Economic transition,dualism and informality in India: Nature and patterns of household-level transitions

We examine the Indian economy during a peak period of high growth between 2005 and 2012 to analyse the nature and patterns of household-level transitions across different sectors, characterised by varying degrees of formality/informality and various production structures and labour processes. We find that even within this brief period, there has been a huge volume of household-level transitions across sectors. However, the overall economic structure, and its segmentations, has continued to be reproduced, along with a regeneration of ‘traditional’ non-capitalist informal spaces. To ascertain the nature of household-level transitions in terms of economic well-being, we employ a counterfactual analysis. We find that majority of transitions in the economy have been ‘unfavourable’ in nature, with large proportion of households undergoing sectoral transitions that are not optimal for them, given their socio-economic characteristics. Furthermore, the likelihood of ‘favourable’ versus ‘unfavourable’ sectoral transition, on average, significantly varies with household characteristics, some of which, like social caste, are structurally given and cannot be optimally chosen by households. Drawing upon this analysis, we reflect on the competing strands of literature that seek to explain the persistence of informality. Our analysis highlights the complexity of India's contemporary development trajectory, whereby the pre-existing economic structure is reproduced, paradoxically, through a continuous reshuffling and reconstitution of economic spaces, accompanied by significant volume of ‘unfavourable’ household-level sectoral transitions.     

Inefficient predation and political transitions

This paper presents a theory of endogenous economic institutions in non-democracies, where political accountability is enforced through the threat of revolution. We consider a dynamic game between an elite ruling class and a disenfranchised working class, in which workers have imperfect information about the economy's productive possibilities. We characterize the conditions under which (i) the elite implement an inefficient rent-creating economic institution at the risk of provoking a revolution based on institutional grievances, (ii) information shocks can catalyze revolutionary movements that may be contagious among similar countries, and (iii) democratic transitions can be consolidated following revolutionary liberalizations.     

Socio-metabolic transitions in developing Asia

A possible sustainability transition in developing Asia needs to complement the ongoing transition from an agrarian to an industrial socio-ecological regime. As is known from other world regions, an agrarian-industrial transition involves a major increase in material and energy flows (corresponding to a 2-4 fold increase in the demand for raw materials and energy). The socio-metabolic profile of the South-East Asian region still shows relatively low material and energy consumption per capita, suggesting that major growth may follow. Infrastructures that are closely bound-up in bulk material flows (transport, energy and food sectors) will be critical to future developments. The paper illustrates the challenge and potential solutions from a number of case studies.     

Effective leadership during organizational transitions

Leadership transitions offer high leverage opportunities to improve an organization's leadership and overall direction. If managed in ways that link strategic thinking, active executive search, and careful organizational development, leadership transitions can advance the purposefulness of the organization.     

经济改革与经济发展呼唤经济伦理

经济伦理对经济改革与经济发展有着巨大作用。就经济改革而言,我们的经济改革不可能离开经济伦理的支撑。就经济发展而言,经济伦理为经济发展创造良好的社会环境,并对其所要求的社会形式或体制予以正确地认可与选择;对经济活动的目的及其实现方式予以确认,并为之提供精神动力;给社会提供了一只强有力的手,为调节和指挥经济发展提供了可能。     

A transitions model for sustainable mobility

This paper reports on the development of a model for assessing transitions to sustainable mobility. The model uses the concepts of transition theory as a framework for assessing possible pathways by which a transition to a sustainable mobility society might happen. The modelling approach combines agent-based modelling techniques with a system dynamics structure. It is original in that there are two levels of agent. There are a small number of complex agents, which have an internal structure and are therefore subsystems within society, and a larger number of simple agents. Based on the UK data, the results show that Hydrogen Fuel Cell Vehicles (FCVs) come to dominate, but only in the very long run (after 2030), while biofuels and ICE (Internal Combustion Engine)-electric hybrids are the main alternatives to the regime in the next 10–30 years, because a) they are already developed and b) they fit better into current infrastructures. The model shows that technological transitions are most likely. Lifestyle change transitions require sustained pressure from the environment on society and behavioural change from consumers.     

A transitions model for sustainable mobility

This paper reports on the development of a model for assessing transitions to sustainable mobility. The model uses the concepts of transition theory as a framework for assessing possible pathways by which a transition to a sustainable mobility society might happen. The modelling approach combines agent-based modelling techniques with a system dynamics structure. It is original in that there are two levels of agent. There are a small number of complex agents, which have an internal structure and are therefore subsystems within society, and a larger number of simple agents. Based on the UK data, the results show that Hydrogen Fuel Cell Vehicles (FCVs) come to dominate, but only in the very long run (after 2030), while biofuels and ICE (Internal Combustion Engine)-electric hybrids are the main alternatives to the regime in the next 10–30 years, because a) they are already developed and b) they fit better into current infrastructures. The model shows that technological transitions are most likely. Lifestyle change transitions require sustained pressure from the environment on society and behavioural change from consumers.     

The golden hello and political transitions

We analyze the influence of IMF and World Bank programs on political regime transitions. We develop an extended version of Acemoglu and Robinson’s [American Economic Review 91, 2001] model of political transitions to show how the anticipation of new loans from international financial institutions can trigger political transitions which would not otherwise have taken place. We test this unexplored implication of the theory empirically. We find that the anticipation of receiving new loan programs immediately after a political regime transition increases the probability of a transition from autocracy to democracy and reduces the probability of democratic survival.     

论经济全球化条件下我国的经济安全

经济全球化已成为不可逆转的客观历史潮流。但在经济全球化条件下,由于各国在资源和产业等领域竞争的加剧,国家经济安全问题日益突出。本文首先从资源、产业、发展角度给出了国家经济安全的含义、核心以及本质表现。又分析了经济全球化对我国经济安全的影响,并提出提高我国经济安全度的相关措施。     

Towards multi-system sociotechnical transitions: why simulate

A number of research frameworks have been developed for studying sociotechnical transitions. These are complex phenomena, particularly those involving multi-system interactions. Given these characteristics, the paper discusses the challenges in studying transitions solely through inductive inference methods. It argues that transition research has reached a point where taking the next step should include modelling and simulation as part of the standard methodological exploratory toolkit for studying the intensity, nature and timing of system interaction that lead to transitions and for producing timely and robust policy recommendations.     

经济全球化与我国的经济安全

中国是最大的发展中国家，又是一个社会主义国家，面临着大量的、有些是独特的国家经济安全问题。能否解决好这些问题，关系到我国能否最终成为世界经济强国，关系到我国社会主义的前途和命运。目前，我国经济总体上处于良性运行状态，成功地实现了“软着陆”，避开了亚洲金融动荡的冲击。但我国经济安全仍然面临着许多挑战，主要反映在以下四个方面。一是产业安全。对外开放的步步深入，会对我国部分产业部门产生冲击，如汽车、机电、农业、电讯、石化等产业。由于国外企业尤其是跨国公司拥有强大的技术实力和先进的管理经验、丰富的营销手…     

经济自由--经济全球化的最基本经济伦理原则

追溯现代市场经济发展的历史进程,经济自由乃是使市场经济富有活力的灵魂,也是今天全球经济一体化的内在依据和基本伦理准则,中国已经加入WTO,如何最大程度地实现经济自由,是确保我国在经济全球化浪潮中赢得竞争优势的重要砝码.     

Coups,regime transitions,and institutional consequences

Coups and regime transitions are events that typically are intended to change the basic institutional framework of a country. Which specific institutions change and the consequences of these changes nevertheless remains largely unknown. Change after a coup or transition implies that some form of political or judiciary barrier has been erected or removed. We therefore focus on what happens to the quality of judicial institutions and political corruption around coup attempts and other types of regime transitions. We hypothesize that when coups are conducted by members of the incumbent political elite, they are likely to remove barriers to change while coup makers outside of the ruling elite are more likely to do the opposite and thus protect themselves from what remains of the elite in the political system. Using the new Bjørnskov-Rode coup dataset, our results suggest that successful coups are associated with degradation of institutions, with successful military coups in particular having a significant negative effect. Results are more varied for civilian coups where we find indications of differences depending on whether the coup makers are part of a political elite or not. We also explore whether the incumbent regime influences the effect of coup attempts on institutional change.     

Employment transitions and computer use of older workers

Our empirical analysis studies the impact of computer use on out of employment transitions of older workers, disentangling the effect of using a Personal Computer (PC) at work from that of being PC literate. Data are drawn from the 2000, 2002 and 2004 waves of the Bank of Italy Survey on Household Income and Wealth. We provide empirical evidence that, even controlling for a wide set of covariates, older employees who use a PC at work have a higher probability of remaining employed in the future. However, our results also indicate that, once PC literacy is controlled for, the use of a PC at work decreases only marginally the risk of becoming not employed (i.e. the effect is smaller than the one registered when we do not control for PC literacy).     

Privatization,industrial policy and governing the transitions

Conclusions When one looks with a clear head at the nearly mind-boggling range of pros and cons regarding the wisdom of pursuing an industrial policy, one cannot escape infusing some degree of sentiment into what should be a dispassionate debate. Mine is for exploring the positive contribution that centralizing organs can render not only to transition policies but also to operating a market-based economy into which the sociopolitical sentiment finds its reflection to the extent existing political institutions allow. Industrial policy as part and parcel of good economic governancecan under some conditions play a constructive role in creating conditions that are conducive to generating more effective resource allocation. This role should be an evolving one, with the state disengaging from detailed management or efforts aimed at steering management in a particular direction as the changes incumbent on transforming the PETs into viable market-based structures gradually solidify. This observation applies with even greater force to the conceptualization, formulation, and implementation of transformation policies with or without targeted international economic assistance.     

经济辐射理论与我国经济发展战略构想

辐射既表现为自然界不同物体间的能量相互传递，也表现为人类社会资源的互相流动。经济辐射理论既可以深化我们对扩大开放的新认识，也可以说明区域、产业等经济发展中的非均衡到均衡过程。     

反倾销的经济学分析兼论中美贸易摩擦

美国对华频发反倾销调查,涉及多个行业,多数最终判决征收反倾销税,以抵消进口造成的"重大损失"。从经济学角度,从微观的消费者和生产者到宏观的需求和供给进行深入分析,认为从中国进口并未使美国受损,受损的仅是生产率较低的同类商品生产商,消费者获益更多。相反,对华反倾销不会给美国带来福利改进,由于诉讼费用、征税成本、连锁反应、报复性反倾销等因素实际福利损失往往很大。因此认为,美国对华实行自由贸易优于采取反倾销措施,减少贸易摩擦。     

Economic Diplomacy

We study bilateral conflicts that affect the welfare of third parties, the stakeholders. The conflict takes the form of a war of attrition and intervention is modeled as the possibility that the stakeholder “aids” the agreement with transfers to the contenders. We characterize the optimal policy when the stakeholder limits its intervention to a unilateral commitment to compensate the contenders if the conflict is resolved, and show that if contenders must be treated equally after agreement, then the optimal policy cannot eliminate the delay in resolving the conflict, and intervention is only advisable when the stakes are high enough. Economic diplomacy is modeled as a three‐player game where the stakeholder is actively involved in the negotiation where transfers are discussed simultaneously with a settlement for the conflict. We prove that, provided that none of the parties involved is too impatient, diplomacy benefits the third party in all conflicts.