Sustainability of nations by indices: Comparative study between environmental sustainability index, ecological footprint and the emergy performance indices

The present work makes a comparison between the two most used environmental sustainability indices of nations: “ecological footprint” and “environmental sustainability index”, with two emergy ratios (renewability and emergy sustainability index). All of them are gaining space within the scientific community and government officials. Despite the efforts for obtaining an index that adequately represents the sustainability of a region, according to the result of this research, nowadays there is not yet a completely satisfactory index. We consider that all of them need to be improved, but the results point out the possibility of obtaining one better index of sustainability through the junction of ecological footprint with renewability emergy index.     

Models of Capitalism: Growth and Stagnation in the Modern Era

Recent years have seen increasingly aggressive expansion of extractive industry in the Andean-Amazonian region. Reminiscent of the film Avatar, this expansion drives conflicts over land, territory and political control of space. This expansion is occurring in both overtly neoliberal regimes and in self-consciously post-neoliberal ones. This essay documents the convergence among the different regimes' ways of governing extraction and socio-environmental conflicts. We draw on Executive level statements and policy positions as well as on statements by indigenous peoples' organisations. Among the reasons for this apparent convergence are: long-standing resource curse effects; the need to generate resources to finance social policy instruments that are integral to the governments' overall political strategies; power and information asymmetries among companies and governments; and international relations. The convergences among Bolivia, Ecuador and Peru regarding the governance of extraction and the conflicts that it catalyses suggests the need for great critical caution before using the terminology of post-neoliberalism.     

Ecology,Sustainability, and Care: Developments in the Field

Over the past three decades, scholars and activists have been attempting to enrich the field of economics with both feminist and ecological perspectives. This essay reviews some highlights of such efforts, describes the current state of the field (particularly in regard to notions of “care”), and introduces a short symposium.     

开矿对四川马边白家湾河流域植物多样性格局的影响

开矿导致地表植被破坏,并使植物群落结构发生改变。以零星矿井式开采的四川马边白家湾矿区为研究区域,通过群落调查,采用重要值和物种多样性指数,结合除趋势典范对应分析(DCCA)排序和多元回归进行数据分析,研究了开矿对植物多样性格局的影响。结果表明:(1)随着开矿干扰减弱,植物群落分为明显的四个群丛,依次由草本向灌木、乔木顺序演替;(2)开矿干扰与DCCA轴紧密相关,是影响植物多样性的重要环境因素,导致乔木层盖度变化且对多样性有直接影响;(3)群落间相似性与开矿干扰负相关,而物种替代速率与开矿干扰呈U型关系。     

Elite Decision Makers' Strategic Use of European Integration and Globalisation Discourses: Irish and Danish Banking Sector Reforms in the 1990s and 2000s

This article investigates decision makers' strategic use of European integration and globalisation discourses to justify and coordinate national sector reforms. This is done using the example of banking sector reforms in two small European Union (EU) member states, Ireland and Denmark. Two key arguments are put forward: (1) National governments' ability to make credible claims about their ability to influence the direction of European integration is crucial in enabling them to justify sector reforms. Thus, as a full member of the European Monetary Union (EMU), Irish decision makers are able to make credible claims about their influence on European financial integration, an option not available to Danish decision makers since Denmark is not a Eurozone member; (2) Globalisation comprises a particularly compelling set of discourses which enables decision makers to carry through sector reforms in line with European integration measures, even in the absence of national commitment to the latter. Discourses of globalisation have thus become ‘the last resort’ for Danish decision makers in justifying and coordinating reforms that are in line with EU regulations and recommendations.     

The Structural Power of Business and the Power of Ideas: The Strange Case of the Australian Mining Tax

In 2010 the Australian federal government fought and lost an intense and very public battle with the country's mining industry over the introduction of a new ‘super-profits’ tax. The proposed tax was withdrawn and the Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd, was removed from office. Why did the government lose this battle and what can this episode tell us about the nature and determinants of business power? We argue that business power is not an objective condition but is shaped subjectively and inter-subjectively. What counts in the power equation is not whether business investment is essential for growth or whether business will disinvest if a new tax is imposed, but whether actors believe this to be the case. One reason why the structural power of business varies is because actors’ normative and causal ideas about the value and determinants of business investment vary. In the Australian case ministers did not believe that the introduction of a new tax would jeopardise investment. Ministers did however come to believe that the mining industry had successfully persuaded a large number of voters that the introduction of a new tax would jeopardise investment, employment and growth. This is why the tax was eventually abandoned.     

Market Reform, Division of Labor, and Increasing Advantage of Small-Scale Enterprises: The Case of the Machine Tool Industry in China

Using survey data of machine tool manufacturing enterprises in China, this paper explores the effect of market reform on production efficiency by estimating a production function that includes dependence on purchased parts as an explanatory variable. According to the estimation results, the effect of purchased parts on production efficiency was insignificant in the early reform period but became significantly positive later. Further, we found that the dependence on purchased parts decreased with the size of enterprises, implying that the production efficiency became higher in smaller enterprises, including newly established township-village enterprises.     

农民农业领域创业脆弱性:关键成因、生成机理与应对策略

探索性提出了农民农业领域创业脆弱性的概念,揭示了创业脆弱性的关键成因及生成机理,在此基础上提出了降低创业脆弱性的应对策略。研究结果表明,多重风险冲击力度强、风险应对能力弱、风险损失程度高和损失恢复能力低是创业脆弱性的关键成因。创业脆弱性生成机理在于以自然风险、市场风险和技术风险为表征的多重风险冲击及以事前风险防范能力和事后风险应对能力为表征的风险应对能力,可通过分别作用于以产量损失、品质损失、资产损失、收益损失为表征的风险损失及以信贷资源获取能力和预防性储蓄支撑能力为表征的损失恢复能力,并产生综合效应,进而影响创业脆弱性水平。最后,从加强风险监测预报预警、完善风险应对机制、加强金融干预和完善支撑配套机制角度,提出创业脆弱性的应对策略。     

How Political Institutions Determine Corporate Governance Reforms: The Polity,Law and Corporate Practices in the Case of Switzerland

The aim of this article is to contribute to our understanding of the role that political institutions play in the reform processes of national corporate governance regimes. I argue that existing theories are limited in that they conceive of political institutions' impact on corporate governance largely in terms of a deterministic influence on the political coalitions that emerge and on the policy outcomes. Based on the analysis of the paradigmatic case of a consensual democracy – Switzerland – I show that the consensual polity does not directly determine the outcome of a reform process, but rather the direction of causality between legal changes and changes in practices as well as the nature of the changes. Consensual polities require large parliamentary majorities for legal change to happen. Therefore, corporate practices are likely to change before legal rules and less demanding forms of institutional change, such as ‘layering’, are favoured.     

基于农户小规模经营下的农业现代化发展机制与路径选择——以黑龙江省水稻生产为例

文章以黑龙江省水稻生产为例,以实际调研数据,通过Logit模型对农户选择稻米质量安全技术的影响因素进行实证分析,探讨了农户小规模经营下的农业现代化发展机制与路径选择。提出在现有农户小规模经营下,必须加强产业化建设,促进农业生产组织形式创新;进一步落实粮食补贴制度,走以工补农道路;加强农业生产技术的创新与推广的农业现代化道路。     

Struggle for Survival in the Deregulated Market: Re-commodification and Informalisation of the Taxi Sector in Stockholm

This paper investigates the process of the informalization of the Swedish taxi industry, focusing on how this process has been manifested in Stockholm’s taxi market. This process has been analysed partly in its particular, local and sector-specific context, as it has been affected by the deregulation of the taxi sector, and partly in its relationship to the broader context of economic and political changes to which all contemporary capitalistic (welfare) states are exposed. This study raises questions about actual common sense discourses on the issue of irregularities in the taxi industry, and offers an alternative perspective both on the ongoing process of informalization, and on the role of various economic actors in that process, including the state.     

The Global Economic Crisis and Migrant Workers: The Case of the Construction Sector in Europe

This paper examines the employment response of native and migrant workers over the business cycle in the construction sectors of European countries between 2008 and 2011. Using a dynamic model (Generalized Method of Moments), which accounts for ‘intergroup substitutability’, we observe that differences in the cyclical employment patterns of migrants and natives in the construction sector may be due to a potential selection of EU and non-EU migrants who are disproportionately prone to cyclical fluctuations in temporary jobs or a higher turnover rate.     

供应商集中、公司治理与企业价值 ——基于我国A股制造业上市公司数据

本文通过选取2010—2017年我国A股制造业上市公司的数据,先研究公司供应商集中对于公司价值的直接影响,结论显示公司供应商集中对于企业价值有着负面的影响;然后在进一步研究中,探究了公司治理相关因素以及面临的融资约束情况对于公司供应商集中与公司价值关系的调节作用。实证结果显示,产权性质以及董事会独立性会对两者的关系产生影响;股东间的相互关联以及对于高管薪酬激励都对公司供应商集中与公司价值的关系有着负向的调节作用。与此同时公司面临的融资约束越小,公司供应商集中对于公司价值的负面效应越弱;最后利用多重中介效应模型探究了供应商集中的作用机制。     

The Impact of the EU ETS on Prices,Profits and Emissions in the Power Sector: Simulation Results with the COMPETES EU20 Model

This paper analyses the impact of the EU Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) on electricity prices, in particular on wholesale power markets across the EU. To study this impact, this paper discusses the major results of a bottom-up modelling analysis of the implications of emissions trading for the performance of the wholesale power market in 20 European countries. The analyses show that a significant part of the costs of (freely allocated) CO₂ emission allowances is passed through to power prices, resulting in higher electricity prices for consumers and additional (‘windfall’) profits for power producers, even in cases of full auctioning. In addition, they show that the ETS-induced increases in power prices depend not only on the level of CO₂ prices but also on the structure of the power market, i.e., the incidence of market power, and the price responsiveness of power demand. Finally, the analyses show that the internalization and pass-through of carbon costs are crucial elements in a policy regime to reduce CO₂ emissions by both changing the mix of power generation technologies and lowering total electricity demand.     

转轨进程中国有企业改革与财政约束关系研究——补贴还是课税

财政约束硬化是国有企业转换机制的重要前提条件,但是经济转轨国家的实践表明,财政约束硬化在大部分转轨国家都没有做到。尽管产权学论者和外部环境论者都给出了自己的解释,但都不说明政府为什么对硬化国有企业财政约束“知而不能为之”的原因。文章通过建立了政府、国有企业和民营企业三者间动态博弈模型研究发现,政府对国有企业预算约束是“软”或“硬”不能简单地一概而论,财政对国有企业的预算是“硬”还是“软”内生于经济体制改革的进程和改革的方式选择,以及国有企业本身的竞争能力。因此,转轨国家应该考虑国有企业自身竞争能力情况,在改革不同阶段采取灵活的财政手段,保证转轨过程中全社会福利水平的提高,从而顺利推进国有企业改革的进行。     

Challenges for International Economic Policy Coordination in EMU: Institutional Setting, Financial Market Reactions and the Importance of Systemic Risk

The launch of the euro and, with it, the institutional framework that has been established are raising a number of important issues for the co-ordination of policies, not only within EMU, but also with countries outside the euro area. This paper looks at some of the challenges that the institutions and processes put in place for conducting policy in the euro area pose for international co-ordination. More precisely, it assesses whether there are risks that the new institutional arrangements may generate more imbalanced policies than earlier, thereby creating negative international spillovers. This paper also discusses whether these arrangements may create new systemic risks in international financial markets.Counsellor for Macroeconomic Policies     

Neoliberalism and Class Reproduction in India: The Political Economy of Privatisation in the Mineral Sector in the Indian State of Orissa

Abstract

Recent years have witnessed a process of integration of the Indian Union within the new international economic order, characterised by the ascendance of neoliberalism. Orissa, historically one of the Indian states mostly affected by severe poverty and economic stagnation though richly endowed with natural resources, has enthusiastically endorsed the neo-liberal project, implementing all the relevant national policies related to it. In the last 15 years, while the economic policy of the State of Orissa has been thus increasingly shaped according to the neoliberal guidelines recommended by the Centre, the disturbing socio-economic scenario of the State has not changed significantly. This paper aims to highlight how specific power relations in the State of Orissa are reproducing themselves in the course of the transition of the Indian Union towards the neoliberal order. This paper aims to consider as an example of this process the privatisation policies in the mining sector, namely the main economic sector of Orissa. Moving from the fundamental role historically played by Orissa within the Indian Union as a supplier of raw materials to the pan-Indian market, the paper intends to highlight the rentier character of the Orissan dominant class, traditionally capable of performing a basic intermediary function in the provision of raw materials to the Indian market. Once taken into account the socio-economic role historically played by the local dominant class in Orissa within the context of the wider capitalist dynamics at work at the all-Indian level, the paper will focus on the scenario which came into being since the start of the neoliberal economic reforms in 1991. The major shifts in the mineral policy at the central level since 1991 will be taken into account and, within this context, the implementation of privatisation policy in the mineral sector in Orissa will be analysed, with special reference its socio-economic implications. The paper aims to highlight the way in which the State of Orissa has broadened its traditional role, becoming an important supplier of raw material not only to the all-Indian market, but to the international market in general. It will be argued as well that, in continuity with the past, the intermediary function of the local dominant class in this process has remained fundamental. Therefore the paper aims to argue that the current scenario supports the proposition that the unfolding of neoliberal dynamics in Orissa opened the way for the creation of new spaces of social reproduction for the local dominant class and, with them, for the reproduction of old relations of power and social domination in the State.     

休克疗法与制度移植:新的争论以及1806年后普鲁士和西南德国改革的启示

经济学界关于休克疗法和渐进主义的争论又有了新的发展,这一次是有关发展中和新兴国家的。法国大革命及其对其他欧洲国家的影响,已经作为一个历史案例,在讨论大爆炸改革策略的优缺点时被屡屡提及。文章为1806年后普鲁士和西南德国改革之间的比较提供了一个特别有趣的历史案例研究,这到目前为止并未得到应有的重视。这个案例研究将揭示社会转型过程中经济和政治之间的深层次互动,因而对不同的经济改革策略的评价不能也不应该脱离对政治初始条件的考量。从最近的改革经验来看,一个特别有趣的发现是,普鲁士可能提供了第一个政府被东易北容克(East-Elbian Junkers)俘获的历史案例。