Feminist Ecological Economics and Sustainability

Synopsis New developments in feminist ecological economics and ecofeminist economics are contributing to the search for theories and policy approaches to move economies toward sustainability. This paper summarizes work by ecofeminists and feminist ecological economists which is relevant to the sustainability challenge and its implications for the discipline of economics. Both democracy and lower material throughputs are generally seen as basic principles of economic sustainability. Feminist theorists and feminist ecological economists offer many important insights into the conundrum of how to make a democratic and equity-enhancing transition to an economy based on less material throughput. These flow from feminist research on unpaid work and caring labor, provisioning, development, valuation, social reproduction, non-monetized exchange relationships, local economies, redistribution, citizenship, equity-enhancing political institutions, and labor time, as well as creative modeling approaches and activism-based theorizing.      

会计职务犯罪的心理学分析

近年来有的财会人员经不住种种诱惑,采取非法手段,侵害国家、集体和人民的利益,其突出表现为做假帐。本文从心理学的角度分析了会计职务犯罪产生的因素,会计职务犯罪对社会的危害。最后,对如何预防会计职务犯罪,运用制度经济学原理从宏观和微观两方面提出了建议。     

体制变革背景下的服务业增长：一个定量分析框架

1978-2006年，中国服务业的高速增长与经济体制变革存在着直接的关系。体制变革是过去20多年中服务业增长的一个最重要因素。体制变革一方面通过放松管制提高了服务业占GDP的比重，另一方面，体制变革通过民营化进程降低了服务业的内部产业X-无效率，提高了服务业的金要素生产率。     

The Economics and Bioeconomics of Folk and Scientific Classification

Synopsis This paper is the product of a collaboration between a biologist (Ghiselin 1997) who works on the philosophy of classification and an economist (Landa 1981, 1994) who works on the ‘Economics of Identity’: how and why people classify people based on identity in the context of a theory of ethnic trading networks. In developing the ‘bioeconomics’ (the synthesis of economics with biology) of classification, we crossed a number of disciplinary boundaries—anthropology, economics, sociology, biology, and cognitive psychology including evolutionary psychology’s ‘fast and frugal’ heuristics. Using a bioeconomics approach, we argue that folk classifications—the classifications used by ordinary persons—have much in common with scientific classifications: underlying both is the need for economy of information processing in the brain, for the efficient organization of knowledge, and for efficiency of information acquisition and transmission of information to others. Both evolve as a result of trial and error, but in science there is relatively more foresight, understanding, and planning.     

技术变革与经济学研究的理论创新

以大机器为代表的工具技术变革和由此而诞生的现代工业经济体系,以及建立在工业及后工业时代基础之上的传统经济学理论,已经无法适应建立在数字技术、基因技术变革基础之上的新经济发展的实践。在传统经济学理论基础之上,构筑与新经济时代相适应的经济学理论体系,实现经济学研究的理论创新,是当代经济学人的重要历史使命。     

Don’t kill the messenger! Whistle-blowing in America — A review with recommendations

Whistle-blowing in America business and industry has increased as interest in ethical business behavior and the cost of unethical behavior have grown. Whistle-blowing plays the important role of helping to fill the gaps in the regulatory system that is designed to check the abuse of organizational power. However, the practice of whistle-blowing is controversial and whistle-blowers often pay a high price for their actions. Firms can engage in a number of actions to encourage whistle-blowing. Creating a climate that encourages employees to report organizational wrong doing and that protects the whistle-blower is critical. To create such a climate the organization must build trust and cooperation by educating employees in the benefits of ethical and legal behavior.     

论环境经济的市场机理

本文以现代产权经济理论为基础,以排污权交易为主要对象,论述了环境经济市场机理的形成基础、作用特点及交易边界等方面的问题。     

The Nonparametric Approach to Applied Welfare Analysis

Changes in total surplus are traditional measures of economic welfare. We propose necessary and sufficient conditions for rationalizing individual and aggregate consumer demand data with individual quasilinear and homothetic utility functions. Under these conditions, consumer surplus is a valid measure of consumer welfare. For nonmarketed goods, we propose necessary and sufficient conditions on input market data for efficient production, i.e. production at minimum cost. Under these conditions we derive a cost function for the nonmarketed good, where producer surplus is the area above the marginal cost curve. We are greatful to helpful remarks and comments of the referees and the editor. The work is partially supported by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Technology, through Grant BEC2002-2130, the Generalitat de Catlaunya, through Grant 2005SGR-00454 and the Barcelona Economics Program (CREA).     

Robust political economy

This paper introduces the idea of “robust political economy.” In the context of political economic systems, “robustness” refers to a political economic arrangement's ability to produce social welfare-enhancing outcomes in the face of deviations from ideal assumptions about individuals' motivations and information. Since standard assumptions about complete and perfect information, instantaneous market adjustment, perfect agent rationality, political actor benevolence, etc., rarely, if ever actually hold, a realistic picture and accurate assessment of the desirability of alternative political economic systems requires an analysis of alternative systems' robustness. The Mises-Hayek critique of socialism forms the foundation for investigations of robustness that relax ideal informational assumptions. The Buchanan-Tullock public choice approach complements this foundation in forming the basis for investigations of robustness that relax ideal motivational assumptions. JEL Code B53, P16, P26     

Entrepreneurship,Austrian Economics,and the Quarrel Between Philosophy and Poetry

I consider whether entrepreneurship is a distinct category within economic theory. More generally, I consider the links between discussions of entrepreneurship and philosophic debates over the nature of the aesthetic. For instance, Kant's attempt to elevate the category of the aesthetic has much in common with Kirzner's attempt to elevate the concept of the entrepreneur. Shackle's theory of choice refers very directly to the notion of the aesthetic. Theories of the aesthetic and theories of the entrepreneur have common strengths and weaknesses.