标准化与个性化的协调统一——企业信息化发展中的关键问题

企业是经济社会的细胞和基本元素,企业活动在社会经济活动中发挥着核心和基础的作用,企业信息化建设也必将形成推动信息时代发展的强劲力量。广义的电子商务不仅包含诸如B2B、B2C的电子交易等企业经营方面的内容,还包括了企业管理等所有商务活动中的信息化建设内容。然而,在经历了ERP和SCM(供应链管理系统)的建设热潮之后,目前人们关注的焦点似乎正在向CRM以及相关的整个需求链管理(DCM)上移聚,企业已经越来越强烈地意识到必     

FORMAL AND INFORMAL SECTORS IN CHINA AND INDIA

This paper discusses the estimation of a social accounting matrix that distinguishes between formal and informal activities for China and India for 2000 and 1998–99 respectively. Wage shares for formal/informal employment in China and net domestic product shares for organized/unorganized sectors in India are used as weights to calculate the size of the two sectors. The proposed methodology is a first step towards an integrated approach to account for the dualism of many economies in the developing world. The results can serve as data input for any policy-driven CGE model for developing countries.     

STERLING AND THE DOLLAR: SIMILARITIES AND DIFFERENCES

In the first two years of the Conservative government elected in May 1979 sterling rose 25 per cent on a trade weighted basis. It then fell back and is currently little changed from the level inherited by the Conservatives. In the first two years of the Reagan administration the dollar rose 30 per cent on the same basis. It too fell back thereafter, but only briefly - throughout 1983 the rise of the dollar has been resumed and it now stands at its highest level for at least twenty years. In this Forecast Release we examine the similarities and differences between these two currencies. We argue that a crucial element explaining the performance of the currency has been the size and expected development of the public sector deficit and that prospects for the dollar depend crucially on this. A sharp fall in the dollar could occur in the next year or two if rapid growth of output begins to produce a signijcant reduction in federal borrowing.     

MULTIPLE LABOR GROUPS AND THEIR EFFECTS ON SMALL CITY AND TOWN SAMS AND CGE MODELS

This paper extends Schwarm and Cutler (2003) by incorporating three labor groups while using their methods to source data and provide an organizational framework that allows effective and straightforward creation of social accounting matrices (SAMs) and regional computable general equilibrium (CGE) models. While CGE models typically describe relatively large geographical areas and are therefore not able to capture the uniqueness of individual cities or towns within the region, our model allows simulations of small cities and towns that highlight regional similarities or differences. The differing effects of both an increase in manufacturing and a change in the sales tax are examined to demonstrate the insights and regional characteristics that such methods allow a researcher to obtain.     

INFRASTRUCTURE: OPTIMAL PRIVATE AND GOVERNMENTAL FUNDING AND PROVISION

The excess burden of taxation, which in the US is over $1 trillion, could be reduced by transferring responsibility for funding infrastructure to the private sector, with a corresponding cut in taxes. While governments may resist optimal taxation, private communities are induced to do so by competition. A promising approach to efficient funding of civic infrastructure is its transfer to private enterprise     

MONOPOLISTIC COMPETITION AND PRODUCT DIVERSITY: REVIEW AND EXTENSION

Abstract The modeling of monopolistic competition has contributed to rapid developments in numerous fields of economics, notably macroeconomics, international trade, industrial organization, economic growth and economic geography. This paper provides a systematic review and some extensions of various path‐breaking models of monopolistic competition and their subsequent developments, including the works of Spence, Dixit and Stiglitz that are based on the ‘love‐of‐variety’ approach, the works of Lancaster that are based on the ‘love‐of‐characteristic’ approach, and the large‐group monopolistic competition models of Hart, among others. The paper also examines the properties of some utility functions frequently used in the literature on models of monopolistic competition. Perhaps owing to the complexity of these models, the literature lacks a broad and systematic coverage of this essential subject. The paper aims to help fill the gap.     

INNOVATION AND COMPETITION IN GENERATION AND RETAIL POWER MARKETS

There has been considerable merger activity in EU energy markets in recent years. It could be argued that competition authorities should be required to take into account potential innovation effects of mergers. In the UK, regulators are now trying to achieve multiple objectives within the current framework. There is a danger that if markets are expected to deliver mutually incompatible objectives they will be unable to achieve any of them.     

TAXES AND SPECULATIVE BEHAVIOR IN LAND AND REAL ESTATE MARKETS

Land and real estate speculation are common in many countries, and attempts to control them vary in both style and scope. This paper addresses the effectiveness of several approaches to discouraging land and real estate speculation, concluding that land holding taxes, short term gains taxes, and transaction taxes have all proven to be relatively unsuccessful methods of control. The paper discusses housing price booms and busts in the United States, and describes attempts to control speculation, notably the Vermont Land Gains Tax, the Taiwan Land Value Increment Tax, and the Real Property Gains Tax of Japan.     

SURPLUSES AND DEFICITS

The US economy has twin deficits: internal (the budget deficit) and external (the current account). In sharp contrast, the UK combines a PSBR surplus with a rising current account deficit. Japan and West Germany both enjoy large current surpluses, though in Japan the public sector deficit is narrowing whereas in Germany it is rising. Remarkably, as Figure 1 shows, the present position on the public sector and overseas balances in each of the three major OECD economies and the UK is quite different. Japan is the mirror image of the US: the budget and overseas balances have been moving in the direction of surplus - private sector savings have been more stable. For the UK and West Germany (though again as images of one another) it is movements in private sector savings which have driven the current account. How has this come about?     

INEQUALITY AND HAPPINESS

In recent years there has been an accumulation of empirical evidence suggesting that individuals dislike inequality. The literature has built upon estimating the degree of this dislike as well as its causes. The use of self‐reported measures of satisfaction or well‐being as a proxy for utility has been one of the empirical strategies used to this end. In this survey, we review the papers that estimate or examine the relationship between inequality and self‐reported happiness to conclude that inequality correlates negatively with happiness in Western societies. Some of the surveyed papers identify particular sources of heterogeneity on preferences over inequality. The evidence for non‐Western societies is more mixed and less reliable. Notwithstanding that, trust in the institutions seems to play an important role in shaping the relationship between income inequality and subjective well‐being. We conclude with suggestions for further research.     

王澍 难得业余

首位获得建筑界＂诺贝尔奖＂的华人建筑师的＂业余姿态＂,挣脱现有的专业＂约束＂,旁逸斜出,筑就看似＂业余＂的文人意境。1963年生于新疆,在西安生活。他于1985年毕业于南京工学院建筑系,2000年获同济大学建筑学博士,现任中国美术学院建筑艺术学院院长、博士生导师。他喜欢箫管,擅长书法和山水画,执着践行中国本土建筑学理念,享有＂中国最具人文气质的建筑家＂美誉。代表作品有世博会宁波滕头案例馆、苏州大学文正学院图书馆和中国美术学院象山校园等。     

ECONOMICS AND THE DISTINCTION BETWEEN VOLUNTARY AND COERCIVE ACTION1

In economics, considerations of liberty are generally regarded as a secondary question of ‘policy implications’ and a matter of mere opinion. This essay rejects the relegation of liberty to such a status. It argues that the distinction between voluntary and coercive action, rooted in concepts of private ownership and consent, and forming the basis of liberty, should play a fundamental role in the way economic issues and arguments are formulated.     

SAVINGS AND WEALTH ACCUMULATION: MEASUREMENT,INFLUENCES AND INSTITUTIONS

Savings and wealth accumulation are important dimensions of policy and research debates. This special issue comprises a collection of survey articles on topical issues ranging from the effects of access to credit, the rise of Islamic finance and sovereign wealth funds, the measurement of wealth inequality and genuine savings, the distribution of wealth across generations and retirement savings.     

PERMANENT AND TRANSITORY SHOCKS,AND THE UK BUSINESS CYCLE

In this paper the business cycle properties of UK data are investigated using a VAR technique. A Real Business Cycle (RBC) model is formulated. The model includes both permanent and transitory shocks to technology. The business cycle properties of the data and the model are investigated by deriving the expected changes over various forecast horizons from a VAR model. It is found, contrary to evidence in Rotemberg and Woodford (1996), that the model can account for many features of the data and that temporary shocks are pertinent in order to explain the business cycle moments. The main difference between theory and data is present in hours worked. © 1997 by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

EDUCATION AND MODERNITY

Modernity is the combination of capitalism and democracy. Its economic core is based on property rights, which mobilise the organisation of resources. It also requires mass education to select intellectual talent for a complex division of labour. Western education paradoxically lacks developed property rights and a class of owners who seek profits through the satisfaction of consumer (educational) demand. Most of the intellectual ills in our society reflect this absence of modernity in our educational arrangements.