The impact of the Belt and Road Initiative on the expansion of China's higher education in overseas markets along the route

Due to the differences in economic and social conditions among the Belt‐and‐Road (B&R) countries, resources exchange might bring significant effect on companies and organizations in these countries. In recent years, vigorously developing university education and attracting more outstanding international students have become important means for “B&R” countries to expand education market and enhance international influence. However, there is limited research discussing the impact of “B&R” on the internationalization of higher education. Taking the sponsoring country (China) of the “B&R” strategy as an example, this article explores the impact of this strategy on Chinese universities' expansion in the education market, and further analyzes the important relevant factors from the perspectives of international competitiveness. The findings show that the B&R Initiative has a significant impact on the expansion of Chinese universities in overseas markets along the route. Furthermore, we have found “push” factors related to China's macro and micro environments, and “pull” factors associated with countries along the B&R route.     

中等强国是“一带一路”框架下开展“第三方市场”合作的重点对象

近几年,“第三方市场”合作发展迅速,已成为凝聚多方共识、实现互利共赢的重要创新合作模式。考虑到“第三方市场”合作是一项复杂的系统工程,我国在“一带一路”框架下倡导和推进“第三方市场”合作显然不适宜“大水漫灌式”的平均用力。因此,为更好实现优势互补、多方共赢,中国同相关各方在开展“第三方市场”合作,探索以中等强国作为“一带一路”框架下实施第三方市场合作的优先方向和重点对象。通过发挥中等强国的独特作用和相对优势,将中等强国打造成“五通”布局和区域合作的支点,以此既能减少“一带一路”建设中的恶性摩擦和同质竞争,还可以增强和优化“第三方市场”合作的资源和运作效率。     

Does International Trade Catch Up with National Trade of Countries? Yes

The article applies an index suggested by Jeffrey Frankel on how to measure the gap between the intensity of national versus international transactions of a country to more than 100 countries over four periods between 1990 and 2005. The gap stands for “incomplete” globalization. It is shown that the gap has steadily declined for most countries over the sample period, irrespective of income levels. While larger economies are still less globalized than small economies, differences in domestic market size have become less important as a dividing line between more and less globalized economies.     

Alternative principles of financing health care

The minute advances of health policy in the developing countries and the cost explosion which has hit the health services in the industrialized countries have created an urgent problem. The main culprit is often thought to be the “common-burden principle” which most states apply to the financing of their health services. Possible alternatives are the “user principle” which is more in line with market methods and the “originator principle” which is known from its use in the environmental sphere and is now also being discussed in the health sector. It could be applied to products which are injurious to health (cigarettes, sweets) and harmful production processes (piece-work, water pollution). The author examines the possibilities of curbing health-care spending and drawing nearer to health-policy aims by turning away from the “common burden principle”.     

Industrial Policy: A Dying Breed or A Re-emerging Phoenix

Real world industrial policy is often poorly designed and always heavily opposed. Good intentions are overshadowed by bad outcomes. However, no commonly accepted definition exists; concepts differ across nations, regions, stage of development and over time. After switching from the sectoral to the horizontal approach—and facing never ending problems with targeting, large projects and specific technologies—industrial policy seemed to phase out at the end of the last century. Recently, interest has re-emerged, due to globalisation, outsourcing, low growth and high unemployment (specifically in Europe). We present evidence on past strategies and the performances of various concepts. We describe the new “matrix approach to industrial policy” developed by the European Commission. Finally, we venture to define elements of a “Systemic Industrial Policy”. This new type of industrial policy differs decisively from policies of the past, and has been receiving an impetus from the EU “Lisbon Strategy”, as well as from the rise of China and the new EU member countries. It is the complementary policy to globalisation, increasing its benefits and empowering and retraining potential losers. Systemic Industrial Policy supports basic education, training and entrepreneurship in developing countries, promotes FDI and exports in catching-up economies and merges with innovation strategies, cluster policy and dynamic competitiveness in high income countries. It goes beyond combating market failures, as it builds on economic laws, comparative and competitive advantages and changing specialisation patterns. It acknowledges limited knowledge of policy makers, mutual learning and co-operation between firms, institutions and government.     

Consumer Focus in Cross-National Research

This article points out the need for a consumer focus in cross-national research to aid multi-national marketers in developing relevant strategies and executions for each market. Two major constructs are discussed which reinforce the consumer focus. The first construct is “Life Style” research to gain a more human profile of consumers in a market. The underlying theory for “Life Style” research is presented and how the research has been done in over fourteen countries is described. The second major construct in this article are three analytic models for comparing consumers across markets. The three analytic models are (1) Shared cultural norms (2) Segmentation within cultures and (3) Correlates of usage. Illustrative findings of each model are presented.     

“去商品化”视角下的中国养老金问题研究

艾斯平-安德森在其开创性的著作《福利资本主义的三个世界》中提出了运用“去商品化”这一概念对资本主义国家的福利体制进行分析,并以“去商品化”程度高低把西方资本主义国家划分为三种模式。近年来,“去商品化”程度已经成为国内外众多学者分析各国福利体制时必然使用的衡量指标。本文也利用这一工具对中国养老保险体系的发展进行量化分析和比较。研究表明,我国现今的养老保险制度中存在“去商品化”程度较低和“去商品化”程度逐渐下降等问题,其根本原因是受到了体制身份不平等和收入分配不公平等因素的影响。鉴于此．我国亟待建立更加公平的社会保障体系。     

Fear of floating and domestic liability dollarization

Previous attempts to analyze the effect of liability dollarization on “fear of floating” have focused exclusively on the role played by foreign liabilities. Liability dollarization of the domestic banking system, however, poses a similar risk as dollar-denominated deposits and credit impose a source of currency risk on domestic banks and firms, respectively. Findings from a large cross-country sample indicate that domestic liability dollarization plays a central role in producing a “fear of floating” among emerging market countries and developing nations. This is an important result because domestic liability dollarization is more reversible than the dollarization of foreign liabilities, providing a reason for optimism that these countries can regain flexibility in the choice of exchange rate regime and overcome their “fear of floating”.     

“皮凯蒂税”：世界收入差距趋势研判与我国的政策选择

从“巴菲特税”到斯蒂格利茨“不平等的代价”,从“皮凯蒂税”到2015年诺贝尔经济学奖获得者迪顿因对收入差距问题的关注而获奖,收入差距问题是始终伴随人类社会发展长期存在、无法回避的“痼疾”,具有很强的现实研究价值。本文从《21世纪资本论》的争论分析入手,探讨了对高收入者征收“皮凯蒂税”命题提出的背景及征收的可行性。本文分别对欧洲国家、美国、东亚地区及拉美国家的收入差距状况、社会保障体系的现状与困境进行了分析,探讨了“皮凯蒂税”的现实根源;分析了中国收入差距状况及社会保障体系的情况,认为应实施“包容性增长”的财税政策作为“皮凯蒂税”发挥作用的配套措施。     

Does corruption boost or harm firms’ performance in developing and emerging economies? A firm-level study

In the last decade, a growing number of studies have addressed the ongoing debate about whether corruption “sands” or “greases” the wheels of business at the firm level. This study revisits this debate and proposes a comprehensive theoretical framework to test whether corruption harms or boosts firm performance, as well as the extent to which this relationship is mediated by the countries’ institutional settings, the size and strategic behaviour of the firms, and market competition. Based on a sample of 21,250 firms located in 117 emerging and developing countries, and resorting to instrumental variable (IV) estimations, three main results were found: (a) regardless of the proxy used for corruption and firm performance, the former clearly harms the latter; (b) corruption “greases the wheels” of business for African firms but it “sands the wheels” for firms in Latin America, the Caribbean, Eastern Europe, Central Asia, and Southern Asia; and (c) the negative impact of corruption on performance is mitigated for larger and exporting firms.     

数字经济国际税收改革:理论探源、方案评析与中国抉择北大核心CSSCI

数字经济国际税收改革是百年变局之际世界格局转换的焦点问题之一。数字经济加剧了全球化中的经济失衡,导致市场国征税权随之兴起,国际社会随之提出了税改的初步依据,但是仍需结合政府征税原理创新展开进一步探索。综观以经合组织双支柱为代表的市场国征税权改革方案,在数字经济居民国与市场国、政府征税与跨国公司避税、发达国家与发展中国家的复杂博弈中,“选择性”改革和复杂的规则设计展示了重大历史进步意义,但也凸显了欧美的妥协及其对既得利益的保护,同时更阻断了发展中国家对工业经济税基公平权的追溯,压制了落后地区和新兴行业启动经济的发展权。作为全球数字经济第二大国的中国,基于发展中社会主义市场经济的基本前提和税基安全、公平和发展的复杂目标,需要审慎参与反避税全球竞争与合作、全面协调数字经济与实体经济平衡、科学安排税收收入与经济成长的战略关系,才能在增强以中国为代表的发展中国家在税收和经济利益上的全面的、实质性公平权利的前提下,推动形成更加科学合理的国际税收秩序。     

中国与“一带一路”沿线国家与地区机电产品贸易强度动态变化及其影响因素研究

“一带一路”倡议的提出和实施为中国与“一带一路”沿线国家与地区间机电贸易合作提供了新机遇。基于“一带一路”沿线60个国家与地区2010—2018年机电产品贸易数据,使用改进的双边显示性贸易偏好指数测度中国同“一带一路”沿线国家与地区机电产品贸易强度的动态变化,并采用扩展引力模型检验其主要影响因素。研究结果表明:中国同“一带一路”沿线国家与地区的机电产品贸易强度日益增加,且出口强度高于进口强度,周边邻国高于其他国家;技术差距、“一带一路”沿线国家与地区的市场需求、外贸开放度、政府规模、地缘优势等因素可以显著促进中国同“一带一路”沿线国家与地区双边机电产品贸易强度。     

Food Safety Issues,Trade and WTO Rules: A Developing Country Perspective

The SPS Agreement and the related WTO dispute settlement mechanism are an important first step in strengthening the global trade architecture, bringing in greater transparency and orderly conditions to world food trade. However, implementation of the new trade rules has turned out to be a more complex task than the traditional market access issues handled by the WTO. Several factors, including inadequate financial and technical resources, have constrained devel‐oping countries from becoming effective participants in the implementation process, and there is widespread suspicion that SPS regulations are being used as hidden protectionist devices by developed countries. However, despite all the problems, some developing countries have been quite successful in penetrating developed country food markets; they have done so by accepting the consumer preferences and standards in quality‐sensitive high‐income markets and implementing domestic supply‐side measures. While making full use of available international assistance initiatives, developing countries should view the task of complying with SPS standards not just as a barrier but also as an opportunity to upgrade quality standards and market sophistication in the food export sector.     

Gains and Losses from Preferential Trade Agreements: Some Evidence from NAFTA

In this article we integrate two topics in international trade policy that have received (separately) a lot of attention: the effects of regional trade blocs, and export pessimism regarding poorer countries. The specific issue that allows us to bring together these questions is whether regional integration adversely affects non-members. We use quarterly data on bilateral trade flows for the period 1990 through 1997 to examine U.S. imports from its NAFTA partners as well as from non-NAFTA trade partners, and more specifically, those countries expected to be hurt by NAFTA. Two measures are used:

1. “import penetration” or imports from a particular source as a share of US GDP, and

2. the income elasticity of expenditure on imports from a particular source. Both “import penetration” and the income elasticity of expenditure affect the export earnings of U.S. trade partners, a matter of particular concern for developing countries.

The broadest pattern observed in the income-expenditure elasticities is clear evidence of increased penetration by non-oil developing countries. This is in marked contrast to the stable GDP share and expenditure elasticity for developed country imports. Regional results suggest that the Caribbean and the East Asian NICs were the only area groupings that experienced a reduction in income-expenditure elasticity. But overall on the basis of U.S. income-expenditure elasticities it appears that the first four years of NAFTA were associated with trade expansion rather than trade diversion.     

Kombilöhne gegen Erwerbsarmut: Warum die USA erfolgreicher sind als Deutschland

“Make work pay” strategies are an integral part of labour market policy instruments in developed countries. There are two considerations behind these measures. Firstly, subsidizing employment at the bottom of the income distribution should motivate the unemployed to accept jobs with lower market wages. Secondly, the wage supplement should increase the living standards of the recipients and reduce the risk of poverty. The U.S. EITC and the German UB II based on these two goals. Our paper begins with an overview of these two wage top-up schemes. This is followed by an empirical evaluation of the two instruments regarding their capacity to prevent in-work poverty and to strengthen labour market participation. The EITC obtains better results compared to UB II in both regards.     

人民币在“一带一路”货币圈影响力分析——信息溢出效应及其作用渠道

本文运用溢出指数方法,定量测度了人民币与"一带一路"沿线主要货币汇率之间的溢出效应及其动态演化,并采用系统GMM方法,探究人民币汇率净溢出效应的作用渠道。研究发现:近年来人民币与"一带一路"沿线主要货币汇率之间的溢出效应在波动中有所提高,随着"一带一路"倡议的深入实施,人民币汇率净溢出效应逐步提升,在该区域的影响力逐渐增强。在"一带一路"区域内,人民币在亚洲和非洲地区的影响力较强,且对阿联酋迪拉姆和安哥拉宽扎的净溢出效应已超过欧元、英镑和日元等主要国际货币。在净溢出效应的作用渠道方面,"一带一路"国家对中国贸易附加值依存度对其有利,而人民币汇率市场化改革、第三方市场贸易竞争、全球商品价格指数和全球风险指数却对其不利。因此,应加强中国在"一带一路"区域价值链的主导能力和商品竞争能力,加速推动"一带一路"区域内的离岸人民币金融市场建设,加强人民币汇率的区域性风险管理。     

External orientation and domestic market promotion

The increasing differentiation among developing countries, revealed by many indicators, also suggests that they have need of differing trade and development strategies. The following article reviews the across-the-board advice offered by agencies including the World Bank to “the” developing countries—“outward-orientation”, integration into the world economy, trade liberalisation-in the light of persistent shortages of foreign exchange and the limited capacity for structural adjustment, diversification and raising export levels in low-income primary commodity, exporting countries.     

Armut: vom Elend eines Begriffs

Poverty is a frequent topic in the media and in politics, but the definition of poverty is not satisfactory. The European Commission’s poverty of risk concept ignores social and regional income discrepancies, assets are disregarded, and real poverty is not defined. Other definitions show that poverty is difficult to grasp in practice. There are also differing opinions on and definitions of poverty in the population. A lot of those people who were defined as at risk of poverty according to the EU concept are not poor in reality and not unsatisfied with their income. This lack of clarity has led to the proposal to replace the term “poverty” with “low income”. Future research should place greater weight on determining the causes of low incomes.     

Saving,Selling, Earning,and Negotiating: How Adolescents Acquire Monetary Lump Sums and Who Considers Saving

This study examines the importance of saving during adolescence as one way of obtaining larger sums of money, and investigates differences between adolescents who choose to save and those who do not. To this end, the strategies “saving,” “negotiating,” “selling,” and “earning” are taken into account in designing a questionnaire. Two measures of saving behaviors are used: “general tendency to save” and “saving by adjusting expenditure” when faced with an income constraint. The sample consists of 470 British school students from age 11 to 18. Results show that up to age 15, the strategies “saving” and “negotiating” are equally important and more important than “selling” or “earning.” When 15 or older, adolescents prefer “saving” above “negotiating.” Regression analyses reveal that adolescents who favor “saving” when confronted with a short‐term income constraint report a general tendency to save. Findings demonstrate the importance of developing positive financial habits early in life.