妻儿托付给谁？

“他是我的好友，好到什么份儿呢？这么说吧——如果我死了，他是可以托付妻儿的人。”我听着有点感动。人和人之间，就讲究一个义字。     

一周人物榜

“我一出生就在上海，但我的父母亲其实在我出生前进上海，我都变成了上海原住民。凭什么现在的农民工进了城，二十年以后，他们的小孩感觉自己是个农村人？如果历史到了这里不能够连接的话，那我们这一代人是可悲的，是没有远见，没有道德感的。”——重庆市长黄奇帆谈户籍改革。     

一周人物榜

“我一出生就在上海，但我的父母亲其实在我出生前进上海，我都变成了上海原住民。凭什么现在的农民工进了城，二十年以后，他们的小孩感觉自己是个农村人？如果历史到了这里不能够连接的话，那我们这一代人是可悲的，是没有远见，没有道德感的。”——重庆市长黄奇帆谈户籍改革。     

王江民，一个烟台人在IT界的传奇

中关村以“中国的硅谷”而著称，而在IT界的人眼里它更是个江湖。江湖就有传奇，有英雄。这个江湖水太深，这里有太多的海归、神童和青年才俊。他们打下一片大大的天下，他们的故事、他们的名声震江湖、，然而不论是业内还是他们自己，做得再大，也不妄称英雄。那么什么人堪称IT英雄？我曾问过业内大佬和权威的媒体，他们不约而同说了一个人的名字——王江民。     

王大千：每个人心中都住着一个孔子

子曰：＂学而时习之,不亦说乎？有朋自远方来,不亦乐乎？人不知而不愠,不亦君子乎？＂——《论语·学而》孔子说：＂学了知识又能在适当的时候练习运用,不是很愉快吗？有志同道合的人从远方来,不是很令人高兴吗？人家不了解我,我也不怨恨、恼怒,不也是一个有德的君子吗？＂     

经济危机,到底是谁惹的祸?

“怎么好端端的就发生了经济危机？”几乎每一个人都会这么问。 我当然也不明白——因为我不是经济学家,实际上,我怀疑经济学家弄明白没有。不过直觉告诉我,发生经济危机,布什难逃干系。为什么这么说？     

微言

“到底是数百万埃及人利用军队推翻了一个他们不想要的总统？还是军队利用数百万埃及人推翻一个他们不想要的总统？”——埃及裔美国人达丽亚·奠格海德（Dalia Mogahed）说。她是白宫的第一位穆斯林女顾问，为奥巴马政府参谋伊斯兰事务。     

你为何还没致富

前些日子和几个朋友聚会，在谈论了某某在演艺圈大发横财，某某下海地挣了“洋楼洋车”一番之后，我不禁发出感慨：“其实这些发财的人，不一定有很多才能，我认为他们是不学无术的。”但女朋友的一句话呛得我满脸通红：“那你为什么到现在还没致富呢？”     

曾经的校园

当领导宣布学校撤并的时候,似乎并不觉得意外,各种各样的小道消息早已满天飞舞。走在街上碰到不甚熟识的人也会好奇地问起：＂听说你们学校撤并了？＂我只能说没有正式通知,谁知道呢。而今,我可以告诉他们的确如此了。心里说不出是怎样的感受,留恋？遗憾？失落？迷茫？还是有点兴奋？     

无声的资助最动人

看了湖北襄樊5名受助大学生被取消继续受助资格的报道，我为资助活动主办方的举动而寒心——就因为他们没有说一声感恩的话，就要取消他们受助的资格．让他们无力再进大学之门？     

Macroeconomic adjustment programmes in the euro area: an overall assessment

Since the start of EMU (Economic and Monetary Union), the euro area, and more broadly the global economy, experienced an unprecedented credit boom. The expansion of credit was particularly strong in Greece, Ireland, Portugal and Cyprus and all of them subsequently needed official financial support. In each of the four programmes, financial assistance has been provided and promised against the commitment of each country to fulfil certain economic policy conditions contained in the macroeconomic adjustment programme. In general, a macroeconomic adjustment is a process driven by policies but also by changes in private spending behaviour (consumption, imports, investment) and improvement in competitiveness that countries are required to undertake after a large shock. In the case of the four countries, the shock emerged as a consequence of an excessive accumulation of imbalances in different parts of the economy: in the public sector in Greece, in the housing and banking sectors in Ireland, external imbalances in Portugal and in the banking sector in Cyprus. The paper looks at the feasibility of the fiscal adjustment comparing the macroeconomic conditions in the four countries and emphasising the role of the fiscal multipliers in the process. It also assesses the fall in the output in a comparative framework, stressing the role played by the different components of demand either in amplifying the effect of the fiscal consolidation or in offsetting it. In addition, it considers formulation of the programmes as well as their implementation with most attention devoted to reforms aiming at improving competitiveness, growth and employment in the framework of a cross-country approach.     

中美服务贸易国际竞争力比较分析——兼论中国服务贸易结构性失衡

美国作为当今世界服务业最发达的国家,其服务贸易对填补货物贸易产生的巨额逆差发挥了重要作用,而中国则是对美货物贸易的巨大顺差与服务贸易逆差并存。随着中国服务业开放"保护性安排"的结束,中美两国的服务贸易也会快速增长。本文通过对两国服务贸易RCA①和TC②指数的定量分析比较,指出中美服务贸易失衡是中国服务业竞争劣势的集中体现,并就此从宏观和中观两个层面提出了相关的对策建议。     

中国和欧洲城市创意产业发展的比较研究

中国和欧洲的城市发展创意产业所面临的经济基础、社会环境和文化制度有较大的区别,比较研究中欧创意产业发展路径的相似与不同,对梳理我国创意产业的发展框架,吸取欧洲发达城市创意产业发展的先进经验,具有重要的现实意义。本文从创意产业的本质切入,剖析不同国家和地区对创意产业的内容和范围给予的不同理解和划分,详细论述了中国创意产业的发展路径,并从空间布局、法律保护、市场资源、文化氛围四个方面着手,比较了中欧城市创意产业发展框架的迥异。     

Capital Account Liberalisation by China and the Effects on Global FDI and Trade

We model the partial liberalisation of the capital account by China using a dynamic computable general equilibrium model of the world economy. Our results indicate that a reduced capital controls on foreign direct investment (FDI) would lead to a significant increase in FDI capital in China and a significant reduction in the cost of capital in China relative to the rest of the world. Furthermore, we observe an increase in capital stocks in most regions, which benefits most regions in terms of GDP and GNP. The Chinese economy grows by 3.3% driven by a significant fall in the rental price of capital that, in turn, lowers domestic costs, causes a real depreciation of the exchange rate and thus increased exports relative to other regions. We also observe an across-the-board increase in the saving rate driven by the rise in the price of consumption relative to investment (saving) in all regions.     

A cross-country comparison of the demand for labour in Europe

A Cross-Country Comparison of the Demand for Labour in Europe.-This paper investigates structural differences in the demand for labour in France, Germany, and the UK. It finds substantial differences in the sensitivity of the demand for labour to international product demand and factor prices in all three countries. In particular, it reacts to domestic factor prices in Germany but international cost competitiveness in France and the UK; it depends upon European-wide product demand in France and Germany and a wider measure of product demand in the UK. The authors attribute these differences to product market conditions and institutional factors rather than to differences in the production technology.     

THE MOMENTOUS GOLD RUSHES

Gold discoveries in Australia in 1851 and New Zealand in 1861 galvanised the economic development of Australasia and had spillover effects in Britain, in ship technology, and even in the trans-Atlantic trade. The gold rushes quickly transformed economic, social, and political life. Moving around the continent in an anti-clockwise direction, they were to help found the northern port cities that grew to service the gold seekers. While the major strike in Western Australia in the 1890s out-produced the earlier period, Australia saw a third gold peak in the 1990s. The article surveys the contribution of the rushes to the development of Australasia.     

Energy Price Shocks and Economic Activity in Texas Cities

It is not known how exogenous shocks in oil price impact city economies. This study examines unemployment rates in Texas cities in relation to oil price movements during the period 1995–2008. We find that unemployment in the bigger cities like Austin, Dallas, and Houston, is not related to oil prices in a significant way when compared to unemployment in the smaller border cites, especially in Laredo. Although the Texas economy has become more diversified and less vulnerable to oil price movements in the last two decades, smaller border cities still experience the effect of oil price shocks, possibly through the neighboring economy of Mexico. Our data indicate significant variations in the unemployment rate in Laredo due to movements in oil price. We observe improvements in the unemployment rates in Laredo as oil price increases.     

Fiscal policy independence in a European Monetary Union

Do plans for a monetary union in Europe call for limits on the freedom of the country members of the union to use fiscal policy? In order to provide a tentative answer, we simulate the IMF model MULTIMOD, given various shocks, in the case of a European Monetary Union consisting only of France and Germany. The results clearly indicate the possible value of allowing unfettered use of fiscal policy in both countries. The reasons lie partly in differences in the initial position of the two, partly in differences in their preferences. We also examine the change in the policy significance of the current account in the monetary union. Current account imbalances clearly cease to have the same significance in a monetary union; but they do not therefore become irrelevant.     

Global rebalancing: Effects on trade and employment

A sustained reduction of global current-account imbalances must include a decline in the share of household consumption in aggregate demand in the United States and the opposite development in China. Accordingly, import demand would decline in the United States and increase in China. Given non-homothetic demand preferences, the resulting change in the income distribution of global import demand affects both the intensity and pattern of other countries’ exports. Simulations suggest that, for the world economy, the net effect of this shift would be a decline in industrial exports, especially from labor-intensive sectors producing consumer durables. A multilaterally coordinated rebalancing that would also include an increase in the share of household consumption in aggregate demand of developed country surplus economies would reduce these adverse effects on trade and employment. Apart from the countries undertaking rebalancing, developing countries in East and South-East Asia face the greatest adjustment pressure from global rebalancing.     

The Asian crisis,private sector saving,and policy implications

The Asian financial crisis has several critical implications for the saving behavior in the crisis-hit economies as well as in other Asian economies, which are summarized as follows: increase in economic uncertainty; increase in poverty; decrease in public confidence in financial institutions; financial liberalization; and reduction in corporate leverage ratio. Putting these together, the postcrisis saving rates in the crisis economies are likely to decrease without government interventions. Although the uncertainity factor may contribute to an increase in short-term saving, an abated level in household income and corporate output and slow GDP growth will lead to a contraction in saving rates. Increased poverty, diminished public confidence in banking institutions, and the increased variability of business sales will further contribute to a reduction in saving rates of the household and corporate sectors. Keeping this in mind, the postcrisis saving policy should consider stronger macroeconomic stabilization policies to reduce the underlying economic uncertainty to encourage long-term savings/investments; improving the public confidence in financial institutions through financial restructuring and a proper deposit insurance scheme in place; channeling informal sector saving into the formal financial institutions; and promoting propoor saving policies.