Back to Buchanan? Explorations of welfare and subjectivism in behavioral economics

In light of behavioral findings regarding inconsistent individual decision-making, economists have begun to re-conceptualize the notion of welfare. One prominent account is the preference purification approach (PP), which attempts to reconstruct preferences from choice data based on a normative understanding of neoclassical rationality. Using Buchanan’s notion of creative choice, this paper criticizes PP’s epistemic, ontological, and psychological assumptions. It identifies PP as a static position that assumes the satisfaction of given ‘true preferences’ as the normative standard for welfare. However, following Buchanan, choice should be understood dynamically as a process whereby preferences constantly regenerate. Accordingly, the meaning of welfare emerges from an ongoing quest for individual self-constitution. If this holds true, then rationality axioms cannot serve as a priori normative standards. Instead, creative imagination and learning processes must remain central to any understanding of welfare in economics.     

Endogenous fluctuations in unionized economies with productive externalities

Summary. We discuss the effects of unions on steady-state multiplicity and welfare, and on the existence of endogenous fluctuations. We consider an OG economy with productive capital externalities and we focus on underemployment equilibria. We find that for wide regions in the parameter space, including an arbitrarily small degree of externalities and a Cobb-Douglas technology, unions increase steady state employment and welfare, and local indeterminacy (sunspots) emerges. Moreover with a CES technology multiplicity of steady states is only possible in the presence of unions. Our results also show that the role of unions in shaping local dynamics and bifurcations depends on technology (externalities and factors substitutability).Received: 16 January 2002, Revised: 18 March 2004, JEL Classification Numbers: E32, J51, D60, D62. Correspondence to: Leonor ModestoThis paper is a much revised version of our former working paper Unions, Increasing Returns and Endogenous Fluctuations. Financial support from Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia under the POCTI, is gratefuly acknowledged.     

专利技术垄断、仿冒进入与政府管制政策

文章通过构建政府、正版厂商与仿冒厂商三者之间的Stackelberg博弈模型,并考虑仿冒品厂商的市场结构特征和性质,探讨了仿冒厂商进入条件下正版厂商的竞争行为、策略以及社会福利水平的变化.经研究发现:(1)市场中有仿冒厂商进入且政府稽查力度较弱的情况下,正版厂商总会选择大于独占均衡时的产出数量作为竞争的最优策略,并且,正版品的市场均衡价格要低于正版品独占时的市场均衡价格;(2)仿冒品和正版品之间具有相互替代性,但替代程度不同,仿冒品对正版品仅能部分替代,正版品对仿冒品产生完全替代作用;(3)仿冒品的存在有可能对正版厂商的利益产生正面的影响和作用;(4)在没有考虑政府管制成本的情况下,政府采取对仿冒品不予追究,或者采取严格的查处力度都会提高社会的福利水平.     

生物质能源经济效益及测量口径思考

经济的高速发展伴随着能源的大量的消耗。近年来,高增长下的中国通过大量进口石油,保证经济快速发展。面对日益扩大的能源需求,生物质能源作为汽油的重要补充,已经得到广泛认可。逐步扩大的生物质能源生产将有利于改变能源结构,促进经济健康发展。将生物质能源的有利影响从生态和经济福利的角度加以考虑,提出生态与经济福利度量模型,充分考虑生物质能源在利用过程中与化石能源相比的生态经济效益,从减排收益、环境收益和循环收益三个方面设计测算模型;评议了生物质能源在使用过程中效益评价的测算口径问题,并提出了今后研究的方向。     

事业单位分类改革的“公益性”解析

科学的＂分类＂是成功推进事业单位分类改革的前提和基础。目前有关事业单位分类体系的研究虽然提出了＂公益性＂的价值取向,但对于什么是公益性、公益性的价值内涵和分类依据等问题尚存在一定分歧或缺乏系统的理论分析。通过对＂公益性＂价值的客观依据和主观选择两个层面的理论分析,提出在推进事业单位投资主体多元化的同时,重构以＂公益性＂为内在的价值线索的事业单位价值体系的制度建构路径。     

论战略联盟视角的企业知识获取与转移障碍

创新是企业获取持久竞争优势的不竭源泉。企业实现持久竞争优势的关键是有能力比竞争对手学习得更快。战略联盟为企业显性知识和隐性知识的学习提供了一个理想的平台。     

公共经济视角下的国有企业改革分析

国有企业的发展状况表明,单纯从产权方面进行国有企业改革的理论研究和实践是有很大缺陷的,需要从新的视角去探索国有企业的改革思路。之所以从公共经济学的角度去分析国有企业问题,是因为国有企业或多或少具有公共产品的性质,政府对国有企业改革的态度及其行为反映了市场配置资源的能力和国有企业改革所引起的福利改变。     

TPP语境下版权保护期限的经济分析

在TPP影响日益扩大的情况下,中国据其采取相应的对策已经不可避免。由于美国主导下的TPP对知识产权领域的重视以及美国和中国在版权保护期限上的明显差异,中国在TPP语境下面临着是否延长版权保护期限的困境。文章基于预期效用函数理论,建立了版权保护期限对社会总体福利产生影响的线性模型,并据此对不同的版权保护期限产生的经济影响进行相应的分析。根据分析结果和现实的版权保护期限互相印证,可以发现过长和过短的版权保护期限均会损害社会总体福利,而且欠发达社会的最佳版权保护期限要短于发达社会。因此,中国作为发展中国家的一员,虽然在经济建设上已经取得了相当的成就,但在创意产业方面仍然落后于欧美日等创意产业发达的国家,应当采取的最佳版权保护期限肯定要低于欧美日等发达国家。中国不能为了加入WTO而盲目迎合美国的版权保护期限标准,而必须根据自身的经济利益确定是最适当的版权保护期限。     

Measuring the consumer benefits of improving farm animal welfare to inform welfare labelling

Policy makers in the European Union are envisioning the introduction of a community farm animal welfare label which would allow consumers to align their consumption habits with their farm animal welfare preferences. For welfare labelling to be viable the market for livestock products produced to higher welfare standards has to be sufficiently segmented with consumers having sufficiently distinct and behaviourally consistent preferences. The present study investigates consumers’ preferences for meat produced to different welfare standards using a hypothetical welfare score. Data is obtained from a contingent valuation study carried out in Britain. The ordered probit model was estimated using Bayesian inference to obtain mean willingness to pay. We find decreasing marginal WTP as animal welfare levels increase and that people’s preferences for different levels of farm animal welfare are sufficiently differentiated making the introduction of a labelling scheme in the form of a certified rating system appear feasible.     

私利与公益的协调是可能的吗——斯蒂芬·杨“道德资本主义”经济伦理观解析

经济伦理学要追求私利与公益的和谐的、协调的统一。斯蒂芬.杨提出以道德资本主义的经济伦理观来有效协调两者的关系,对人们颇有启发。道德资本主义提倡将私利投入公益,践行者要有＂考虑整体的自我利益＂的意识。现实经济生活中有效地结合了私利与公益的成功企业,对于终结贫困的重大价值,道德资本主义本身所具有的最佳结合了超越性之理想与现实性之欲念的特点等为道德资本主义提供了可能性。考克斯原则是目前全球范围内践行道德资本主义的范例。但是,道德资本主义要真正落到实处还必须大力培养有原则的商业领导。