The Division of Labour,Capitalism and Socialism: An Alternative to Sayer

Sayer (1995) has argued that the division of labour has a structure that is distinct from capitalist relations of production, and, following Hayek, that it is determined most strongly by the use of knowledge by enterprises. Conscious coordination or alteration of the division of labour therefore usually result in reduced efficiency and in an authoritarian suppression of difference. In this article we argue that the division of labour in capitalism is strongly determined by conflict within and between classes, and that in the short term socialist policy can and should aim to alter it. A model of socialist economic coordination is presented which is feasible and ameliorates many of the problems of the capitalist division of labour. This model would enable the development rather than suppression of positive differences.     

我国医院会计改革:内容、成效与问题——兼论对政府会计改革的启示

我国以医院会计制度改革为突破口,稳步启动了政府会计与事业单位会计改革。系统总结医院会计制度改革的经验与问题,对于完善我国政府会计理论与标准体系、深入推进政府会计改革、落实十八届三中全会有关政府会计改革决议具有重要意义。在回顾我国医院会计改革内容和实践效果的基础上,重点探讨了医院会计改革中所折射的理论与制度困惑,以期为我国政府会计改革提供经验借鉴。     

城市加速扩张、政府责任与服务业发展:以北京为例

大城市加速扩张是经济发展到一定阶段的必然产物.北京正在加速向外扩张,但是,除中心城区以外的绝大多数地区在居住、就业、购物休闲等方面难以达成平衡,不足以吸引中心城区的人口和产业,从而进一步加剧了中心城区在交通、住房和公共服务等方面的紧张局面.以上困境正是北京服务业发展的大好机遇,为适应城市快速健康发展的需要,政府必须承担更多的责任,在郊区的交通、基础教育、医疗保健、治安等方面增加投入,更应该鼓励各种产业尤其是劳动密集型的服务业(尤其是商业)在郊区的发展,而不应该人为阻碍其发展.     

Exercised Voice as Management Failure: Implications of Willing Compliance Theories of Management and Individualism for De Facto Employee Voice

The advantages of employee voice for organizations and individuals are well known, but in practice those who exercise voice sometimes face serious sanctions. Tensions surrounding voice are rooted in tacit presumptions of willing compliance embedded in influential theories of management, particularly the works of Chester Barnard and Herbert Simon and those who follow their traditions. Employees who exercise voice demonstrate that management has failed to secure willing compliance, action which managers may take as personal affront. The individualism prevalent in the U.S. may exacerbate managerial tendencies to respond negatively and emotionally to those who exercise voice. Reprisals lead to self-censorship, limit de facto voice and restrict crucial organizational feedback. In addition to being valued as a right and a source of important organizational feedback, employee voice needs to be considered as an ongoing struggle within organizations.     

An ‘Invidious Comparison,’ Class and Status, 1929-60: Effects of Employment,Cost and Time on Veblen's Theory of Class*

Abstract . A consequent of Thorstein Veblen's theory of ‘invidious comparison’ is investigated as it applies to class and status. This research evaluates specifically shifting socioeconomic effects within the structure of society that are often taken to be important causes for determining leisure interests by class. That time, employment, personal debt, and costs effect leisure were hypothesized to be decisive factors in the class leisure outcome. The relative and total predictive influence of the independent variables was analyzed and found to predict differences of leisure interests between the social classes. The findings lend support to Veblen's notion of the leisured class and its acquisition of status.     

Capitalism,Meritocracy, and Social Stratification: A Radical Reformulation of the Davis‐Moore Thesis

This article advances a reconceptualization of the Davis‐Moore thesis, which adresses the weaknesses of Davis and Moore's original formulation and can function not as a causal explanation of inequality but as a normative yardstick, against which the efficiency of capitalist society's use of human talents can be measured. I argue that the nonmeritocratic nature of capitalist society prevents it from using human talents efficiently and that this fact is obscured by a “meritocratic illusion” that is systematically generated by the structural logic of capitalist society. After briefly exploring one way in which capitalism's ecological contradictions impinge on the Davis‐Moore thesis, I conclude by arguing that it is the mediation of capitalism's contradictions through social struggles that will determine whether a more meritocratic society consistent with the reconceptualized version of the Davis‐Moore thesis will ever emerge.     

On the Use and Abuse of Thorstein Veblen in Modern American Sociology, I: David Riesman's Reductionist Interpretation and Talcott Parsons' Pluralist Critique

A bstract . The analyses and applications of Thorstein Vehlen's social theory by David Riesman and Talcott Parsons are found to be deficient. Riesman's study of Veblen lacks viability because the reductionist methodology he uses psychologizes and sociologizes Veblen rather than examines the theoretical import of his work. Parsons is wrong in denying the originality of Veblen's work and in treating him as an eccentric Utopian. Thus the paradigmatic and ideological bias of both Riesman and Parsons preclude a proper understanding and use of such Veblenian concepts as status emulation and conflict.     

Professor Ludwig M. Lachmann (1906-1990): Scholar, Teacher, and Austrian School Critic of Late Classical Formalism in Economics

Ludwig M. Lachmann was born in Berlin in 1906 and died in Johannesburg in 1990. For more than forty years, until his retirement in 1972, Lachmann established himself as a prominent South African economist and for a time served as head of the economics department at the University of Witwatersrand. From 1974 to 1987, he worked with Professor Israel Kirzner in New York City to give new shape and life to the older Austrian school of economics. Lachmann influenced a small army of modern Austrians to discard the elaborate formalisms of orthodox economics for a "radical subjectivism" that had its roots in the teachings of the founder of the Austrian school, Carl Menger. Here a small platoon of scholars offer their thoughts about Lachmann, his contributions to economic reasoning, and his eccentric but engaging character. First hand reports explain what their mentor taught and what his students took away. Lavoie makes the case that Lachmann's "radical subjectivism" took a rhetorical turn toward the end of Lachmann's career in New York City. In addition, Kirzner reports on his long and most productive relationship with Lachmann and provides additional insights about the seminal role of the Austrian Economics Seminar at New York University from 1985 to 1987 in giving shape to the modern Austrian revival. This article is the written version of a "Remembrance and Appreciation Session" held on June 28, 1999 at the History of Economics Society meeting at the University of North Carolina in Greensboro. It is one of an ongoing series that appears in the July issues of this journal.     

The Median Voter Model Fails an Empirical Test: The Procedure, Useful in the Absence of a Better One, Is Not Valid for Multidimensional Issues

Abstract . The median voter model is a frequently used tool in analyzing local public sector issues. However, its use in analyzing multidimensional issues has been criticized. This study examines the criticism in the context of the decision by a municipality to establish a local constitution by voting for a home rule charter. A model is developed and tested using a variety of income measures. This model reveals that median income is not a better explanatory variable than other income measures. Based on this evidence, the authors conclude that the median voter model is not appropriate for analyzing multidimensional issues.     

2 Discourse Ethics, Democracy, and International Law: Toward a Globalization of Practical Reason

A bstract .   This paper deals with the foundational "architectonics" (Kantian) at the ground of the internal relation between the three concepts raised in the title. First, I provide a short introduction into the ultimate foundation of practical philosophy by the transcendental-pragmatic conception of discourse ethics . Then, I discuss the foundational relation between discourse ethics , positive law , and democracy as a constitutional state of law . Finally, I explore the foundational relation between human rights as part of universal law, the democratic state of law, and international law or jus gentium . By taking issue with Kant, Habermas, and Rawls, I try to show that a rational foundation of ethics, as well as a rational approach to the traditional problems of international law, is only possible through a critical transformation of Kant's approach via a transcendental-pragmatic conception of discourse ethics.     

体用之殇——体制逻辑下中国城市化工具理论的过程演绎及问题分析

伴随市场经济体制的逐步确立,经过一系列制度探索与创新,国家实现了宏观经济的华丽变奏,使计划体制中被压的巨大存量资源得到“井喷式”的释放,触发了世纪之交各地经济增长的奇迹.[1]然而,接踵而至、甚至更加波澜壮阔的社会盾与民生问题的“井喷”,却很快让“宏伟实验”①的蓝图沾染上了污点.是器用方法的局限,还是体道价值的偏离?希望通对西方经典理论模型与社会发展现实环境的对照分析,重新梳理、演绎中国城市化进程中工具理论的实践逻辑,并藉此探当下城市问题的病灶根源.     

Interest Groups, Transfer Seeking and Democratization: Competition for the Benefits of Governmental Power May Explain African Political Instability

A bstract . The effect of permanent interest group transfer-seeking behavior on the degree of democratization is examined, Each permanent interest group is viewed as attempting to maximize its share of wealth transfers through the political process. To maximize the share of transfers, each group undertakes competitive strategies to control the instruments of transfers. Such competition is more intense the larger the number of permanent interest groups in a given country, and the higher the likelihood that the competition would involve non-democratic means to achieve and maintain control of the political machinery in those countries. It is predicted that the more intense the competition for transfers, which is a direct function of the number of permanent interest groups in any given country, the less democratic the system of government in that country is likely to be. This prediction is supported empirically using cross-sectional data for 65 countries.     

Hedonic theory, bid rents, and willingness-to-pay: Some extensions of Ellickson's results

An alternative to Ellickson's multinomial logit model of household bids for dwelling units is derived by making use of observable information on the price paid by the winning bidder. The alternative specification makes it possible to estimate willingness-to-pay for housing attributes, which cannot be obtained from Ellickson's model. Some methodological issues arising from Ellickson's method of grouping households are also examined.     

Production,Prices and Time: A Comparison of Some Alternative Concepts

This paper compares alternative concepts of production and prices with a special emphasis on time. First, it is demonstrated that the point-input point-output representation of processes used in von Neumann-Sraffa models is not restrictive and can be derived from general flow-input flow-output processes. Second, the concept of long-period positions, which can be traced back to the work of the classical authors, is discussed. Third, the von Neumann-Sraffa approach is compared with the neo-Austrian model and the flow-fund model developed by Hicks and Georgescu-Roegen respectively. It turns out that these latter two models are, at best, a special case of the former. Finally, some problems and intricacies concerning observable input-output coefficients are discussed and, as an alternative, a possibly applicable method to determine coefficients for general flow-input flow-output processes is presented.     

“人民当家作主”之于民主——读《中国民主政治建设白皮书》

人民当家作主,以准确的政治学词语表述这一主张,即主权在民或人民主权。虽然"民主"一词现在无论是在理论界还是实践领域都是一个混乱得可能让人上当的词,但民主意味着主权在民这一点是没有争议的,存有争议的是如何解读这个术语。究竟"主权在民"意味着什么?如果厘清了何谓人民主权,是否它就意味着民主的全部?并且,通过什么方式能使当家人成为真正做主的人?这些问题都是至关重要的。本文试图通过对《中国民主政治建设白皮书》(以下简称白皮书)一些章节的解读,从"人民当家作主"这一角度入手评价我国民主政治中关于"人民主权"的含义和地位之理解。