Battles in the costing war: UK debates, 1950-75

In the UK, 1950-75 was a lively period in the long-running debates between proponents of absorption and marginal costing. In the nexus of competing interests, management accountants advocated and defended rival costing systems with much vigour and passion. Expressed in the language of the times, these debates were 'battles' in the costing 'war'. We focus on these battles, analysing the various forces that operated upon the combatants, and locate them in the wider costing war. We conclude that no final resolution of the conflict was achieved in the twentieth century, nor is one likely in the foreseeable future.     

Demographic and Economic Pressure on Emigration out of Africa*

Two of the main forces driving European emigration in the late nineteenth century were real wage gaps between sending and receiving regions and demographic booms in the low‐wage sending regions. Our new estimates of net migration for the countries of sub‐Saharan Africa show that exactly the same forces driving African across‐border migration are at work today. The results suggest that rapid growth in the cohort of potential young emigrants, population pressure on the resource base, and slow economic growth are likely to intensify the pressure for migration out of Africa and into high‐wage OECD countries over the next two decades.     

‘Parasitic invasions’ or sources of good governance: Constraining foreign competition in Hong Kong banking, 1965–81

This paper investigates the operation and impact of the moratorium on new banking licences imposed in Hong Kong in 1965 and the claims that foreign banks destabilised the banking system and drained resources from the colony. First it examines foreign banks' attempts to circumvent the moratorium through claims of special circumstances and buying interests in local banks, and secondly it examines the efforts of incumbents to extend barriers to non-bank financial institutions and to branches of foreign banks. The general conclusions are that while the moratorium was aimed at increasing the stability of the banking system, it had the effect of decreasing the regulatory breadth of the government, and reducing incentives for mergers and acquisitions that might have improved governance.     

“泛珠三角”区域合作中的利益冲突与政府协调

“泛珠三角”的经济合作,由于涉及多重利益主体,不同的体制安排及利益需求导致区域内诸多的利益冲突的存在。如何协调各方利益、促进区域经济协调发展,使得区域合作不留于形式是区域各方政府必须正视的问题。本文特就该地区存在的利益冲突进行了探讨,在分析原因的基础上提出政府协调的重要性。     

International Financial Cooperation and the Number of Adherents: The Basel Committee and Capital Regulation

Theoretical analyses of international cooperation point to cooperation being optimized with a small number of participants. History is consistent with this view. However an anomaly is the international capital standards created by the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision (BCBS). Basel I has over 100 adherents, and approximately that number of countries have been identified in a survey as candidates for Basel II. The author demonstrates that this is not an anomaly. First, Basel I was a product of a duopoly and then an oligopoly prior to approval by the BCBS. Secondly, self-interest and other factors explain why more than 100 countries have agreed to accept these standards. JEL Classification Numbers: E58, F33, G15, G28     

International Rent Sharing and Domestic Labour Markets: A Macroeconomic Analysis

Compared to international trade relations relatively little is known about the role foreign direct investment linkages play in the transmission of disturbances from one country to the next. Inspired by the microevidence on profit sharing within multinational corporations and within industries, we investigate for six countries whether a cross-border rent-sharing phenomenon can be identified at the macroeconomic level. The rent-sharing hypothesis implies that an increase in foreign profitability should boost wages and/or employment in the domestic economy. We find corroborative evidence for Belgium, France, Germany, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom. US labour market conditions, by contrast, are not affected by changes in profitability in other countries. JEL no. E32, F23, F40, J23, J31     

制造加工型生产模式与国际竞争力——基于中、目发展的比较研究

考虑到中国经济发展的活力以及正面临的能源短缺和国际贸易摩擦的加剧,本文深入考察了日本经济的发展历程。基于中国与日本战后经济腾飞的相似之处,文章剖析并比较两国经济发展共同点之后深刻的体制根源,对提升中国经济的国际竞争力有一定的借鉴意义。     

Mercantilism: a materialist approach

ABSTRACT

Historians and economists have shown renewed interest in mercantilism over the last couple of years. From this interest, a dispute has arisen about whether mercantilism should be seen as an incoherent economic thought or if it is possible to ‘reconstruct’ its basic principles. In line with this latter attempt, this paper is intended to provide a materialist explanation for varying degrees of belief in shared mercantilist assumptions. My hypothesis is that belief in mercantilist assumptions is significantly dependent upon how economic and security issues materially interact in a given time and space, with uncertainty and insecurity profoundly favouring mercantilist dispositions in economic thought. To analyse this hypothesis, the paper sets the first steps for relating the credibility of mercantilism with changes in British economic and military history from the sixteenth to the nineteenth century. Section 3 presents ideas to further investigate this hypothesis. Section 4 concludes the paper.     

基于ISM模型的国际航空物流中心发展影响因素分析

国际航空物流中心日益成为区域经济发展、国家对外开放和国际贸易往来的强劲动力和重要功能承载区。对国内外国际航空物流中心发展现状和成功经验进行分析和总结,结合相关文献和专家咨询,对国际航空物流中心发展的影响因素和指标体系进行了归纳,并运用ISM解释结构模型最终得到了这些影响因素指标的层级结构。自下而上分别为深层影响因素层、产业支撑和基础配套体系层、软硬件基础设施层、业务服务层、运营成本控制层和空中通道建设层。下一层级的因素对上一层级的因素有影响和驱动作用。通过因素分析,理清了国际航空物流中心发展的关键因素和因素间的关联关系,为更好推动国际航空物流中心的发展提供理论指导。