Utilitarianism and the role of utility in Adam Smith

Abstract

In this paper we confront attempts to bring Smith closer to utilitarianism. We show that Smith's conception of utility is not utilitarian. While the pursuit of ‘pleasure’ could lie behind human behaviour, it is not the pleasure referred to by utilitarianism. Instead, utility, in its colloquial sense, plays a greater role that suggests a type of consideration which is foreign to utilitarianism and which also introduces a rationalist element to Smith's moral analysis. Thus, utility, in the utilitarian sense, is neither a guide to action nor a means for moral evaluation.     

关于缩小中国贫富差距的思考

随着改革开放的不断深化,中国贫富悬殊的现象日益严重,这不仅带来了很多社会问题,而且也将影响我国经济建设持续、稳定、平衡的发展。为解决贫富悬殊问题,我们应做好以下工作:逐步解决"三农"问题,增加农民收入;缩小城乡、地区之间差距,打破区域间限制;大力发展第三产业,解决剩余劳动力问题;调整税收、财政政策,建立公正、开放、透明的竞争机制,兼顾效率与公平等。     

金融发展对贫富分化抑制作用的研究

文章以市场经济最基本的活动——交换为逻辑起点,分析了实物资本天然具有贫富分化的属性,指出这种属性根源于市场经济的互利交换本质且受制于资本的种类和规模。资本的货币化能够使单个资本在一定程度上超越种类和规模的限制,特别是金融发展将进一步促进这种超越,从而有助于抑制贫富分化。     

论提高政府对贫富差距的控制力

现实中的贫富差距及其政府在贫富差距控制能力上的强弱,已成为构建和谐社会的关键所在。现阶段,为进一步加快构建和谐社会步伐,政府应转换职能,建立有效机制,提高政府对贫富差距的控制力。     

中国农村居民效用测算研究——基于综合比例效用恒等式的检验及应用

文章基于西方经济学主流效用理论对消费者的效用测算问题没有给出明确答案这一事实,探索构建比例效用理论推导综合比例效用恒等式,并利用我国2001-2010年27个省份农村居民收入消费数据的面板SUR模型对综合比例效用恒等式进行了验证,同时测算了农村居民效用水平。结果显示:(1)农村居民效用水平在2001-2005年间较高,但下降趋势明显,2006-2010年间保持稳中略升;(2)河南、西藏和四川长期处于消费不足状态,山东长期处于消费过度状态;(3)中等收入省份农村居民消费潜力最大。     

价值需求的边际欲望与边际效用及其研究意义

人对物质的价值需求是有限的,对精神的价值需求是无限的。人对价值的需求或占有实际上是一个过程,且表现出特有的规律。一是人对价值占有的边际心理欲望递增与边际效用递减的二律背反规律;二是人对价值付出的心理边际欲望递减与边际效用递减呈同向关系的规律。研究这些规律,对于增进价值包容与价值和谐,有非常重要的理论意义和现实意义。     

Economic Value of the Carbon Sink Services of Tropical Secondary Forests and Its Management Implications

This paper explores the economic feasibility of secondary forest regeneration and conservation as an alternative in the campaign addressing the problem of global warming. Detailed measurements of tropical secondary forests over time, in different ecological zones of Costa Rica, are used to evaluate carbon storage models. The paper addresses key issues in the international discussion about cross- and within-country compensation for carbon storage services and illustrates a method to compute/predict their economic value over time under a variety of scenarios. The procedure is applicable to other developing countries where secondary forest growth is increasingly important.     

培训产业一体化发展的案例分析

在我国培训市场上,培训学校无论在其成立,还是随后的运作上,都应该符合国家政策法规的规定,应该站在长远的角度来审视自己,而不是短期的高收益。专业化教学才能造就培训市场竞争的优势。专业化的内涵是专业、精益、富有特色,外延是全面地、深入地、持续地体现品牌效应。我国应试培训产业在行业集中度相对较高的情况下,培训学校必须进一步扩大企业规模,形成经济规模壁垒,必要资本壁垒、资源占有壁垒或是产品差别壁垒,树立良好的企业形象,提高产业进入与退出成本,连锁经营的规模化道路是必然的选择。     

中印两国贫富差距比较研究

中国、印度这两个发展中国家,经济改革都取得了令世人瞩目的成就,但在经济增长的同时,社会结构也发生了变化,都面临着贫富差距扩大的问题。对比中印两国贫富差距的异同,参考印度的情况,对于有效治理中国的贫富差距问题,有重要的借鉴价值。     

Future Inequality in CO2 Emissions and the Impact of Abatement Proposals

This paper analyzes future carbon emissions inequality using a group decomposition of the Gini index. Business-as-usual projections to the year 2100 for 135 countries show inequality in per capita emissions declines slowly. Next, the impact on emissions levels and inequality of the Kyoto Protocol and other abatement proposals for Annex II countries in 2010 are measured, with a focus on the gap-narrowing and reranking effects. Substantial reranking of per capita emissions between Annex II and non-Annex II countries will not occur unless the former reduce their emissions by at least 50% (versus 1990 levels) and the latter continue growing unabated.     

中国食品市场秩序混乱的成因与对策

中国食品市场秩序混乱的成因有生产者因素、消费者因素、政府监管和食品市场信息不对称等几个方面, 应采取相应的整治对策,如加速生产模式集约化、加强消费者的教育、加强政府监管、充分发挥行业协会的作用、完善有关食品安全的各种法规和技术标准、加大执法力度、降低信息获取成本及建立严格的质量认证体系等,以规范食品市场。     

战略贸易政策新进展与发展中国家贸易政策

通过对战略贸易政策在贸易的政治经济学、不确定性、不完全承诺和不完全信息等四个方面的新进展进行讨论,得出结论:新贸易理论的新进展使得脱胎于发达国家的战略贸易政策更加接近发展中国家市场经常失灵的现实,从而对发展中国家的贸易政策有重要的指导意义。     

Declining Discount Rates: The Long and the Short of it

The last few years have witnessed important advances in our understanding of time preference and social discounting. In particular, several rationales for the use of time-varying social discount rates have emerged. These rationales range from the ad hoc to the formal, with some founded solely in economic theory while others reflect principles of intergenerational equity. While these advances are to be applauded, the practitioner is left with a confusing array of rationales and the sense that almost any discount rate can be justified. This paper draws together these different strands and provides a critical review of past and present contributions to this literature. In addition to this we highlight some of the problems with employing DDRs in the decision-making process, the most pressing of which may be time inconsistency. We clarify their practical implications, and potential pitfalls, of the more credible rationales and argue that some approaches popular in environmental economics literature are ill-conceived. Finally, we illustrate the impact of different approaches by examining global warming and nuclear power investment. This includes an application and extension of Newell and Pizer [‘Discounting the benefits of climate change mitigation : how much do uncertain rates increase valuations?’ Journal of Environmental Economics and Management 46 (2003) 52] to UK interest rate data.     

论非劳动生产要素在商品价值量中形成的作用

马克思劳动价值论在坚持只有活劳动才创造新价值的前提下 ,对非劳动生产要素在商品价值量形成中的作用或贡献也作了科学阐述和客观评价。其中 ,节省活劳动和降低商品价值量是先进非劳动生产要素的作用或贡献之一。     

劳动价值论与生产要素参与价值分配问题研究

马克思劳动价值论中只承认直接从事物质生产的活劳动才创造价值,而作为社会劳动凝结物的劳动手段和劳动对象是物化劳动,只能转移价值,同时也承认非劳动生产要素在价值创造中的作用.笔者梳理了理论界对传统劳动价值一元论的新认识,认为马克思劳动价值论与生产要素参与价值分配并不矛盾.     

我国城市居民最低生活保障制度发展与完善研究——以长沙市为例

我国城市居民最低生活保障制度是我国实施比较成功的一项社会救助制度。目前,长沙的低保制度在制度设计和运行方面仍存在消极的救助取向、平均式的救助标准、配套政策的负激励效应以及管理监督体系不健全等一些问题。为此,有必要对其进行探索改革,通过采取积极的福利政策、制定科学的保障标准,推行分类施助和差异救助、建立健全低保制度的管理监督体系等积极措施解决其存在的问题,更好地发挥最低生活保障制度的有效功能。     

国外上市公司的环境信息披露比较分析及启示

本文主要选取欧盟国家及美国、加拿大等西方发达国家的5家上市公司为样本案例,对其环境信息披露的形式和内容进行详细分析,指出西方发达国家的企业在环境信息披露方面的主要特点。借鉴发达国家的环境信息披露经验并结合我国实际情况,对我国上市公司的环境信息披露提出了建议。     

Social cost of CO2 abatement from energy efficiency and solar power in the United States

Frequently cited empirical analyses ask whether we should make the transition from reliance on fossil fuels to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and conclude that the transition is too costly so we should, instead, focus policy on how to adapt to global warming. This paper makes two improvements in the analysis. First, this empirical analysis accounts for existing low-cost alternatives that are substitutes for fossil fuels. Second, this empirical analysis incorporates existing estimates of externalities from fossil fuels. These two basic improvements in the analysis alter the conclusion; policy should focus on how rapidly and extensively to make the transition from reliance on fossil fuels to the alternatives. The corollary is that we should focus on the efficacy and cost of policy options that are designed to accomplish the transition.     

On the North-South trade in the Americas and its ecological asymmetries

There has been a long and intensive debate within the scientific community about the role of international trade in the development of countries. During the last decades, the focus of attention has moved from the pure economic level to the environmental aspects of international trade. Establishing a simplified system of North-South trade for one reference period (2003), this paper attempts to test empirically the extent of potential asymmetries with regard to extracted material flows, and contrasts the results with the economic benefits from trade (in terms of value-added). The South is thereby represented by a selection of Latin American countries (Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador and Mexico), the North comprises one of their main commercial partners, the United States. At the methodological level, a multi-regional input-output analysis is used as the tool of investigation. Results generally support the hypothesis that the South was feeding the North's societal metabolism. South-North material exports were 1.6 times larger than North-South material exports, resulting in a net deficit for the South of 324 million tons. Moreover, material intensity of exported commodities from the South was twice as high as that from the North. It is worth highlighting, however, that part of the North-South hypothesis fails for the sample of countries since the larger part of the economic surplus has remained in the South, contrarily to what would have been expected.     

有钱的、下岗的、犯法的：解读20世纪90年代中国的小报故事

本文以文化研究和文本解读为理论和方法论取向,呈现了对20世纪90年代作为中国大众报刊主要形式的、被认为是低品味的“街头小报”的双重分析模式,即小报作为一种社会传播方式和作为大众表达的潜在论坛。首先,本文对大众报刊样式及其读者群在中国报业和社会结构中的演变与地位作了回顾,并将大众报刊形式的演变与改革开放时代中国社会分层相关联。其次,基于人格化和人物塑造是小报的重要话语特征,本文选择小报对富人、下岗工人、流动民工和农民这几个社会群体的描述作为对小报内容进行话语分析的切入点,以图理解小报所建构与展示的意义世界及其对社会分化的理解。本文的分析表明,“街头小报”的主题与意识导向非常复杂。作为复杂而矛盾的社会转型过程中的文化产品,它们的市场威权主义倾向维护了支配性的社会秩序,同时,它们也不能不在某些方面折射出底层读者的欲望和需要,以及他们在这个历史过程中的体验。