转型时期弱势群体的社会救助

在社会保障制度的建立和发展过程中,社会救助最早建立.但是,现代的社会救助与早期的社会救助有本质上的区别.转型时期弱势群体的社会救助,是建立在一定的法规之上,具有社会性、制度性和强制性的社会保障制度.     

出口退税政策对我国外贸增长方式转变的影响效应及建议

本文分析了出口退税政策对我国外贸增长方式转变的影响效应，并在此基础上提出利用出口退税政策促进我国外贸增长方式根本转变的几点建议。     

Reforming Social Security in a Transition Economy: The Case of Lithuania

This paper points out a number of problems associated with the existing pension system in Lithuania. Reforms are proposed, including (i) a substantial increase in the basic pension benefit rate, financed on a pay-as-you-go basis, provided universally, and regulated according to wage/price indexation; (ii) a significant cut in the tax contribution rate to the public pension system matched by a rise in the VAT; (iii) a rise in the retirement age to 65 for both men and women; and (iv) a gradual conversion to a private, funded, mandatory pension system to replace the earnings-related part of the current pension system.     

How reliable and consistent are subjective measures of welfare in Europe and Central Asia?

This paper analyses the reliability and consistency of subjective well‐being measures, using the Life in Transition Survey. Drawing on two life satisfaction questions with alternative scales, our results do not reveal substantial biases in accounts of life satisfaction due to framing. Subjective individual assessments of household relative income position, on the other hand, do not appear to be reliable predictors of objective poverty or wealth. We find that subjective relative income position is only weakly correlated with objective welfare measures. There are differences in evaluations of the household's relative standing across different household members, and these differences are correlated with respondent characteristics.     

De facto power in a transition economy: The case of China

That firms actively influence public policy to advance private interests is taken for granted in most economies. In China, the activism of public actors in shaping private interests suggests that the public rather than private sector is more influential to the political economy. In this paper, we test the extent to which this is true in among Chinese provinces. We conduct a cluster quasi-experiment using the 2012 anti-corruption campaign. We find that the declining involvement of public actors in economic decisions during the campaign did not result into lower productivity in provinces with higher private sector participation, especially in unregulated industries and those not dominated by state-owned enterprises. De facto political power from 30-years of private wealth accumulation may have helped establish market-driven norms of economic behavior, strengthening the political economy against the vicissitudes of public actors.     

From structural to transition effects: Institutional dynamism as a deterrent to long-term investments by MNEs

The effect of institutional change on foreign direct investment is often conceptualized through the lens of an improving or deteriorating level of institutional quality that alters transaction costs. However, in the context of comprehensive government intervention in the past decades, this perspective ignores the potential uncertainties and costs associated with the process of institutional change. We propose that institutional change causes structural changes in transaction costs as well as accompanying transition effects due to uncertainty and learning costs. The extent of such transition effects is linked to the process characteristics of institutional change, e.g., institutional dynamism. In this paper, we examine the effects of institutional dynamism on foreign direct investment in long-term capital commitments and hypothesize a negative relationship between institutional dynamism and FDI, and a moderating effect of institutional dynamism on the relationship between institutional quality and FDI. Using investment data by US MNEs aggregated on the host country level, we find support for our hypotheses with some qualifications. We derive implications for the middle-income trap discussion as well as the ongoing fast-paced transition towards a sustainable global economy that is bound to shift attention from differences in the level of institutional quality towards differences in transition processes.     

Income inequality and economic growth

Despite the extensive existing literature on income inequality and economic growth, there remains considerable disagreement on the effect of inequality on economic growth. Existing literatures find either a positive or a negative relationship. In this paper, we attempt to theoretically examine that relationship with a stochastic optimal growth model. We make the disagreement clear within a single model. We conclude (i) that both are possible – that is, higher inequality can retard growth in the early stage of economic development, and can encourage growth in a near steady state, (ii) that income redistribution by high income tax does not always reduce income inequality. Income inequality can be reduced by higher income tax in a near steady state, but it cannot be reduced in the early stage of economic development, and (iii) that two government polices – rapid economic growth and low income inequality – can be achieved by low income tax in the early stage of economic development, but both cannot be achieved simultaneously in a near steady state.     

Socio-technical transition governance and public opinion: The case of passenger transport in Finland

As a governance perspective, transition management views the engagement of a wide variety of stakeholders in policy development as a necessary element in furthering sustainability through enhanced social learning. Yet as a literature it has paid relatively little attention to public consultation on socio-technical change. Here we set transition management in the context of longstanding debates in science and technology studies, technology assessment and deliberative democracy. Empirically, we use national survey data on Finnish public opinion of state support for future transport options. Showing how transport practices and attitudes to transport innovation policy vary with both demography and geography, we argue that these differences have implications for policy legitimacy. We suggest that, both given and despite the practical difficulties of deliberative democracy, use of participative opinion surveying to better understand social groups with needs and interests that differ from national averages, may help to enhance policy legitimacy and hence the success of transition management.     

Analysis of the labour force composition on cruisers: The Danube through Central and Southeast Europe

The aim of this paper is to contribute to the knowledge of the river cruise labour structure. It presents the crew demographics and structure on-board the cruisers along Danube throughout Central and South Eastern Europe. Its goal is to answer the following questions: What are the gender and ages of the ships’ crews? Are they structured according to the country of origin? Is there interdependence between the employment rank of the crew members and the degree of the economic development of the country they come from?The data has been collected from the manifests of the cruise vessels which docked in Serbia over the 9 month research period during the 2007 cruise season. Firstly, data from the 2218 employees on-board the 54 cruisers was collected. Secondly, in-depth interviews with a small sample of cruisers officers, staff and crews (2007–2010) were conducted. The findings of the study have several theoretical and practical implications. Namely, previous related studies have been mainly focused on the ocean cruisers and neglect the rising importance of the river cruisers, especially for the European region. The study also discusses the possibilities for improvement of the human resources management and strategic development management of the European countries, which already have and those which have not yet positioned themselves on the river cruising market.Finally, key demographic employment data and characteristics (e.g. gender, average age, occupational groups, etc.) are important factors to consider when conducting a comprehensive labour force analysis, for they provide the organization a chance to build on its strengths and to minimize challenges and risks.     

住房保障与财富效应逆转——基于平滑转换回归方法的实证分析

本文采取非线性的平滑转换回归方法,对我国保障房供给影响财富效应的程度进行了研究,结果表明:保障房的供给会使得房地产价格的财富效应发生V型逆转,即当保障房供给处于低水平阶段时,房地产价格的财富效应为负向,房价上涨会抑制消费增加;当保障房供给处于高水平阶段时,房地产价格具有正向的财富效应,房价上涨促进消费增加。这说明存在一个保障房供给的最低门槛,只有跨越这个门槛,才能有利于发挥房地产价格的财富效应,进而促进消费。从对全国各省份的数据分析发现,西部地区的大部分省份已经跨越了保障房供给的最低门槛,而东部地区较多的省份,连续几年都低于这个门槛值。因此,应积极建立健全保障性安居工程的融资机制,合理协调好保障房与商品房用地之间的关系,进而促进消费。