On the Use and Abuse of Thorstein Veblen in Modern American Sociology, II: Daniel Bell and the 'Utopianizing' of Veblen's Contribution and Its Integration by Robert Merton and C. W. Mills

A bstract . The analyses and applications of Thorstein Veblen's social theory by Daniel Bell, Robert Merton , and C. Wright Mills are criticized. Bell's analysis is deficient because it distorts Veblen's proposal for economic reconstruction and because it treats him as a hopelessly Utopian theorist. Merton's use of Veblen's theory of status emulation by linking it with latent and manifest functions is a noteworthy accomplishment; yet Merton's utilization of Veblenian concepts is too sparing and essentially apolitical. Only the treatment of Veblen's theories by Mills is theoretically systematic and sufficiently political in tone. The significant import of Veblen's work for an indigenous critical theory resides in his theories of social value , status emulation, conflict and cultural lag.     

Quality perceptions under evolving information conditions: Implications for diet,health and consumer satisfaction

Consumers’ perception of, and satisfaction with, fruit quality is an important issue for both public policy and commercial reasons. However, because of information problems, consumers cannot easily choose fruits of a quality most likely to satisfy their preferences and health needs. The research reported here employed an experimental auction method to test perceptions of fruit quality by evaluating the willingness to pay (WTP) of consumers for five different varieties of soft citrus under three different information conditions: visual inspection of the fruit before peeling; visual inspection after peeling; and after consumption. Significant differences were found in valuations of the different varieties as consumers gained information. Conclusions are drawn about the value of the methodology and the results themselves, and implications are inferred for policy and for growers and traders. It is argued that product information should be oriented not just towards nutritional education but also towards increasing the pleasure of healthy eating.     

Models of Capital Investments with Private Information and Incentives: a Selective Review

The purpose of this paper is to selectively review research that addresses capital budgeting decisions in settings characterized by dispersed information and incentive problems. The papers are theoretical; they formulate and analyze models that vary in the number of periods considered, the number of economic actors involved, and the number of alternative projects available. The aims of the review are to describe some of the formulations that have been studied, to highlight their key economic and mathematical properties, to reveal their common economic forces, and to collect and organize their basic results.     

Teaching about the future

Since 1984 UNESCO has been developing a programme of prospective studies. This programme was re-named ‘future-oriented studies’ and is now centred around three groups of activities: a project on the futures of culture; the development of education and training with special emphasis on disseminating the methodology of future-oriented studies; and the creation of an international bibliographic database called FUTURESCO. An invitational seminar, ‘Teaching about the future’, held in Vancouver, 21–23 June 1992, was a direct consequence of the above. It was organized and hosted by UNESCO (with FUTURESCO and the Canadian Commission for UNESCO). It brought together about 20 professional futurists from Pacific Basin countries to consider a range of theoretical, practical and pedagogic issues associated with teaching futures, mainly at the tertiary level.     

什么阻滞了中国的国富？——新科诺奖得主普雷斯科特专访

倘若生活在200年前的中国，你的生活水平与欧洲人无异，而当时的美国仅仅是一片蛮荒之地。然而，伴随着现代经济的发展，20世纪的世界经济格局发生了巨大变化，美国和日本先后超越英国，上演了经济高速发展的奇迹。那么，到底是什么原因阻碍了中国汇入现代经济发展的洪流？在2004年诺贝尔经济学奖得主——爱德华·普雷斯科特(Edward Christian Prescott)看来，闭关锁国是导致中国经济停滞不前的根源，”宋朝时候的中国很富裕，