威廉姆森与交易成本经济学

文章介绍了威廉姆森在交易成本经济学方面的主要贡献。在简要回顾交易成本经济学发展的基础上,重点介绍了威廉姆森对于交易成本经济学的基本思路和三大主要贡献。文章还讨论了交易成本经济学对于正处在变革时代中国经济的启示。文章认为,由威廉姆森开创的交易成本经济学对于我国市场体制改革等方面具有重要的理论指导意义。     

The Impact of Farmland Transfers on Agricultural Investment in China: A Perspective of Transaction Cost Economics

There is growing concern that farmland transfers lead to less agricultural investment, which may adversely affect agricultural productivity growth in China. Prior research has primarily focused on the differences between owned cultivated land and rented plots, but little is known about how farmland transfers between relatives, which are popular in rural China, specifically affect agricultural investment. In this paper, we present a conceptual framework of transaction cost economics to compare different contracting strategies in China's farmland rental markets. As farmland rental markets in China are immature, land transfer between relatives establishes bilateral governance, which has the advantage of addressing the opportunistic activities of both parties and can ultimately increase investment by tenants. Based on data from two waves of household surveys, we empirically examine the impact of bilateral governance on the application of organic fertilizer, an indicator for agricultural investment. Our findings show that apart from economic factors, kinship is important to the functioning of farmland rental markets in rural areas.     

How Influential is Economics?

Economists often claim that their discipline has a great influence on the economy. An analysis of the existing literature reveals, however, that little convincing empirical evidence exists. The two approaches used are subject to major shortcomings. The ‘Economics Production Function’ relating the input of economic ideas to economic outcomes, is faced with major estimation problems. The ‘Revealed Behaviour Approach’ of choosing to study economics is based on very restrictive assumptions. It is argued that the ‘Case Study Approach’ analysing specific policy instances constitutes a more promising avenue and should be undertaken to identify more general patterns of influence.     

全球化情势下的国家建设:新制度主义视角的分析

制度一直是政治学的主要研究对象,新制度主义学派积极融合政治学与经济学研究,将国家作为一种制度形态,阐明国家实施制度变迁的动机以及国家在制度变迁中的作用.全球化、现代化背景之下的中国道路,必须同时面对国家建设(新制度主义的前提预设)和政治改革(新制度主义的必然要求)双重任务.     

The Effects of M&A on Corporate Performance in Japan:DID Analysis in the Era of Corporate Governance Reform

This study analyzes how mergers and acquisitions (M&A) affect the performance of acquired companies in Japan. The sample period includes the era in which the government of Japan promoted a series of corporate governance reforms. A difference-in-differences analysis is implemented to eliminate the endogenous effects of a corporate acquisition. Choosing a control group by propensity score matching, we find that acquisitions have significantly negative effects on employment but no significant effects on labor productivity. For acquisitions by Japanese companies, we also find no significant improvement in ROA but significant improvement in Tobin’s q. The results are consistent with the zombie company theory, which indicates that an M&A prolongs the life of an insolvent company. Acquisitions by Japanese companies are in contrast with those by foreign companies, which have positive effects on ROA.