Ethnic Enclavisation and State Formation In Kosovo

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Earnings Differentials among Ethnic Groups in Canada: A Review of the Research

Canada has a large foreign-born population with an increasingly diverse ethnic profile. The 1986 Employment Equity Act designated ''visible minorities,'' Aboriginal peoples, women, and disabled persons as facing labor market disadvantages. This review of a growing body of research on ethnic earning differentials shows that the sizeable earnings shortfall of Aboriginal peoples could be ''explained'' by their lesser endowments of work-related characteristics. The high variance in discrimination estimates among men can be traced to the treatment of immigration effects, aggregation of diverse ethnic groups, and the choice of the non-discriminatory earnings norm.     

Violent conflict and economic growth: Some time-series evidence

This paper uses time-series methods to examine interrelationships between growth and violent conflict in Sub-Saharan Africa. Results show bidirectional causalities, but the key determinant of conflict risk is prior conflict experience, not fluctuations in economic growth.     

Agents' evaluations and the disparity in measures of economic loss

Recent studies have revealed a large and unexpected disparity between willingness-to-pay and compensation-demanded measures of economic loss. Further evidence of this difference is presented here, together with the results of a series of survey and real money exchange experiments which indicate that when advisors evaluate entitlements on behalf of third parties the variation between the measures is far less than is shown by individuals acting on their own behalf. Given the wide dependence on agents, a finding that they may weigh losses differently from people they act for suggests that agents' choices may compromise welfare positions.     

山东省区域经济差异研究

将山东省划分为东、中、西三大经济区域,分析了1995-2011年山东省三大区域经济的三大产业、GDP以及泰尔指数,将定量和定性分析方法相结合来评价山东省三大区域的经济差异现状。结果显示：山东省三大区域的经济差异在逐年扩大后趋于平稳,区域间差距比区域内部差距的扩大速度更快是造成区域差异大的主要原因。并在此基础上提出相关建议：对经济差异的调控应以缩小区域间的差异为重点;同时,加强各区域经济中心的建设,更好地发挥经济中心对周围各区县的辐射效应和带动作用等。     

Weintraub's consumption coefficient: some economic implications and evidence for the UK

Weintraub's consumption coefficient, the ratio of total consumerexpenditure to income from employment, helps to elucidate trendsin the sectoral and functional distributions of income. It simplifiesand adds precision to Kaleckian macroeconomics by showing howdistributions of income affect the level of economic activity.Empirical estimates of the coefficient are presented for theUK from 1972 to 1995. From 1975 onwards, the coefficient hasindicated a marked redistribution of income in favour of capitalist(non-employment) income, accompanied by a significant rise inthe average propensity to consume from capitalist (non-employmentincome). Wealth effects induced by the housing boom of the 1980shave enabled capitalists' income and consumption to continueto increase after 1989 despite a fall in investment.     

持久收入假说与我国城镇居民消费——基于省级面板数据的实证分析

运用基于持久收入和暂时收入的两种分解方法的省际面板模型检验持久收入假说的三个假设.结果发现,我国城镇居民消费与持久收入和暂时收入均存在显著的相关关系,暂时收入的边际消费倾向不为零;就诸省份而言,暂时收入的边际消费倾向不同.进一步探讨了持久收入假说不能完全解释我国城镇居民消费行为的原因."λ假说"检验表明,城镇居民消费对当期收入过度敏感,其呈现理性化趋势.     

Institutional obstacles to African economic development: State, ethnicity, and custom

To account for the African growth tragedy and, in particular, for its causes rooted in governance problems, the institutional legacy that African countries inherited from pre-colonial and colonial times must be considered. Three aspects are examined here. First, the relationship between ethnicity and state performance is bi-directional: if strong ethno-regional identities prevent the emergence of modern citizenship, they themselves constitute an endogenous outcome of continuous state failures. Second, the persistence of informal rules and social norms causes legal dualism, which undermines the credibility of modern statutory law. Third, social customs and norms that hinder socio-economic differentiation and individual capital accumulation lower the performance of indigenous enterprises.     

Understanding the demand-side of economic change: a contribution to formal evolutionary theorizing

An outstanding fact of capitalist change in the last few centuries is the ongoing emergence of new consumption alternatives which accompany income and productivity growth in expanding economies. Far from satiating consumers, exponential economic growth seems to stimulate human desires by providing novelty and variety embodied in a persuasive flow of unsettling goods. Although this is a well-known fact characteristic of capitalist change, little attention has been paid by modern growth theorists to the understanding of demand-side phenomena related to the increasing significance of consumption activities in our societies. Against this background, in this article, we show that as soon as we start drawing the demand-side contour of economic change, new phenomena appear which enrich our understanding of economic growth and structural change. By using ‘replicator dynamics’ systems, consumption dynamics are formally linked to the ongoing generation of innovations in capitalist economies. Certain emergent properties concerning economic growth and structural change and several policy implications follow.     

Comparative performances of measures of consumer and economic sentiment in forecasting consumption: a multi-country analysis

ABSTRACT

This paper seeks to compare the capabilities of assorted measures of consumer and economic sentiment in predicting the growth of household expenditure. An analysis of quarterly data on five European countries shows that for none of these can the model which incorporates the EU’s headline consumer confidence indicator be deemed to be significantly inferior to any of its seven rivals. However, the rankings of the sentiment variables are seen to be influenced by: the proportion of total spending by households that is devoted to durable goods; and the nature of the behaviour of consumption over the forecast interval.     

Institutions of conflict management and economic growth revisited: a short note

We study the effects of institutions of conflict management like corporatism, trust, civic norms and group membership on economic growth. By employing Schneider and Wagner’s (Kyklos 54:509–532, 2001) model and data from 1990–2011, we show that corporatism has (still) a positive coordination effect and a negative rent-seeking effect. The total effect is positive for most countries.     

Analysis on regional disparity of economic development in China based on DEA

The economy of China has been developing fast after the beginning of the new century, but the 31 provinces or municipalities （excluding Hong Kong, Taiwan and Macao） develop disparately. So, finding an appropriate way to analyze and compare the economic situations of various regions is of great significance for the balanced development of the east coastal area and the hinterland. With the DEA method, on the basis of regionalism, this paper analyzes various regions of China, and gets the conclusion that the effective proportion of DEA of the coastal developed areas is relatively higher, and the extremely tittle foreign investment makes the relative efficiency of DEA of frontier areas pretty high. In addition, through the analysis parameters of the regions where DEA is relatively ineffective, this paper points out that the surplus labor force is the most influential factor, and the spare foreign investment is the main reason for the lack of efficiency of relatively developed regions.     

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.     

The unequal distribution of economic education: A report on the race,ethnicity, and gender of economics majors at U.S. colleges and universities

Economic education is distributed unequally. Among U.S. undergraduates, women and underrepresented minority students collectively major in economics at 0.36 the rate that white, non-Hispanic men do. The authors establish a definition of full inclusion in economic education and use that definition to evaluate the status quo and to compare institutions. A companion resource, hosted by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, provides interactive access to the data to attract and inform the attention of economists, university administrators, and others. The authors explain why the need to improve the distribution of economic education is urgent, including the imperative to support economic policymaking. Lastly, they point the way forward, identifying currently available resources and reasonable next steps for all involved parties to take.     

Model uncertainty,economic development,and welfare costs of business cycles

Some researchers argue that the welfare gains from eliminating consumption fluctuations for the United States are not small once model uncertainty is taken into account. This paper presents new evidence on the welfare gains from eliminating model uncertainty using a data set from a broad range of countries. It quantifies exactly the effect of model uncertainty on the welfare gains using an analytical formula. The results indicate that most countries derive much larger gains from the reduction of model uncertainty compared with the United States. Countries at higher stages of economic development tend to have lower welfare gains because their gains from eliminating model uncertainty become smaller. This relationship does not depend on country size or trade openness.     

适度消费与环境保护

本文从经济活动的消费入手,揭示过度消费对环境造成的巨大危害并分析其原因,进而提出适度消费的观点和实行适度消费的两点建议。     

Theories of practice — New inspiration for ecological economic studies on consumption

The dynamics behind ever-increasing consumption have long been a core issue of ecological economics. Studies on this topic have traditionally drawn not only on insights from economics, but also from such disciplines as sociology, anthropology and psychology. In recent years, a practice theory approach has emerged in sociological consumption studies, as part of a general wave of renewed interest in practice theory emanating from a desire to move beyond such dominant dualisms as the structure-actor opposition in sociology. The purpose of this paper is to introduce the practice theory approach in relation to studies of everyday life, domestic practices and consumption, and to argue that this approach can be fruitful for ecological economics and other fields interested in the environmental aspects of consumption. The paper emphasizes the immense challenge involved in promoting sustainable consumption, and the need for collective efforts supported by research into the co-evolution of domestic practices, systems of provision, supply chains and production.     

消费模式转型:国际金融危机视角下的反思

美国长期奉行的过度消费模式是本次国际金融危机的重要诱因.这种过度消费模式的形成既有其传统习惯的原因,也有其理论渊源和政府政策的引导.反观中国的消费模式,尽管已经发生或正在经历转型,但总体来说还是一种谨慎型消费,正是这种谨慎型消费,成为了中国抵御本次国际金融危机的一道屏障.在国际金融危机背景下中国应加快消费转型的步伐,大力促进适度消费,以实现经济又好又快发展.     

Election cycles and mining-sector governance in post-conflict Kosovo

Political business cycles are typically linked to the manipulation of fiscal or monetary policy instruments. In a recent article, Imami, Lami and Uberti (ILU) argue that opportunistic politicians may also choose to manipulate non-fiscal/non-monetary policy instruments. Here, we extend ILU’s study using time-series data on mining-sector licensing from post-conflict Kosovo (2001–2018). We find robust evidence that is consistent with electoral opportunism in the allocation of mining permits, despite the checks-and-balance mechanisms introduced by Kosovo’s international administrators in an attempt to reduce the politicisation of licensing. That said, the cycle effect is only observed prior to scheduled, as opposed to early, elections. Disaggregating the data by licence type, in addition, we find that the observed election cycle is driven primarily by the manipulation of licences for the mining of construction materials. We argue that, in the context of post-conflict Kosovo, this is the category of licences whose strategic manipulation offers the greatest pay-off to the incumbent. The results raise some questions about the feasibility of fighting political opportunism (and, relatedly, corruption) by establishing formal check-and-balance mechanisms.