基于耦合协调度模型的南京市用水效率与经济发展关系

基于2007—2014年南京市用水效率与经济发展的时间序列数据,构建南京市用水效率系统与经济发展系统间的耦合协调度模型,探讨南京市在2007—2014年期间用水效率与经济发展之间的动态均衡关系。首先对用水效率系统和经济发展系统的综合状况进行评价,然后对两系统的耦合协调度进行定量分析。结果表明:2007—2014年南京市用水效率和经济发展水平都有大幅度增长;两者的耦合协调关系在波动中逐渐优化,2007年处于低度协调耦合阶段,2008年处于中度协调耦合阶段,2009—2014年处于高度耦合协调阶段;只有提高用水效率与经济发展并举,才能保持耦合协调度的增长趋势。最后针对用水效率系统和经济发展系统存在的不足,提出在用水效率方面优化用水结构、加强水质污染治理,经济发展方面则调整经济结构、增强经济活力等建议。     

The Human Development Approach: An Overview

The human development (HD) approach puts the improvement of people’s lives as the central objective of development. This paper provides an overview of major aspects of the approach. It shows how it emerged with the evolution of development thought and a widening of development objectives The paper explores the two-way relationship between HD and the rival objective, economic growth, is explored and broad characteristics of countries that have been exceptionally successful or unsuccessful , countries with three country cases considered in greater depth. The paper identifies major dimensions of HD, beyond the three elements included in the Human Development Index (HDI) and shows they are poorly captured by the HDI. An overview of global change on HD dimensions from 1980 to 2015 gives a mixed picture with progress on basic HD, uneven trends in some areas, and notable worsening on the environmental dimension. In conclusion, the paper discusses some outstanding issues which need more attention.     

Rural Economies and Transitions to Capitalism: Germany and England Compared (c.1200–c.1800)

Based on a synthesis of the empirical scholarship on England and Germany, this paper demonstrates that in both regions, rural socio‐economic developments from c.1200 to c.1800 are similar: this period witnesses the rise to numerical predominance and growing economic significance of the ‘sub‐peasant classes’, which had a growing impact on the market as a result of their increasing market dependence, and from which – towards the end of the period – a rural proletariat emerged. Against the influential theory of Robert Brenner, it is argued that the period c.1200–c.1400 cannot really be categorized as ‘feudal’ according to Brenner's definition; and ‘agrarian capitalism’ does not adequately describe the socio‐economic system that obtained by the end of the sixteenth century. A genuine transition to capitalism is only evident from after c.1750, and can be found in Germany as well as in England; it is predicated both on ideological shifts and on the evolution of the rural proletariat, which is only found in large numbers by or after c.1800.     

Social networks and small business performance in West African border regions

This paper studies the links between economic performance and social networks in West Africa. Using data collected on 358 small-scale traders in five border markets, we show that social networks can be simultaneously a resource which positively contributes to labour market outcomes and a social burden that has a negative economic impact. Testing the effect of social networks between small traders and three categories of actors, we find that the most well-connected actors are also the most successful in terms of monthly profit. The effects of social networks are, however, dependent on the type of persons with whom traders are connected. We show that support received from state representatives and politicians is converted into economic performance, while the impact of law enforcement officers on the monthly profits of traders is not significant. We also find that interacting with traditional religious leaders has a negative effect on economic performance. Our work has two implications: Firstly, collecting data on social networks remains challenging due to endogeneity. Secondly, network-enhancing policies should aim at improving both the internal connectivity of economic actors at the local level and their external connectivity with the rest of the world.     

徐州市科技创新能力综合评价及应用研究

从科技创新投入、科技创新产出、科技创新环境支撑和科技促进可持续发展等4个方面,在26个备选具体指标的基础上,通过反复测试检验,最终选取14个具体指标,建立科技创新评价模型,对淮海经济区核心区城市和江苏省十三市的科技创新能力予以定量评价,并进行横向比较分析。最后从科技创新投入、成果转化等七个方面对徐州市提高科技创新能力给出了建设性建议。     

Assessing the Impact of Changing Economic Environment on Productivity Growth: The Case of the Spanish Dairy Processing Industry

This article analyzes the productivity growth of the Spanish dairy processing industry from 1996 till 2011, which concerns the period of increased EU regulation regarding food safety as well as economic crisis. Data envelopment analysis is used to compute the Malmquist index and its components. The results suggest that productivity on average declined during the period under investigation. The decomposition of the Malmquist index finds that technical regress contributed to productivity decline despite improvements in technical and scale efficiencies. Our results also suggest that food safety regulations did not have a negative impact on productivity growth. Technical change and scale efficiency change made significant negative contributions to productivity growth in the period under crisis, whereas firms significantly improved their technical efficiency in that period.     

On globalization ‘with Chinese characteristics’?

This Commentary looks at Globalization ‘with Chinese Characteristics’ (quanqiu hua yu zhongguo tese) as revealed through the lens of President Xi Jinping’s recent speech to the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland in January, 2017. In this, he sets out a positive role for the PRC in the ‘Globalization’ stakes. He also puts himself forward as ‘Expert’, rather than ‘Red’, in the ongoing polemic on the benefits of further reductions in barriers to doing business. But whether this may be taken at its face value remains to be seen. Whilst the Chinese appear to promote more of ‘Globalization’ and the Americans seem to retreat from the model, the world economic community may well suspend its judgement.     

Debt problems,home‐leaving,and boomeranging: A register‐based perspective on economic consequences of moving away from parental home

This article analyses the development of financial problems after leaving one's parental home, and considers how financial problems are associated with likelihood of boomeranging (i.e., adult children returning to parental home). The 9‐year follow‐up study focused on a nationally representative sample of Finnish young people between the ages of 15 and 25 who moved out from their parental home between 2006 and 2009 (n = 9,196). The measure of debt problems was based on monthly data on debt enforcement, a legal matter which may bring serious consequences for the debtors. The primary within‐individual, longitudinal analyses showed that debt problems increased directly after leaving parental home. Education and family background were significant predictors of debt problems in the four years after leaving parental home. Early leavers had significantly more debt problems than later leavers. Debt problems were associated with a higher likelihood of moving back to parental home. The results imply that it is important to support economic decision‐making during early adulthood.     

Banks,Stock Market Development and Economic Growth in Kenya: An Empirical Investigation

In this paper, we have examined the impact of both bank- and market-based financial development on economic growth in Kenya during the period 1980 to 2012, using the autoregressive distributed lag bounds testing approach. To capture as far as possible the breadth and depth of the Kenyan bank- and market-based financial systems, the study employs the method of means-removed average to construct both bank- and market-based financial development indices from an array of banking sector and stock market variables. The empirical results of this study show that market-based financial development has a positive impact on economic growth in Kenya. However, the results have also shown that bank-based financial development has no impact on economic growth in the study country. These results apply irrespective of whether the regression analysis is conducted in the long run or in the short run. The findings of this study, therefore, lend more support to pro-market-based financial development policies in Kenya.     

中国城市土地经济密度的分布动态演进

研究目的:探究城市土地经济密度的整体分布特征及其演进规律,为实现城市土地利用系统与城市社会经济系统的高效融合及协调发展提供指导与参考。研究方法:核密度估计,马尔科夫链。研究结果:(1)中国城市土地经济密度的整体水平不断提高,但存在着显著的空间非均衡特征,基本呈现出东部地区中部地区西部地区的地理格局;(2)在全国层面和东、中、西部三大区域层面,城市土地经济密度的地区差距在样本考察期内都不断加剧,且各地区城市土地经济密度在发展过程中都出现过不同程度的极化现象;(3)中国不同水平城市土地经济密度之间的流动性较差,各省份在总体城市土地经济密度分布中的相对位置比较稳定,且城市土地经济密度的长期均衡状态将处于中高水平和高水平。研究结论:采取差异化的城市土地利用管控策略和经济调控策略,实现东部、中部和西部地区城市土地利用与经济发展的协同共进。