新制度经济学革命:路径与方向

20世纪60、70年代,新制度经济学开始在经济学领域的诸多方面实现了理论突破,许多经济学者大胆预言"新制度经济学革命"即将到来.不过随着研究的深入,人们发现新制度经济学并未真正突破新古典分析框架,只是在多个层面上对新古典经济学进行了继承和发展.文章在简要评价新古典经济学学说体系的基础上,归纳新制度经济学的三条主要革新路径,通过与主流经济学的综合比较,对新制度经济学各分支革新的路径与方向进行了评价.     

In defence of degrowth

This article defends the proposal of sustainable degrowth. A starting premise is that resource and CO2 limits render further growth of the economy unsustainable. If degrowth is inevitable, the question is how it can become socially sustainable, i.e. a prosperous and stable, rather than a catastrophic, descent. Pricing mechanisms alone are unlikely to secure smooth adaptation; a full ensemble of environmental and redistributive policies is required, including - among others - policies for a basic income, reduction of working hours, environmental and consumption taxes and controls on advertising. Policies like these, that threaten to “harm” the economy, are less and less likely to be implemented within existing market economies, whose basic institutions (financial, property, political, and redistributive) depend on and mandate continuous economic growth. An intertwined cultural and political change is needed that will embrace degrowth as a positive social development and reform those institutions that make growth an imperative. Sustainable degrowth is therefore not just a structuring concept; it is a radical political project that offers a new story and a rallying slogan for a social coalition built around the aspiration to construct a society that lives better with less.     

In defence of generalized Darwinism

Darwin himself suggested the idea of generalizing the core Darwinian principles to cover the evolution of social entities. Also in the nineteenth century, influential social scientists proposed their extension to political society and economic institutions. Nevertheless, misunderstanding and misrepresentation have hindered the realization of the powerful potential in this longstanding idea. Some critics confuse generalization with analogy. Others mistakenly presume that generalizing Darwinism necessarily involves biological reductionism. This essay outlines the types of phenomena to which a generalized Darwinism applies, and upholds that there is no reason to exclude social or economic entities.

In defence of Adam Smith's theory of value

Abstract

This paper defends Adam Smith against his critics on his ‘additive’ theory of value as well as his theory of ‘falling rate of profits’. It argues that Adam Smith did not forget the raw materials, and so forth, in his resolution of the price into wages, profits, and rent, and that the constraint binding on the total income was also taken into account by treating rent as the residual. It further argues that there is no fallacy of composition in Smith's explanation for the ‘falling rate of profits’. It was explained on the basis of rising real wages and the farmers’ inability to shift the burden of the rise in wages from profit to rent in the context of a growing economy.     

In (limited but affirmative) defence of nhilism

In this article I shall define, a form of nihilism that can be identified with economics. Nihilists typically allow room for free will and subjectivism. Futhermore, societal, political and economic factors are not exogenously given to us. They are the intended, and unintended, consequences of human action. Consequently radical indeterminancy is considered important as the future is largely unknowable. Once one accepts this type of nihilism, the type of economics we practice is radically different. However, we do not deny the posssibility of economic theorizing. Instead of generating unrealistic, stable and determinate equilibria, the sensible nihilist, will consider other possibilities. For example, more emphasis will be placed upon statements of tendency and adjustment processes.     

Industrial revolution and mortality revolution: Two of a kind?

In little more than a century life expectancy has doubled in most parts of the world. Neither facts nor theory support the view that this Mortality Revolution is due to the Industrial Revolution and the era of rapid economic growth that ensued. Rather, both revolutions mark the onset of accelerated and sustained technological change in their respective areas. They occur largely independently of each other, the later occurrence of the Mortality Revolution being due to the later development of biomedical vis-a-vis physical knowledge. Comparative study of the two should prove fruitful. Although entrepreneurship is important in each, there appear to be differences in the underlying motivations and the role of private property and other institutions. Links between technological change, on the one hand, and scale of operation, capital inputs, and education, on the other, also offer promising possibilities for comparative study.The author is grateful to Donna Hokoda Ebata and Christine M. Schaeffer for excellent assistance, the University of Southern California for financial support, and to Eileen M. Crimmins, Samuel H. Preston, Morton O. Schapiro, Roger S. Schofield, and two referees for helpful comments.     

China and the global business revolution

As China joins the World Trade Organisation, the author questionswhether China's large firms will be able to compete on the globallevel playing field. Over the past two decades, Chinese largeenterprises have undertaken extensive evolutionary change (comparableto that of other latecomer countries such as Korea, Taiwan andSingapore) but, at the same time, the world's leading firmshave undergone a revolutionary transformation. Based on analysisderived from case studies made in the course of the China BigBusiness Programme at the Judge Institute of Management Studies,Cambridge, the author concludes that China's large firms havenot caught up with the world's leading businesses.     

绿色经济制度体系--推进循环经济发展的制度创新

从本质上说，发展循环经济就是在生产、流通、消费、分配的每一个环节实现废弃物减量化、资源化、无害化，实际上就是废弃物资源的有效配置问题。基于此，本文以界定废弃物是资源为前提，从微观经济学角度，通过探讨废弃物资源有效配置机制，透析当今资源短缺和环境恶化的制度根源，寻求实现废弃物资源有效配置即发展循环经济的制度切入点——绿色经济制度体系，以期为循环经济的发展奠定经济学理论基础。     

新制度经济学的新发展:历史比较制度分析

新制度经济学在完全理性与有限理性之间左右摇摆,限制了制度理论的发展。以格雷夫为代表的历史比较制度分析,在有限理性前提下,通过大量案例研究,提出了自己关于制度及其变迁的真知灼见:(1)克服两个“两分法”,发展了统一的制度概念;(2)将制度理解为博弈均衡,重点解释古典博弈论成为制度分析有用工具的条件;(2)研究制度在变化的环境中如何存续、内生的制度变迁以及过去制度影响后续制度的原因和作用机制;(3)提出了独具特色的互动的特定历史情景分析,将重复博弈理论与特定历史情景结合起来去识别制度,解释其出现、存续和变迁。     

On the evolution of institutional comparative advantages

This article investigates how comparative advantages have changed in the last 30 years. Using export data for 100 countries over the period 1976-2004, it provides evidence that comparative advantages are not static, but change over time. Focussing on three different sources of institutional comparative advantage, it shows that they display different trends over time. Additionally, it shows that these effects are generally stronger for OECD countries.     

Sovereign-Wealth Funds: the institutional dimension

In the recent past, the operations of the capital-rich Sovereign-Wealth Funds (SWFs) went on increasing in the global capital markets. As the global economic crisis that started in 2007 deepened, SWF operations dramatically spurted, leading to further progressive increase in their significance for the global capital markets. For all appearances they are going to be important financial players in the foreseeable future. This article focuses on the basic concept of SWFs, their structure and operations. It attempts to analyze and elucidate on them. Notwithstanding the fact that SWFs are an instrument of enhancing liquidity and financial resource allocation in the international capital market, they managed to become a source of controversies. Consequently they became a source of escalation in financial protectionism in several advanced industrial economies, in particular the USA. The article concludes that this was unwarranted. Recently SWFs have attempted to device an array of best practices to improve the transparency of their global financial operations. These measures are expected to enhance the acceptance of SWFs as well as global recognition of their operations. They would also help in dispelling the negative image that SWFs have held in several advanced industrial economies.

Impact analysis of the green revolution in India

A detailed impact analysis of the Green Revolution has been conducted using a multiple-network technique. The various direct and indirect impacts are reported. The Green Revolution has made poor farmers poorer and the government has to initiate some action to rectify its adverse socio-economic consequences.     

Network design and defence

Infrastructure networks are a key feature of an economy. Their functionality depends on the connectivity and sizes of different components and they face a variety of threats, from natural disasters to intelligent attacks. How should networks be defended and designed to ensure the best functionality?We develop a model to study this question. There are two players, the Designer and the Adversary. The Designer forms costly links among n given nodes and chooses to protect some of them at a cost. The Adversary then allocates resources to attack nodes. Successful attack on a node leads to its elimination. We study sub-game perfect equilibria of this game.Our main finding is that if defence is affordable and reliable, then the network is sparse and heterogeneous, and either centrally or fully protected. On the other hand, if defence is relatively costly compared to linking, then dense and homogeneous networks arise in equilibrium.     

生态经济是新经济的革命

在崭新的21世纪，我们的价值观、世界观和经济组织方面需要一场革命。因为我们面临的环境危机的根源在于追求经济与技术发展时忽视了生态知识。而另一场革命——正在变质的工业革命，需要有经济增长、商品、空间和生物的新观念的变革来取代。自然的沦落与工业革命人类既是地球演化和生物进化的产物，同时又绝对地依赖于地球所提供的生存空间和生存基础，那就是地球上的环境与资源。按照原始社会的人口增长速度，3万年才能翻一番，1850年世界人口才达到10亿人。而从10亿到20亿，用了80年的时间;从20亿到30亿，用了30年的时间;从30亿到40亿，…     

Spatial takeoff in the first industrial revolution

Using the framework of Desmet and Rossi-Hansberg (forthcoming), we present a model of spatial takeoff that is calibrated using spatially-disaggregated occupational data for England in c. 1710. The model predicts changes in the spatial distribution of agricultural and manufacturing employment which match data for c. 1817 and 1861. The model also matches a number of aggregate changes that characterise the first industrial revolution. Using counterfactual geographical distributions, we show that the initial concentration of productivity can matter for whether and when an industrial takeoff occurs. Subsidies to innovation in either sector can bring forward the date of takeoff while subsidies to the use of land by manufacturing firms can significantly delay a takeoff because it decreases spatial concentration of activity.     

The quiet drug revolution

Routine approval of new products often requires a decade. But in a little-noticed change, people who are gravely ill can get breakthrough medicines much faster.     

"公路超载"问题的本质及其制度因素分析

“公路超载”的根本动因在于公路所具有的公有产品(或准公共产品)属性。在无排他性使用公共产品的条件下,使用者“未来收益权”不能被有效保证,从而导致了对公路的过度使用。公路部门和运输户的成本函数差异将最终导致双方收益最大化条件下最优单趟运输货物量的互相偏离。但是,在完善的制度框架下,公共产品属性并不一定导致“过度利用”的出现。现阶段我国“公路超载”问题是公路的公共产品属性和不完善的制度框架所共同作用的结果,前者是内因,后者是外因。