Comparative Statics for the Consumer Problem

This paper studies comparative statics in the consumer utlity maximization problem with two goods. The analysis can be global, and it allows for indivisibilities, discrete changes, and non-binding budget constraints. It does not rely either on topological or convexity assumptions. Instead, it uses lattice programming techniques. The conditions derived are superextremal variant properties on the utility function, in appropriately constructed lattices on the consumption set. Sufficient conditions are given for one or both goods to be normal, for one to be inferior, and for some cases of price effects, using what are called value orders and lattices.     

Comparative Statics of Money-goods Specifications of the Utility Function

The introduction of real-cash balances into the neoclassical model of the consumer wrecks havoc, in general, on the empirically observable refutable comparative statics properties of the model. We provide the most general solution of this problem to date by deriving a symmetric and negative semidefinite generalized Slutsky matrix that is empirically observable and which contains all other such comparative statics results as a special case. In addition, we clarify and correct two aspects of Samuelson and Sato's (1984) treatment of this problem. Received March 9, 2001; revised version received September 3, 2001     

Existence of a Universal Comparative Statics Matrix for Differentiable Optimization Problems

A universal existence theorem is established that yields exhaustive and constraint-free comparative statics information for a general, differentiable optimization problem in the preferred form of a semidefinite matrix. It subsumes all comparative statics formulations of differentiable optimization problems. Its relationship to comparative statics methods extant is establishedWe are grateful to an anonymous referee for a particularly helpful comment on the contents of this paper.     

"新比较经济学"的研究视角及其比较研究

20世纪90年代初期,随着苏联、东欧等社会主义国家相继崩溃,旧比较经济学没有可比较的对象,为新比较经济学创造了条件。本文主要对新旧比较经济学进行了比较研究。从比较对象上看,旧比较经济学主要针对不同经济制度进行比较;而新比较经济学侧重于相同经济制度在不同国家的效率差异。从研究方法上看,旧比较经济学主要是特征描述法,没有建立系统的理论;而新比较经济学采用主流经济学的分析方法,创立了自己的理论体系。最后,本文对新比较经济学与新制度经济学及公共选择理论进行了比较研究。     

The New Comparative Political Economy

With the collapse of communism in the late 1980s the field of comparative political economy has undergone major revision. Socialism is no longer considered the viable alternative to capitalism it once was. We now recognize that the choice is between alternative institutional arrangements of capitalism. Progress in the field of comparative political economy is achieved by examining how different legal, political and social institutions shape economic behavior and impact economic performance. In this paper we survey the new learning in comparative political economy and suggest how this learning should redirect our attention in economic development.JEL classification: B53, O10, O20, P0     

The Comparative Statics of Effective Demand

Keynes introduces the term ‘effective demand’ in Chapter 3 of the General Theory as designating the point of intersection of two functions: the ‘aggregate demand function’ (D) and the ‘aggregate supply function’ (Z). For the first time in the literature, I here use specific functional forms for the D and Z functions and run numerical simulations which allow study of the comparative statics of the model in the face of various ‘shocks’. The demonstration of how the D/Z model actually works will hopefully prove useful for future students of the economics of Keynes.     

品牌的经济学分析:一个比较静态模型

现有的经济学理论和模型中缺少全面针对品牌的分析,导致品牌理论与实践的双重混乱.在选择爆炸式增长的经济条件下,品牌对消费者的选择行为产生了巨大影响,因此对品牌选择的经济学分析显得更为迫切.品牌的经济学本质是降低消费者的选择成本,进而影响消费者对品牌的选择,而消费者选择又决定了厂商的销售量和利润.我们在经济学的框架下,以品牌为研究对象,建立起一个比较静态模型,对品牌进行经济学分析,得出消费者均衡和厂商均衡的条件.     

Dynamic and Comparative Static Analysis of Imperfectly Competitive International Fishery

A dynamic system for change of fish stock is formulated assuming that two asymmetric rival countries harvest fish from a common fishing ground and sell it in an imperfectly competitive market. The existence of a unique stable steady state is examined based on the dynamic system. Comparative static analysis is conducted in relation to changes in national fishing management policies to explore, among other things, rent-shifting from one country to another.     

比较经济学对中国经济理论发展的影响(1978～2005)

文章结合1978年以来中国经济理论的演进,论述了比较经济学在中国经济理论发展进程中所发挥的作用与影响。文章认为,比较经济学对中国经济理论发展的影响主要表现在以下三个方面:对中国经济理论范式转换的影响,对中国经济理论的方法论的影响以及对中国社会主义市场经济理论发展的影响等。分析表明:中国经济理论是在中国经济改革的实践探索中得到检验和发展的。在中国经济理论发展进程中和改革开放形成的中外学术交流的背景下,比较经济学在中国的传播促进了中国经济理论的发展。     

The Envelope Theorem and Comparative Statics of Nash Equilibria

The Envelope Theorem for Nash equilibria shows that the strategic reaction of the other players in the game is important for determining how parameter perturbations affect a given player's indirect objective function. The fundamental comparative statics matrix of Nash equilibria for theithplayer in anN-player static game includes the equilibrium response of the otherN−1players in the game to the parameter perturbation and is symmetric positive semidefinite subject to constraint. This result is fundamental in that it holds for all sufficiently smooth Nash equilibria and is independent of any curvature or stability assumptions imposed on the game.Journal of Economic LiteratureClassification Numbers: C72, C61.     

比较优势战略理论新证

竞争优势理论的追随者往往将比较优势与竞争优势两个范畴对立起来,或者干脆使用竞争优势理论来否定比较优势理论.林毅夫先生在指出对这两种理论相互关系的上述理解是错误的、主张竞争优势的建立离不开比较优势发挥的基础上,提出了经济发展的比较优势战略理论,引起了广泛的讨论.本文尝试通过新兴古典的超边际分析,论证了促进国际贸易的良性发展离不开比较优势的充分发挥,同时也为林毅夫先生的观点提供了佐证.     

我国三十年来农村地区金融改革的逻辑轨迹——基于新比较经济学分析框架的研究

文章基于新比较经济学的分析框架,从正规金融和非正规金融两个方面来论述三十年来中国农村地区金融改革的基本逻辑。研究认为,农村金融发展滞后于农村经济发展的原因是政府对农村金融的控制方式不尽合理。文章充分肯定了国家2005年至今的改革措施,认为新型金融机构的引进将成为建立完善的农村金融体系的契机。     

绿色经济发展中政府介入时机与政策选择——基于技术采用均衡时间的比较静态分析

发展绿色经济推进经济转型是实现科学发展的核心。市场自身转型的滞后是影响绿色经济发展的重要因素。转型具有公共物品的性质,公共财政的本质意味着政府介入从而消除滞后的合意性。绿色新技术采用的滞后是造成转型滞后的关键,新技术采用路径的均衡时间受多种因素影响从而滞后的程度也就不同;但均衡时间的比较静态分析结果表明,新技术创新的强度、市场需求、贴现率、技术采用成本、既有生产成本以及企业行为等因素的改变都会影响均衡的采用时间,这些都为政府的介入提供了基础。     

The Rejection of Qualitative Research Methods in Economics

Abstract:

The article analyzes the status quo of qualitative methods in economics. While a majority of economists consider knowledge of empirical research methods to be of considerable importance, it must be noted that qualitative research methods are scarcely implemented in economic publications. Given all the advantages of qualitative research methods, the reasons and processes responsible for the rejection of qualitative research methods in economics must be empirically identified and further discussed. To gain insights into the perception and application of qualitative research methods in economics revealing the status and representational patterns in qualitative social research. I addressed professors, editors of economic journals, and postdocs from Germany to access economists’ functional orientations and interpretative patterns, in order to establish preliminary indicators with regard to the subject-specific perspectives and the underlying scientific conceptions of economists. My findings reveal a fundamental rejection of qualitative research methods in economics due to methodological critique, a nomothetic world view and missing career opportunities. The article intends to initiate a discussion about the missing opportunities of the methodological contraction in the economic profession.     

Relative risk aversion, relative prudence and comparative statics under uncertainty: The case of (μ, σ)‐preferences

From the expected‐utility approach, relative risk aversion being smaller than one and relative prudence being smaller than two emerge as preference restrictions that fully determine the optimal responses of decisions under uncertainty to certain shifts in probability distributions. We characterize the magnitudes of relative risk aversion and relative prudence in terms of the two‐parameter, mean‐standard deviation approach. We demonstrate that this characterization is instrumental in obtaining comparative static results in the two‐parameter setting. We further relate our findings to the results in the expected‐utility framework.     

Progress,Inconsistencies, and Neglect in the Social Control of Railway Freight Transport

We focus on the complementarity between original institutional economics, Mario Bunge’s framework of systemism, and the formal tools developed by complexity economists, especially in the context of agent-based modeling. We assert that original institutional economics might profit from exploiting this complementarity.     

The value of information in oligopoly with demand uncertainty

This paper discusses the value of information in supermodular and submodular games, using a simple duopoly model where the level of demand is uncertain. It is shown that the value of information issuperadditive (resp.,subadditive) between players if the game issupermodular (resp.,submodular). For example, in a Bertrand (resp., Cournot) market with (possibly imperfect) substitute products, one firm's information acquisition increases (resp., decreases) the other firm's incentive to acquire the same information. Furthermore, when the game is either supermodular or submodular, the value of information is higher when the player isexpected to be informed according to the opponent's belief than when the player is expected to be uninformed; this result is reversed when the game has asymmetric modularity (i.e., one player's action is substitutional to the other's, and the latter's action is complemental to the former's). These qualitative observations have a potential to be applied to a larger class of games with uncertainty where payoffs are smooth (e.g., twice continuously differentiable) in actions and states.     

在比较优势基础上形成我国纺织业竞争优势

纺织业是我国竞争性和国际依存度较高的产业 ,也是劳动密集型和具有比较优势的传统支柱产业。经过几十年的发展 ,中国已圆了纺织大国之梦。但是 ,我国纺织业大而不强 ,国际竞争力弱。笔者根据比较优势与竞争优势理论 ,通过分析我国纺织业的竞争力现状 ,提出了在比较优势的基础上构建竞争优势实施强纺织发展战略。     

环境规制对比较优势的影响

在古典和新古典贸易理论中，一国的贸易模式取决于该国的比较优势。本文的研究结果表明，发达国家环境规制的严格化使得发展中国家重度污染密集型产业的比较优势得到相对的强化，而对中、轻度污染产业的影响则依据产业的不同而不同。文章还以我国纺织服装业为例作了进一步分析。最后，作者从环境规制的完善、产业结构调整及环境成本内在化几个方面提出了政策建议。