Fixed and Sunk Costs Revisited

The authors attempt to clarify the concepts of, and the link between, fixed costs and sunk costs. They argue that the root for possible confusion between fixed costs and sunk costs is the inconsistency in defining the term fixed costs. They define fixed costs uniformly as the costs that are independent of the level of output and suggest that instructors refer to the part of fixed costs that are irrevocably committed as sunk costs. Under these definitions, the statement “there are no long-run fixed costs” is incorrect. Instructors should teach students that in the long run there are no sunk costs, although there may easily be fixed costs.     

Male-Female Differences in Economic Education: a Survey

Many researchers have found that males and females perform differently on economics tests, with the females often achieving lower scores. This phenomenon has puzzled and troubled economic education specialists for well over a decade. In this article Siegfried summarizes many studies that have included student gender as a variable. This in itself would be a valuable contribution to the literature, but Siegfired goes further and deals with questions of the adequacy of research designs and other factors that must be taken into account. Thus, this piece should provide useful guidance to researchers who wish to include the gender variable in their designs.     

马克思对沉淀成本概念的分析及其意义

虽然马克思没有使用沉淀成本这一概念,但已认识到沉淀成本的本质特征——成本补偿或价值实现问题。因此,从马克思价值实现角度扩展西方学者对沉淀成本概念的理解,不仅突破了西方学者沉淀成本概念仅仅与资产特征和市场交易成本相关的局限性,而且将沉淀成本和生产过程与产品价值实现联系起来,从而纳入社会再生产运动过程中。从马克思价值实现角度出发,再次回到投资生产上来,充分理解影响沉淀成本的诸多因素,为政府制定政策或制度安排提供一种新的分析视角,在于避免出现沉淀成本,形成良好的再生产过程。     

机会成本、历史成本和固定成本* ——基于主观主义经济学的解释

新古典经济学在成本的论述上,并没有坚持机会成本观,与其“个人选择”的逻辑起点冲突。而主观主义经济学在成本观阐述上,坚持了“个人选择”。本文以主观主义经济学的思想为前提,采用逻辑演绎的方式系统论证了如下命题：（1）如果“机会成本”等同于效用,那么,非货币性收益是如何从证券定价函数中消失的？（2）记录企业过去行为结果的历史成本制度,在什么前提下,能够传递出对证券定价有用的信息？（3）固定成本和变动成本是否会导致个体决策上的差异？本文得到如下结论：（1）陌生人社会的崛起,委托人和代理人之间非货币性收益的不可转让性,导致对证券的定价,无需考虑非货币性收益;（2）在企业的最终产出受到人力资本异质性和外部资源冲击,而这两者无法直接定价时,记录企业过去一段时间的行为结果,将有助于间接预测不同证券持有的机会成本;（3）受制于要素交易契约形式的外生性和市场按类别交易,固定成本与变动成本将会带来不同的决策风险,进而需要对其做出区分。     

低于成本倾销的经济学解释

WTO<反倾销协议>扩展了倾销原有的界定范围,规定低于成本出口属于非正常贸易行为,可以通过实施制裁来维护公平竞争.本文认为,低于成本倾销在绝大多数情况下属于正常的商业行为,其产生具有合理性,同不公平竞争没有必然的联系.恰恰是对这种行为的抵制,反映了目前的反倾销措施被滥用的倾向.     

What are cost changes for produce implementing traceability systems in China? Evidence from enterprise A

Based on the survey data and information, this paper conducts analysis on the extra cost of traceability systems for agro-product enterprises in China. Calculation on concrete pricing of traceable products is conducted with Enterprise A as an example by using break-even pricing. The price that consumers are willing to pay for 10 traceable products in Enterprise A was measured by collecting 576 valid questionnaires in three cities in China. The benefit–cost ratio, contribution margin ration and profit growth rate are figured before and after implementing the traceability system to illustrate if Enterprise A is profitable after implementing the traceability system. The results show that extra cost incurred by the traceability system of Enterprise A is not high in China; it is not the main reason for the high price of traceable products. Enterprise A increases its operating efficiency and profit growth rate after implementing the traceability system. The pricing of traceable product should consider target consumers’ willingness to pay rather than setting prices blindingly. Government support and education to consumers are important to promote the construction of traceability system at the early stage of establishment of traceability system in China.     

历史沉淀成本与经济转型的路径依赖及其超越

本文旨在突破新古典理性选择的经济转型研究方法,再次阐述计划经济体制下历史沉淀成本对经济转型的锁定效应。由新古典经济理论和规范决策理论可知,以前投资的历史或沉淀成本已经支付过了,因其不构成机会成本,所以不应该影响当前或未来的经济转型决策。然而,在经济转型时期,决策者并不能够根据经济转型的预期边际收益和边际成本进行理性决策,不仅需要考虑因资产专用性,以及由此产生的交易成本的阻碍影响,还需要考虑过去发生的历史沉淀成本的阻碍影响。因此,为了加快计划经济体制向市场经济体制转型的进程,制度或政策制定的基本原则应着眼于历史沉淀成本管理,从而切断路径依赖。     

International Differences in Student Achievement: An Economic Perspective

Abstract. International comparisons reveal large cross‐country differentials in average student performance. Although there is considerable public debate about these differences, their sources are hardly identified. Using school, teacher and student data from the Third International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS), the present paper attempts to explain what causes between‐country gaps in mathematics test score distributions. Following a three‐pronged strategy of micro‐level and cross‐country regressions as well as bilateral country comparisons, we show how these gaps are explained by differences in school, teacher and student characteristics, or financial resources devoted to the school system. Institutional characteristics, such as competition between schools and the composition of the faculty can also help to understand international differences in student achievement.     

The Overconfident Principles of Economics Student: An Examination of a Metacognitive Skill

Students in a large principles of macroeconomics class were asked to predict their performance on a regularly scheduled midterm examination. The author collected and analyzed data to examine the effect of various demographic characteristics, academic endowments, course preparation, and course performance variables on the accuracy of pretest expectations. A two-equation recursive model was estimated by the author to determine which factors influenced the accuracy of student expectations (predictive calibration). The results indicated that a pervasive degree of overconfidence existed within the sample. Although age and overall academic performance were found to temper overconfidence, students with credit in a previous economics course had a greater probability of reporting overconfident expectations. Overconfidence was found to be associated with lower degrees of predictive calibration. Misjudgments concerning the scope of the midterm were found to lower predictive calibration scores, ceteris paribus. These and other results indicate that unmet student performance expectations may be a root cause for the routinely observed student dissatisfaction within the traditional principles course.     

The Role of Personality Temperament and Student Learning in Principles of Economics: Further Evidence

This note offers some critical comments on a previously published article ranking economics departments.     

西安高新区的商务成本分析

通过介绍商务成本的概念及构成,阐述了商务成本与区域经济发展的关系,在对西安高新区的商务成本状况进行分析比较后,指出其与全国其它地区的商务成本的优势和劣势,给出了降低西安高新区商务成本、提升城市竞争力的举措。     

On the Market for Principles of Economics Textbooks: Innovation and Product Differentiation

Tabular data are provided on the journals that have published economic education articles, the topics covered, and the individual authors. Institutions are ranked by their contributions to the economic education literature.     

Teachers' Unions and Student Achievement in High School Economics

High school students in unionized schools score higher on the Test of Economic Literacy than students in nonunion districts, ceteris paribus.     

Geographic Differences in the Earnings of Economics Majors

Economics has been shown to be a relatively high-earning college major, but geographic differences in earnings have been largely overlooked. The authors of this article use the American Community Survey to examine geographic differences in both absolute earnings and relative earnings for economics majors. They find that there are substantial geographic differences in both the absolute and relative earnings of economics majors, even when controlling for individual characteristics such as age, education, occupation, and industry. They argue that mean earnings in specific labor markets are a better measure of the benefits of majoring in economics than simply looking at national averages.     

Attributes of Effective Economics Instructors: An Analysis of Student Evaluations

Samuels reminds us of the influence that institutional economists have had on economic thought, and of the roles they have played as critics and specialists in various fields of economic inquiry.     

心智成本理论:一个超越新古典经济学的解释框架

行为经济学提出了一种不同于新古典理性人假设的行为模式。行为经济学基于实验和经验的证据虽然解释了许多复杂的人类行为 ,但其结构零散需要进一步的理论提升。论文试图在心智成本范式的框架下把新古典经济学与行为经济学统一起来。     

基于交易费用理论的虚拟企业产生机制

虚拟企业的产生有着深刻的现实和理论背景,然而有很多虚拟企业的研究是基于管理学范围框架进行的,而对于经济学框架之下的研究还不是太多.本文在对虚拟企业的概念进行重新界定的基础上,从交易费用经济学中企业边界理论的角度对虚拟企业进行分析,从而得出虚拟企业这种组织形式的优势所在,以及发展的前景.     

The Williamsonian Ambiguity on Authority and Power in Transaction Cost Economics

Power has traditionally been rejected from economics and more particularly from the economics of the firm. Although he proposes building an interdisciplinary approach to the firm, Williamson rejects power from the economics of transaction costs. However, regarding the theoretical and behavioral hypotheses he makes, we can raise the following question: does the Williamsonian approach to the firm have intrinsic properties for developing a theory of power? After analyzing Williamson’s argument on power/authority, this paper aims to shed light on the fact that the 2009 Williamson, Oliver E. 2009. “Pragmatic Methodology: A Sketch, with Applications to Transaction Cost Economics,” Journal of Economic Methodology 16 (2): 145-157.[Taylor &; Francis Online] , [Google Scholar] Nobel Prize winner has built a theory based on power that he rejects due to a questionable methodological choice. Conversely, we defend the thesis according to which power cannot be removed from the economics of the firm and transaction cost economics–at the risk of providing a distorted picture of the reality of capitalism.     

品牌经济学的理论基础——引入品牌的需求曲线及其经济学分析

需求定律是经济学分析的理论基础之一,品牌经济学的理论基础为引入品牌的需求曲线或考虑选择成本的需求定律。把品牌引入经济学中后,品牌信用度的提高使需求曲线右移并变得更为陡峭,同时品牌信用度的提高改变了需求曲线的位置,使得均衡价格提高,均衡数量增加,增加了消费者剩余和生产者剩余,提高了社会福利水平。文章为“品牌战”替代“价格战”提供了理论依据,即通过品牌建设提高品牌信用度,使得在价格提高的条件下需求量增加,而这只有在需求曲线改变位置时方能做到。