On the timing of political regime changes in resource-dependent economies

We consider a resource-dependent economy initially ruled by the elite. The transition from the autocratic to a more democratic regime takes place only if the citizens decide to revolt against the elite. The occurrence of a revolution primarily depends on the autocratic regime vulnerability and the level of inequalities, both being driven by the elite׳s redistribution and repression policies. First, we show that when a political transition is inevitable, the elite choose the maximum rate of redistribution to lengthen their period in office. Second, we find that the duration of the autocratic regime is linked to resource abundance, and how it relates to the elite׳s policies. More resources lead to a shorter reign of a redistributive regime, which may not be the case of a repressive regime. Finally, we interpret the Arab spring sequence in light of our findings.     

Politically connected directors and firm value: Evidence from forced resignations in China

The Central Committee of the Communist Party in China issued the No. 18 Document on Oct 30, 2013 to ban government officials from taking any positions in Chinese firms. Using this decision as a unique natural experiment, we examine the causal relation between political connections and firm valuation. We find that the value of firms with politically connected directors drops significantly upon the announcements of the new rule and the resulting director resignations. Furthermore, the decline in valuation is more pronounced when a firm is in a regulated industry, and when a departing director is of vital importance for building and maintaining political connections. Moreover, non-state-owned enterprises suffer more loss of value than their state-owned peers following the resignations of politically-connected directors. Finally, firms exhibit insignificant value loss when their departing directors are of less political importance in allocating resources. These results suggest that hiring politically connected directors has a positive effect on firm valuation in China.     

Credit market frictions and political failure

We study how an excessively favorable regulatory environment for banks could arise even with a perfectly competitive credit market in a median voter world. In our occupational choice model with heterogeneous wealth endowments, market failure due to unobservability of entrepreneurial talent endogenously creates a misalignment between surplus maximizing reforms and reforms that are preferred by the median voter, who is a worker. This is in contrast to the world without market failure where the electorate unanimously vote in favor of surplus maximizing institutional reforms. This paper illustrates how market failure could lead to political failure even in the benchmark political system that is free from capture by interest groups.     

金融发展、资产泡沫与实体经济: 一个文献综述

近年来的金融危机和不同国家的发展路径促使经济学家们反思资产泡沫与实体经济之间的关系。过去几年主流经济学中开始涌现出一些富有洞见的相关理论和实证文献。本文通过一条逻辑主线对基于这些文献的进展进行了系统评述。资产泡沫产生于金融市场的不完全性,它既影响实体经济的效率和增长,也影响实体经济的波动。其中,金融发展程度(金融市场的完全性)扮演了重要的角色。金融发展程度会影响到资产泡沫的产生;而资产泡沫既可以缓解经济中的扭曲,也可以加剧经济中的扭曲,使得经济增长偏离黄金律。制度质量则会强化金融发展程度的影响。金融发展程度与制度质量在开放经济的情况下,还会影响到资本在国际间的流向和结构,从而对实体经济的增长和波动产生更复杂的影响。本文中所综述的理论洞见对于中国这类金融市场欠发达、正面临金融自由化与结构转型的新兴市场经济体尤其具有重要的政策含义。本文最后讨论了中国金融改革和金融发展中需要注意的一些问题。     

Who cares about the environment? An empirical analysis of the evolution of political parties’ environmental concern in European countries (1970–2008)

Why do parties offer environmental policies in their political programs? While a number of papers examine the determinants of citizens’ pro-environmental behaviour, we know little about the extent to which political parties adjust their platform towards environmentalism. We investigate this process through data provided by the Manifesto Project Dataset (CMP) for 20 European countries over the period 1970-2008. Following the literature on public concern towards environment, we examine economic, environmental and political determinants. Our findings provide evidence that political parties’ environmental concern is strongly correlated with their political ideology and with country-level economic conditions.     

政治伊斯兰的崛起与埃及的世俗化

作为世界三大宗教之一的伊斯兰教在埃及具有深厚的群众基础和广泛的精神认同，但是与其他宗教不同的廷伊斯兰载不仅具有广适的精神认同，同时还对世俗生活产生着巨大的影响。在不断的发展过程中，一些伊斯兰教精英分子开始有意识的将伊斯兰教进行政冶伪撩善，特伊新兰教的教义、传统、责任进行重新解释．基于伊斯兰教义提出政治诉求。政治伊斯兰势力应时而生。作为一种政治化了的宗教，其对社会世俗化的影响值得广泛关注。     

情感乡村模式与璧山县乡村旅游实践研究

＂快乐经济＂、＂幸福经济＂等可统称为＂情感经济＂,它为我们提供了＂可触摸＂情感的思维。在对情感经济回顾和＂情感乡村＂概念界定基础上,认为情感经济可用于乡村旅游实践。在璧山县＂情感乡村＂旅游发展实践中,通过挖掘＂情感乡村＂旅游元素、分析＂情感乡村＂旅游市场,提出快乐乡村、幸福乡村、浪漫乡村以及和谐乡村的乡村旅游项目设计理念,得出＂情感旅游＂是乡村旅游发展重要方向的结论。     

英汉双宾构式的共性和个性之比较分析

在构式语法理论框架下,介绍了英汉双宾构式研究的现状,探讨了英汉双宾构式在句式语义、原型特征以及构式义和动词语义的匹配模式,说明英汉双宾构式在以上三个方面存在着共性;在双宾构式的范围、概念模式以及能够进入双宾构式的动词三个方面存在着差异,从而说明:句法结构反映了人的概念结构和对世界的认知方式,包含相同概念内容的句式也会因为对事件的认知方式不同而导致意义上的差别。英汉双宾构式的共性反映了不同民族对世界的认知方式相同,英汉双宾构式的差异体现了英汉民族语言表达方式的不同。     

Party Discipline and Environmental Policy: The Role of “Smoke‐filled Back Rooms”*

We adopt the view that greater party discipline induces legislators to commit to promised policies after being elected. We then develop the hypothesis that the effect of party discipline on the stringency of environmental policy is conditional on the degree of government corruption. Our empirical work suggests that greater party discipline results in more stringent environmental policies when the level of corruption is relatively low, but in weaker policies when the level of corruption is comparatively high.     

Les finances solidaires et l'économie sociale en roumanie: une réponse de «proximités» à la régionalisation d'une économie en transition?

La Roumanie apparaît en Europe centrale et orientale comme un territoire d'expérimentation d'une forme particulière d'économie sociale liant coopératives et organisations «not‐for‐profit». En transition économique et sociale, la Roumanie est également un pays en transition territoriale dont les systèmes de financements locaux ont quitté leur approche centralement planifiée, pour rejoindre un secteur financier solidaire dont les Instituts de Microfinance (IMFs) sont les principaux acteurs. La question à laquelle cet article tente d'apporter quelques éléments de réponse est celle du rôle de la finance solidaire locale dans la soutenabilité des transitions socio‐économiques territoriales en cours. Il s'agit d'envisager une économie humaine au sein de laquelle les conditions dignes de vie, nous amène à envisager un modèle particulier d'économie conviviale située à partir des outils conviviaux des finances solidaires locales.