Disrupting the European Crisis: A Critical Political Economy of Contestation,Subversion and Escape

Central to much of the critical political economy (CPE) literature is a declared focus on emancipation. Yet, rather than highlight sources and instances of activity that might result in emancipatory outcomes, much of the CPE literature focuses on relations of domination and the way in which these are sustained and (re)produced. In contrast, and drawing on autonomist Marxism, we argue that an emancipation-oriented approach needs to focus upon the ways in which processes of domination are contested, disrupted and as a result remain incomplete. In doing so, we present an analysis of the European political and economic crisis that contrasts starkly with prevailing accounts. Whilst many observers have considered the European crisis in terms that signal the death knell of labour's prolonged post-1970s defeat, the paper instead renders visible the ongoing disruptive effects of the European populace's obstinate, subversive and creative capacity to escape those attempts to achieve domination and subjugation which existing accounts tend to identify.     

基于社会资本视角的企业政治战略研究

在传统的企业管理理论中,企业的管理通常被描述为一个理性的经济过程,政治因素的影响只是导致企业生存环境更为动荡的一个外生变量,是构成企业行为约束的、"不可控制"的外部因素.但国际化趋势的进一步发展,引发了政治行为与经济行为伴生的现象,企业对政治手段的依赖日益加深.与此同时,伴随着企业资源基础理论以及动态能力等观点的提出.从社会关系维度思考企业战略的思想开始进入人们的视野.本文正是从企业社会资本这一独特视角,分析了企业实施政治战略的理论基础,进而在回顾企业战略管理思想演进过程的基础上.构建了基于社会资本视角的企业政治一经济二元主义战略的分析框架.     

Fundamentals of Myanmar's Macroeconomy: A Political Economy Perspective

The serial underperformer of the region, Myanmar's economy is largely without the institutions and qualities necessary to achieve genuine economic growth. This paper explores the fundamentals of Myanmar's economy, from a perspective that emphasizes policy and institutional failure as the principal determinants of the country's present circumstances. The paper explores Myanmar's economy in a multifaceted way, examining concerns over economic growth, public finances, monetary and financial policies, corruption, and international trade. Notwithstanding the change in the form of Myanmar's governing institutions following the elections of November 2010, the paper concludes pessimistically as to the likelihood of meaningful economic reform in the foreseeable future.     

政治经济学视角下互联网平台经济的金融化

经济的金融化表现之一即为金融资本从服务于产业资本的系统转化成一套为自身服务的独立系统。由于自身的特殊性,互联网平台经济的金融化不仅在于其脱离了生产过程, 且金融资本以一种新的形式融入资本循环中, 并伴随着资本积累不断参与互联网平台经济的重构。 在实际的发展中, 互联网平台企业受到了金融资本的过度追捧, 直接表现为各行业互联网平台企业的融资规模越来越大、产业集中越来越迅速, 但与其相矛盾的是互联网平台企业利润实现危机的深化。 本文分析了互联网平台企业的相关数据,论证了互联网平台经济由于自身对资本的过度依赖和资本间的竞争, 出现流量资本化; 提出由于资本的逐利性, 互联网平台成为了加速资本循环的手段和工具, 互联网平台经济的金融化的实质是金融化了的资本积累制度的内在转变。     

The Reform of State-owned Commercial Banks in China: A Political Economy Perspective

This paper analyzes the logic of the reform of state-owned commercial banks during 1997-2006 from a political economy perspective, mainly by discussing three fields of the reform: shareholding system reform, marketization, and financial restructuring. It also points out the existing problems in each field. The conclusion is that although the reform is heading in the right direction and has already made great progress, it has largely been conducted at the technical level and the Government has avoided dealing with the core issue of the reform. More importantly, the consequences of the Government's policy—pursuing short-term objectives, like improving the short-term financial status of banks—puts the entire system in danger by accumulating long-term risks. This paper also provides some policy proposals and points out potential directions for further studies.     

Critical Political Economy and Material Transformation

The starting point for this paper is that critical political economy needs to take up the challenge that originates in Marx's seminal contributions of conceptualising the economy as both processes of value creation and processes of material transformations. This is because, inter alia, the successful production of commodities requires knowledge of their constituent materials and their potential transformations and the ways in which these can be managed through the production process to allow the creation of surplus value and profits. Using the steel and automobile industries as an example, I show how a wide range of materials can be produced with a variety of desirable properties through careful control of the production process. Sophisticated management of the production process depends upon the knowledge of the properties of the materials and of the ways in which these can be combined and transformed to give types of steels with particular desired combination of properties. Capitalist interests have increasingly shaped the processes of R&D through which knowledge about the materials, their properties and their transformations has been developed and deployed to produce profits via producing steel and – inter alia – automobiles.     

The Political Economy of Policy Vacuums: The European Commission on Demographic Change

ABSTRACT

Supranational organisations can only confront politico-economic issues that are recognised as important. Typically, issues gain recognition either when they provide an external shock to the system, shaking political actors into action, or when they are framed as important in policy networks concerned with developing the appropriate scientific approach. Ideally political and scientific actors align in creating pressures to recognise the issue as salient and to mobilise organisational responses. Issues differ in their capacity to be driven by both political and scientific pressures, creating crisis management, technocratic, and reform agenda outcomes. Here we explore a further variation, where pressures around an issue are insufficient, creating a policy vacuum. We examine one such policy vacuum in Europe: demographic change. This issue belongs to no particular Directorate-General in the European Commission, but is subject to policy frames from DG EMPL and DG ECFIN. Without sufficient political and scientific pressures, no particular policy position is occupied and advocated despite recognition of the issue’s importance. We discuss the role of policy vacuums and the need for their identification in political economy research.     

国际经济与国家安全分析——国际政治经济学视角

国际经济相互依存现象日益加强,国际力量不仅影响国家行为,而且更深入到国家内部结构。国家经济政策处于应对国际经济力量和国内社会行为体利益偏好的双重约束中。受此影响,经济全球化背景下维护对外开放经济体的国家安全的重要环节在于国内政治过程。符合社会需求的决策机制是国家安全的基础,也是经济顺利运行的重要保障。     

The Postwar Japanese Political Economy in an Exchange Perspective

Early postwar Japan represented a Coasian social contract between an unproductive majority and a productive minority. The contract was possible and enforceable due to the American Occupation of Japan. It was socially desirable because it induced economic growth. It was self-enforcing due to specific Japanese conditions. However, the contract became socially undesirable as Japanese economy matured and the initial conditions changed, contributing to an increase in rent seeking. It also became unenforceable because the distribution of surpluses became more difficult as economic growth declined. As contractual enforcement mechanisms weakened, dynamic rent seeking activities further reduced Japanese economic growth rate (JLE# D72).     

金融政治经济学的新视野

各国的公司、信贷和证券市场制度差别很大。而且 ,即使同样的制度在各国的履行程度也不尽相同。经济学家还不能完全理解这种国际差别存在和继续存在的原因。站在金融政治经济学角度对上述问题进行研究 ,则能得出一系列十分具有解释力的经验性规律。金融政治经济学模型中 ,监管及其履行被看作是社会和经济团体之间权力调和的结果。本文分析了金融政治经济学在公司财务、银行业和证券市场三大领域中的应用。     

Marx and the Development of Critical Political Economy

Abstract

Although relevant analytical developments were provided over time by the critique of economic theory, they did not succeed in inhibiting the occurrence of a full-fledged revival of the neoclassical interpretation of capitalism. The development of critical economics and its capability of checking the influence of the dominant economic culture have been especially prejudiced by the failed integration between the analyses of Marx and Keynes. Following Keynes, once the ‘inducement to invest’ had been singled out as the central question for the explanation of output levels, one should have promptly acknowledged that on this very question Marx's analysis was significantly richer and more relevant than Keynes's—the richness and relevance of the former ultimately resting on the great attention Marx dedicated to the complex question of the influence of income distribution on the capitalists’ incentive to invest. It is argued in the article that through the study of this influence Marx succeeded in putting together the essential elements of a critical theory of effective demand, based on the principles and mechanisms that govern the distribution of income between profits and wages.     

Stephen Hymer: Life and the Political Economy of Multinational Corporate Capital

This paper provides a short account of Stephen Hymer's lifeand (its link to) his contribution to the theory of the multinationalenterprise (MNE), but mainly the political economy of multinationalcorporate capital. It suggests that as concerns the theory ofthe MNE, Hymer's contribution has in effect predated most currentextant theory. His contribution to the political economy ofmultinational capital, the focus here, is less known, yet ofextraordinary insight and foresight. Hymer predates most importantdebates on what today is called ‘globalisation’and came up with analysis of the highest quality and predictionswhich in the main have stood the test of time. The chief limitationin Hymer's work stems from a tendency to emphasise the monopolyattributes of large MNEs, and the inefficiency and inequityof ‘multinational corporate capital’. In part becauseof this tendency, some of his later work involved predictionsthat did not necessarily and/or fully follow from his analyticalframework, were shaped by ‘ideology’ and were ofvarying agrees of accuracy. Despite limitations, Hymer's overallcontribution and impact fully deserves the almost ‘cult’status he has acquired in the history of economic thought andinternational business scholarship.     

注资与国有银行改革:一个金融政治经济学的视角

本文旨在为人们解读国家通过注资方式推动国有银行改革的意图与绩效提供一个金融政治经济学的视角。其主要命题与观点大致有 :第一 ,政府推动下的银行改革有一个共同的特征 ,那就是一般都受到某种外部因素的刺激并追求短期见效的效果 ;第二 ,在微观经济基础未能得到有效调整的情况下 ,单方面改变银行资本结构的行动注定会无功而返 ;第三 ,国有银行制度在世界范围普遍存在 ,且不乏有效运作的例证 ,通过人为方式降低国有银行比例以提高整体银行效率是一种逻辑误导 ;第四 ,中国国有银行低效率运行的根源不在出资人本身 ,而在于出资人获取回报的特殊经济流程 ;第五 ,若考虑到被巴塞尔协议剔除的一些无形资产可以在国有银行的资本结构中得到确认 ,则国有银行出资人的资本压力就没有人们相象的那么大。本文的结论是 ,中国国有银行的问题是经济改革过程诸多矛盾与利益博弈的长期积淀 ,解决方案须基于演进主义的方法论 ,绝不可毕其功于一役。     

新农村建设:一个政治经济学视角的解析

新农村建设是对城乡经济社会发展不平衡的一个积极回应,它包含经济增长和社会发展两个层面.从政治经济学视角出发,在经济增长方面,户籍、土地、保障等制度性因素制约到农村劳动力的有效流转,从而对劳动生产率提升和农业发展产生负面影响;在社会福利方面,农民的数量优势没有转化为谈判优势,对市场价格和政策制定的影响力较小,其社会福利获取以及发展程度处于不利地位.据此,新农村建设必须对相关制度性、组织性因素进行完善和改革,部分农民的真正流转和留守农民的自发组织将尤其重要.     

德国视角下的欧洲社会模式

欧洲社会模式是欧洲一体化进程中一个十分重要而又颇具争议的问题。本文分析了欧盟社会政策取得的进展,福利国家面临的挑战,以及欧盟及其成员国的应对,在此基础上展望了欧洲社会模式的发展前景。