An appraisal of Piero Sraffa's 'The Laws of Returns under Competitive Conditions'

The paper proposes a new interpretation of Sraffa's 1926 Economic Journal article, ‘The Laws of Returns under Competitive Conditions’, according to which the latter derives from the same strategy of research which underlies its 1925 Italian precursor, ‘Sulle relazioni fra costo e quantità prodotta’. Sraffa tested the explanatory power of a Marshallian monopolistic partial equilibrium model and concluded that that model is able to treat one source of variable returns (firm-internal economies); but this articulation of Marshall‘s theory does not substantially improve on the trade-off between logical consistency and empirical relevance which afflicted the theory in its whole.     

An Elementary Approach to Approximate Equilibria with Infinitely Many Commodities

We prove the existence of approximate equilibria in a finite exchange economy with a countably infinite number of commodities and nonconvex preferences, when every trader has an excess demand set that is finitely spannable, i.e., that could be covered by a union of its convex subsets in finitely many steps. We show that the bound on the norm of the per capita aggregate excess demand is reciprocally related to the square root of the population. Extensions are also made to the case where countably many commodities are indivisible. The proofs are elementary. Journal of Economic Literature Classification Numbers: D50, C62, D52.     

An interpretation of unequal exchange from Prebisch-Singer to Emmanuel

Emmanuel's view of the Center-Periphery trade relation is linked to a classical literature in trade and development theory which starts from the work of Prebisch, Singer and Lewis. A very simple general equilibrium Ricardian trade model is formulated to deal with terms of trade determination in the context of class conflict both in the Center and the Periphery. The model focuses attention on the effects of technical progress and changes in income distribution on employment levels in the Periphery, where labor surplus conditions are assumed to prevail.     

关于商品对人类福利贡献的研究

毫无疑问，商品消费在人类福利的实现过程中发挥着非常重要的作用。但是，商品并不总对我们的福利有贡献，其甚至会使我们的福利受损。因此，随之产生的问题便是：“商品是如何及在什么条件下对我们的福利有贡献？”本文即试图从哲学视角回答这两个问题且形成一些政策建议。福利通常被定义为一个人的利益所在。然而，对什么是一个人的利益所在却有着不同的解释。根据福利的偏好满足观，我们想要的便是对我们有益的；实体价值观意味着一些客观、可确定的价值是对每一个人都有益的；享乐主义则认为愉快是唯一的实体价值。我认为，要为福利做出任何可信的阐释，个人偏好必须在其中发挥重要的作用；特别是只有在我们的终极偏好得以实现时，它才会对福利作出贡献。工具性偏好也许是错误的，它或许会导致人们终极目标的落空。基于对福利的讨论，本文考察了商品和福利之间的联系。我们不太可能对商品有终极性偏好，因此，我们或不会因自己的选择而降低了自身的福祉。在现实生活中，我们却观察到因商品消费而致使福利损失的现象，例如，食用变质食品而得病。可见，我们尤为关心的是一件商品所提供的特质而非直接的商品的本身。当然，即使一件商品包含了被冀望得到的特质，对该商品的消费也不总会提高福利，原因在于我们有可能缺乏使用这些对我们有益的属性的能力。一言以蔽之，我们通过消费而旨在实现的实际上是那些有价值的机能（functionings）。我们的生活恰恰由这些“存在（beings）”和“活动（doings）”组成，其质量也就可以通过机能的质量来判断。机能是我们终极偏好的目标，而商品只是实现终极偏好的工具。这里关于商品对人类福利贡献的解释可成功地用以处理各种可能出现的目标。我们不需进一步论述机能和福利之间的关系：愉快不是我们一生追求的全部，它更应被看作是一种特定的机能。类似地，对于自由、能力等概念，我们都可以有同样的理解。商品从不会直接影响我们的福利。换言之，存在内在价值的商品也会在工具层面有益于我们，因为前者贡献了某些有价值的机能。总之，商品对人类福利的作用并不受制于福利诠释的选择；在福利的实体价值观和偏好满足观框架中，这一逻辑是成立的。为使商品对福利有积极、正面的贡献，消费过程须满足两个条件。首先，商品需具备贡献有价值的机能的特性；其次，消费者将这些特性转换成有价值机能的能力。理解这些条件有助于我们形成提高消费者福利水平的政策。在商品供应充足的情况下，政策的首要目标必须是向消费者提供信息和教育，从而使之能够作出有效的选择。如果人们被剥夺了基本机能（如营养或健康），公共权力部门会经常性地直接向其提供必需的商品。他们必须确保解决这些根本问题的方法是最有效的，而且在商品提供过程中还应兼顾社会和文化结构等背景因素的影响。对商品和福利之间的关系进行详尽的考察可以让我们学到很多东西。消费者理论中消费者对商品信息完全掌握的假设事实上已将选择与福利视为等价，它忽视了消费过程中减少福利的所有问题。当我们允许这些问题发生时，我们才会明白这些错误到底是来自何处。福利的偏好满足的哲学理念及其实际应用都存在着一个关键问题：人们经常想得到的和最终选择的事物往往对他们毫无益处。本文的研究表明，这一问题通常因缺乏信息和能力而起。增进对商品的了解会提高改福利；不过，商品只是消费过程中的一个因素，政府更应关注商品的特定属性及人们应用这些属性的能力。     

Procedural Rationality and Institutions: The Production of Norms by Means of Norms

This paper deals with a cognitivist approach to the problem of how social and economic institutions are formed. The economic framework I use is Simon's model of procedural rationality, integrating a cognitivist approach into a game structure. In game theory norms are seen as conventions, but not all institutions can be explained by game theory models. In cognition-based approaches, the creation and maintenance of institutions is the outcome of a search for satisficing norms. According to Simon and Newell (1972), agents faced with problems to solve visualise a problem as an area of potential situations to examine in order to establish analogical problem structures. In my approach, a norm can be defined within a system of norms that form in a historical-evolutionary dimension, suggesting a path in norm-forming processes.     

发展河南省旅游商品生产的思路与对策

旅游购物属旅游消费中的非基本旅游消费部分，由于其消费弹性大，发展后劲足，增长空间令人格外瞩目，因而不少经济学家把非基本旅游消费占旅游支出的比重作为判断旅游业发达程度的重要标志。旅游商品的生产经营活动作为旅游购物中的供给一方,其对旅游经济发展的意义、自身的发展规律和特点等均是值得深入研究的重要领域。     

The economics of Frank H. Knight: An Austrian interpretation

This paper interprets, in the modern Austrian economics perspective, Frank H. Knight's three core contributions; namely, economic methodology, theories of human action, uncertainty and entrepreneurship. Though Knight is regarded as one of the founding fathers of the Chicago School of economics, this paper argues that Knight's contributions are essentially Austrian. Influenced by William James, Henri Bergson and Max Weber, Knight's subjectivist economics can be seen as a link between Carl Menger and Ludwig von Mises in the history of Austrian subjectivism. This paper further suggests that Knight may be more appropriately located in the Austrian-German School, for the reason that the term “Austrian School” is too narrow to accommodate german influences. This paper concludes that Knight's legacies have left much to be appreciated by neoclassical mainstream economists in general and Austrian economists in particular. The author thanks Dian Kwan for her proof reading in this essay.     

"潜规则"演进的博弈论解释

潜规则是利益主体经过长期博弈形成的稳定的内部制度,在很大程度上是基于非常现实的利害计算。演化博弈分析表明,潜规则的扩散与初始条件有非常敏感的关系,同时,它一旦产生就有强烈的自加强趋势。要缩小或消灭潜规则,必须改进显规则,引进新的机制,改变潜规则的生态环境。     

消费对生产资料需求的传递效应

在马克思两大部类平衡模型的基础上,讨论了消费对生产资料需求的传递效应,分析了表明传递效应强度的传递效应系数。结果表明,传递效应系数及其变化是由预付不变资本在一个生产周期周转次数(α)、资本有机构成(β)等技术变量和剩余价值率(γ)、剩余价值积累率(x)等经济变量及其变化决定的。     

对社会主义和谐社会生产力与生产关系的再认识--基于生产资料所有制形式的分析

在劳动力市场非均衡状态下生产资料所有者能够获得消费者剩余,生产资料的私有制形式导致贫富差距。在劳动力市场均衡状态下生产资料所有者的消费者剩余消失,生产资料的私有制形式并不必然导致生产资料所有者占有劳动剩余产品。劳动产品在劳动者之间分配的合理性和生产资料计划配置的合理性是生产资料公有制能够促进生产力发展的两个假设前提。     

农业生产资料投入对粮食作物产出影响因素的相关验证分析

农业生产资料价格上涨,导致农民对农业生产的资源配置、作物结构以及投入结构进行调整,以优化生产成本,这将进一步影响相关粮食作物的产出。应用C—D生产函数的扩展形式,分析农业生产资料各投入要素变化,对粮食作物产出的影响程度。化肥施用量和农业劳动力数是影响粮食产出的两个主要因素,进而提出了推广科学施肥,提高化肥利用率、大力推广农业机械化技术的应用、加大国家对农业基础建设和科研开发与推广的投资力度等保障措施,来进一步促进粮食生产稳步增长。     

An extensive form interpretation of the private core

Summary. The private core of an economy with differential information, (Yannelis (1991)), is the set of all state-wise feasible and private information measurable allocations which cannot be dominated, in terms of ex ante expected utility functions, by state-wise feasible and private information measurable net trades of any coalition. It is coalitionally Bayesian incentive compatible and also takes into account the information superiority of an individual. We provide a noncooperative extensive form interpretation of the private core for three person games. We construct game trees which indicate the sequence of decisions and the information sets, and explain the rules for calculating ex ante expected payoffs. In the spirit of the Nash programme, the private core is thus shown to be supported by the perfect Bayesian equilibrium of a noncooperative game. The discussion contributes not only to the development of ideas but also to the understanding of the dynamics of how coalitionally incentive compatible contracts can be realized. Received: July 21, 2000; revised version: January 16, 2001     

银行再造--整合商业银行资源的有效手段

一、银行再造的内容从２０世纪８０年代起，随着金融领域竞争的日趋激烈，一种银行管理新模式———银行再造应运而生，它强调对银行传统的工作方法从根本上进行重新设计，以求充分发挥银行的竞争优势。成功的银行再造一般包括以下几个核心内容：l．业务流程再造。由于银行经营的货币信用具有同质性，银行之间的差别很重要的一方面就是各自的业务流程。根据市场需要，抛弃现有流程，在更大范围内重建一个最优化的流程是银行再造的核心。在传统中，银行按员工活动的相同或相似性形成不同的职能型群体，每一个群体负责流程的一部分，在这样的…     

押金制度:促进我国循环经济发展的一种有效手段

在促进我国循环经济发展的各项政策中,押金制度是解决我国固体废物污染与再生利用问题的一种有效的经济手段。从经济学的角度对:金制度在解决废物处理中所起的作用进行了分析与论证,并结合世界各国使用:金制度的具体做法及其经验提出了我国在环境保护中推行押金制度的政策建议。     

基于SMC的炫耀性消费行为影响因素实证研究

作为一种日益普遍的消费行为,炫耀性消费的形成机理至今尚未明确。作者在已有研究基础上提出一个基于商品象征意义、参照群体影响和地位消费的炫耀性消费行为前置影响因素模型,并通过实证分析我国消费者对高档名牌商品的消费观念和态度以检验此模型的有效性。研究结果表明:商品的象征意义对炫耀性消费和地位消费有显著正影响;参照群体的影响对炫耀性消费的作用不显著,但对地位消费有显著影响;此外,地位消费显著影响炫耀性消费。     

运用经济手段促进我国可持续发展的对策

可持续发展现是正确处理和协调人口、资源、环境、生态、经济、杜会相互关系的共同发展战略，是人类生存与发展的必由之路，也是我国现代化的前途所在。文章从经济手段出发，在分析其优势和原则、依据的基础上，对可持续发展中经济手段的应用提出了对策。     

Financing Public Goods by Means of Lotteries

When viewed as taxes, lotteries are routinely criticized as being both inequitable and inefficient. But is this an entirely fair comparison? Frequently lotteries are used in lieu of voluntary contributions by private charities and governments when taxes are not feasible. When heterogeneous individuals with quasi-linear preferences participate in lotteries whose proceeds will be used to fund a public good, we find that, relative to voluntary contributions, wagers in the unique lottery equilibrium (a) increase the provision of the public good, (b) are welfare improving, and (c) provide levels of the public good close to first-best as the lottery prize increases.