THE ROLE OF THE GOLD STANDARD IN THE GIBSON PARADOX

Recent papers by Lee and Petruzzi (1986) and Barsky and Summers (1988) provide rival theories of how the Gibson Paradox could result from the impact of changes in the interest rate on the real price of gold. This paper empirically tests each model and finds more support for the Lee-Petruzzi approach than the Barsky-Summers approach. The paper also suggests that Lee and Petruzzi may have used an inappropriate method to test their model, and that both papers employed inappropriate sample periods.     

CARBON LEAKAGE,THE GREEN PARADOX,AND PERFECT FUTURE MARKETS*

Policies of lowering carbon demand may aggravate instead of alleviate climate change (green paradox). In a two‐period, three‐country general equilibrium model with finite endowment of fossil fuel, one country enforces an emissions cap in the first or second periods. When that cap is tightened, the extent of carbon leakage depends on the interaction of various parameters and elasticities. Conditions for the green paradox are specified. All determinants of carbon leakage resulting from tightening the first‐period cap work in the opposite direction when the second‐period cap is tightened. Tightening the second‐period cap does not necessarily lead to the green paradox.     

REDUNDANCY, NATURAL TURNOVER AND THE PARADOX OF STRUCTURAL CHANGE

The properties of the labour market are such that moderate employment shifts can be accommodated by, and might even encourage, the natural movement of labour between jobs. But the scale and extent of employment adjustments in recent years has produced an altogether different response. Voluntary movement has fallen dramatically as unemployment has risen. Redundancies have increased in importance in absolute and relative terms. The pace of adjustment in recent years has reduced the natural flexibility of the labour market and has created a serious impediment to the optimal distribution of labour. Moreover, an economic doctrine which emphasizes the importance of flexibility and personal choice in the labour market, has effectively reduced both.     

"壶口悖论":对黄河壶口瀑布开发方式的研究

在行政区交界地带,有的资源地跨两个(或多个)行政区,各个行政区均享有对该资源开发的权力,对这种类型资源是由两个行政区(实体)分别进行开发,还是组建一个资源开发实体,由该开发实体进行统一开发,文章以地处晋陕两省交界处的黄河壶口瀑布开发为例,通过对现实中壶口瀑布的开发与如果只有一个开发主体的开发进行的比较,提出了"壶口悖论",以期对我国行政区交界地带的资源开发有所启示。     

THE NEW POLITICAL ECONOMY: ITS EXPLANATORY POWER FOR LDCs*

This paper reviews the new political economy and its relevance to explaining policymaking in the developing countries.     

ON THE CONCEPT OF POWER IN ECONOMICS

In this paper we start with the standard definition of power and indicate how orthodox neoclassical economics fails to handle some of the key issues of power. In Sections II and III we discuss in the context of recent advances in economic theory some of the battlefields, so to speak, for the exercise of power: bargaining games in Section II and economic organizations and capitalist authority relations in Section III. In all of this we focus on the underlying structural factors. In the last Section we discuss some problems with both the behavioral and structural concepts of power.     

THE ECONOMICS OF ILLUSION*

When individuals choose not only goods, but also how to process information, there is a bias: people tend to process information so that they feel good about themselves. This bias is particularly important in voting behavior, where agents have almost no individual effect on public choice outcomes, and therefore almost no incentive for unbiased use of information. Two examples are given. In one example, an adaptation of the classic overdepletion problem, the public chooses not to counteract externalities by appropriate tax policy. In the second example public policy follows the choices of experts, contrary to the interest of the public.     

THE TIMING OF UPGRADES*

By using a durable‐goods monopolist model, this paper investigates the timing of upgrades. I consider a three‐period model where the monopolist can upgrade the product in the second and third periods by investing in R&D. I analyse the non‐commitment and commitment cases. In the latter case, the decision on the timing of upgrades is made in the first period in advance. It is shown that the time‐inconsistency problem causes the monopolist in the non‐commitment case to release a new version more rapidly than in the commitment case. Moreover, even in the non‐commitment case, the release of a new version can still be later than the optimum from the social viewpoint.     

我国区域文化软实力评价研究

区域文化软实力是区域综合实力的核心构成和持续发展的不竭动力。从文化生产力、文化传播力、文化影响力、文化保障力、文化创新力和文化核心力6个方面构建指标体系,并运用AHP层次分析法且采用我国31个省、自治区、直辖市2006—2008年的数据对我国的区域文化软实力进行了系统评价。结果表明,我国的文化软实力整体较弱,尤其是文化生产力和文化影响力偏低,同时,文化软实力呈现出明显的地域发展不平衡性。必须加大投入、创新体制和优化政策,推进我国文化软实力更好更快地发展。     

世界科技中心转移的三大动力机制探讨

文章从世界科技中心转移的历史现象的深入分析,提出科学技术发展的三大动力机制,并指出,中国只有拥有世界最科学的政治体制、最雄厚的经济基础和最强大的科技阶段,才能成为世界科技中心。     

THE ECONOMIC STATUS OF THE ELDERLY: BEWARE OF THE MEAN*

Current discussion contains widely contradictory statements about the economic status of the elderly in the United States. One can read that poverty among the elderly has been eliminated, and that it remains one of the most serious problems facing the country today. This paper discusses different ways of measuring economic status, and attempts to show how authors can reach such divergent conclusions, and support them with readily available data. The U.S. Census data on personal income generally exclude in-kind benefits, and treat family size in a straightforward though unsophisticated manner. This paper shows that alternative treatments of these issues can have significant effects on indices of the economic status of the elderly. Whether or not in-kind benefits are included in the definition of income, which in-kind benefits are included and how they are valued change the conclusions dramatically. Even more important is whether the income data are presented by household or per capita (or with some intermediate divisor, using equivalency scales), since elderly households are the smallest of any age category. This paper makes 3 points. One is that there has been significant progress in the economic status of the elderly over the past several decades, although the extent of the improvement is subject to debate. But the second is that summary statistics about the elderly, such as the above, may conceal more than they reveal. The diversity of the elderly is key. Beware of the mean. Finally, there is no one correct way to measure well-being. Different methodological approaches can be chosen and justified, and the choices made alter the conclusions significantly.