Why England? Demographic factors, structural change and physical capital accumulation during the Industrial Revolution

Why did England industrialize first? And why was Europe ahead of the rest of the world? Unified growth theory in the tradition of Galor and Weil (2000, American Economic Review, 89, 806–828) and Galor and Moav (2002, Quartely Journal of Economics, 177(4), 1133–1191) captures the key features of the transition from stagnation to growth over time. Yet we know remarkably little about why industrialization occurred much earlier in some parts of the world than in others. To answer this question, we present a probabilistic two-sector model where the initial escape from Malthusian constraints depends on the demographic regime, capital deepening and the use of more differentiated capital equipment. Weather-induced shocks to agricultural productivity cause changes in prices and quantities, and affect wages. In a standard model with capital externalities, these fluctuations interact with the demographic regime and affect the speed of growth. Our model is calibrated to match the main characteristics of the English economy in 1700 and the observed transition until 1850. We capture one of the key features of the British Industrial Revolution emphasized by economic historians — slow growth of output and productivity. Fertility limitation is responsible for higher per capita incomes, and these in turn increase industrialization probabilities. The paper also explores the availability of nutrition for poorer segments of society. We examine the influence of redistributive institutions such as the Old Poor Law, and find they were not decisive in fostering industrialization. Simulations using parameter values for other countries show that Britain’s early escape was only partly due to chance. France could have moved out of agriculture and into manufacturing faster than Britain, but the probability was less than 25%. Contrary to recent claims in the literature, 18th century China had only a minimal chance to escape from Malthusian constraints.     

Schumpeter's circular flow,learning by doing and cyclical growth

A two-sector growth model with endogenous technical change is presented. Concerning technical change, we assume that it is reflected by increases in the stock of human capital which are acquired through learning by doing. As a result, it turns out that transitory or, using the Hopf bifurcation theorem, persistent oscillations of the economic variables may be the outcome. Thus we are able to show that learning mechanisms alone may be sufficient to destroy the circular flow as described by Schumpeter.     

Adoption of improved irrigation and drainage reduction technologies under limiting environmental conditions

Modern irrigation technologies have been suggested as a means of conserving scarce water and reducing environmental pollution caused by irrigated agriculture. This paper applies an economic model of technology selection that provides a general framework to analyzing adoption of irrigation technologies under various environmental conditions. Data from the San Joaquin Valley of California is used to verify the theoretical relationships. Results suggest key variables to be considered by policy makers concerned with adoption of modern irrigation technologies. Among these variables are crop prices, water technology costs, farm organization characteristics, and the environmental conditions of the farm or the field. Policy implications were discussed and analyzed.This research was conducted while the first author was a visiting scholar with the Dept. of Agricultural Economics, University of California, Davis, and USDA-ERS, USA.     

我国建立绿色会计研究

实现人与自然和谐、可持续发展是人类社会发展永恒的主题,绿色会计是构成绿色国民核算体系以及绿色GDP的微观基础。我国实施绿色会计具有重要的现实意义,可以清楚明了地反映生态效益和社会效益,评估企业的环境代价和资源利用率,采取有效措施引导企业走环保之路。     

我国商业银行市场风险管理的特殊性:基于金融生态环境的分析

随着我国经济金融改革和发展,尤其是利率市场化和人民币汇率体制改革的深入,中国银行业面临的市场风险显著增大,根据我国具体情况加强银行市场风险管理是十分紧迫的现实任务。本文以金融生态环境为视角,着重分析我国商业银行的内外部环境状况及其影响,揭示我国银行业市场风险管理的特殊性,并据此提出了以金融生态环境改善为基础,提高银行市场风险管理水平的建议。     

陕北地区生态与经济互动发展初探

陕北地区位于我国生态脆弱区,生态建设与经济发展是区域发展的两大目标,二者长期难以协调,影响到陕北地区可持续发展,如何实现生态重建与经济发展的协调统一是该区亟待解决的难题。本文以互动发展观为理论指导,结合陕北地区延安市西北部吴起县的生态建设模式,从互动发展的角度提出了陕北地区生态重建与经济发展的对策。     

论政府包办型生态建设补偿机制的低效性成因及应对策略

政府主导型生态建设的资金投入通过政府委托代理链最终到达“种树人”环节。由于链条本身存在重复性大规模剥蚀资金的缺陷,当资金到达最终环节时,往往因数量的大幅减少而陷入高成本低收益困境。即使那些能够到达最终环节的资金,也会因补偿机制的不适当而缺乏效率。如何克服这种由政府包办而形成的低效率补偿机制?基本途径是让资金运动绕开政府委托代理链,直接到达最终环节,实行治理成果与补偿机制直接挂钩的激励与约束机制。     

网络经济下企业组织环境的变化与经营模式的变革

网络经济是建立在信息的生产、分配和使用基础之上的经济形态。在网络经济环境下 ,企业经营的组织环境出现了新的变化 ,因而使企业的经营模式发生了从大规模生产到大规模定制 ,从产品经济到服务经济 ,从实体经营到虚拟经营 ,从互相竞争到双赢合作的根本性变革。把握这些新变化并改进我国企业经营的策略 ,有利于企业战略目标的实现。     

资源、环境与企业能力形成的机理研究——以物流企业为例的分析

基于能力理论，在研究企业能力体系的基础上，从内部资源与外部环境两个视角分析了企业能力形成的一般规律。并以物流企业为研究对象，分析了资源与外部环境对物流企业能力形成的作用机理。     

企业可持续发展与环境会计研究

企业可持续发展是我国实施可持续发展战略的组成部分。在企业实施可持续发展战略的前提下,研究环境会计理论具有重要理论和实际意义。本文分析了企业可持续发展与环境会计研究的关系,阐述了可持续发展理论对环境会计目标、利益关系人、环境会计基本理论的影响。