The Politics of Inequality as Organised Spectacle: Why the Swiss Do Not Want to Tax the Rich

In 2015, Swiss voters had the opportunity to impose a tax on the super rich in a popular vote and thereby fund a redistributive policy. However, a large majority voted against its seemingly obvious self-interest and rejected the tax. We propose an explanation for this puzzling outcome, bridging the usually separate behavioralist and institutionalist perspectives on the politics of inequality. We start from the observation that political economy tends to neglect processes of preference formation. Theorising preferences as socially constructed, we show that interest groups played a major role in shaping the outcome of the vote. Business frames were multiplied through allied parties and the media and had a major impact on individual voting behaviour. In addition, we demonstrate that interest groups representing business interests derive the content of their communication from business’s structurally privileged position in the capitalist economy. Specifically, creating uncertainty about possible perverse effects of government policies on jobs and growth is a powerful tool to undermine popular support. Frames based on this structural power ultimately explain why the Swiss refrained from ‘soaking the rich.’     

An optimization approach to strategic sourcing: A case study of the United States Air Force

The DoD annually procures billions of dollars worth of systems, supplies, and services in support of the national military strategy. Faced with budget cuts and other resource constraints, the DoD must transform its procurement process to ensure cost-effective sourcing of critical supplies and services. One aspect of current transformation in the DoD is the use of a strategic sourcing approach for the procurement of services at military installations. Using the Air Force's strategic sourcing process as our context, we developed an optimization model for selecting a set of proposals from among multiple offerors for services to be performed at multiple installations. The selection achieves the most favorable objective by balancing the confidence level in an offeror's past performance with the cost of services to the Air Force. The research findings, which are based on a realistic scenario, demonstrate improvements over the current sourcing process in both overall performance and cost.     

Project management infrastructure: The key to operational performance improvement

Process improvement programs such as Six Sigma, Lean, and Lean Sigma are very important and deserve serious academic research attention. However, definition problems make it difficult to study any specific type of process improvement program. Therefore, this study defines two organizational level program management factors, Strategic Project Selection (SPS) and Project Management Infrastructure (PMI), that are independent of any specific process improvement program. Drawing upon current literature, this study develops and tests theoretical models that relate SPS and PMI to operational performance improvement and to each other. Using empirical data collected from 53 supplier plants of one large high-tech firm, this study finds that at the plant level, SPS mediates the relationship between PMI and operational performance improvement. This insight contributes to both theory development and practice, suggesting that a viable strategy for a process improvement program’s success is to focus on PMI in order to enhance SPS and ultimately improve performance. Not to be reproduced or quoted without written permission from the authors.     

精准项目管理能力维度的国际核心竞争力提升研究

2010年左右,现代项目管理进入精准项目管理阶段,但是由于对精准项目管理能力及过程模型和参数的精准程度缺乏统一的定义,其发展面临新的挑战。项目生命周期各个环节要求具备基于精准项目管理的核心能力,即总承包商在项目早期的规划与决策、项目过程中的实施与优化、监督与控制所要求的国际核心竞争力及其构成因素。     

学科群与战略性新兴产业耦合度评价研究

基于系统论视角,运用自组织理论序参量原理选取序参量指标,构建学科群与战略性新兴产业有序度模型和耦合度评价模型。在此基础上,以陕西省电子信息科学学科群与电子信息产业为实例进行耦合度评价,检验序参量和耦合度模型的有效性,并提出提高学科群与战略性新兴产业耦合效果的针对性建议。     

Structure,Clearinghouses and Symmetry

We introduce and justify a taxonomy for the structure of markets and minimal institutions which appear in constructing minimally complex trading structures to perform the functions of price formation, settlement and payments. Each structure is presented as a playable strategic market game and is examined for its efficiency, the number of degrees of freedom and the symmetry properties of the structure     

广东发展战略性新兴产业的政策选择

目前,我国明确提出要大力发展战略性新兴产业,各地各部门也在加紧制定相关战略性新兴产业发展规划和政策措施.从目前广东战略性新兴产业政策的制定情况来看,还仅有少量的方向性政策,缺乏整体的发展规划和完整的扶持政策体系.本文将以新兴产业发展规律和强调可操作性等原则出发,提出了广东发展战略性新兴产韭的几大政策设计.     

以外向型经济带动南贵昆区域农业产业化发展模式研究

论文以外向型经济作为切入口,在分析南贵昆区域特点及农业产业化发展现状的基础上,研究以外向型经济带动南贵昆区域农业产业化发展的使命和战略模式:以沿海港口、外资以及国际市场为联结,组建区域农业产业化肌体、构建农业产业化发展的区域经济网络和协作战略模式。     

The Impact of Political Competition on Economic Growth: Evidence from Municipalities in South Africa

This paper examines the impact of political competition on economic growth. In this paper, I show that internal political dynamics, distinct from the type of political system, can having different effects on growth. Using results from the 1994 and 1999 elections in South Africa, I show that municipalities with higher levels of political competition have shown lower levels of economic growth. I use individual level surveys to show that this political competition is associated with political paralysis, dissatisfaction with the current democracy and government and lower optimism about the future.     

战略性新兴产业培育与发展的金融支持

金融是现代经济的核心,是引导经济资源配置的重要动力机制。"十二五"期间,培育和发展战略性新兴产业已成为我国经济社会发展的重要战略目标,而金融体系在培育和发展战略性新兴产业过程中具有核心的支持作用。文章提出了战略性新兴产业演进的金融支持过程及体系,在此基础上,以上海为例,设计了战略性新兴产业培育与发展的金融支持政策。