Expansionary effects of the welfare state in a small open economy

We examine the relationship between welfare state policies and economic performance in a small open economy with (i) free trade in final goods and international capital mobility, and (ii) aggregate increasing returns to scale. Contrary to the conventional wisdom, we find that a retrenchment of welfare programmes is not an inevitable consequence of economic integration. Instead, by improving the exploitation of aggregate scale economies, social expenditure policies and international openness complement each other in facilitating an improvement in economic performance that can sustain a more generous welfare protection.     

Tax resistance, economy and state transformation in China and Europe

This article considers the distinct ways in which Chinese and European governments have historically approached taxation. The similarities of popular resistance in both regions to taxation deemed illegitimate contrast with the diverse solutions to tax collection put forward under varied political systems. Differences in state relations with elites, the intensity of demands for revenues and the kinds of strategies developed to secure additional funding contribute to the definition of distinct patterns of political change. Tax operations can therefore serve as a useful diagnostic for comparing broader economic and political developments in China and Europe over the past several centuries. Received: August 28, 1999 / Accepted: January 20, 2000     

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.     

Citizenship and the right to the global city: reimagining the capitalist world order

This article joins many contemporary activists and scholars in criticizing and seeking alternatives to the ongoing neoliberalization of the global political economy. It sets out two main arguments: (1) in order to resist the growing control of capital over the global political economy, one important project is to develop new notions of citizenship that expand the decision‐making control of citizens; and (2) Henri Lefebvre's concept of ‘the right to the city’ is one particularly fertile set of principles on which to base such alternative citizenships because it resists and rethinks both traditional citizenship forms and capitalist social relations. The first part of the article outlines the context in which Lefebvre's ideas might be pursued by examining the contemporary destabilization of traditional citizenship and its relationship to global political and economic restructuring. The second part of the article develops more specifically the potential of Lefebvrian citizenship by constructing a theoretical sketch of one possible citizenship based on Lefebvre's idea: what I call the right to the global city. The article finishes by suggesting that the right to the city can be extended beyond the urban context. It points toward a new set of more democratic political relationships in which the power of inhabitants to shape the global political economy displaces the power of capital and the nation‐state. Cet article fait écho à nombre de militants et d'intellectuels contemporains critiquant la néolibéralisation actuelle de l'économie politique mondiale, et y cherchant des alternatives. Il expose deux arguments principaux: d'abord, pour résister au contrô le croissant du capital sur l'économie politique mondiale, un grand projet doit définir de nouvelles notions de citoyenneté qui permettent aux citoyens de mieux maîtriser les décisions; ensuite, le concept de ‘droit à la ville’ d'Henri Lefebvre est un ensemble particulièrement productif de principes utilisables pour asseoir ces citoyennetés alternatives, car il repousse et repense à la fois les formes de citoyenneté traditionnelles et les relations sociales capitalistes. La première partie de l'article délimite le cadre dans lequel les concepts de Lefebvre pourraient s'appliquer, en examinant la déstabilisation contemporaine de la citoyenneté classique et son lien avec la restructuration politico‐économique mondiale. La seconde partie développe le potentiel de la citoyenneté selon Lefebvre en ébauchant une possible citoyenneté théorique basée sur son idée: ce que j'appelle le droit à la ville mondiale. L'article se termine en suggérant que le droit à la ville peut s'étendre au‐delà du contexte urbain. Il vise un nouvel ensemble de relations politiques plus démocratiques où le pouvoir des habitants pour façonner l'économie politique mondiale supplante celui du capital et de l'Étatnation.     

从工业经济到体验经济的广州消费需求

人的行为存在一定的动机,这些动机驱使人从事各种活动。古代的中国人,将人类最基本的需要归纳为四件事:"衣、食、住、行"。本文以马斯洛的需要层次论为基础,对广州居民消费中"四大件"的变化进行分析,探讨消费需求的变化规律,以寻求中国设计的发展方向。     

The role of venture capitalist to enhance the growth of Spanish and Italian university spin-offs

The establishment of spin-offs to commercialise university knowledge/technology is a potential mechanism to promote economic and innovative development. Nevertheless, University Spin-Offs (USOs) are usually resource-constrained, especially in obtaining funding, limiting their growth. Venture Capital (VC) investors play an important role in the financing and the improvement of their managerial skills, which are critical for firm growth. This paper aims to explore both the effect of VC partners on the USOs’ growth and the cross-national differences in the role played by them. To study both issues, we empirically analysed 516 Spanish and 904 Italian USOs created by 50 Spanish and 57 Italian universities, respectively, and observed them between 2005 and 2013. The results showed different effects in the Spanish and Italian cases. While in Spain the presence of VC partners positively affects the USOs’ growth, in Italy there is not a significant effect. This evidence calls for systematic policies by public administrations and universities to foster USO growth.     

Assessing the effects of U.S. shocks on the Canadian economy using alternative identification methods

This paper investigates the extent of the transmission of U.S. supply and demand shocks to the Canadian economy using three different identification methods. Our findings are robust across identifications. We show that over the flexible exchange rate period, U.S. shocks tend to intensify Canadian business cycles, while they reduce the mean of Canadian prices and inflation. We also find that overall Canadian output is less sensitive to U.S. disturbances than found in earlier studies. Moreover, when the structural shocks are allowed to be correlated across countries, Canadian shocks explain around 18% of U.S. real GDP growth long run forecast error variance.     

城市经济发展中特色经济与集群经济的关系--兼论城市园区经济建设

特色经济与集群经济现在是城市经济发展过程中两个彰显的概念,二者从不同角度阐释了城市经济发展的基本要求.特色经济反映的是城市经济的质,而集群经济反映的是城市经济的量.没有特色的城市经济缺乏活力和竞争力,没有集群的特色经济则对城市经济的带动作用就微乎其微.二者的有机统一才是最具活力和竞争力的城市经济单元.     

The political economy of organized crime: providing protection when the state does not

Organized crime emerges out of the power vaccuum that is created by the absence of state enforcement, and which can have many sources: geographic, social, and ethnic distance, prohibition, or simply collapse of state institutions. Mafias and gangs are hierarchically organized and can be thought of as providing primitive state functions, with economic costs that are typically much higher than those associated with modern governance. Though organized crime cannot be completely eradicated, its control is necessary, since it can easily corrupt existing institutions of governance. Some thoughts on what can be done to control organized crime are offered.     

哈尔滨市房地产业在国民经济中的作用

哈尔滨市房地产业在国民经济中起着承栽体的基本作用,同时在国民经济活动中起着联结生产与生活、影响公共和个人消费倾向、促进产业结构优化调整,有助于城市经济结构优化、提高城市集聚效益、提高劳动生产率、优化消费结构、调整社会关系产生的重要作用.     

Asymmetric Taylor reaction functions of the ECB: An approach depending on the state of the economy

We introduce a new approach to estimate asymmetric Taylor reaction functions where asymmetries depend crucially on the state of the economy which is in the Taylor rule framework the combination of inflation and output deviations. Thus we categorize the sample into four subsamples which correspond to all possible combinations concerning inflation and output deviations. Moreover we introduce a quadratic term of inflation and the output gap in the estimation equation for each state in order to capture possible non-linearities within each state. The approach is tested using data for the ECB because the ECB has communicated an explicit inflation target.     

走出“经济过热后遣症”——著名经济学家樊纲解析2006年宏观经济发展

记者:樊纲教授在2003年时提出:我国经济出现过热趋势,企业家投资决策需慎重.并指出过热经济会产生过剩生产能力,必然会导致通货紧缩.在经历了2004年、2005年的经济局部过热之后,2006年的中国经济是不是面临通货紧缩危机?主要表现在哪些方面?     

Stock Market Response to the Financial Regulations in the Mortgage‐Lending Market in Korea

This study investigates the economic impact of the financial regulations that aimed to control the housing market in Korea during the reign of late President Ro's Administration, which had diligently fought against the then speculative bubble in the Korean real‐estate market. We test for the validity of the general prediction that the financial regulations in the form of the loan‐to‐value (LTV) and debt‐to‐income (DTI) restrictions would have adverse impacts on the value of the firms operating in the mortgage‐lending industry. In this event study, we select two critical days as event dates and check whether the stock prices of the financial firms react negatively to the announcements of the regulations. Overall, the initial imposition of the DTI restrictions (i.e., the first event) adversely affects those banks that possess a relatively large number of mortgage loans in their asset portfolio. By contrast, banks that hold a small number of mortgage loans appear to benefit from the risk‐reducing effect of the DTI regulation. Subsequently, the reinforcement of the LTV and DTI rules (i.e., the second event) has negative impacts on the banks with large mortgage loans. The degree of this adverse effect is greater in the second event than in the first event (i.e., the DTI restrictions). The reinforced regulations also unfavorably affect the savings banks with large mortgage loans but to a lesser degree compared with their counterparts in the banks. Meanwhile, the reinforcement of the financial regulations has negligible impacts on the banks and the savings banks with smaller mortgage loans.     

An input-output approach to the measurement of the information economy

This study presents a set of methods based on input-output analysis to measure the size and structure of a country's information economy. Published current national data bases do not identify even the broad contours of a country's information economy. The methodology which is stylised algebraically using input-output modelling unravels the latent information economy. Both the primary or marketed information activities and the non-marketed or secondary information activities are measured. The interdependencies of the primary and secondary information sectors with the non-information sectors such as agriculture and manufacturing are examined. Linkages and multipliers are also calculated using consistent approaches. Finally, the methodology is empirically validated using Australia as a case-study and the results are discussed.The author acknowledges with thanks useful comments by referees of the journal on an earlier draft of this paper. The author is also grateful to Professor D.Mc Lamberton of the University of Queensland and Professor M. Jussawalla of the East-West Center, Hawaii, for their encouragement and support given to this study.     

Financial regulations and bank credit to the real economy

We present a new agent-based model focusing on the linkage between the interbank market and the real economy with a stylised central bank acting as lender of last resort. Using this model we address the tradeoff between stability and economic performance for different structures of the interbank market. We also explore the efficacy of recent regulatory reforms using our richer model. Our results suggest that the effects of regulatory leverage ratios on the banking sector׳s performance can vary in a complex and non-monotonic way with the state of the economy, the degree of connectivity of the interbank market and the amount of information available to market participants on bank risks.