ROBERT J. GORDON'S CONCEPT OF CAPITAL

Estimates of capital stock normally equate different models of capital goods by their production costs at a base date (a concept known as method 1 or K ), not by their current marginal products (method 3, or J ). Some economists advocate that, instead, different models be equated by the base-date costs of providing characteristics of the goods, not of the goods themselves. The characteristics selected have, however, excluded the amounts of other inputs used in the production to which the good is devoted. Hence the method does not equate capital goods by their marginal products but instead by the gross products of the capital goods together with various amounts of associated inputs. Gordon recognizes this defect and believes he has remedied it empirically, but the steps he takes are too slight to support this view. It remains impractical to construct estimates that equate goods by their marginal products.     

THE SENSITIVITY OF CAPITAL SERVICES MEASUREMENT: MEASURE ALL ASSETS AND THE COST OF CAPITAL

The measurement of capital inputs is still a contentious issue: many choices have to be made that have potentially large effects on the resulting capital input series. This paper compares a large number of methodological choices and their impact on U.S. capital services at the industry and aggregate level. The results show that the set of capital assets covered and the choice for the rate of return matter substantially, while other choices are less important. I argue that land, inventories, and intangible capital should be included and that for pragmatic reasons, an external cost of capital is preferable to an internal rate of return because of its transparency and robustness to measurement error.     

中国主要省区物质资本与人力资本利用效率及投资取向

要实现区域的可持续发展,提高资源利用效率是一个根本性的问题。而作为主要生产资源的物质资本与人力资本的利用效率就具有更重要的意义。文章以经济增长理论为依据,利用生产函数分析了中国主要省区物质资本与人力资本对经济增长的贡献率,发现1990年代之后大多数省区的人力资本贡献率已超过了物质资本的贡献率,说明经济增长方式已发生了由外延式向内涵式的很好转变。进一步根据生产者均衡理论,计算了主要省区物质资本与人力资本的利用效率,发现大部分省区的利用效率没有达到最优状态,但1990年代以来利用效率在不断提高。在此基础上,计算了通过提高两项资本利用效率可带来的GDP增长潜力,发现当利用效率达到最高时GDP可增长近24%。由此给出了各省区物质资本与人力资本投资比例的调整方向。     

ESTIMATION OF THE STOCK OF CAPITAL IN SPAIN

The paper presents the methodology and results of the estimation of the endowments of capital in the Spanish economy. It distinguishes between endowments of public capital and private capital. The series corresponding to the public sector cover the period 1955–97 and consider seven categories (or functions). The estimates are disaggregated by 17 regions and 50 provinces. The level of disaggregation is regional and provincial (NUTS2 and NUTS3 in European terminology). The private capital series cover the period 1964–97 and consider 17 sectors of production, with disaggregation at regional level. The information refers to two variables: gross formation of fixed capital (in current and constant pesetas) and capital stock in constant pesetas (base year 1990).     

THE ROLE OF FINANCIAL CAPITAL IN PRODUCTION

It is increasingly acknowledged that the financial structure of a firm is an important determinant of its production costs. This paper argues that the use of a firm's liabilities should be seen as a separate input in the production process. At the same time, the input of non-financial assets is limited to the value that is used up during the reference period. The paper elaborates on these ideas and shows their use in empirical work. It is concluded that the approach set out in this paper establishes a much closer relationship of general economic accounting and analysis to business economics.     

A NOTE ON THE CONCEPT OF SERVICES

Not one of the many service definitions proposed by various authors and applied in practice enjoy general acceptance. Is it feasible to reach an international agreement on the definition of services? The answer is probably yes; however, is it worthwhile to spend considerable resources to reach such an agreement. Does an overall services aggregate indeed provide important analytical uses? Many doubts are expressed in this respect. Authors of recent international work on the statistics of services tend to accept a more flexible attitude: instead of having one single definition on services, several service concepts could be applied depending on feasibilities and other circumstances of the various statistics. However, all service definitions should be based on the International Standard Industrial Classification (ISIC) and on the Central Product Classification (CPC), recently approved by the Statistical Commission of the United Nations.     

环保概念车:汽车时代新宠儿

概念车,是梦想的设计,是创意的体现,是魅力的展示,大部分的概念车仍是通过活塞驱动提供动力,仍然使用内燃引擎。尽管概念车在人们眼中更像过眼云烟的艺术品,但它同时也是时代最新汽车的科技成果,代表着未来汽车的发展方向,在最近各大车展崭露头角的概念车中,我们不难发现,环保和节能这一概念元素越来越多的体现在车的设计上,再次成为车展的主旋律,也掀起了新一轮的概念风潮。     

ON THE CONCEPT OF POWER IN ECONOMICS

In this paper we start with the standard definition of power and indicate how orthodox neoclassical economics fails to handle some of the key issues of power. In Sections II and III we discuss in the context of recent advances in economic theory some of the battlefields, so to speak, for the exercise of power: bargaining games in Section II and economic organizations and capitalist authority relations in Section III. In all of this we focus on the underlying structural factors. In the last Section we discuss some problems with both the behavioral and structural concepts of power.