Market alternative to state activism in restoring the capitalist economy

The theory of economic transition is concerned less with the end product of building a capitalist economy than with intermediate solutions and the appropriate pace of institutional change. This article advances theoretical arguments on the advantages of a self-grown, evolutionary restoration of the capitalist economy in Eastern Europe or any country abandoning the socialist experiment.The article develops the point that of the two basic methods of setting up an economic order—the state or a market-type mechanism—only the latter can assure the emergence of a genuine, complete market. Further, it suggests that markets with self-interested individual actors at the center are not only superior to states in the allocation of scarce resources, be they economic or political, but are also the best vehicle for institution building.     

Prospects for the world economy in the 1980's

Judged by the conventional measures of the growth of output and trade, of inflation and unemployment, the economic performance of the industrial countries has undergone a marked deterioration in recent years. It is now feared that a further deterioration could take place over the next decade leading to ever greater pressures within and between countries. In this Briefing Paper we attempt to measure the changes that have taken place, to identify their timing and the proximate causes. On the basis of recent developments and a historical perspective we try to judge the prospects for the 1980's.     

新都市主义与房地产郊区化——以上海市为例

从新都市主义的设计理念作为切入点,阐明了新都市主义在住区规划设计与实践中所倡导的重视生态平衡、邻里设计、构筑复合社区、文化资源保护等思想;分析了上海市房地产郊区化发展的动力作用机制;阐述了新都市主义对上海市房地产郊区化可持续发展的启示.     

新城市主义产生的背景与借鉴

通过对新城市主义思潮产生的社会、文化背景以及理论渊源的剖析,结合我国城市发展的现状,从城市化过程的视角,探讨了作为20世纪90年代以后的城市建设思潮——新城市主义对我国城市发展的借鉴意义。     

Education,training and the economy

Report* on an international conference on “Human Capital Investments and Economic Performance”, Santa Barbara, California, November 1993     

后现代的新城市主义与中国城市规划

讨论了现代主义、后现代主义与新城市主义在城市规划领域的思想核心和主要观点,结合中国城市规划的特点,从城市规划各个方面探讨了新城市主义对中国城市规划的启示,并论述了新城市主义在中国应用的实际与前景.     

Towards a political economy of urbanization in peripheral capitalist societies: problems of theory and method with illustrations from Latin America*

Les travaux théoriques récents en urbanisation ont tendance à supposer que les conditions historiques du capitalisme avancé sont universelles. Un objectif de cet article est d'aller à l'encontre de cette idée préconçue en démontrant la spécificité historique du capitalisme dans les sociétés sous-développées. Cette explication préliminaire est structurée autour de quatre éléments fondamentaux: i) la conquête et l'intégration dans une économic capitaliste mondiale; ii) l'impossibilité d'une accumulation industrielle autochtone; iii) un développement capitaliste sans transformation capitaliste; iv) l'impossibilité d'un développement socialiste sans un désengagement structurel de l'économie capitaliste mondiale. Il est proposé dans le contexte d'un capitalisme sous-développé, que ces quatre éléments fournissent une base nécéssaire et fondamentale pur toutes analyses futures de la problématique urbaine et régionale. Dans la seconde partie de cet article une évaluation critique est faite des diverses interprétations du processus d'urbanisation. Les travaux sur l'Amérique Latine qui relient la théorie de dépendance aux thèmes urbains ont droit à une attention particulière, et il est proposé qu'un problème majeur existe dans le peu d'attention donné à l'impérialisme et à la périodisation de l'accumulation du capital dans les sociétés capitalistes sous-développées. En dernier, quelques suggestions sont faites pour l'analyse de l'urbanisation péruvienne d'après-guerre. L'accent est porté sur la formulation d'une méthode théorique qui puisse intégrer la concentration spatiale accélérée du capital et de la main-d'?uvre à l'intérieure d'un processus généralisé de pénétration impérialiste et de développement capitaliste combiné et inégal.     

Capital gains tax V. the venture capitalist

Does Capital Gains Tax frustrate the venture capitalist? Anthony joy, of CINVen, argues that CGT mesns that individual entreneurs suffer while companies go free of tax.     

Britain,EMU and the European economy

In January 1999, 11 member countries of the European Union ‘irrevocably’ locked the foreign exchange values of their currencies to the euro, and they committed themselves to abandon their currencies in favour of the euro in 2002. As a result, these countries ceased to operate independent monetary policies. Monetary policy for the whole euro‐zone became the responsibility of the European Central Bank (ECB), whose primary objective is to maintain a low and stable rate of price inflation for the euro currency. The rules governing Economic and Monetary Union (EMU) were laid down in the treaty of Maastricht in 1992. As conditions for entry to EMU, the treaty specified ‘convergence criteria’ which consisted of upper limits for several macroeconomic aggregates including, notably, a 3 per cent maximum for the ratio of the public sector deficit to GDP and 60 per cent for the ratio of public debt to GDP.1 In February 1998 the 11 applicant countries submitted statistical analyses relating to their satisfaction of these conditions. Despite doubts as to whether some of them had strictly met the conditions, the European Commission deemed them all eligible, and the euro was launched.2 The British government, though more clearly eligible than most other EU countries on the basis of the convergence criteria, decided to defer its decision on entry. In this paper we consider the arguments for and against Economic and Monetary Union, and in particular whether it would be in Britain’s interest to join. We begin with a brief review of the state of the European economy and an analysis of the first year performance of the new Euro currency. 1 Upper limits were also set on the rate of inflation, at 1.5 percentage points above the average inflation rate of the three countries whose inflation was the lowest, and on long term interest rates, at 2 percentage points above the average of the rates prevailing in the three low inflation countries. An additional condition applied to exchange rate stability relative to the EU average for the two years prior to entry.
1 Notable cases were Belgium and Italy with debt to GDP ratios of 122.2 per cent and 121.6 per cent, respectively. Presumably, these countries were allowed membership under Article 104c(2) of the treaty which allows the debt to GDP ratio to be exceeded if ‘. . . the ratio is sufficiently diminishing and approaching 60 per cent at a satisfactory pace’. The reader is left to judge whether Belgium and Italy fell within the ‘spirit’ of this article.
     

Britain, the EU and the global economy

Britain should retain a global outlook in its political and economic affairs. Whilst recognising her proximity to and trade relations with Europe, it is argued that in order to compete on the world stage Britain should adopt a more flexible economy along American lines as a contrast to the European model. Importantly, this means retaining economic and political sovereignty.     

Venture capitalist participation and the post-issue operating performance of IPO firms

Previous studies have identified the value-added potential of venture capitalist monitoring in the initial public offering (IPO) market. We test this proposition by comparing the post-issue operating performance of venture capitalist-backed IPOs with a matched sample of non-venture capitalist-backed IPOs. We find that venture capitalist-backed IPO firms exhibit relatively superior post-issue operating performance compared to non-venture capital-backed IPO firms. Further, the market appears to recognize the value of monitoring by venture capitalists as reflected in the higher valuations at the time of the IPO. Finally, we find that proxies for the quality of venture capitalist monitoring are positively related to post-issue operating performance.     

土地使用与交通的整合:新城市主义和理性增长

文章的主要目标是评论美国交通与土地利用整合的实践,同时试图针对中国的城市规划实践提出建议.文章由三个部分组成.第一部分介绍城市理性增长作为区域尝试来促进土地利用与交通的整合;第二部分简要评述用以土地利用和交通整合的定量模型和评价可以用于土地利用与交通整合的指标体系;第三部分介绍新城市主义.     

新城市主义与现代住区规划

我国当前城市住区规划建设中存在着一系列突出问题,这些问题违背了我国现代住区建设的目标要求.分析了国外新城市主义的规划设计思想和理念,指出其具有多方面的积极价值,可以为我国的住区规划建设提供有益启示.     

世界本就如此

一个小孩正在河边走着,忽然看到水边有一只陷在网里的鳄鱼。鳄鱼也看到了男孩,求道：“你能可怜可怜我,把我救出去吗？     

Trade policies in Central Asia after EU enlargement and before Russian WTO accession: Regionalism and integration into the world economy

This paper analyses the choices between regionalism and multilateralism, and the impact of WTO membership on the five Central Asian countries. The two main sections analyse (1) why the large number of regional trade agreements signed by the Central Asian countries had little economic impact, and (2) the consequences for these countries of WTO accession. The Central Asian countries’ relationship to the WTO became more pressing after China's WTO accession in December 2001 and with imminent Russian accession. The push towards regionalism is also affected by external events, such as the introduction of the euro, and the EU's eastward expansion in 2004.