relating to nonprofit conversions. The public policy issues raised by this study have implications for the governance of professional associations in all disciplines.     

（某些）品德教育对自由主义民主的危害

本文以在加拿大多伦多市一大郊区开发的一个研究项目为案例,批评了北美“品德教育”的某些方面是怎样对维持一个健康的自由主义民主社会造成危害的。作为这种批评之基础的假设认为,把自由主义的动机作为一种政治理论确定下来,并且认为这种动机就表现在民主的原则和实践中,是为了解决生活在同一社会中的人们之间的(几种)冲突,而且要做到这一点,只要把公民的角色分化出来,按照这个目的进行建构即可。以此为抓手,本文把关注的焦点集中在这种观点的危险性上,认为这种观点无法区分好人和好公民这两个概念,尤其是在文化多元主义已经深入人心的背景中。     

根深蒂固的自由主义和压迫性的社群关系——道德教育主体面临的一个两难困境

现代西方道德政治理论中,自由主义主体这个概念作为道德经验、阐释、批评的中心一直非常繁荣。然而,本文认为某种道德上意义重大的关系——那种通过分等级的权力结构由互相联系的社会群体构成的关系——构成的一种不同的主体意识需要更多的理论和实践上的注意。和自由主义的四种核心特征相对应,本文从个体是怎样成为一些特殊的社会群体的成员来论述一种主体意识视角。文章认为,除非道德教育能认识到这种主体意识,否则道德教育本身就冒着为压迫形式(如种族歧视)作贡献而不是同它搏斗的风险。     

The welfare costs of monopoly are larger than you think

We show that monopoly is the parent of monopsony when an industry employs specialized resources. This means that the welfare loss from monopoly and monopolization is larger than commonly portrayed. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Rapid growth and changing economic structure: The expenditure side story and its implications for China

The purpose of this essay has not been to provide China with a detailed list of all of the things that the country must do to maintain a high growth rate. The purpose of this essay instead has been to analyze some of the most basic choices that China must make going forward, choices that are not yet fully understood either by government or private analysts. China has a very unusual economic structure at least on the aggregate demand side and that creates special challenges that other countries have not had to face to the same degree. How well China handles these challenges will determine whether it will continue to progress rapidly to middle income status and beyond.