The Assessment: Economics of the Internet

Seen from the perspective of economics, the Internet has beenwidely regarded as a major force likely to raise productivity.However, at least so far, the identifiable effects on productivityappear small and largely confined to the USA. Similar scepticismis expressed about the view that the Internet would be naturallyhighly competitive. On the contrary, economies of scale andscope plus advertising-intensive reputations create the threatof concentration. As a result, a pro-competitive stance forpolicy is required—and in taking such a stance policymust look over the full range of the value chain. Such a pro-competitivestance is, however, not sufficient. Because of other marketfailures and because of the need to protect democratic rights,a wider view of policy is essential. The fundamental policyissues facing the Internet are, therefore, whether it can remainopen, competitive, and pluralistic in a context increasinglydominated by large corporations.     

经济学的本质与特性：一个元经济学的问题

对于“经济学究竟是什么”这个元经济学的问题几个世纪以来一直困扰着经济学家与哲学家。这既是一个经济学问题,又是一个哲学问题。在梳理穆勒等经济学家对于经济学本质观点的基础上,以经济学的角度进一步分析经济学的科学性,特别是数学工具的运用对于经济学向自然科学方向迈进所做的贡献做出论述。经济学的人文性主要体现在其研究目的、研究过程受价值观与意识形态影响上。经济学具有科学性与人文性的特质,但是经济学的科学性似乎更加重要。     

经济学发展新方向:心理学发现对经济学的影响

近年来，心理学对经济学的影响主要表现为以下方面：心理学的一些新发现大大扩展了经济学对偏好理论的认识广度和深度；对经济学中期望效用理论产生了系统的质疑；心理学的一些发现对人们在经济生活中判断和决策的过程产生了质疑；所有这些预示着经济学发展的一个新方向。     

Economics: The Sexy Social Science?

Michael Watts of Purdue University organized this symposium as a session at the 2002 Southern Economic Association Meetings in New Orleans. He invited five economists, who are specialists in economic education and other areas, to comment on William Becker's paper, “How to make economics the sexy social science.” which first appeared in the Chronicle of Higher Education (December 7, 2001). Their comments and Professor Becker's response appear below.     

The Economics of Pensions

This paper sets out the economic analytics of pensions. Afterintroductory discussion, successive sections consider the effectsof different pension arrangements on labour markets, on nationalsavings and growth, and on the distribution of burdens and benefits.These areas are controversial and politically highly salient.While we are open about expressing our own views, the main purposeof the paper is to set out the analytical process by which wereach them, to enable readers to form their own conclusions. Footnotes ¹ E-mail addresses: n.barr{at}lse.ac.uk; pdiamond{at}mit.edu     

The Euro Area Crisis: Politics over Economics

This paper explores the dominant role of politics in decisions made by euro area governments during the crisis. Decisions that appear to have been driven by local political considerations to the detriment of the euro area as a whole are discussed. The domination of politics over economics has led to crisis mismanagement. The underlying cause of tension is identified as a misalignment of political incentives. Member state governments tend to defend their own interests in a noncooperative manner. This has magnified the costs of the crisis and has resulted in an unbalanced and divisive incidence of the costs across the euro area. The example of Cyprus is discussed, where political decisions resulted in a transfer of about half of 2013 GDP from the island to cover losses elsewhere. In the absence of a federal government, no institution can adequately defend the interests of the euro area as a whole. European institutions appear weak and incapable of defending European principles and the proper functioning of the euro. Political reform is needed to sustain the euro but this is unlikely to pass the political feasibility test with the current governments of Europe.     

气候变化经济学的文献综述

气候变化的经济学研究最近几年进展很快,本文旨在反映这一领域理论研究的现状与最新的进展。全文共分五个部分:首先对气候问题的经济学涵义进行了简要说明,并引出气候变化经济学研究的主要内容。其次,我们以斯特恩报告为例,对气候问题的严峻性及理论争论的焦点进行了解释,由此强调气候变化的经济学特征以及经济学在理解和解决气候问题方面的作用。再次,在全球公共物品的背景下,本文对目前气候谈判所遇到的障碍和需要克服的困难进行了描述。最后的结束语给出了若干值得关注的研究问题,并指出气候问题的最终解决不仅需要经济学家的智慧和贡献,而且还有待于其他相关学科的共同努力。     

The Economics of the Internet: Infrastructure and Regulation

The purpose of this article is to inform users, regulators,and economists about the basic economics of the Internet, focusingon regulation of its infrastructure. It defines the Internetand describes its development and organization. It analysesthe regulatory and competition issues associated with conveyanceon the Internet. It then discusses three current puzzles ofeconomic interest. While the article reaches several conclusions,the overall message is that much more work is needed in thisarea.     

现行经济学学科设置问题与法律经济学的兴起

通过比较国内外现行经济学学科设置,评述法律经济学的学科定位、学科特征与发展趋势,分析政治经济学、制度经济学与法律经济学的关系,发现在应用经济学一级学科目录下,增设法律经济学这一内容丰富、方兴未艾的金矿学科,已经水到渠成。     

The Assessment: Education

Research on the economics of education increasingly influencesthe design of education policy. The framework for the analysisis provided by human capital theory, in which education is interpretedas an investment, raising the future productivity of the individualand bringing other private and social benefits. Estimates ofthe private and social returns to education, and of the effectivenessof schools and teachers, can be used to guide the allocationof resources within the public sector; in addition, policy reformsin the UK have attempted to make public providers of educationmore responsive to the preferences of parents and students.There is evidence that pupil attainment has risen in recentyears, but that the education system fails to provide equalityof access or opportunity and may reinforce social and economicinequality.     

The Economics of Animal Farm

This paper uses George Orwell's fictional story Animal Farm to make a comparison between Orwell's predictions and the Chinese experience with communism. An analogy is made between two characters from his novel, Napoleon the Boar, who attains power, and Boxer the horse, who does not. These are analogous to members and nonmembers of the Communist party, respectively. Readily available data by Griffen and Renwei (1988) are then used to compare the economic conditions of approximately 22,000 individuals. The empirical results strongly support many of Orwell's predictions. A theoretical predatory growth model that potentially explains the results is also introduced.     

The Economics of Transmigrant Farming

The basic agronomy of government-sponsored transmigration areas in Indonesia's Outer Islands has often not been well understood. The soils are commonly fragile podzolie soils which quickly break down once the forest is removed leaving low levels of nutrients. Farmer experience in these areas suggests that the requirements of high fertihser and high labour inputs and the lack of adequate transportation and marketing infrastructure make a continuous food cropping strategy difficult to adopt. From the standpoint of soils management, input requirements and operator time costs per hectare, perennial crops, peanuts and livestock offer the best returns.