马克思节约思想新探

马克思主义告诉我们,时间的节约相当于生产能力的发展,也就等于必要时间的缩短和自由时间的增长,这是马克思对未来社会中人的全面发展的深层次思考。在马克思经济学中,一个社会的发展可以体现在社会生活的各个方面,但社会发展的巨大动力将来自于时间的节约,社会发展的最终意义将体现于人的发展。因此,在社会发展的进程中最终实现每个人自由而全面的发展和整个社会的和谐统一,是马克思经济学有关节约思想的全新阐释,它对于指导我们落实科学发展观,建设新型和谐社会将具有重要指导意义。     

Effects of political institutions on air quality

We empirically test existing theories on the provision of public goods, in particular air quality, using data on sulfur dioxide (SO₂) concentrations from the Global Environment Monitoring Projects for 107 cities in 42 countries from 1971 to 1996. The results are as follows: First, we provide additional support for the claim that the degree of democracy has an independent positive effect on air quality. Second, we find that among democracies, presidential systems are more conducive to air quality than parliamentary ones. Third, in testing competing claims about the effect of interest groups on public goods provision in democracies we establish that labor union strength contributes to lower environmental quality, whereas the strength of green parties has the opposite effect.     

Effects of securities deregulation in underwriting: An Analysis of SEC Rule 415

In this paper we present evidence on the effects of Rule 415, the SEC Rule that relaxed the SEC's long-standing opposition to delayed offerings. Shelf registration allows securities to be offered on a continuous or delayed basis in certain circumstances. We provide evidence on one aspect of the controversy surrounding Rule 415's adoption: the effect of shelf registration on the distribution of underwriting revenues among broker/dealers. We find on average all broker/dealers experienced an increase in underwriting revenues following the adoption of shelf registration due to an increase in total business financing. However, we find that the largest underwriters experienced an increase in underwriting revenues relative to total business financing. The relationship for smaller broker/dealers between underwriting revenues and total business financing did not change significantly after the adoption of shelf registration. Thus, shelf registration appears not do have harmed small broker/dealers.     

The impact of restructuring and deregulation on gas rates

This article evaluates the impact of consumer choice programs, price caps, and sliding scale plans on consumer prices of gas using a custom survey of public service commissions and data from the Department of Energy. A seemingly unrelated regressions model estimates residential, commercial and industrial prices jointly, controlling for potentially endogenous demand. Consumer choice programs are estimated to lower residential and commercial prices significantly, by bringing competition to markets with smaller consumers. Prices fall even before deregulation as utilities build consumer loyalty and fight competition. Sliding scale plans are estimated to lower prices of small consumers while raising industrial prices. Price caps lead to overall higher prices, with unclear ranking across consumer classes.      

The short-run effects of airline deregulation

A test of the effect of the deregulation of the U.S. domestic airline industry finds no statistically significant effects on industry costs. Scale economies are estimated and found to be substantial.     

Politico-economic cycles of regulation and deregulation

This paper considers politico-economic cycles that do not depend on the exogenous electoral cycles. More precisely, the paper develops a positive model of intertemporal subsidy strategies for an authoritarian and dynastic government. It will be shown — applying the Hopf bifurcation theorem — that cyclical strategies, i.e. waves of regulation, populism alternating with deregulation, cuts in social programmes, etc., may be optimal.     

The effect of deregulation on environmental research by electric utilities

This paper analyzes the impact of deregulation and restructuring on public-interest environmental research conducted by electric utilities in the US from 1990 to 2001. I find that deregulation has had a substantial negative impact on such expenditures, which have declined by 40%. However, restructuring has had no significant impact. In addition, the 1990 Clear Air Act Amendments have adversely affected such expenditures, contrary to the positive impact these regulations had on pollution abatement R&D as shown in the literature. Results also suggest that state and firm characteristics and regulator preferences play a strong role in the conduct of such research.      

The economics of deregulation of local exchange telecommunications

This paper has two objectives. The first is to reappraise the potential competitiveness of local exchange telecommunications markets, in light of recent arguments in favor of deregulation. The second objective is to discuss regulatory reform strategies. We conclude that local telecommunications markets retain the essential characteristics of a natural monopoly, but that many of the regulatory reforms are nevertheless desirable.     

How accountability pressure on failing schools affects student achievement

Although an emerging body of evidence has shown that the threat of sanctions on low-performing schools can raise student test scores in the short run, the extent to which these test score improvements are due to schools' manipulation of the accountability system has remained uncertain. In this paper, I provide two new strands of evidence to evaluate the relative importance of educational reforms and gaming behavior in generating test score gains by threatened schools. First, using a regression discontinuity design that exploits Florida's system of imposing sanction threats on the basis of a cutoff level of performance, I estimate medium-run effects on student test scores from having attended a threatened elementary school. Threat-induced math improvements from elementary school largely persist at least through the first 1 to 2 years of middle school, while evidence for persistence of reading improvements is less consistent. Second, I analyze the effects of sanction threats on various features of educational production, and I find that sanction threats raise school spending on instructional technology, curricular development, and teacher training. Both strands of evidence are consistent with a predominant role for educational reforms in generating test score gains by threatened schools.     

Capital markets' assessment of airline restructuring following deregulation

The Airline Deregulation Act of 1978 propelled the industry into a constant state of change, even turmoil, that prevails 14 years later. The purpose of this paper is to examine the capital markets' reactions to the dramatic restructuring of the airline industry. The results of an event study of 24 merger announcements indicates that stockholders of target firms experience positive abnormal returns of 14.5% over a three-day period around the merger announcement date. Bidding firms experience a 3.7% increase over the same time window. Clearly, the capital markets viewed this restructuring of the industry as positive.     

Phasing of deregulation: Normative versus positive objectives

Deregulation is traditionally endorsed by economists but meets either little reception by politicians or is substantially weakened within the political process. Many papers discuss this aspect, primarily from a rent-seeking aspect. This paper emphasizes the dynamics of deregulation when consumers have sunk costs on the basis of a past regulatory regime. The paper proves first that deregulation should be radical rather than transitory within a conventional, normative framework, even if the consumers act naively and have to bear substantial adjustment costs. As a contrast, a positive model of a vote maximizing politician is introduced that explains why and when actual deregulation proceeds gradually. However, a politician should deregulate at an excessively radical rate at the beginning, if voters have a short memory and/or if demand adjusts sufficiently fast.     

Confidence in formal institutions and reliance on informal institutions in Bosnia and Herzegovina

This article uses survey data to investigate the relationship between citizens’ confidence in formal institutions and reliance on informal institutions in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH). We find an endogenous substituting relationship and that the different institutional structures currently existing in the two entities in BiH are significantly linked to respondents’ confidence in formal and reliance on informal institutions. In addition, perceptions of higher indirect costs of institutions and a lack of their improvement are associated with a lower confidence in formal and a greater reliance on informal institutions; the minority ethnic groups in each region are less confident in formal and rely more on informal institutions compared to the majority group; and more reliance on informal institutions is found amongst males and respondents from urban areas.     

The effect of remittances on democratic institutions

Do remittances promote stronger democratic institutions in developing countries? We study the effect of workers’ remittances on the quality of democracy in developing countries, and examine how government spending mediates the effect of workers’ remittances on the quality of democratic institutions. Using a dynamic panel estimator on data from 133 developing countries over 1972–2012, we find that workers’ remittances improve the quality of democratic institutions. We also find that workers’ remittances are more effective in promoting democratic institutions in developing countries with low government spending.     

Downstream gas pricing in an era of upstream deregulation

State public service commission regulation of gas utility pricing is examined during the period of wellhead price deregulation. A model which incorporates asymmetry in price setting during a period of changing input costs is estimated. Statistical analyses suggest public service commission regulation slowed the increase in gas utility prices during periods of rising costs. Gas utility pricing was not monitored as closely when purchased gas prices fell, thereby altering the rate structure in favor of industrial customers. Federal Energy Regulatory Commission policies designed to promote competition by restructuring the transmission sector of the gas industry after 1985 appear to have suppressed retail prices in industrial markets.     

Economic determinants of deregulation in the gas distribution market

Many state public commissions have deregulated their utility markets. However, evidence of welfare or efficiency improvements under deregulation is ambiguous. It is also unclear why different states adopt consumer choice, price caps, sliding-scale plans, or retain rate-of-return regulation. This study evaluates several economic factors behind deregulation in gas distribution markets using a survey of state commissions. Logistic and hazard models show that utilities’ prices and capacity, and states’ stock of own gas wells, prices of competing fuels and the regulatory climate, help explain the pattern of deregulation. Demonstration effects from surrounding markets also contribute. These factors make the propensity to use price caps versus restructuring vary regionally.     

Why shops close again: An evolutionary perspective on the deregulation of shopping hours

This paper introduces a new perspective on the deregulation of shopping hours based on ideas from evolutionary game theory. We study a retail economy where shopping hours have been deregulated recently. It is argued that first, the deregulation leads to a coordination problem between store owners and customers, and second, the ‘solution’ to this problem depends on the specific cost structure of stores and the preferences of customers. In particular, it may happen that, even if extended shopping hours are Pareto efficient, stores and customers do not succeed in coordinating on this equilibrium. The analysis explains the observation in Germany, where shopping hours have been deregulated recently, that store owners tend to go back to the former shopping hours again. Moreover, it emphasizes the important role of advertisement campaigns as a signalling device.     

Social trust,institutional and political constraints on the executive and deregulation of markets

Social trust is frequently claimed to be conducive for economic reforms. Likewise, the scope of policy liberalization is influenced by the political power structure as manifested in institutional and political constraints on the executive (IPCE). However, social trust and IPCE are possibly intertwined in their effects on economic liberalization. This paper empirically explores the relationship between social trust, IPCE and the scope of economic deregulation as measured by the first difference in the regulation subindex of the Economic Freedom of the World index. The results provide evidence in favor of a positive association of social trust with deregulation and of a negative association between institutional or partisan veto-points and deregulation. Yet, according to our analysis IPCE are an obstacle for economic deregulation only in relatively low trusting environments and social trust unfolds a particular strength as driver of deregulation with increasing levels of IPCE.     

The effects of United States railroad deregulation on shippers,labor, and capital

This paper presents an overview of the economic effects of railroad deregulation. The United States experience with railroad deregulation has been very favorable. Shippers generally have gotten better service without higher rates. Labor productivity has gone up substantially. Railroads have not been able to use their greater rate-making freedom to earn excess profits.