Large-scale participatory co-shaping of technological developments: First experiments with PARDIZIPP

A future-oriented participatory procedure on the basis of the Delphi method was developed and empirically tested a first time with the goal to improve the shaping of technological developments. The technology under study here was micro-electronics or rather their relationship with labor and the test took place in NorthRhine–Westphalia.Today problems exist in all walks of life. There is a lot of talk about today's problems as if they were new, though one has heard similar arguments throughout history. How do we assess if we are really in danger of bringing the world to an end? Although this danger appears real, it would not be the first time in history that people have thought and felt like this—However, one thing that is new are the consequences of modern sciences and technology, which are not suited to given social and environmental requirements. They have given rise to questions concerning the quality of the decision-makers. The questioning of many of these decisions has increased for some time and is now getting more and more specific, with a demand for quality and information rather than managerial skills and competitiveness from the decision-makers. The term `decision-maker' describes those who determine the application of technology, science and technical equipment which has either existed for a long time already or has recently been developed.—It is not easy to change the structures and processes of decision-making so that new structures and processes will be more suited to social and environmental requirements. We have tested our ideas as to how this could be done, in an empirical project. Although we called it `Project NRW–2000', it would probably be better described as an experiment.²—We persuaded 90 ordinary people to participate in this project as `experts on daily life and work'. This group was asked to work in six regional sub-groups and discuss, with reference to three given normative societal scenarios for the year 2020, the relationship between microelectronics and labour markets of the year 2020, on the basis of a participatory Delphi procedure. Before we elaborate on the concept of our project in Section 3, we would like to outline it in terms of the mainstream of the sociology of technology as well as with research on `acceptance' in Section 1. In Section 2we will briefly illustrate the framework of the research programme `Socially Oriented Shaping of Technology' of the state of Northrhine–Westphalia, which funded our research project. Section 4particularly deals with the participatory elements of our project, while Section 5is devoted to the development of the scenarios. Section 6sums up the results of the `scenario-construction'. Regarding specific elements, we restrict ourselves to topics concerning technology, labour, and the relationship between women workers/employees and technology. As a final outlook we deal with the political implications of our approach. All that is left is to remind our readers that we regard this project as a first application or experiment within our overall approach.     

A new Bandung? : Economic growth vs. distributive justice among emerging powers

The demographic weight and the scale and magnitude of economic growth in China and India—as well as in Brazil and South Africa—marks a seismological transformation in world politics. However, despite their economic clout, the emerging powers of the global South have done little to challenge the Euro-North American domination of the international stage—leaving that task to Bolivia, Venezuela, and Iran. The reluctance of the large states of the global South to challenge the contemporary world order—and the widening income and wealth inequalities within their borders—suggests that they are increasingly complicit in this new world order. However, as growing inequalities unleash greater political instability, it is in the interests of states in the global South to cooperate with each other to change the rules of the game.     

The futures of universities: Ivied halls, virtual malls, or theme parks?

Publicly funded institutions of higher education came into existence at a certain time in history. Has that time come and gone? Are brick and mortar universities being replaced—or at least marginalized—by virtual universities? If so, what is gained, and what is lost, and which side should you be on?     

Measurement of formal harmonization progress:: The IASC experience

As a result of globalization, the accounting profession has become increasingly aware of the need to establish a single set of accounting standards that would be valid in the international arena. Recent events highlight the timeliness of this study, which provides an empirical measurement of International Accounting Standards Committee (IASC) progress throughout its harmonization history. The purpose of this article is twofold: first, a new measure of the advances achieved through formal harmonization and second, to use this methodology to evaluate the IASC achievements all through its standard-setting activity. Our results prove that the IASC has made great progress in regard to the level of harmony achieved through the accounting standards it has issued or revised. Nevertheless, we conclude that the IASC needs to continue working towards greater formal harmonization. Our study also indicates research directions that could advance the study of formal harmonization. This specific area of research has generally been disregarded in the existing literature, a trend we would like to see reversed, considering that its application can provide valuable insight for standard-setting processes, especially now that the accounting community is so conscious of the need to advance the harmonization process.     

Daily monetary policy shocks and new home sales

The conventional notion of a monetary policy shock as a surprise change in the fed funds rate is misspecified. The primary news for market participants is not what the Fed just did, but is instead new information about the Fed's future intentions. Revisions in these anticipations show up instantaneously in long-term mortgage rates. Home sales do not respond until much later. This paper attributes this delay—and hence much of the hump-shaped response of economic activity to monetary policy—to cross-sectional heterogeneity in search times. This framework allows one in principle to measure policy impacts at the daily frequency.     

The evolution of futures in school education

School education seems to be mostly stuck in an outdated industrial era worldview, unable to sufficiently address the significance and increasing rapidity of changes to humanity that are upon us. An integrated forward-looking view should, now more than ever, be of central importance in how we educate. Yet there is little sign that—unlike corporations—school systems are recognising the true value of futures studies. A brief history of futures in school education shows the significant role played by the World Futures Studies Federation in its evolution to date. The article also introduces integral analysis as a way of opening up new possibilities to help school education develop due foresight and to more fully realise its potential as a prime facilitator in individual and cultural evolution.     

教育财政如何影响家庭人力资本投资:事实、机制与政策含义

建设高质量教育体系是实现高质量发展的基础,教育财政在其中发挥了重要作用。本文将微观层面的家庭教育支出数据与教育财政数据匹配,基于教育投入产出框架,考察了2009—2017年我国政府和家庭教育投入之间的关系。结果表明,我国政府和家庭教育投入之间存在显著的互补关系。进一步分析表明,校内教育对人力资本积累的贡献度以及校内、校外教育特征差异是影响两者之间替代弹性的重要因素。我们发现,对校外教育市场的管制可有效降低政府和家庭教育投入间的互补性,这对我国教育财政如何实现建设高质量教育体系以及家庭支出减负两大目标的相容具有一定启示。     

Discourses surrounding the evolution of the IASB/FASB Conceptual Framework: What they reveal about the “living law” of accounting

The International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) and the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) recently published the final version of Chapter 1 of their joint Conceptual Framework for Financial Reporting (IASB/FASB, 2010). In this article, we focus on two of the key issues addressed in Chapter 1: stewardship and the definition of the primary user groups of financial statements. To address the discourses surrounding the evolution of Chapter 1, we introduce the concept of “living law” from sociological jurisprudence into accounting scholarship. We first trace the role of stewardship/accountability in the evolution—from antiquity to the present day—of the living law of accounting. We then explore the origin, nature, and implications—from a living law perspective—of the moral traditions associated with stewardship/accountability. Our analysis suggests that stewardship has been, and continues to be, embedded in the living law of accounting—notwithstanding the formal pronouncements of standard setters. We also examine the social accounting project from a living law perspective and we suggest that such an analysis provides new possibilities for addressing core social accounting concerns. We conclude by arguing that, particularly in light of the far reaching impact of the neoliberal agenda, there is an urgent need for scholars in both contemporary “social” and “mainstream” accounting to recognize and build upon their shared living law heritage rooted in the age-old traditions of stewardship/accountability.     

How to make India a knowledge-based society

The National Knowledge Commission set up by the Prime Minister of India, Dr. Manmohan Singh, in 2005 was, perhaps, the first of its kind. One of its three objectives is to make India a knowledge-based society. Among the important areas in the country where problems need to be addressed to achieve the above objective, three—education, knowledge empowerment of Panchayats (the lowest of the three-tier local self-government system in India), and ethical commercialization of the country's creative and cultural tradition—are briefly described in the article. Some steps that need to be taken in each area are stated. For example, in regard to education, we must decommercialize school and higher education, and set up 400,000 high schools in the country where children would receive high-quality free education for 10 years—that is, up to the age of 16. As regards the Panchayats, we need to institute a system so that they are empowered through knowledge in areas of immediate interest to them as well as knowledge that would make them truly informed citizens of the country. In regard to traditional knowledge, it needs to be ensured that the keepers and practitioners of this knowledge are compensated adequately and fairly if such knowledge is commercialized.     

对高校教学质量监控的思考

随着我国经济的飞速发展,人们的教育观念也发生着深刻的变化,这无疑对高校的进一步发展提出了更高的要求.学校的根本任务是育人,教学质量及人才培养质量是学校的核心问题,全面提高教学质量,关系着学校的生存与发展.本文通过对我国高校教育质量发展现状的分析以及对高校教学质量监控意义的探讨,提出对我国高校教学质量进行有效监控的相关举措,目的在于更好的促进我国教育质量的提高.完善人才教育体系.     

Is online education more like the global public goods?

Nowadays with the possibility of synchronous e-learning, online courses are becoming a new paradigm in education. But there are few studies systematically discussing the interplay between online courses and global education equality quantitatively. Here, we indicate that online education is more like the global public goods with on-rival and non-excludable in consumption. We establish an educational outcome model and indicate that popularity of online education is likely to give rise to the human capital augmentation, both for developing and developed countries. And this growth stems from the characteristics of global public goods. To analyze the possibility of the potential growth, we suggest that an online education club would help countries to escape from the dominant strategies of “Free ride”, which is the common dilemma in public goods supply. So the cooperation would bring coordinated growth to countries with different advantages in educational resources. And this win–win situation offers an underlying driving force to the development of human capital and economics. This paper provides a view offering the deep understanding on reducing the gap of education outcome between countries, and get a coordinated development in the Internet or MOOCs Era. It gives more supports to the development of online education in the future.     

Accountants as “new guard dogs” of capitalism: Stereotype or research agenda?

Drawing inspiration from the theses of the regulation school, Gerard Hanlon analyses the socialisation process in the “big six”. For accountants are, according to him, the new “controllers” of “a process of flexible accumulation”, one that goes hand in hand with a heightened international division of labour. Unfortunately, his research site remains too limited to confirm—or disconfirm—his ambitious hypotheses. Moreover, the transposition of neo-marxist theories leads him to underestimate the whole work of construction of social credibility of accounting knowledge, as well as the complex play of interaction—and not only of opposition—between these “multinational service conglomerates” and the local or national dignitaries who continue to represent the core of the field of practice.     

Macroeconomic sources of foreign exchange risk in new EU members

We address the issue of foreign exchange risk and its macroeconomic determinants in several new EU members. We derive the observable macroeconomic factors—consumption and inflation—using the stochastic discount factor (SDF) approach. The joint distribution of excess returns in the foreign exchange market and the factors are modeled using a multivariate GARCH-in-mean specification. Our findings show that both real and nominal factors play important roles in explaining the variability of the foreign exchange risk premium. Both types of factors should be included in monetary general equilibrium models employed to study excess returns. To contribute to the further stability of domestic currencies, the new EU members should strive to implement stabilization policies aimed at achieving nominal as well as real convergence with the core EU members.     

义务教育能提高代际流动性吗？

提高代际流动、促进机会均等对经济社会健康发展至关重要。本文基于2013年中国家庭收入调查数据和2005年全国1%人口抽样调查数据,利用1986年颁布的义务教育法在省份间的实施时间差异作为外生冲击,使用双重差分方法探究义务教育政策对代际流动的影响及其作用机制。研究发现,义务教育显著提高了代际之间的教育流动性,原因在于父母教育水平、职业层次、收入水平较低的孩子,受教育年限提升得更多。本文的政策含义在于,应当进一步发挥公共政策在提高代际流动性方面的作用,通过教育机会均等化来促进社会公平正义。     

Creative democracy, with extended footnotes to the future

Creative democracy is a new name for a new process – that of enabling everyone, via utopian software (or softopia), to take back the creative and directive parts of industrial living that up to now have been the prerogative of professionals. The form of the essay embodies the meta-process of changing from the objectivity that is necessary to rationalistic central control, through changes of convention, to informal post-industrialism in which the control and re-creation of political and economic life is shared by everyone. Viva!     

Knowledge, skill, and education in the new global economy

This paper deals with three main topics. The first is the nature of post-industrial, service-based economies in which human capital has special importance. In the new global economy, sharp distinctions between services and goods become more difficult to draw, as exemplified by computer software, perhaps the purest embodiment so far of a knowledge-based industry in which human and organizational capital account for nearly all value added. Where does this intangible capital come from? That is the subject of the second section of the paper, which discusses the meanings attached to knowledge, skill and other components of human capital, sketching out a view emphasizing tacit know-how and the lessons of experience. This sets the stage for a third section outlining a number of implications for higher education.     

中国近代教育溯源——以1900年之前的京师同文馆为视角

京师同文馆是中国教育的一次巨大革新,是中国近代教育的起源。本文首先从微观的角度对京师同文馆的沿革、教育思想、培养目标、教学内容、教学手段、师资力量、学生来源、教育的管理与评价体系这几个方面对其作了分析;然后从宏观的角度,把京师同文馆与它所在的历史背景联系起来作了总体性的分析与评价。反思并且回顾这段历史对于了解中国近代教育的起源有重要作用,对于今天中国教育改革也有一定的现实意义。     

"斯密问题"的重新解读

"斯密问题"引发了经济学界关于人的本质究竟是自利还是利他的持续讨论.在斯密的著作中并没有将利己和利他截然对立起来--利已或利他都是斯密关于人类天性若干维度中追寻的一种,而"公正"这一思想才是斯密著作中所要突出的理论精髓,从而为斯密所设想的经济制度奠定了基础--公正的制度框架才是保证市场经济正常运转的必要条件.其中,斯密在<道德情操论>中关于"情感共鸣"等概念的相关论述已经在现代生物试验中得到了科学的印证.     

Breaking the link with a university education in the creation of a chartered accountant: The ICAS story

Accountancy is now well established as an elite professional occupation in most parts of the world and much of this status has been afforded through an association with educational qualifications. The assumption that a university education adds value to individuals, employers and society has led to a massive increase in tertiary education both in the UK and internationally and there is a societal expectation in the UK that a university education is the norm rather than an opportunity reserved for the academically elite. However, within this context, the chartered accounting profession in Scotland (ICAS) is considering opening up training to school leavers and other non-graduates as part of its ‘Fast Forward to 2010’ strategy. Evidence from the sociological literature suggests that any alteration in the educational composition of the members of a professional group may adversely impact upon that group's status and standing in society. In turn, any change in the educational qualifications of the members of a profession risks influencing the perceptions and aspirations of potential recruits.In this study we seek to further our understanding of how potential recruits perceive and evaluate both university education and the accountancy profession as an occupational group. In addition we consider how the school leaver route may be viewed by potential recruits in terms of its impact upon individuals' career aspirations and the overall status of the profession. By collecting data from school pupils from both the public and the private educational sector and first year and final year university undergraduates from a ‘traditional’ and ‘new’ university this study has identified some of the possible consequences of the ICAS proposal and provides insights relevant to an understanding of the professional identity of CAs in the 21st century. As such, our insights may serve to assist policy-makers in understanding the potential consequences of any changes in the educational requirements of future recruits.