Development Processes Seen Through Non-Marginalist Lenses with Considerations of Complementarities

Marginalism has deeply shaped neoclassical concepts and analytical tools that are applied to development economics. With a static notion of efficiency defined for a state of competitive equilibrium, neoclassical economists study development in equilibrium frameworks, regarding underdevelopment as the consequence of market failures. How might one, who is not equipped with marginalist lenses, look at development processes as they unfold in history? Prior to the emergence of marginalism such observations abounded in the works of the so-called “protectionists,” where ever-evolving production complementarities figure prominently, and there were considerations of indivisibility. In the postwar era, this is present in the works of some early development economists, especially Albert Hirschman in his employment of backward and forward production linkages to characterize development processes, which are viewed as unfolding series of disequilibria. Historical sequences of events reflect path-dependence and they feedback on each other to exhibit circular and cumulative causation. One thing leads to another, or some things lead to others and so on, including institutional changes. However, the activation of linkages could encounter obstacles, with “technological strangeness” being one, in which case sequential policy intervention could be warranted. This article briefly considers differences with the neoclassical approach in generating policy recommendations.     

拉丁美洲1990年代经济改革特点--以墨西哥经济改革为例

拉丁美洲在20世纪90年代前后开始的全面经济改革,新自由主义属性显著。在这一过程中,墨西哥的新自由经济改革颇具代表性。因此,以墨西哥的加工贸易和国有企业私有化为例,分析拉丁美洲经济改革中的特点以及出现的问题。     

Complementarities and the managerial challenges of state enterprise restructuring: evidence from two shipyards

The authors examine detailed organizational changes in two similar Polish state enterprises over the past five years. Effective restructuring requires a coherent package of complementary change in at least eight aspects of the business. The requirements on management are formidable and suggest that state enterprise restructuring will be more difficult than is widely believed.     

我国经济体制改革过程中的“中国模式”创造

对中国经济体制改革三十年的总结,一定会触及中国经济成功是否创造了一种发展模式的问题.通过对中国经济体制改革演进的分析,可以发现中国经济成功是建立在中国特色社会主义理论不断发展的前提下,并建筑在一种多层次、全方位竞争格局基础上的.这种发展模式不仅与发达资本主义国家的模式不同,也与新兴工业化国家的模式有所区别.因此得出结论,中国经济体制改革创造了一种新的发展模式,即中国模式.     

中国经济改革:背景、机制与挑战

经过三十余年的经济改革,中国的经济取得了巨大的进步,中国这条巨龙也正在逐渐回归到她在世界经济中应有的位置。这种经济改革是如何成功的?本文认为,承接于特定的历史经济背景,中国经济中三类主要的行为主体(中央、地方、民众)根据自身的条件进行了事实上的互动式的协调分工,各自对既有的约束条件进行突破,并在互动演进的发展过程中逐步建立了新的规则,这些规则所确立的激励与约束极大地调动了各参与主体的积极性,实现了从事必躬亲到各司其职的职能转换。正是在这些过程中,中国经济逐渐得到发展并获得前所未有的成就。但我们同时强调,在经济改革的过程中,也必须认清体制的不足,积极应对新的挑战。     

Complementarities in innovation policy

This paper develops a framework for testing discrete complementarities in innovation policy using European data on obstacles to innovation. We propose a discrete test of supermodularity in innovation policy leading to a number of inequality constraints. We apply our test to two types of innovation decisions: to innovate or not, and if so, by how much. We find that the evidence regarding the existence of complementarity in innovation policies depends on the phase of innovation that is targeted (getting firms innovative or increasing their innovation intensity) as well as on the particular pair of policies that is being considered. The two phases of the innovation process, i.e. the probability of becoming an innovator and the intensity of innovation, are subject to different constraints. Interestingly, there seems to be a need to adopt a package of policies to make firms innovate, while a more targeted choice among policies is necessary to make them more innovative.     

资产重组在河南省国有企业改革中的有效运用

随着经济体制改革的全面推进,国有经济经历了最深刻、最全面、最大规模的资产重组和结构调整。国有企业改革的实践和理论为中国企业资产重组奠定了良好的制度基础和理论基础,资产重组成为国有企业改革中的＂重头戏＂和实现国有资产保值增值目标的有效手段。因此,认真研究资产重组的有关问题,具有积极的现实意义。通过对河南省国有企业资产重组的现状分析指出资本资产重组中需要解决的问题,从而提出继续深化河南省国有企业资产重组的对策措施。     

哈耶克诘难、权威转变与经济成长:中国分权式改革的逻辑

中国的分权式改革一定是做对了什么才产生了我们见到的经济奇迹,那是什么呢?中国的分权式改革从事实上回应了哈耶克诘难,即信息和知识的分散性使得计划体制不可能实现其理想状态。通过经济上放权让利和政治上的集权,调动社会各阶层的能动性,使得权威和信息相匹配,形成了有效的层级分工创新体制,从而实现经济成长。由于分工的深化和经济活动的扩展,经济分权体现出必然性。在这一过程中,每一个分立的个体都凭借个体知识在分工体系中分享收益,因而实现了共享式的发展,从自由的角度看,个体的自由也得到了极大的扩展。如果要释放更多的经济增长潜力,进一步的改革是必需的。     

人民币汇改后中国资本市场改革的成就与问题

解决资本市场与货币市场的不平衡发展是中国实行金融改革的主要动因之一，随着大力发展资本市场的中央文件陆续提出，中国资本市场改革进展顺利，2005年7月人民币汇改后，资本市场也随之进入发展新阶段。过了2006年中国加入WTO承诺——对外开放金融业即将兑现，此前出现的新机遇和新问题亟待我们去分析解决，以积极应对对外开放对我国金融业带来的冲击并把握金融业开放给我们带来的契机。     

深化干部人事制度改革 加快经济发展方式转变

转变经济发展方式源于经济领域,但其所具有的重大意义和影响却远远超出经济领域,对政治领域的干部人事制度改革也提出了新的要求。它要求干部人事制度进一步深化改革,从人事管理、教育培训、选拔任用、考核监督等多方面为经济发展提供高效、便利的指导、保障和支持。深化干部人事制度改革,必然有力地引领、保障和支持加快转变经济发展方式,从而促进经济建设、政治建设、文化建设、社会建设全面协调发展,全面深入地贯彻落实科学发展观。     

Initial endowments and economic reform in 27 post-socialist countries

This study explores how initial endowments at the start of transition have shaped reform outcomes and reform trajectories in 27 former communist countries in Europe and Central Asia. Countries of the former Russian Empire that had a large resources sector at the start of transition underperformed other countries in terms of the speed and the depth of economic reforms. The effect is particularly strong for privatization, enterprise restructuring and competition policy. Within country, Ottoman or Russian provinces that had a large natural resources sector in 1989 have a lower share of entrepreneurs and of small and medium sized enterprises today and also experience endemic corruption. Our results indicate that the propensity, or ability, of special interest groups to capture the reform process that would erode their rents were facilitated by the quality of institutions whose foundations go back centuries; and that the effects on the local economy are real.     

Education reform and education gaps

We estimate the causal effect of the Italian 2009 “Gelmini” education reform on four academic performance gaps relating to immigration status, gender, parental social status, and parental education. The reform led to a reduction in the number of teachers and an increase in class size. Lags in implementing the reform for different grades is used to specify a difference-in-difference identification strategy. We find that the reform had a statistically and economically significant effect on the immigrant-native gap and on the gender gap, but not on the gap between students with more and less favourable family background. Particularly, our findings show that students with an immigration background were the main losers from the Gelmini reform.     

The uniform enterprise income tax reform in China

In China, the income tax of enterprise is very different between foreign funded enterprises and other domestic enterprises. It is believed that this discrimination is harmful to the entire economy. So there is a reform in the tax system to build a uniform enterprise income tax. This is a significant reform in China＇s tax system, so every decision about this have to count the cost and the benefit carefully. The author has introduced the Computable General Equilibrium （CGE） to simulate this new tax system and value its benefit and cost. There are two different models in the paper; they are of different assumptions and for different purposes. Model I is a static CGE model and model II is a Ramsey Dynamic model. The static model is mainly used for comparative static approach to examine how the tax reform will change the endogenous variables. According to the results of the model, more goods will be produced by both of the DFEs and FIEs after the tax reform in the medium and low tax effective tax rate situations. If the nominal tax rates decrease 24.24% （from 33% to 25%）, the enterprise income tax will only reduce 19.36% and the total tax revenue will only reduce 1.911%. The dynamic model will concentrate on the costs and benefits during the transition. From the results of the model, a lower tax rate will increase the level of investment, capital stock, capital prices, wage rate and also the growth rates through transition. If the capital tax rates are changed gradually, the fluctuating of transition will be smoothed a little.     

An exercise in political economy of tax reform

If the tax rate is endogenously determined by majority voting, then a fully effective and costless reform resulting in full tax compliance may not be supported by a majority even when the evaders (or, avoiders) are only a minority.     

Economic structural reform and China’s financial security

The authors believe that the financial operation based on the issuance of paper money in excess of economic capacity resulting from dependence on the state investment is the central manifestation of factors of China’s financial insecurity. The financial support for the economic reform, the financial reform and the impact of globalization constitute the major logic of its formation. The fundamentals to safeguard financial security lie in the persistence of the state’s comprehensive development strategy, so as to maintain long-term accumulation of the state’s net wealth and the stability of faith in markets. Translated from Jingji Lilun yu Jingji Guanli 经济理论与经济맜理 (Economic Theory and Business Management), 2006, (7): 5–12     

浅析事业单位工资分配制度改革

建国以来,我国事业单位工资制度经历了四次大的改革,虽逐步取得了成效,但仍需完善。事业单位体制改革是当前我国体制改革中的一个重点和难点。在浅析几次工资制度改革取得成果的同时,针对现行事业单位工资制度改革问题提出几点建议。如何建立一套既坚持按劳分配,又体现效益和公平原则的工资分配制度,成为亟待探索的一个问题。