Neo-institutionalism is not yet a scientific success: a reply to Barry Weingast

Barry Weingast agrees that the idea of liberalism was crucial for the making of the modern world, though in most of his comment he turns to his own writings making institutional change the crux. Yet institutions in Britain did not in fact change much, the changes had little economic oomph, and underlying property rights were good in numerous economies worldwide since ancient times. An ideational economic history works better: liberty caused our riches.     

Pairwise epistemic conditions for Nash equilibrium

We introduce a framework for modeling pairwise interactive beliefs and provide an epistemic foundation for Nash equilibrium in terms of pairwise epistemic conditions locally imposed on only some pairs of players. Our main result considerably weakens not only the standard sufficient conditions by Aumann and Brandenburger (1995), but also the subsequent generalization by Barelli (2009). Surprisingly, our conditions do not require nor imply mutual belief in rationality.     

A genetic algorithm based approach to transactional and QoS-aware service selection

As there are various risks of failure when Web services are deployed in unreliable environment, the execution of a composite Web service (CWS) requires the transaction mechanism to guarantee its reliable execution. However, the existing service selection approaches consider QoS and transaction separately and have not considered that transactional properties may affect the QoS such as the execution time of a CWS. This work addresses the importance of considering transactional properties and how the transactional properties affect the QoS simultaneously in the process of service selection by a QoS-aware and transactional-aware selection approach. First, a performance evaluation method is proposed to calculate the execution time of a transactional CWS. Then, a genetic algorithm based approach, which takes into account the execution time, price, transactional property and successful execution rate of CWS, is presented to achieve global optimisation service selection. Finally, experimental results show the efficiency and effectiveness of the approach.     

基于知识产权的组织间关系网络的演化特征

分析了基于知识产权的组织间关系网络的基本内涵和构成要素,将基于知识产权的组织间关系网络的生命周期划分为5个阶段——创立阶段、成长阶段、成熟阶段、衰退阶段和解散阶段,具体论述了各阶段的组织间关系网络的演化特征。以对450家企业的深度访谈和问卷调查为基础,通过描述性统计分析、因子分析以及多元方差分析来实证研究目标一致性、信息沟通以及信任等关系属性在各阶段的传递规律。研究结果表明,基于知识产权的组织间关系属性的顶峰阶段并非都出现在关系生命周期的成熟阶段。     

Modelling property values in Nigeria using artificial neural network

Unreliable and inaccurate property valuation has been associated with techniques currently used in property valuation. A possible explanation for these findings may be due to the utilisation of traditional valuation methods. In the current study, an artificial neural network (ANN) is applied in property valuation using the Lagos metropolis property market as a representative case. Property sales transactions data (11 property attributes and property value) were collected from registered real estate firms operating in Lagos, Nigeria. The result shows that the ANN model possesses a good predictive ability, implying that it is suitable and reliable for property valuation. The relative importance analysis conducted on the property attributes revealed that the number of servants’ quarters is the most important attribute affecting property values. The findings suggest that the ANN model could be used as a tool by real estate stakeholders, especially valuers and researchers for property valuation.     

Private Property or Several Control: A Rejoinder

Following Mises’s foundational paper, ‘Economic Calculation in the Socialist Commonwealth’, first published in 1920, writers in the Austrian tradition have argued that socialism is impossible, because under socialism there would be no private property in the means of production, and without that private property economic calculation could not take place. In the article ‘Economic Calculation: Private Property or Several Control?’, published in this journal in 2015, I argued that this was mistaken. Not private property, but several control, was required for economic calculation, and since several control is consistent with public ownership, this argument for the impossibility of socialism fails. Another article, ‘Private Property and Economic Calculation: A Reply to Andy Denis’, by Bylund and Manish, published in this issue of the Review of Political Economy, defends the traditional interpretation of Austrian reasoning, contending that my argument fails. My rejoinder re-states the issues, addressing, and, ultimately rejecting, the Bylund and Manish critique.     

Financialization and Society’s Protective Response: Reconsidering Karl Polanyi’s Double Movement

Financialization challenges Karl Polanyi’s thesis of double movement, the thesis that efforts to extend the market evoke efforts to protect humans, nature, and means of production from market forces. Financialization refers to the increased power of financial institutions. The government protects the incomes and assets of financial institutions, but it does little to protect the incomes and assets of households, which are necessary for people to afford healthcare, education, emergencies, retirement, and so on. Polanyi criticized nineteenth-century civilization for transforming land, labor, and the means of production into commodities, using economic insecurity to motivate humans. The development of intangible property allowed business to expand the market in two ways: (i) restricting output to drive up profits and (ii) liquefying consumer assets to provide credit to consumers to increase spending. The implications of that process manifested themselves in the financial crisis of 2008. Market capitalism represented the attempt to organize commodities based on economic rationality. Similarly, the twentieth- and twenty-first-century capitalism represents the effort to “rationally” organize society according to the value of intangible assets. Both efforts failed, indicating the continued relevance of Polanyi’s thesis.     

多渠道增加陕西省农村居民财产性收入研究

文章在分析陕西农民增加财产性收入渠道现状的基础上,具体分析了制约陕西农民多渠道增加财产性收入的因素,进而研究了多渠道增加农村居民财产性收入的措施:构建农民产权制度保障、健全市场机制、培养现代农村人力资本、发展农村集体经济、完善农村社会保障制度及充分发挥政府规范和引导作用。     

中国商业保险滞后原因分析

文章简要回顾了中国商业保险的发展历程,并从商业保险的需求和供给两个方面探究了滞后的原因,最后给出了政策性建议。     

农村宅基地使用权申请审批问题研究——基于地方立法文本的分析

地方立法中的申请审批条款在一定程度上决定着我国农村宅基地申请审批的实际状况。通过对地方立法文本中关于申请审批的立法模式和内容构成的统计分析，发现我国目前宅基地申请人的资格不一，审批中农村集体经济组织主体位置虚缺，而且宅基地立法层级很低，立法清理工作不及时。我国今后应明确农村集体经济组织成员的内涵，强化宅基地所有权人在审批中的作用，制定统一的《农村宅基地使用权法》。