中美新市场经济(北京)论坛在京开幕诺贝尔经济学奖新得主普雷斯科特做主题演讲

在经济全球化的今天,中国市场也越来越受到世界的关注,中国市场的一举一动都牵动着世界经济学人的心跳.而2004年新鲜出炉的诺贝尔经济学奖得主爱德华·普雷斯科特6月来北大演讲,又将成为一个新的注脚.     

The Economics of Tropical Deforestation

This paper provides a survey of 'first wave' economic studies of tropical deforestation and land use. These studies of tropical forest land conversion are generally at the cross‐country level. We also conduct a synthesis cross‐country analysis of tropical agricultural land expansion. The results show that agricultural development is the main factor determining land expansion, but institutional factors have an important influence. Income effects tend to vary from region to region, and do not always display an 'Environmental Kuznets Curve' relationship     

When Ross meets Bell: The linex utility function

At first glance, there would appear to be no relationship between Bell’s (1988) concept of one-switch utility functions and that of a stronger measure of risk aversion due to Ross (1981). We show however that specific assumptions about the behavior of the stronger measure of risk aversion also give rise to the linex utility function which belongs to the class of one-switch utility functions. In particular, this utility class is the only one that satisfies a stronger version of Kimball’s (1993) standard risk aversion over all levels of wealth. We apply our results to consider n$n$th-degree deteriorations in background risk and their effect on risk taking behavior.     

The Economics of Capital Punishment

The argument for and against capital punishment turns on its effectiveness as a deterrent. Professor E.J. Mishan argues that the evidence is now clear that capital punishment saves innocent lives.     

The Economics of Apartheid Politics

Apartheid in South Africa is too often discussed in emotional or nationalistic terms. Professor Duncan Reekie, a Scottish economist now teaching at the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, analyses the economic aspects of the political forces working with and against eventual liberalisation.