Information and Price Setting in a Rural Javanese Market∗

The paper examines the thesis established by Geertz and Dewey that Javanese rural trading practices, although well suited to the pasar marketing system, are maladaptive to larger scale trade. Focusing on a chilli marketing depot in Java the paper outlines the network of trading links which stretch from farmer to end-market, as well as the mechanisms of price setting and credit arrangements. The conclusions reached are that the volume and value of goods handled at this level are considerable and that both price setting and commercial relationships are largely stable. Constraints on entrepreneurial activity are attributed not to a Javanese peasant ethos of “shared poverty” but to lack of capital, dispersed markets, perishable goods and discontinuous information on supply of produce and current market prices.

     

Health and development∗

The linkage between development and health is clearly spelt out in the definition of primary health care by the World Health Organisation. There is a widespread and growing disillusionment with the traditional Western approach to health care which fails to meet the real demands of the Third World situation.

This paper looks briefly at conditions in the developing world and the strategy proposed by the W H O to attempt to meet the objective of health for all by the year 2000 and refers to the South African situation.     

Efficient Market Hypothesis and State-owned Shares＇ Circulation at Market Price

It is generally considered that the reason why the state-owned shares failed in circulation is that state-owned shares and the Negotiable Shares are in two separated markets. However this paper argues that the real reason why state-owned shares failed in circulation at market price and Negotiable Shares＇ price has been overstated is that Chinese stock market does not accord with Efficient Market Hypothesis, moreover Chinese investors are short of the concept COC and Chinese capital market has no short sells system.     

Globalization and socialization in China∗

The end of the Cold War has marked the rise of globalization as one of the contending issues in international relations. As a dominant wave of world transition, globalization requires the states to coordinate their behavior and align their policies and standards to a generalized principle of conduct or to certain suggested directions. While some states have actively and positively responded to these changes, a few others have struggled to retard the influence of globalization, viewing it as a threat to social stability, state sovereignty, and national and cultural identity. However, China shows a dual response to this challenge. It welcomes globalization as a way to enrich national competitiveness, and it confines the impact of globalization exclusively within the economic field only, lest its regime stability be shaken. Hence, this paper argues that the impact of globalization on Chinese international behavior falls short of a fundamental change in Chinese worldview. To prove this argument, this paper explores the Chinese characteristics of globalization and China's domestic impediments to limit socialization.     

China''''s Pension Reform and Capital Market Development

I. IntroductionThere is a close relationship between the pension system and the capital market, which ismost evident in developed countries where pension funds, with large amounts of assetsare the key institutional investors in the capital markets.1 In recent years we have witnessedthe reform of pension systems from pay-as-you-go (PAYG) to funded systems in someLatin American and East European countries, where retirees pension benefits come mainlyfrom their individual accounts, not from the…     

China： Between Social Stability and Market Integration

I. IntroductionOver the past two and a half decades the Chinese leadership has succeeded in ensuring96 Giovanni B. Andornino, Russell G. Wilcox / 95 – 108, Vol. 14, No. 3, 2006 ?2006 The Authors Journal compilation ?2006 Institute of World Economics and Politics, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences economic growth while implementing policies engineered to allow gradual integration into the world economy in a more or less managed fashion.1 Starting from a position of isolation and suppo…     

Game between Government and Developer in Land Market

Although China is transforming gradually, the land market isn＇t mature yet. Therefore, rent-seeking inevitably comes forth in the land market. Based on a game analysis of rent-seeking activities between government and developer, this paper explores the behavioral orientation of various interest groups and influential factors in the process of land requisition, examines the huge loss that rent-seeking activities bring to the society and puts forward the necessity of innovating system to regulate the behavior of the government and limit rent-seeking activities in the land market.     

China to Regulate Land Development and Real Estate Market

China's Ministry of Land and Resources on Feb. 18 has issued an urgent notification on regulating the country's real estate market. The notification has been already released to all of the Chinese provincial land and resources bureaus, autonomous regions and municipalities, requires the strict control of land development for the building of commercial housing.     

Crowd Psychology and the Complexity of the Security Market

The security market is a complex system. To explore the mechanism of complexity of the security market helps people understand the dynamics and the nature of its development, so as to better adapt to, regulate and control the security market. In terms of the science of complexity, investors＇ crowd psychology results in the complexity of the security market. This paper first confirms the existence of a crowd with empirical evidence gathered from the security market, then empirically demonstrates the existence of crowd psychology with a questionnaire, and finally analyses the influence of crowd psychology on the security market from the two angles of the correlation persistence and system evolution.     

China＇s Pension Reform and Capital Market Development

The paper analyzes the interaction between the pension system and capital market development, especially the case of China. A funded pension system is most likely to boost the capital market, but in the absence of a supportive financial infrastructure and effective financial regulation, a funded system will not be successful. China‘s determination to establish a partially funded system is afirst step in the right direction, but without the separation of individual accounts from the social pooling and their replenishment, the working out of the implicit pension debt, and improvements in pension fund management and regulation, the pension system will not be sustainable. The key to capital market development in the process of the pension reform is to enact laws to protect the interests of pensioners, to contract out pension fund management to professional asset managers, and to accelerate the financial opening.     

Social networks and electronic commerce in China∗

Communications technologies that make up the emerging global information infrastructure have the power to regulate online behavior. Social networks in Chinese society have survived the growth of formal legal institutions and liberalization of China's economy, but it is not clear whether they can survive the regulatory pressures created by global information technology networks. The spread of electronic commerce technologies in China may strengthen legal institutions and open local markets to international competition, but is likely to be resisted by all the same interests that resist those changes in other contexts. The Chinese response to the spread of electronic commerce might take several forms: assimilation; marginalization; or localization of new forms of commercial activity that rely on new technologies.     

Open Market Operations in China： Practice and Experience

On the basis of reviewing the reform on open mar-ket operations, this paper analyzes the framework, op-erational target and basic experience of open marketoperations of the People's Bank of China. The authorpoints out that open market operations need to be coor-dinated with the use of other monetary policyinstruments; the infrastructure of open market opera-tions should be strengthened, and the development ofthe money market and the bond market should be fur-ther promoted. The author ends this article with theoutlook for open market operations in the future.     

Market Opening and Transformation of China’s Car Industry

I.IntroductionThere are two different points of view on the protection of infant industries in developing countries.One,represented by neo-classicaleconomists,arguesthatgovernmentprotectionwould contributelittleto thegrowthof indigenousenterprises,and maylead to lowefficiencyand waste in resources.Enterprises need to fully realize tradeand investment liberalization(Grossman and Horn,1988;Krueger and Tuncer,1982).Theotherviewpoint,which comesfrom structuralism(or evolutionary economics),ho…     

China＇s Stock Market： Inefficiencies and Institutional Implications

The dramatic movements of China＇s stock market in the past two and a half years have renewed debate among academics over the efficiency of China＇s stock market. The present paper tests the efficiency of China＇ s stock market. The realization of efficient markets requires the effective operation of a complete set of macro and micro mechanisms. However, such mechanisms are not only incomplete in China＇ s stock market, but are also ineffective because of the prevalence of institutional deficiencies.     

Non-Agricultural Activities and Income Distribution in Rural Java∗

This paper addresses two problems relating to non-agricultural employment in rural Java, First, four possible determinants of non-agricultural income at the village level are examined: agricultural income, agricultural density, land distribution and location. Of these, the first two appear most significant. Second, the relationship between non-agricultural activities and rural income distribution is evaluated. In relative terms, income from non-agricultural activities is most important for landless and small farm households, although in absolute terms, large farmers derive sizeable income from this source. The evidence is that non-agricultural income serves to moderate income differences within villages.

     

Guidelines for services and amenities in developing communities∗

Urban development in Southern Africa has reflected western values and standards relating to health, safety, order, amenity, convenience and general welfare, and only incidentally to efficiency and economy. This article describes a project which relates to different value systems, and has different objectives. It highlights the imperatives for change, namely population growth, urbanisation and declining per capita GDP growth. In this milieu, the objective of affordability becomes paramount Standards are related to resources and are based on consultation with the developing community.

The article describes four key elements in the ‘Guidelines for Services and amenities’ being prepared by the CSIR for the Department of Development Aid, namely stormwater management, public transport, road layout and development density. It concludes by cautioning against development policies which deny or misunderstand the economic forces which drive the process of urbanisation.     

Market Power of Domestic Marketers and its Influence on the Consequences of the Korea–US and Korea–Australia FTAs on the Beef Market

Domestic, US and Australian beef, which are differentiated by country of origin, are sold in Korea. In this differentiated product market, tariff reductions through Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) are expected to strengthen the competitiveness of imported beef and, therefore, to mitigate the effects arising from the market power of domestic marketers. The present study develops a simulation model that evaluates this mitigating effect by explicitly reflecting the market structure that domestic beef marketers constitute. The simulation results indicate that the farm-retail marketing margin would decrease by 10.59% or 6.79% due to the Korea–US and Korea–Australia FTAs, respectively, if domestic beef marketers formed a cartel or an oligopoly market (i.e. the degree of market power is 0.5), while the marketing margin under a competitive market scenario is simulated to have no change. The value of beef production would decrease by 1009 million dollars if the marketers form a cartel and hence exercise monopoly power. The FTAs are simulated to reduce the value of beef production by 564 million dollars under the competitive market scenario.