Fan＇s Pork and Sauce and KFC

“樊记腊汁肉”不再姓樊 2011年5月24日,这一天,在西安人嘴里,变成了一包五味杂陈的怪味豆。从这一天起,誉满天下的,让西安人充满了自豪感的地方风味名小吃,荣获商业部“金鼎奖”金牌小吃,“樊记腊汁肉”从此不姓樊了。     

Japan＇s Bubble,the USA＇s Bubble and China＇s Bubble

This paper compares the three recent episodes of boom and bust cycles in asset prices: Japan in the late 1980s to the 1990s; the USA since the mid‐1990s; and China during the past decade. Although we have not yet seen a collapse of Chinese property prices, their increases so far are comparable to those in the other two episodes and a careful comparative study is warranted. The present paper first examines the behavior of asset prices, of property prices in particular, in the three cases, and highlights some similarities. The paper emphasizes the role played by extremely easy monetary policy in generating bubble‐like asset price behavior in the three cases. The reason for easy monetary policies is investigated. In the US case, the monetary authority was concerned about the risk of deflation in the early to mid‐2000s. The experiences of Japan and China are quite similar in that the monetary authorities of both countries were seriously concerned about the possible deflationary effects of exchange rate appreciation on the economy. The implications of such a finding for the future of Chinese macroeconomic policy are discussed.     

China＇s Labor Transition and the Future of China＇s Rural Wages and Employment

This paper contributes to the assessment of China＇s rural labor markets. According to our data, the increase in off-farm employment that China experienced during the 1980s and 1990s continued during the 2000s. Our analysis shows that migration has become the most prevalent off-farm activity, although the destination of migrants is shifting from outside of one＇s province to destinations closer to home. The present paperfinds that large shares of male and female individuals, especially those under 40 years, are working off the farm. These findings represent an important contribution to the labor economics field. First, the results of the present paper reveal that the labor transition from the agricultural sector to the non-agricultural sector for key segments of China＇s rural labor force is nearly complete. Second, although a large share of China ＂s rural labor force work in agriculture, most of these workers are older men and women （and likely would not be willing to take low-wage, labor-intensive jobs）. Third, the rising unskilled wage rate in China is partially a result of the tightening of the labor force in the young age cohorts. Finally, due to factors associated with the one child policy and other demographic transition forces, successive age cohorts will continue to fall in absolute number in the coming decade. Assuming China＇s growth continues, we expect to see further wage increases since it will take higher wages to coax more workers to work off the farm.     

Global Quota System and China＇s Textile and Clothing Industry

I. Introduction As a developing country, textile and clothing goods remain one of the most important sources of China’s exports since the opening up to the outside world and economic reform at the end of the 1970s. The contribution of textile and clothing exports to China’s total exports hit its record in the middle of the 1980s. In 1987, the share of these two types of goods in China’s total exports was 31.13 percent. From 1986 to 1995, their share in China’s exports was more than 30 pe…     

Problems and Countermeasures for Present China＇s Independent Board of Directors＇ System

The independent director system has implemented in Chinese mainland listed companies and has achieved much progress, but there are still many problems to be solved in present system, such as the qualification define of independent directors, their selection methods, information symmetry, serving number restriction and remuneration, and so on. How the problems come out and how to solve them？ This paper puts forward some idea including ensuring the qualification of independent directors, reforming their selection methods, increasing the ratio of independent directors in the Board of Directors, reducing the number which independent directors serve for, redefining their mission and establishing organizations of their own.     

China＇s Outward Direct and Portfolio Investments

This paper analyzes developments and trends related to China's outward direct and financial investments by examining Chinese firms’overseas acquisitions, China's holdings of US Treasury securities, and the recently formally launched Qualified Domestic Institutional Investor programs. Strategies should be developed to reach optimal decisions for both direct and portfolio investments. We argue that China should have a longer‐term view for both direct and portfolio investments, enabling China to become the leader in Asia while maintaining its sustainable growth objective. China should invest heavily in the development of the Asian bond market and the Asian Currency Fund when making both portfolio and direct investment decisions.     

China＇s Foreign Trade and Investment： An Overview and Analysis

This study discusses the current development of China‘s trade and investment and their related issues. It presents data consistent with the hypothesis that Chinese firms try, to overcome market impediments, such as capital account inconvertibility and differential tax treatment between foreign and domestic firms, through trade and investment. Various challenges and opportunities related to China‘s future trade and investment are also discussed.     

China＇s Regional Disparity and Its Export-oriented Policy

This paper studies the trend of change of China＇s regional disparity using Theil index and finds that the regional disparity decreases from 1978 to 1991 and increases rapidly from 1992, but the inter-regional disparities always increase. Furthermore, we show that the export-oriented policies have made important influences in China＇s regional disparity. Under the existing polices and growth pattern of China, the interior areas have little opportunity to attract FDI and the regional disparity will not decrease unless China＇s government changes its export-oriented polices.     

China＇s Economic Prospects and Sino-US Economic Relations

A better comprehension of the mixed sentiment in the rest of world towards the rapid rise of the Chinese economy will depend on the understanding of some key features of the Chinese economy, such as those associated with its size, structure and institution. To further sustain its high growth, China is facing more challenges than it has encountered in the past 2 decades, including a gamut of material constraints. Although polices and technological progress might alleviate many of these constraints, the ultimate solution will still lie in continued institutional reform. China's recent move towards a more flexible exchange rate regime is in line with its broad reform and in accordance with the progress of its development. However, such a move will have limited immediate effects on the prodigious US trade deficit, which itself is a problem rooted in the flawed international reserve system, far beyond a Sino‐US trade issue. Edited by Xiaoming Feng     

Transition of China＇s Diplomacy and Foreign Relations

The present paper focuses on the transformation of China＇s foreign affairs. The transformation is closely associated with and mutually reinforced by the developmental changes that have taken place in China. China＇s strong economic focus has had a profound effect on its foreign relations and international strategies. With sustained growth over the past three decades （1978-2008）, China has become an important member of the world community. In particular, its influence has been growing in the Asia-Pacific area. China＇s unique developmental model and path are recognized and scrutinized worldwide. The present paper discusses special aspects of foreign aid and also explores the changes in principles of and approaches taken in the application of foreign aid policies. Under dual external and internal pressure, China has to constantly adjust, renew and improve its approach to diplomatic and international relations.     

Income and Price Elasticities of China＇s Exports

The appearance of new product varieties and improvements in the quality of goods have both played key roles in the rapid growth of China's exports. However, these two important elements have not been formally integrated into the demand equations for China's exports. As we demonstrate in this paper, income elasticity will be underestimated if new varieties of goods and quality improvements are omitted in price index and quantity index calculations, which are necessary for estimating the export demand function. Moreover, the faster new product varieties enter export markets, the greater the underestimation will be. In this paper, we develop an export demand equation that takes into account new product varieties and improvements in quality, and then calculate the demand function for China's exports using the data from 1992 to 2006. According to our estimation, the short‐term income elasticity of demand for China's exports is approximately 2.34, and the short‐term price elasticity is approximately –0.65. Our estimation predicts an increase in China's export value in the case of an RMB appreciation or export rebate rates reduction in the short term, due to the low price elasticity of China's exports, whose absolute value is less than 1. Our findings are novel and could have significant policy implications.     

Character of Chinese bankers＇ market and theoretical explanation

Chinese bankers have the characters of shifting between governments and banks departments, between different banks, promotion out of sudden as well as the ever-increasing fraud events. All the existent documents are displaying the shortcomings of Chinese bankers＇ systems. Their explanations give us the deep-root results and they plausibility besides convincing us that the evolution of commercialization of the Chinese bankers will be a long process.     

China＇s Pension Reform and Capital Market Development

The paper analyzes the interaction between the pension system and capital market development, especially the case of China. A funded pension system is most likely to boost the capital market, but in the absence of a supportive financial infrastructure and effective financial regulation, a funded system will not be successful. China‘s determination to establish a partially funded system is afirst step in the right direction, but without the separation of individual accounts from the social pooling and their replenishment, the working out of the implicit pension debt, and improvements in pension fund management and regulation, the pension system will not be sustainable. The key to capital market development in the process of the pension reform is to enact laws to protect the interests of pensioners, to contract out pension fund management to professional asset managers, and to accelerate the financial opening.     

China＇s Industrialization and Reduction of Greenhouse Emissions

Over the past two decades, the size of the Chinese economy has more than quadrupled and the energy consumption more than doubled. The drive for further industrialization over the next two decades will continue the trend on a much larger scale. The net increase in emissions from 1990 to 2001 amounted to 823 million tons of COy accounting for 27 percent of the world‘s total. Energy supply and security constitute key constraints to industrialization and,therefore, the mitigation of emissions can in fact contribute to the achievement of development goals. Many actions can be taken to balance industrialization and reduction of emissions.As a large and rapidly growing market, China shares many opportunities with European partners for business cooperation and joint efforts for the reduction of emissions through clean development mechanisms and other bilateral initiatives.     

China＇s Regional Disparity and Its Policy Responses

The fruits of China＇s rapid economic development over the 3 decades have not been distributed fairly across different regions. Using data from a sample of 815 Chinese listed firrns during 1998-2004, our error-correction investment model showes evidence of different financial constraints on firms＇ investment in different regions. We argue that China＇s regional development policies have contributed greatly to the regional inequalities. To control the rising inequality, China has shifted its focus from the coast to the interior regions. However, it is becoming increasingly difficult for the government to direct the economy, as market mechanisms now have afar greater influence on the economy than the government does. The people-centered approach of the current leadership has meant that substantial attention has been placed on regional development disparities in an attempt to build a ＂harmonious society. ＂ China needs further extensive reforms if all the measures for reducing regional disparity are to be effective.     

Effectiveness and Effects of China＇s Capital Controls

Reductions in barriers to global trade have not been accompanied by a widespread loosening of restrictions on international flows of capital, especially in China. This study shows that China has some of the most restrictive controls and uses them effectively to bias flows of cross-border capital heavily in favor of foreign direct investment (FDI) and limit flows of portfolio and bank assets and liabilities, as well as reducing capital flow volatility. China is now facing pressure to speed up its opening to all forms of cross border capital. But since China is still struggling to strengthen its domestic financial structure, capital account liberalization would expose it to considerable risks and potentially high costs.     

Effects of Turkish top managers＇ emotional and spiritual intelligences on their organizations＇ financial performance

This study proposed and tested a model that included the possible effects of Turkish top managers＇ spiritual and emotional intelligences on their organizations＇ financial performance. Two instruments, the short versions of ＂emotional quotient inventory （EQ-i：S）＂ and ＂integrated spiritual intelligence scale （ISIS）＂ were preferred to measure the two intelligences of top managers, who were selected from the organizations in the organized industrial zones of Istanbul. It was difficult to retrieve the financial data directly, and thus, the top managers were required to rate their organizations＇ financial performance relative to the competitors. The results were that some relationships were present among the factors of emotional and spiritual intelligences, but there wasn＇t a mixture （a combination） of these factors, and each of spiritual intelligence factors affected financial performance very weakly, whereas most factors of emotional intelligence didn＇t. The model showed that the two intelligences failed to affect financial performance positively altogether.     

The role and place economy in Plato＇s Republic

In the Republic, education and the economy play very important roles for establishing the ideal city united and ruled by a philosopher, but the significance of the economy is ignored by both philosophers and researchers. In order to achieve his goal, Plato has to answer two questions that how a city is possible and how the ideal city is possible. This paper focuses on how economy factors affect Plato＇s project.