西洋观止FOR MBA：IN TERNATIONAL NEWS

在崇尚个人英雄主义和冒险创新精神无以复加的美国，TOP排名早已不再意味新奇或者噱头。但是在2004年1月22日，一份“25年来最具影响力的商业巨擘”的评选结果仍旧引起全世界的瞩目。     

WAS THERE A GUARANTEE EFFECT FOR THE OTTOMAN LOANS IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY?

This study analyses the effect of formal guarantees of the British government on the performance of Turkish bonds issued in the second half of the nineteenth century. We compare the yields and prices of 11 bonds issued by the Ottoman government with different guarantees attached to each bond. Our findings indicate that the formal guarantee of the British government was significant in determining the prices and yields of Ottoman bonds. Even though the British guarantee had no effect on Ottoman institutions, practices, and fiscal fundamentals, the yields on the guaranteed loan did not move together with other Ottoman loans.     

AN INDUSTRIOUS REVOLUTION IN AN EAST ASIAN MARKET ECONOMY? TOKUGAWA JAPAN AND IMPLICATIONS FOR THE GREAT DIVERGENCE

This paper addresses a question raised by Jan de Vries' on the relationship between industriousness and the rise of the market in East Asia. Was the growing industriousness in Tokugawa Japan, as de Vries suggests, a substitute ‘for the absence of markets’? The examination refers to two versions of Chayanov's peasant farm model and their empirical relevance to the Tokugawa agrarian history, with special reference to the formation of labour‐intensive peasant farming (Akira Hayami's version of an industrious revolution), product specialisation, and the markets for production factors, land, and labour. Its implications for the Great Divergence debate are also discussed.     

MADE IN CHINA

如今再去美国国会山旅游很难买到复制的独立宣言和国会山的模型了，仅仅是因为上面印着“MADE IN CHINA”。从前段时间俄罗斯驱逐中国商人事件到现在奥巴马政府出台一系列的惩罚性关税，各国纷纷对中国树立贸易壁垒。100多年前，也正是因为大批来自中国的瓷器、丝绸和茶叶等产品占领欧洲的市场造成了贸易逆差而导致了鸦片战争。在那些民族主义者的眼里，“MADEINCHINA”就是“黄祸”。     

DELAYS IN STABILIZATION OR IN REFORMS? THE DEBT CRISIS

Empirical analyses attributing the 1980s’ debt crisis to inconsistent stabilization policies rest on an inappropriate long‐run approach. Revising this long‐run approach yields opposite results: terms of trade shocks and foreign indebtedness explain this crisis, regardless of domestic stabilization policies. This prompts us to consider a new hypothesis, of delays in trade‐policy reforms, with a model in which terms‐of‐trade variation (under shocks) is endogenous to export structure and efficiency of resource allocation. Evidence from the structural equations model shows that allocation distortions negatively affect changes in terms of trade, which then explain this crisis. A political economy extension demonstrates that income inequality and regional trade policy determine the distortions, which in turn leads to this crisis.     

HOW DO POOR RURAL HOUSEHOLDS IN MYANMAR COPE WITH SHOCKS? COPING STRATEGIES IN A FISHING AND FARMING VILLAGE IN RAKHINE STATE

This paper examines how poor rural households in Myanmar cope with shocks which incur unexpected expenditure, namely, the sickness or death of a household member, using data collected in a fishing and farming village in Myanmar in 2008. The paper analyzes the sequence of coping strategies and the background factors behind the sequence. Self‐insurance, the dissaving of assets or cash, is given priority over intra‐party strategies, such as loans or gifts. The reason for this lies in the persistent severe credit constraints faced by households, both in terms of access and cost (high level of interest rates), and the absence of strong social norms for mutual insurance in the community. Both factors appear to force these households to self‐insure themselves from the outset.     

THE ORDINAL AND CARDINAL JUDGMENT OF SOCIAL WELFARE CHANGES IN SINGAPORE, 1982?99

This paper analyzes the changes in social welfare in Singapore using both cardinal and ordinal measures. Labour Force Survey data published by the Manpower Research and Statistics, Department of the Ministry of Manpower, Singapore are used. It is observed with the use of Lorenz dominance technique that social welfare in Singapore during 1999 is less than in 1991 while an unambiguous conclusion cannot be made on the welfare ranking of 1982 and 1991 or of 1982 and 1999. According to the generalized Lorenz dominance, 1999 ranks first; however, this criterion is also unable to make any unambiguous ranking between 1982 and 1991. The ranking based on Sen social welfare function shows a continuous increase in the social welfare in Singapore. But when a more general social welfare function is used a different ordering might occur.     

IS EAST ASIA FIT FOR AN OPTIMUM CURRENCY AREA? AN ASSESSMENT OF THE ECONOMIC FEASIBILITY OF A HIGHER DEGREE OF MONETARY COOPERATION IN EAST ASIA

This paper attempts to make a contribution to the recent search for a suitable assessment of the economic feasibility of a higher degree of monetary cooperation in East Asia. By using a structural vector autoregression approach as well as a generalized purchasing power parity approach, we find that a larger group of appropriately selected East Asian economies does satisfy the macroeconomic conditions for forming an Optimum Currency Area (OCA). The East Asian group consists of four ASEAN countries (Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, and Thailand) and four Northeast Asian economies (Hong Kong SAR, Japan, Republic of Korea, and Taiwan). This finding presents a striking contrast to the existing research results whose policy recommendation has generally been that countries in East Asia should start with a smaller subgroup currency area. It is time that many East Asian economies as a region made a serious effort to pursue a higher degree of monetary cooperation among themselves for forming an OCA.     

火车不再OUT，飞机不再IN

火车的提速以及整个铁路行业的重振雄风，对于喜集体出行且经常遭遇出行难的中国公众来说，是一个真正的福音     

私汤时代——新生代至IN养生计划

如果你是个追求品位泡汤一族，那你绝对不会选择人满为患、满眼赘肉、健康无保障的公共温泉浴场泡汤，二人世界的私密温泉是个绝佳选择一百忙之余，邀三五好友、与知心爱人、携家人来此，置身于浪漫温泉，独享优雅之境。     

水晶宫里的“MADE IN CHINA”

喜欢一句广告词,“看到这个时代左右的人,也在左右这个时代“。翻看世博会沉厚的历史,惊讶的发现158年前,在第一届世博会——万国工业产品博览会上,就有这么一位看到了时代左右的中国人。他叫徐荣村。     

“MADE IN CHINA”缘何屡遭反倾销

中国加入WTO在即，反倾销再次引起社会广泛关注，成为热点问题。其实，早在改革开放之初的1979年，欧盟就对我国出口的糖精、食盐和闹钟产品提起了第一起反倾销诉讼，从而拉开了对华反倾销的序幕。此后的20年间，对华反倾销大战愈演愈烈，标有“MADE IN CHINA”的产品在国际市场上屡次遭遇反倾销。截至29001年3月底，已有29个国家对我国出口企业捍反倾销，案件总数达422起之多，其中19790－1989年发生的案件只占总数的1／4左右，而1989年以后反倾销案件急剧增加。提出对华反倾销的国家，既有以美国、欧盟、澳大利亚、加拿大、日本为代表的西方发达国家，也有墨西哥、巴西、智利、韩国、南非等发展中国家。被诉倾销商品的范围也越来越大，涉及鞋类、电工刀、打火机、油漆刷、自行车、铅笔、箱包、树脂餐具、不锈钢餐具、刹车盘、刹车鼓、电缆绳、彩电以及化工原料和农产品等4000多种商品。     

“MADE IN CHINA”：誉满全球的国家品牌

无心插柳柳成荫。在不经意间,中国企业共同打造出了一个名震遐迩的世界大名牌——＂中国制造＂。＂中国制造＂不必为＂蝇头小利＂而耿耿于怀。要知道,地球上最大的动物鲸鱼,就是靠吃小鱼小虾而成为海中巨无霸的。     

欧美多国针对MADE IN CHINA的反倾销调查愈演愈烈

去年,荷兰飞利浦公司参与起诉中国节能灯企业在欧盟市场倾销一案在中国引起轩然大波,尽管该公司最终撤诉,但也无法改变中国企业败诉的命运。继1999年欧盟对华钢铁反倾销后,2000年12月28日美国国际贸易委员会又作出裁决,认定中国钢铁企业对美国倾销钢铁事实成立。尽管美国商务部尚未作出终裁,中国的钢铁企业也在积极地应诉