契约理论批判

2016年诺贝尔经济学奖得主哈特和霍姆斯特罗姆在其《契约理论》中分别讨论了代理模型、劳动契约和不完全契约,企图用数学模型和公式来构建他们的理论。但其研究重蹈了恩格斯在《反杜林论》中曾经提到的杜林的错误,模型完全脱离了现实中正常人的行为。如,在代理模型中,他们提出,委托人应在高产出状态下给代理人支付更少;在劳动契约中,他们企图要求,不管工人愿不愿意给资本家干活,都要给资本家带来同样的收入;在不完全契约中,他们安排不履行协议的买者仅仅失去少量订金,就可白白得到协议品及其收益。因此,哈特和霍姆斯特罗姆的契约理论,既不能简单用于指导中国改革实践,更不宜成为马克思主义政治经济学创新发展的来源之一。     

A Critique of Economic Theory

Abstract:

Faced with home foreclosures, a stagnant economy, and weakly-effective federal programs of relief, Richmond, California, considered using eminent domain to acquire mortgages, modify loans to be more affordable, and thus prevent further erosion of the tax base. Strong objections have been lodged against such alteration of property rights, except through bankruptcy and foreclosure processes. The Richmond proposal is considered in the historical context of changes in the use of eminent domain as described by John R. Commons. Just as economic change forced U.S. courts to change the working definitions of property in the late nineteenth century, current contradictions in the way in which we think of households, and the systemic consequences of their management of debt, may produce changes in law and should alter the way in which economists analyze aggregate consumer spending and borrowing.     

A Critique of Critical Geopolitics

Comparisons between classical and critical geopolitics are made with the suggestion that both versions, although different in most respects, are equally legitimate for study and perhaps may be brought closer together, at least in ways that may complement each other, after inspection of their comparative approaches. The classical version deserves consideration as a contribution to international relations theory and to foreign policy making. The critical approach provides a needed and necessary critique of the classical, exposing its weaknesses and suggesting an emancipatory alternative. Accordingly, the author has selected a variety of associated characteristics that show the primary variations between the classical and the critical, illustrated by appropriate quotations and examples, with again the conclusion that both versions of geopolitics, the classical and the critical, merit credibility, and that a possibility exists where certain connections may be located between the two that could mutually clarify and strengthen their unique contributions to geopolitics as a whole.     

Shackle on Equilibrium: A Critique

This paper presents a critical evaluation of Shackle's views on economic method. Shackle's arguments against equilibrium analysis are shown to apply to orthodox theory, which has subjectivist foundations, but not to the objectivist classical approach associated with Sraffa. The long-period equilibrium method is indispensable to the analysis of how market societies function. Moreover, since the classical theory contains no trace of the factor substitution mechanisms that underpin neoclassical orthodoxy, its explanations of distribution, employment and outputs must take explicit account of institutions, power and ethical norms. Thus there is no conflict between social economics and the method of the classical economists and Sraffa. On the contrary, the classical approach provides a rigorous framework for the investigation of the very issues that are at the center of institutional and social economics.     

统一利润率与差别利润率——兼论两种均衡体系的比较

瓦尔拉斯把资本形成方程引入一般均衡体系后出现了内在的不一致性,从而在异质资本品的假设下,一般均衡体系只存在“差别利润率”。在斯拉法体系中,不同的资本品部门却拥有“统一利润率”。两种类型的利润率体现了两种均衡体系的对立。与“差别利润率”相联系的一般均衡体系只研究一般生产过程中的资源配置,体现技术关系;而与“统一利润率”相对应的斯拉法体系则涉及特定市场经济关系下的总量分配,体现社会关系。而后者才可以更好地解释市场经济中的现实问题。     

Positivist Climate Conflict Research: A Critique

In recent years a large body of work has emerged that uses a positivist epistemology and quantitative methods to assess the likely conflict impacts of global climate change. This article advances a critique of this positivist climate conflict research programme, identifying within it three serial shortcomings. It contends, first, that the correlations identified by this research are specious, since they always rest upon coding and causal assumptions which range from the arbitrary to the untenable. It argues, second, that even if the correlations identified within this research were significant and meaningful, they would still not constitute a sound basis for making predictions about the conflict impacts of climate change. And it submits, third, that this research programme reflects and reproduces an ensemble of Northern stereotypes, ideologies and policy agendas. A departure from positivist method is required, the article contends, if we are to get close to thinking through the wide-ranging political and conflict implications of the human transformation of the global climate.     

A Critique of the Private Health Insurance Regulations

The private health insurance sector is one of the most regulated sectors in Australia. The Private Health Insurance Incentives Scheme, along with community rating, is intended to make private insurance equitable, profitable and popular. We argue that the subsidy to health insurance ought to be a very effective tool for increasing insurance–but it was ineffective because community rating was ineffective. Using data from the Household Expenditure Survey we find that despite community rating rules which prohibit age‐adjusted premiums, young adults paid considerably less for their insurance than older adults. We conclude that insurers circumvented community rating through plan design, screening older consumers into more expensive plans. We also find that the penalty of 2 per cent per year for delaying insurance, introduced as part of the lifetime cover plan, is too low to be effective. We reflect on the New Zealand experience, where a completely deregulated insurance industry continues to be profitable and enjoys similar rates of coverage to those of Australia, and we ask whether Australia too could not benefit from complete deregulation.     

A Note on Aggregation and the Lucas Critique

The paper investigates the effects of aggregation on different macroeconomic modelling strategies. This is done within the framework of a small example economy, where all households solve the same intertemporal consumption problem, but with different parameters of the utility functions and different exogenous income processes. Three models are fitted to the aggregate data: a representative agent rational expectations model, a simple version of the permanent income hypothesis, and a time series model. If the economic environment is kept stable, the three approaches perform similarly well. However, the representative agent model stands up to the Lucas critique better than its competitors, despite the aggregation error. Unlike the other models, it never gives completely wrong forecasts even after an exogenous change in income processes.     

Guidelines For Pre-College Economics Education: A Critique

While economists of all persuasions undoubtedly agree that universal economic literacy would be desirable, there appears to be substantial disagreement over what economic literacy is, what problems most need to be addressed, and how they can best be solved. These differences are clearly reflected in their diverse views as to what the goals should be for teaching economics in secondary schools. This paper specifically examines the recommendations offered in a paper on economic content standards by leaders of the economic education movement in the U.S. and finds them seriously wanting.     

主营业务贡献对利润质量影响实证分析

本文从分析我国上市公司主营业务贡献与净资产收益率的关系入手,探讨主营业务利润对利润质量的影响．结果发现主营业务贡献与净资产收益率变异系数呈负相关关系,主营业务贡献率变异系数与净资产收益率的变异系数呈正相关关系。说明主营业务利润比重在很大程度上决定了公司盈利的稳定性与持久性。因此上市公司应该重视主营业务利润,提高主营业务利润在利润总额中的比重。     

基尼系数批判

随着由计划经济的大锅饭体制逐步转向市场经济的分灶吃饭体制,随着效率优先兼顾公平分配原则的实施,我国居民之间的经济(收入)差距确实变大了。分配公平问题自然就成了政府部门、学术界极为关注的热点。几乎所有的研究都使用了基尼系数这一分析工具。笔者原先也不假思索地利用别人计算的基尼系数值分析中国的收入分配公平问题。然而当笔者深入地思考之后,不由得对目前普遍使用基尼系数这一做法产生了怀疑和困惑。笔者的结论是:市场经济条件下不应该用基尼系数衡量收入分配的公平问题,即使能够使用,现阶段我国也并不具备使用的条件。     

基金业绩指标评价体系研究

证券投资基金业绩评价指标,国内常用单位净资产和投资收益率两种指标方法,国外一般用夏普指数、特雷诺指数和詹森指数作为评价标准。本文中主要通过比较分析,揭示每种指标的经济内涵,指出它们各自的优缺点及应用的局限性,并给出它们的几何表示。另给出单位争资产费用率作为一种附加指标,完善了指标评价体系,为广大投资者在进行基金投资时提供了明确的理财理想。     

提高利润的多维思考

本文从利润的构成入手，对提高利润的基本途径进行了分析。并从成本与收益的相互联系、环境与市场的动态变化和信息经济给企业产生的影响多个角度，对提高利润进行了辩证的、战略的、现代的思考。     

析利润率平均化和非平均化趋势

各行业的实际利润率受多种作用方面不同的因素影响，有些因素引起利润率平均化，有些因素则引起利润率非平均化，由于资本追求利润最大化引起行业成本的和收益差异，资本转移存在障碍，信息不完全，需求变化至少会部分抵消供给变化的作用，所以各行业的利润率不平均具有必然性，如果说平均化是各行业利润率变化的一种趋势，那么非平均化则是另一种趋势。