Women's Roles in the Economy: Teaching the Issues

This examination of some current issues of controversy concerning the roles of women in our economy will provide teachers with background information and students with reading material that can be used as a basis for lively and instructive class discussion.     

法经济学：法学和经济学半个世纪的学科交叉和融合发展

法经济学至今已经走过了近半个世纪,法经济学的发展不仅表现为经济学与法学的跨学科交融和经济学的研究范式对传统法学的巨大冲击与整合,也表现为其对司法实践的重要影响。文章通过对这一研究领域文献资料的整理,梳理出了学科发展的理论脉络和演化逻辑,可以为国内研究者的法经济学规范化和本土化的理论探索提供线索。首先,文章在对法经济学理论与实践的回顾与总结基础上,对该学科的性质、基本理论及研究方法做一简单的描述与总结;然后,选择法经济学研究中最重要且最受关注的财产、合同、侵权及犯罪四个领域,对其国内外研究现状,尤其对20世纪80年代后,国内学者对法经济学在中国的本土化研究加以详细的梳理与评述;最后,在对法经济学的成就与不足的总结与评述基础上,结合20世纪90年代后法经济学的学科演变趋势,提出了对法经济学未来发展趋势的基本判断。     

全面理解人力资本的经济价值——教育经济学与培训经济学的融合

教育经济学不应只是正规学校教育的经济学,在终身学习的理念下,正规学校教育的结束并不意味着学习步伐的停滞和人力资本投资的终结。教育经济学未来拓展的路径,除了理论基础上的外延式发展外,还可以在原有的人力资本理论框架内走一条内涵式发展的道路,即强调综合考察人力资本投资的多种途径,特别是教育和培训这两种最主要的人力资本投资形式,让教育经济学走出正规学校教育经济学的固有领地,团结在人力资本理论的名义下,与培训经济学融合,走向人力资源开发研究的广阔天地,惟其如此,才能全面、深入地研究人力资本的经济价值及其实现机制。     

体制变革背景下的服务业增长：一个定量分析框架

1978-2006年，中国服务业的高速增长与经济体制变革存在着直接的关系。体制变革是过去20多年中服务业增长的一个最重要因素。体制变革一方面通过放松管制提高了服务业占GDP的比重，另一方面，体制变革通过民营化进程降低了服务业的内部产业X-无效率，提高了服务业的金要素生产率。     

Vertical and Horizontal Trust Networks in Bureaucracies: Evidence from the Third Reich

In a seminal contribution to the literature on bureaucracy, Breton and Wintrobe (The Logic of Bureaucratic Conduct: An Economic Analysis of Competition, Exchange, and Efficiency in Private and Public Organization. New York, NY: Cambridge University Press, 1982) develop a model wherein subordinates and superiors in a bureaucratic structure trade with each other to advance the objectives of the superiors. The success of such an organizational arrangement (for superiors) is based upon the development of vertical trust networks in a way that facilitates the promise of informal payments by superiors in return for informal services provided by their subordinates. Breton and Wintrobe [Journal of Political Economy 94 (1986) 905] also provide a theoretical application of their model by describing the Nazi bureaucracy as a conglomeration of competing agencies that zealously carried out the Final Solution to the Jewish question. As an extension, this note develops two compelling empirical examples of vertical and horizontal trust networks within the Nazi regime: Einsatzgruppen As (Special Action Detachments) attempt to liquidate all Lithuanian Jews after the German invasion of the U.S.S.R. in 1941 and the 20 July 1944 attempt to assassinate Adolf Hitler.JEL Classification: D23, D73.     

Institutional Approaches to Economic Development: The Current Status of the Debate

The recent publication of "Institutions and Economic Development: Theory, Policy and History" (Chang 2011a) has stimulated a thought-provoking debate, and has brought forth a wide-ranging demonstration of the theoretical arsenal of the new institutional economics. The debate proves that, as of yet, no satisfactory theory of institutions has been articulated, nor is there an agreement on the relationship between institutional change and the politics of development. It also demonstrates the presence of two distinct lines of research: ideological and political, both of which rely on different theoretical legacies, and embody distinct economic worldviews. This scenario allows a summary of the argument in the most recent literature to be made on the relationship between institutions and development, as well as to relate the debate to the concept of development as a process of expansion of capacities.     

Democracy Evolving: A Diversity of Institutional Contradictions Transforming Political Economy

I analyze democracy as an evolving socio-historical process of autonomy, participative governance, social learning, and institutionalization. I discuss a variety of institutional contradictions, ranging from protective versus developmental democracy, socialist versus capitalist democracy, transcendental versus comparative institutionalism, and utilitarian versus pragmatist democracy. I argue that these contradictions are inherent in the agonistic nature of democracy that is transforming political economy along with the antagonistic interests of its members and institutions. I also present a basic synthesis of some dynamic aspects of democracy that enable and enhance social emancipation and transformation.     

食品行业诚信缺失的经济学分析

近年来中国经济高速发展,产品极大丰富,但是与之相伴而生的也有许多副产品,尤其是食品行业的制假售假、制售有毒有害食品,直接危害到了广大人民群众的身体健康和生命安全。本文从诚信缺失是造成食品安全问题的一大根源出发,深入分析了食品行业诚信缺失的经济学根源,并针对其成因提出了有效解决食品行业安全问题的对策。     

The Recent Critique of Theoretical Economics: A Methodologically Informed Investigation

My purpose is to appraise the recent critique of theoretical economics by applying the methodological perspective. Therefore, I start by identifying the main lines of criticism raised against theoretical economics in the aftermath of the post-2008 global economic crisis: namely, the voices criticizing economics for its unrealistic models, excessive mathematization, and overconfidence in its theoretical claims. First, I show that these issues are interconnected and should be jointly analyzed. Next, I investigate these lines of critique from the perspective provided by the latest achievements in the philosophy of economics (e.g., studies on the epistemic role of economic models). Taking this perspective reinforces some allegations against economics (e.g., these voices accusing economists of treating economic laws as universal laws of nature) and makes some criticisms more nuanced (e.g., the issue of unrealistic assumptions). I conclude by stating that such a methodological perspective is necessary in critically apprising the recent critique of economics.     

The Rate of Change in Evolutionary Systems and Evolutionary Economic Modeling

Evolutionary economics seeks to model socio-economic reality as an evolutionary system. This powerful approach entails the implication of the continuous loss of information through the evolutionary process. The implication corresponds to evolutionary biology, although the systems in evolutionary economics are different from those in evolutionary biology. The issue of the loss of information has not been extensively studied in economics. Many open questions remain: Which knowledge is lost under what circumstances? Can loss of information be harmful to the socio-economic system as a whole in the presence of runaway dynamics caused by, for example, network externalities? How can the development of knowledge in economic systems be studied? The present article examines these questions and more.     

产权管制放松与制度绩效变迁——来自广东经济非均衡转轨的证据

过去大量的研究强调政策、区域、禀赋等对广东经济转轨绩效的影响,论文从产权管制放松的角度出发,构建了一个简单的博弈论模型,旨在分析广东政府放松对资源配置权利的管制对经济转轨产生的制度效应。研究发现,广东各级地方政府放松对资源配置权利的管制,大幅节约了租金耗散,并衍生出更多给予经济个体发挥比较优势的获利空间,扩展了市场范围,从而促进了地区经济均衡转轨。论文对于理解广东经济转轨问题提供了一个新的视角和框架,它尤其有助于揭示产权管制放松与经济绩效变迁二者之间的内在机理和制度逻辑。     

Institutional Bioeconomics and the Division of Labor: Reflections on Yarbrough & Yarbrough' Paper

The New Institutional Economics might have significant interactions with the economics of non-human societies. Some possibilities are considered in connection with the ideas of Yarbrough and Yarbrough on human societies. First, the need for enforcement may be less when the organisms in question treat one another as resources. Second, theories of the division of labor that have been developed in biology are applicable to human societies. There may be some interesting alternatives to traditional sociobiology as well.     

A paper economy of faith without faith in paper: A reflection on Islamic institutional history

This article contributes to the literature on Islamic institutional history by examining how the discounting of documents in Islamic legal practice constrained the organization of early modern Muslim trade. It is argued that the reliance on literacy, on the one hand, and an Islamic legal framework, on the other, gave early modern Muslim traders a comparative advantage in economic organization, but the lack of faith in paper as documentary evidence in Islamic law posed fundamental constraints to the development of Muslim economies.     

再论区域经济一体化和经济全球化的关系——一种新制度经济学角度的解释

区域经济一体化和经济全球化均是因市场制度内在缺陷而引致的制度变迁过程。所不同的是制度变迁的方式,前者是由区域体内各国政府起着主导作用的强制性变迁,而后者主要是由各市场主体出于趋利动机自发推动的诱发性变迁;并由此在世界范围内产生了迥异的制度效应。     

从制度经济学视角看人民币汇率改革

汇率改革是一种多目标的制度安排,各利益主体在利益上既存在着一致性,又存在着矛盾性.实施混合性制度变革,将有利于最大限度地减少全社会在利益上的损失和汇率改革阻力,也有利于制度均衡的产生和改革的最终实现.     

中国城乡经济社会一体化新格局中的农业、农村发展问题刍议

发展现代农业、走中国特色农业现代化道路是构建城乡经济社会一体化新格局的一个重要方面.在现实的中国农业现代化进程中,在各地看到的往往是社会主义初级阶段的一种混合型、多样化的新模式,走的是一条兼容性较强的道路.从目前的农业和农村政策取向来看,这样的混合型、多样化的农业现代化发展模式和经营形态在中国农村将长期存在,资本、劳动、土地等要素将不断相互碰撞和重新组合.中国农村土地制度的变革将在构建城乡经济社会发展一体化新格局的大战略中处于一种关键性的位置,而土地制度的变革必然受到中国工业化、城镇化进程和农业现代化发展道路、发展模式两方面因素的制约.构建城乡经济社会一体化新格局需要改革和完善农村基层治理结构.而各种要素的碰撞和重新组合又和农村上层建筑的权力结构交织在一起,也必然影响到农村基层治理结构的变革方向.在这种农业现代化道路、模式和经营方式的选择中,在经济上保障农民的物质利益和在政治上尊重农民的民主权利始终是问题的核心.     

经济利益背景下的侵犯知识产权犯罪刍议

知识产权制度的产生存在着深刻的利益背景,侵犯知识产权犯罪是利益权衡下的结果。法网的相对严密并不意味着侵犯知识产权犯罪就可以得到有效制止,控制这种犯罪行为的制度设计,应当是能促使市场主体为了自身的最大利益理性地选择尊重知识产权。从本源上控制犯罪的发生,保证在侵权后犯罪人能够受到法律迅疾且严厉的惩罚才是解决问题的关键。     

Regulation and the cost of childcare

Female labour market choices depend on the availability, affordability and quality of childcare. In this article, we evaluate different regulatory measures and their effect on both the quality and the cost of childcare. First, we analyse data on regulations and costs to estimate the effect of regulatory measures on the cost of childcare. Next, we summarize the existing literature on the effect of regulation on childcare quality. We find that regulation intended to improve quality often focuses on easily observable measures of the care environment that do not necessarily affect the quality of care but that do increase the cost. Thus, we find that the regulatory environment could be improved by eliminating costly measures that do not affect quality of care.     

Institutional Endowments and the Lithuanian Holding as Innovative Network: A Problem of Institutional Compatibility in the Baltic Sea Area

Post-socialist Lithuania had an undeveloped banking, a weak network commitment, and a resilient nomenklatura. An evolutionary Crossroads game shows that this made the nomenklatura bank convention stronger than the capitalist bank convention. In the nomenklatura bank convention, rent-seeking behavior decreases network commitment and thereby the effect of network complexity, thus making learning-by-financing weaker. This created a problem of institutional compatibility of bank-industry networks in the Baltic Sea Area during Lithuania's first voucher stage of privatization that might be overcome by foreign direct investment initiated in her second hard currency stage.