Checkmating the Consumer: Passive Consumption and the Economic Devaluation of Culture

Early neoclassical economics embodied a gendered symbolic system that devalued consumption and enabled economists to ignore a basic contradiction underlying their treatment of consumption. According to consumer-sovereignty dogma, the consumer determined which firms would survive by actively pursuing maximum individual utility. While this consumer retained the culturally masculine attributes of initiative and agency, consumption itself was devalued because, from a systemic point of view, it is not important which firms survive. At the macro level, consumption was marginalized through Say's law, which holds that excessive acquisition of commodities for consumption is potentially dangerous, because saving and investment drive the economy. The rise of mass consumption and Keynesian macroeconomics threw into question the cultural gendering of consumption – which had acquired feminine attributes like passivity and frivolity – and rendered the neoclassical devaluing of it increasingly untenable. The postwar, neoclassical synthesis and subsequent developments have reinstated the pre-Keynesian gendering of consumption and devaluation of culture.     

Buying a Home with a Resale Value: Location,Location, Location*

We develop a dynamic multiregion model, where a household's choice of housing location depends on its current wealth and its current type, and involves both consumption and investment considerations. The relative strength of the consumption motive and the investment motive determines the equilibrium pattern of residential sorting. A strong investment (consumption) motive implies sorting according to household type (wealth). The model predicts that large house‐price fluctuations are associated with a low degree of sorting by type. This prediction is consistent with evidence from US metropolitan areas when income, education, and age are used as proxies for household type.     

An Equity-based Redefinition of Underemployment and Unemployment and Some Measurements

An attempt is made in this article to redefine underemployment and unemployment without making reference to an excess supply of labor or any causal mechanism of unemployment. Instead, underemployment and unemployment are defined in terms of equity which draws upon the individual's preferences. A specific proposal is that underemployment be defined by the presence of contribution inequity relative to at least half the persons employed in a field that the underemployed person might prefer to move into. Empirically, most recent survey data on preferences for contingent and other nontraditional employment are used to illustrate the application of the concept. The major finding is that nearly 10 million Americans in the nontraditional workforce are underemployed.     

持久收入假说与我国城镇居民消费——基于省级面板数据的实证分析

运用基于持久收入和暂时收入的两种分解方法的省际面板模型检验持久收入假说的三个假设.结果发现,我国城镇居民消费与持久收入和暂时收入均存在显著的相关关系,暂时收入的边际消费倾向不为零;就诸省份而言,暂时收入的边际消费倾向不同.进一步探讨了持久收入假说不能完全解释我国城镇居民消费行为的原因."λ假说"检验表明,城镇居民消费对当期收入过度敏感,其呈现理性化趋势.     

我国旅游纪念品开发的发展规律及发展趋势

分析并总结我国旅游纪念品开发的发展规律，既能发现已有的经验教训以鉴目前的开发工作，又能依据规律的可循性指导并规范将来的发展。首先从供给和需求的角度选择与旅游纪念品开发关联最紧密的因素做为分析对象，建立研究目标体系。依据各因素在旅游纪念品开发的发展过程中的变化特点，对我国旅游纪念品开发的发展过程做阶段划分。进而将分析对象的变化特点与相应阶段的旅游纪念品呈现特征做对比分析，探讨相邻发展阶段递进过程中的问题所在，揭示旅游纪念品开发的发展规律。最后依据规律的趋向性及新形势的要求展望我国旅游纪念品开发的发展趋势。     

“四化”协调推进黑龙江省经济结构转型升级的实践模式和政策选择

以黑龙江省工业化、城镇化、农业现代化及信息化的"四化"协调发展为提出的背景,重点阐述了"四化"的内涵与关联,并分析了黑龙江省四化协调发展的现实选择与作用机理。提出了"四化"协调发展是生产力与生产关系理论在新时期的应用和体现,工业化与信息化相融合,推进新型工业化发展进程;城镇化与农业现代化相融合,推进城乡一体化发展历程;"四化"本身的相互协调,才能整体推进现代化建设。实现工业化、信息化、城镇化与农业现代化的协调发展,是实现黑龙江省经济结构转型升级的前提条件,更是经济发展的重要战略任务。     

基于信息熵的城镇居民消费结构演变分析——以福建省为例

从消费结构信息熵的基本理论入手,以1995～2006年福建城镇居民家庭消费构成数据、恩格尔系数、基尼系数为基本数据,分析得出城镇居民消费结构逐步升级且消费支出向更高的层面转换的结论。并针对未来的经济发展趋势,提出居民消费结构升级转换的若干对策建议。     

国际垂直专业化、贸易分工模式与福利

在标准贸易理论框架下,通过引入垂直专业化和片段化生产,从理论上分析了国际垂直专业化对各参与国贸易分工模式的拓展及对国民和要素所有者福利的影响。研究结果表明,垂直专业化使一国比较优势由产品间深入到产品内部,进而使得各参与国贸易分工模式更为复杂,一国贸易模式可能会与该国原有的传统比较优势相悖;垂直专业化增进了世界福利,但在特定分工模式下可能会损害一国的福利,并且对于不同要素所有者福利的影响是不确定的。