The political economy of Thomas Edward Cliffe Leslie (1826-82): a re-assessment

Recent commentators have dealt mainly with Leslie's methodological work, but Leslie had produced papers on applied political economy for 25 years before he published one devoted specifically to the historical method. The present article concentrates on Leslie's use of that method and the results it enabled him to achieve — in dealing with issues such as economic aspects of militarism, forms of land tenure in Europe, gold supplies and price levels, fiscal reform and wage determination. Reviewing these results suggests that Leslie's work was not so much in contradiction with the neoclassical approach of Jevons and Marshall as complementary to it.     

The structure of Say's economic writings

The present paper establishes a general picture of Say's economic thought. The first part provides a general view of Say's writings stressing his economic publications other than the Traité, and the non-economic publications covering two other realms of what was labelled the Sciences morales et politiques in France at that time. The second part is devoted to the Traité since this theoretical piece belonging to Classical political economy has a history throughout its various editions. Finally, the third part considers Say's second great book in economics, the Cours complet d'éeconomie politique pratique and explains the reasons why he wrote it.     

K. William Kapp's theory of social costs and environmental policy: Towards political ecological economics

The paper analyzes the contribution of K. William Kapp, widely considered one of the founders of Ecological Economics. This paper will demonstrate how K. William Kapp developed his theory of social costs into a framework for environmental policy development, i.e. the basis for Political Ecological Economics. The latter provides the most comprehensive and non-utilitarian alternative to the main neoclassical approaches provided by Arthur Pigou and Ronald Coase. Kapp determined basic human needs to be necessary values operational for policymaking via politically derived and scientifically determined social minima (criteria) and socio-ecological indicators. This “rational humanism” was inspired by Weber's concept of substantive rationality and informed by John Dewey's pragmatic instrumentalism. The paper concludes that Kapp's contribution is important enough to cement its place in the broader school of Ecological Economics.     

Privatization and the economic performance of Irish Sugar/Greencore

As one of Ireland’s largest agribusiness companies, the Irish Sugar company played a key role in the country’s economic development in the twentieth century. The company was privatized in 1991 (under the new name Greencore) and has since transformed from a largely commodity-based agribusiness into an international convenience food company. This article analyses the financial and economic performance of the company in the 10 years before and after privatization. It finds that the change from public to private ownership was not strongly associated with improved financial performance and productivity as the company had experienced rapid growth and improvement in the pre-privatization period. These findings run counter to perspectives such as public choice theory that suggest a positive relationship between privatization and company performance. Performance in the post-privatization period was strongly influenced by greater exposure to market forces in the company’s expanding food division; however, it is surprising that this greater competition did not translate into improved overall performance.     

反倾销申诉和措施中的政治经济因素实证分析

本文运用1985-2000年分国家、分产业、分年度数据和混合Logit方法对反倾销申诉和措施中的政治经济因素进行实证分析。从规模及沉没成本的角度选取产业就业人数占全国总就业人数的比重及固定资产投资额作为政治经济变量,发现政治经济因素在提起反倾销申诉和执行反倾销措施过程中起到了关键作用。规模越大,沉没成本越高的企业越具有能力和动力提出反倾销申诉。同时对政府越具有政治价值的产业,越有可能得到政府的反倾销支持。当考察对华反倾销申诉和措施时,发现政治经济因素表现得更为显著。通过加入宏观经济变量的分析表明,对华反倾销裁定具有较强的随意性。     

Unemployment and the dynamics of political support for economic reforms

I analyze the dynamics of political support for economic reforms using a version of Rodrik's (1995) two-sector model of the transition economy. The key role is played by the pattern of flows between the state and private sectors and unemployment. It is shown that while the workers in the private sector always support rapid reforms, the workers in the state sector and the unemployed will support rapid reforms only at the outset of the transition. Later, state-sector workers and unemployed vote for a reduction in the speed of reforms.     

Poverty traps and the robust political economy of development assistance

Robust political economy emphasizes the lack of benevolence and omniscience of would be reformers. In addition, we consider the effects of biased decision-making for the robustness of the policy implications. This paper examines the robustness of the policy implications of models based on coordination failures and poverty traps. In particular, we address the revival in ‘big push’ type models and its policy implications. We argue that attempts to promote economic development through ‘big push’ models lack robustness. JEL Code O1, O20, P26, P41     

The legacy of the past: ancient economic thought on wealth and development

Ancient economic thought was in general hostile to enrichment and saw wealth as inner wealth. This attitude was coherent with an economy mainly closed and static, based on agriculture and on slave work. But also it greatly contributed to restrain economic development in ancient societies. Ancient economic thought had an enormous influence on early modern thought. The latter borrowed its hostility from enrichment, which contradicted the real tendency of the new society. Thus, from the beginning, modern economy could not enjoy the support of a high economic theory. It could not legitimate enrichment and the increase in consumption.     

On the Dynamic Consistency of Reform and Compensation Schemes

To make reform possible, politically strong losers have to be bought out. Whether the losers are fully compensated upfront or given running compensation depends on their political influence after reform. We build a simple but general model to study dynamic consistency of compensation and political support for reform. We find that positive but decreasing compensation is required in every period up to the last period the losers have political influence. In that period it increases dramatically. If there are limited resources available to compensate the losers upfront, increasing the cost of reversing the reform may reduce the political feasibility of reform.     

The structure of authority, federalism, commitment and economic growth

Summary. In a neoclassical growth model with many regions and a mobile factor, two federal arrangements are considered. In the first federal arrangement the central government chooses a uniform tax policy, whereas in the second each regional government chooses its own tax policy. The main result is that the first federal arrangement leads to high tax rates and economic stagnation, whereas the second leads to low tax rates and economic growth. This result stems from a time consistency problem. The lack of tax competition forces a time consistency problem on the central government under the first federal arrangement. In contrast, regional tax competition acts as a commitment device under the second federal arrangement. The fundamental feature in the environment that gives rise to different abilities of the state to commit is the different structure of authority within the state.Received: 10 February 2003, Revised: 2 December 2003, JEL Classification Numbers: H77, O41, E60, C73, E13.Ronald A. Edwards: This is a revision of Chapter 3 of my University of Minnesota Ph.D. I thank my advisor Edward C. Prescott for his encouragement and numerous helpful discussions. I also thank Tim Kehoe for many useful discussions as well as Beth Allen, Berthold Herrendorf, Arilton Teixeira and two anonymous referees for helpful comments. This research was assisted by an International Predissertation Fellowship from the Social Science Research Council and the American Council of Learned Societies with funds provided by the Ford Foundation.     

"虚拟经济"的理论诠释及中美的经验分析

本文首先对"虚拟经济"的理论进行了诠释,并分析了其内在演变的阶段和特性,特别指出了虚拟经济的过度膨胀往往会导致破坏力极大的金融危机;接着我们实证分析了中美之间虚拟经济发展状况及其产生的机理;最后,文章总结了新经济条件下虚拟经济的新特点,并对中国虚拟经济的发展提出了有益的政策启示。     

传媒经济的实质是社会资本与经济资本之间的转化

规模化和公开性使得大众传媒成为了公众舆论的良好载体,传媒影响力的实质在于传媒通过与舆论互动而形成的对社会资本的占有,而传媒经济的实质就是实现这种社会资本与经济资本之间的转化。影响力提高了,传媒才能够最大限度地占有社会资本,只有这样,传媒的经济效益才能够得到保障。虽然要实现传媒社会资本与经济资本之间良性的循环转化并不容易,但毋庸置疑的是,在一个健康的传媒环境中,负责任的报纸,提供有价值的信息,才是真正的卖点。     

汇率制度、经济开放度与中国需求政策的有效性

在全球经济金融一体化的背景下,中国对外经济开放度的提高对需求、供给政策的有效性产生了复杂深刻的影响。本文通过构建OR模型分析框架,分析了不同汇率制度下金融市场和商品市场一体化程度对需求政策、利率泰勒规则、财政供给和劳动供给政策有效性的影响。根据理论分析和数值模拟以及以中国年度数据进行实证检验,提出了一个可检验的假说,表明开放条件宏观政策的有效性取决于商品市场和金融市场一体化程度及二者的相互作用。     

我国循环经济发展的困局及其破解

循环经济是一种可持续发展的经济。在系统梳理国内外关于循环经济研究成果的基础上,分析了我国循环经济发展存在的主要问题,探讨了循环经济发展的主要模式、重点区域、重点领域及实现路径,同时提出了有针对性的政策建议。     

Theoretical foundations of sustainable economic welfare indicators — ISEW and political economy of the disembedded system

The conceptual foundations of the Index of Sustainable Economic Welfare (ISEW) are surveyed and critiqued. It is argued that the three underlying theories of community, psychic income, and social welfare economics supply certain theoretical foundations for the ISEW. The focal point of the theories is to evaluate the positives and negatives of economic growth, with the hope of achieving a practical measure of sustainable economic welfare. However, they are not as well developed as they should be: the three theories have partial, underdeveloped explanations of the benefits (services) and costs (disservices) generated in the system. The theoretical particulars of ISEW abstract from the workings of the capitalist system, because the ISEW advocates have not specified a society in the socioeconomic system which we currently have. Specifically, there is no underlying linked systems view of the disembedded economy — where the exchange economy tends to dominate other aspects of culture. Without a systematic understanding of the political economy of capitalism, the ISEW is potentially flawed in design. Therefore, there is a need to search for a critical approach to sustainable economic welfare. As a point of departure, it is better to have a political economy theory. The political economy of the disembedded system provides an alternative theoretical approach to ISEW.     

面向循环经济的物流及其管理研究

本文首先分析了循环经济的基本理论,随后论述了循环经济与物流的关系,最后重点阐述了循环经济模式下物流管理的要求。     

The costs of treating acute heart failure: an economic analysis of the SURVIVE trial

Abstract

Objective: To estimate the incremental cost per life year gained with levosimendan relative to dobutamine in treatment of acute heart failure based on the Survival of Patients with Acute Heart Failure in Need of Intravenous Inotropic Support (SURVIVE) trial.

Methods: SURVIVE enrolled 1,327 patients (levosimendan 664, dobutamine 663) from nine nations with 180-day survival from date of randomisation as the primary endpoint. Hospital resource utilisation was determined via clinical case reports. Unit costs were derived from hospital payment schedules for France, Germany and the UK, and represent a third-party payer perspective. Cost-effectiveness analysis was performed for a subset of the SURVIVE patient population selected in accordance with current levosimendan labeling.

Results: Mortality in the levosimendan group was 26 versus 28% for dobutamine (hazard ratio 0.91, 95% confidence interval 0.74–1.13, p=0.40). Initial hospitalisation length of stay was identical (levosimendan 14.4, dobutamine 14.5, p=0.98). Slightly lower rates of readmission were observed for levosimendan relative to dobutamine at 31 (p=0.13) and 180 days (p=0.23). Mean costs excluding study drug were equivalent for the index admission (levosimendan €5,060, dobutamine €4,952; p=0.91) and complete episode (levosimendan €5,396, dobutamine €5,275; p=0.93).

Conclusion: At an acquisition cost of €600 per vial, there is at least 50% likelihood that levosimendan is cost effective relative to dobutamine if willingness to pay is equal to or greater than €15,000 per life year gained.     

论产业生态化理论面临的困境及其目标的实现

马克思提出,劳动过程首先是人与自然之间的物质变换过程.本文通过对产业生态化的本质及其产生的时代背景进行探讨,进一步回顾产业生态化理论的渊源及其发展过程,指出目前以产业生态学为代表的产业生态化理论面临的挑战,最后对实现我国产业生态化进行思考.     

现代金融炼金术与世界经济——财技术批判

在90年代，货币热又大发作，金融炼金术再度成热门话题。正当金融危机从日本扩向亚洲之际，“新经济”奇迹却在美国出现。如何解释这一现象？如何展望21世纪？本文提供了初步答案。     

货币拜物教对我国社会主义市场经济的影响及其扬弃

货币拜物教是货币的拜物教性质与拜物教观念的统一.商品货币形式中人与人的关系表现为物与物关系的虚幻形式,就是商品货币的拜物教性质.把人们的社会关系造成的商品属性看成是物的天然属性,把人的社会关系看成是物的关系,就是货币拜物教观念.货币拜物教对我国社会主义市场经济有双重影响,在尊重货币经济发展规律基础之上,建立合乎人性的货币制度,树立合理的金钱意识,能真正扬弃货币拜物教.