The application of development economics: general principles and context specificity

The purpose of this paper is to consider the application ofdevelopment economics at the methodological level. In particular,given the shortcomings of both the modernist and postmodernistapproaches to development policy, we consider an alternativeapproach, drawing on critical realism, which combines the benefitsof generality with the benefits of attention to specificityof context. The approach is illustrated by showing how principlesin development economics addressing issues of globalisationand peripherality can serve to illuminate some of the causaltendencies at work in a developed economy such as Scotland.     

实证经济学方法论的意义与限度

讨论了合理的实证经济学方法的假设、程序与步骤,及其在解释与认识经济社会现象、提供知识方面的重大意义.在肯定实证经济学方法的适用性的同时,本文强调,经济学毕竟不同于自然科学,由于经济研究的对象是人,而不是客观的物,实证经济方法有其局限性,将自然科学的思维方法不加反思地引入经济学会造成实证经济学方法的滥用.     

The economics of New Labour: policy and performance

This paper reviews the foundations of New Labour's economicpolicies and the performance of the economy since 1997. It arguesthat New Labour's policies have evolved from Thatcherism andthat it has largely embraced the tenets of neo-liberalism. NewLabour has rejected most aspects of Keynesianism and its policieshave eschewed the use of active demand management policies.But it has been the high levels of demand—in particularconsumption expenditure—that have driven economic growthin the UK and which have ensured that (as yet) New Labour hasnot faced the problems of dealing with a major economic downturn.     

The impact of charter school attendance on student performance

We employ a panel of individual student data on math and reading test performance for five cohorts of students in Texas to study the impact of charter school attendance. We control for school mobility effects and distinguish movement to a charter school from movement within and between traditional public school districts. We find students experience poor test score growth in their initial year in a charter school, but that this is followed by recovery in the subsequent years. Failure to account for this pattern may lead to potentially misleading estimates of the impact of charter attendance on student achievement. Students who remain in charters largely recover from the initial disruption within approximately 3 years, and there is weak evidence that there may be overall gains from charter attendance within this period. Furthermore, students who return to traditional public schools after just 1 or 2 years in a charter do not appear to suffer a lasting negative impact despite their poor average performance in their first year of charter attendance.     

Effects of information about invasive species on risk perception and seafood demand by gender and race

In this paper we consider the effects of negative and positive risk information on perceived seafood risks and seafood consumption by gender and race. The data is from a Mid-Atlantic survey of coastal seafood consumers. We elicit risk perceptions in three risk scenarios with a dichotomous choice with a follow-up question format. We elicit continuous revealed and stated preference seafood consumption in nine risk and price scenarios. Analysis in four gender and race categories indicates that demographic groups respond to the positive and negative information in different ways. Communication of risk information as risk mitigation policy is a challenge.     

对硕士研究生创新能力的影响因素及对策分析

该文通过分析硕士研究生自主创新现状及原因,认为在导师队伍、学生素质、教学内容和教学模式等各方面存在诸多问题。指出研究生创新能力的培养是一个系统工程,研究生科研创新能力关系国家未来的整体创新能力,对国家创新体系有着重要影响。建议严格导师遴选制度,完善学术监管与创新机制,加大经费投入,营造创新环境和氛围,走产学研相结合的道路。认为必须培育研究生创新理念,不断激发研究生的创新热情和创造能力,才能培养新时期优秀的高级人才队伍。     

Roots of gender equality: the persistent effect of beguinages on attitudes toward women

This paper is concerned with the historical roots of gender equality. It proposes and empirically assesses a new determinant of gender equality: gender-specific outside options in the marriage market. In particular, enlarging women’s options besides marriage—even if only temporarily—increases their bargaining power with respect to men, leading to a persistent improvement in gender equality. We illustrate this mechanism focusing on Belgium, and relate gender-equality levels in the 19th century to the presence of medieval, female-only communities called beguinages that allowed women to remain single amidst a society that traditionally advocated marriage. Combining geo-referenced data on beguinal communities with 19th-century census data, we document that the presence of beguinages contributed to decrease the gender gap in literacy. The reduction is sizeable, amounting to a 12.3% drop in gender educational inequality. Further evidence of the beguinal legacy is provided leveraging alternative indicators of female agency.

     

基于讲求职业效益的集约型绩效考核初探

绩效考核是现代人力资源管理的一种员工评估制度，是绩效管理的关键环节。绩效考核通过评定和测量员工的工作行为和效果调整薪酬、奖金发放及职务升降，达到提高企业生产效率、提升企业文化的目的。但在实际绩效考核过程中管理人员往往只关注员工行为结果的量值，造成忽略投入成本的粗放型业绩的产生，对资源节约型社会、环境友好型社会及和谐社会的构建形成了巨大的障碍。本文从讲求职业效益的角度对员工的绩效进行投入产出的比较，正确分析员工的集约型业绩，达到对人力资源绩效科学的考评。     

基于讲求职业效益的集约型绩效考核初探

绩效考核是现代人力资源管理的一种员工评估制度,是绩效管理的关键环节.绩效考核通过评定和测量员工的工作行为和效果调整薪酬、奖金发放及职务升降,达到提高企业生产效率、提升企业文化的目的.但在实际绩效考核过程中管理人员往往只关注员工行为结果的量值,造成忽略投入成本的粗放型业绩的产生,对资源节约型社会、环境友好型社会及和谐社会的构建形成了巨大的障碍.本文从讲求职业效益的角度对员工的绩效进行投入产出的比较,正确分析员工的集约型业绩,达到对人力资源绩效科学的考评.     

Going NUTS: The effect of EU Structural Funds on regional performance

The European Union (EU) provides grants to disadvantaged regions of member states to allow them to catch up with the EU average. Under the Objective 1 scheme, NUTS2 regions with a per capita GDP level below 75% of the EU average qualify for structural funds transfers from the central EU budget. This rule gives rise to a regression-discontinuity design that exploits the discrete jump in the probability of EU transfer receipt at the 75% threshold for identification of causal effects of Objective 1 treatment on outcome such as economic growth of EU regions. We find positive per capita GDP growth effects of Objective 1 transfers, but no employment growth effects.     

The impact of personality traits on talents’ performance throughout development phases: empirical evidence from professional football

ABSTRACT

This paper addresses a critical gap in talent management research, i.e. the question of what determines high performance, by highlighting the importance of personality traits for the performance of talents who are trained within the strong situation of a pivotal talent pool – – the talent pool, of a German Bundesliga club. The findings illustrate the ubiquitous high level of certain personality traits among pivotal talents, their limited variance inter talent development phases as well as their significant impact on talent performance. As a complement to talents’ job-specific skill level, the personality facet of self-confidence is a consistent driver of overall performance, with resilience and job-specific creativity being essential in order to perform above peer-group level.     

Evolutionary economics and the counterfactual threat: on the nature and role of counterfactual history as an empirical tool in economics

Counterfactual conditional statements are ubiquitous in any scientific endeavour. This paper contains an analysis of the nature of counterfactual conditionals and the conditions under which they are considered assertable by scientists. The paper then applies this analysis to the use of counterfactuals in evolutionary economics, arguing that because evolutionary economics is inherently concerned with historical processes it cannot avoid the use of counterfactual history as one of its tools of empirical analysis. We discuss the strengths and pitfalls of counterfactual history. We argue that because evolutionary economics starts from the foundation that randomness may be inherent in any economic system, the very aspects of evolutionary economics that make counterfactual history a desirable empirical tool also make that tool difficult to employ. RID="*" ID="*" We thank the participants of the International Seminar on Evolutionary Economics as a Research Programme in Stockholm, May 1997, for many helpful comments. We also thank Lorri Baier for many helpful substantive and textual comments. Correspondence to: R. Cowan     

The effect of pre-primary education on primary school performance

The theoretical case for universal pre-primary education is strong. However, the empirical foundation is less so. In this paper, we contribute to the empirical case by investigating the effect of a large expansion of universal pre-primary education on subsequent primary school performance in Argentina. We estimate that one year of pre-primary school increases average third grade test scores by 8% of a mean or by 23% of the standard deviation of the distribution of test scores. We also find that pre-primary school attendance positively affects student's self-control in the third grade as measured by behaviors such as attention, effort, class participation, and discipline.     

On the importance of institutions and forms of organisation in Piero Sraffa's economics: the case of business cycles,money, and economic policy

Abstract

This paper is based on an investigation of the Sraffa Archives and tries to characterise Piero Sraffa's approach to business cycles and economic policy. It includes two parts. The first part of the paper shows the importance of economic institutions and social conventions in Sraffa's contribution to economics and their relation with social conflicts. The second part of the paper shows how this importance permits to understand better business cycles and economic policy but also indirectly contributes to a re-interpretation of Sraffa's contribution to economics.     

The future of economics: the appropriately educated in pursuit of the knowable

This paper argues that, currently, significant change is takingplace in economics because (1) technological changes in analyticand computing methods are opening up new avenues of study, and(2) the ‘low hanging fruit’ from previous approachesand methods have already been picked. It offers a vision ofthe future of economics that sees economists focusing less onthe study of infinitely bright agents operating in informationrich environments and more on the study of reasonably brightindividuals operating in information-poor environments. Agent-basedmodels and computer analysis of data will increase in importance,and deductive analytics will decrease in importance.