A gramscian perspective on field dynamics. The case of the privatization of Italian steel industry

Institutional fields are not static, they undergo times of fragmentation and times of settlement. Neo-institutional research has long explained the settlement of fields as either the effect of political manoeuvring of actors, or of discursive activity influencing cultural codes, narratives and symbols. But can these processes really be considered in isolation? In this paper, we propose to adopt a comprehensive view on fields’ dynamics, one that embraces the interaction of political and discursive manoeuvring to explain how fragmented fields manage to settle. To do so, we build on the Gramscian concept of hegemonic practices as discursive and political processes that integrate cultural equivalence among actors with political alliances based on aligned interests. Hegemonic practices align actors in a new historical bloc (a new settlement). Through this lens, we interpret the case of the Italian State steel privatization (1984–1995) and propose a process model explaining what yields fields’ dynamics from fragmentation to settlement. The model highlights the action of diffused agency in field dynamics, thus overcoming the obsolete challenger/incumbent view, and the need of becoming a historical bloc for alliances to stabilize a field.     

不良贷款约束下的中国银行业全要素生产率增长研究

本文运用共同边界Malmquist-Luenberger生产率指数测度了2004—2009年中国27家商业银行在不良贷款约束下的全要素生产率增长及其成分,并对影响全要素生产率增长的宏观经济因素进行了实证分析。本文的主要结论有:在表示偏离共同边界的技术落差比率方面,国有商业银行呈"V"型,股份制商业银行较平稳,城市商业银行逐步上升;总体上,中国银行业的全要素生产率是进步的,纯技术进步是推动全要素生产率进步的主要动力,纯技术效率变化和规模效率变化进步都不明显,技术规模变化显示中国银行业趋向CRS边界;股份制商业银行的纯技术赶超最优,而潜在技术相对变动方面表现较弱;外资银行进入和固定资产投资增加对银行全要素生产率提高有推动作用。     

新时代中国区域高质量发展的动力转变方向及形成路径研究

高质量发展已经成为中国经济发展的根本导向。作为经济体系的重要组成部分之一,区域经济的高质量发展要求增强发展动力的均衡性、精准性、融合性、复制性和专业性。其中,由外需动力为主转向内外需动力并重、由所有区域的齐头并进到不同区域的各展所长、由地方竞争的发展速度到区域协调的规模经济、由个体区域的率先发展到个体区域的综合示范、由综合性区域战略到专业性区域政策是动力转型的主要方向,培育具有世界级竞争力的产业集群、细化主体功能区规划、构建共享型的区域利益关系、构建可复制的区域发展路径、完善区域管理制度是实现上述转型的支撑路径。     

本世纪以来的西方经济增长理论

中国经济正处于动能转换的关键时期,需要来自增长理论研究的支持。21世纪以来,经济增长理论的研究取得了显著进步。本文旨在评述增长理论的最新发展,进一步梳理理论脉络和主流观点,为学术研究和经济实践提供参考。本文认为,经济增长理论已逐渐形成制度决定理论、结构转变理论和人口过渡理论三大主流观点。同时,本文指出了增长理论存在的不足。在总结现有文献贡献与不足的基础上,对未来研究方向进行了展望。     

R&D based knowledge capital and future firm growth: Evidence from China’s Growth Enterprise Market firms

Building upon a dynamic stochastic general equilibrium (DSGE) model, this paper examines the role of knowledge-based capital (KC) in improving firms’ future growth in productivity. Based on the analysis of Chinese listed firms from 2006 to 2017 in the Growth Enterprise Market (GEM), we find KC often generates endogenous movements in productivity and earnings over the business cycles, suggesting that the nature of KC is pro-cyclical. Moreover, investment in KC is often classified as a corporate expense and is thus deducted from the current year’s profits. Therefore, firms with high R&D investments have significantly higher future productivity growth but lower current profitability than do those with lower R&D investments. Given these characteristics, KC’s benefits to productivity and future earnings are thus not immediate. For faster growth in the long term, firms should continue investing in KC even if they may face a short-term fall in corporate earnings as a result of internal knowledge investment, especially for fast-growing GEM firms.     

Original Institutional Economics and Political Anthropology: Reflections on the Nature of Coercive Power and Vested Interests in the Works of Thorstein Veblen and Pierre Clastres

Our inquiry advances a comparison of the anthropological content of Thorstein Veblen’s evolutionary perspective with the foundations of the political anthropology drawn from selected works of Pierre Clastres. We seek to establish that what can be referred to as a clastrean reference can simultaneously offer new perspectives on institutionalism, while maintaining a radical and emancipatory understanding of Veblen’s writings. In this sense, we seek to reconsider and reevaluate the role of economic surplus drawn from Veblen’s anthropology, while also offering a general and critical perspective for understanding the emergence of coercive power within societies.     

Firm performance and corporate finance in New Zealand

Low productivity growth in New Zealand has been a paradox. We study New Zealand firms’ profitability, in terms of profit margin and return on assets (ROA), from the viewpoints of productivity enablers using firm-level panel data. We find that tangible fixed investment and a research and development (R&D) tax incentive are associated with higher profitability performance. In addition, the firm size is found to be a key determinant of profit margin. By contrast, we do not find any evidence that intangible investment can improve the profitability. The global financial crisis has not changed the leverage effect on ROA in New Zealand, while the impact of R&D became more prominent after the crisis.     

科技金融、企业创新投入与产出耦合协调度及不协调来源

运用耦合协调模型对中国省域科技金融、企业创新投入与产出的耦合协调度进行测度,结果显示,除北京外的中国内地省域耦合协调度整体偏低。进一步运用DEA模型进行测度发现：初始创新投入系统中各要素无效率省域分布比较复杂,企业创新禀赋无效率均值最高;创新中间产出与投入系统中,发明专利与商标权产出有效率,但以此作为中间投入的无效率均值高、省域分布广;最终产出系统中,某些省域新产品销售收入产出不足和技术市场成交额产出不足情况比较突出。据此提出创新初始投入系统协调发展观、创新中间投入与产出质量观和创新最终产出知识产权盈利模式观,以改善创新投入与产出不协调的状况,助力企业转型升级。     

高质量发展下中国产业转型升级方向研究

产业不断转型升级是实现经济高质量发展的关键,从数量和质量两个维度可以总结出其具体路径。选取1985-2017年中国年度数据和1960-2017年美国年度数据,运用向量自回归模型对广义和狭义产业结构以及经济增长间的动态关系进行分析。结果表明,中美之间产业转型升级对经济发展的影响存在差异,据此可以得出高质量发展下中国产业转型升级方向,即拓展并细化产业转型升级维度;注重不同产业间的配比,尤其是生产性服务业和制造业配比;重视并确立制造业的根本地位;提升我国经济外向型程度。     

Why does the peso-dollar exchange rate show a depreciation trend? The role of productivity differentials

Over the last three decades, Mexico's macroeconomic policy has been driven by a sound orthodox strategy: an open economy via many trade agreements signed since the mid-1980s, a nominal exchange rate under a flexible regime since 1994, central bank autonomy, and responsible fiscal policy, among other benchmarks. Nevertheless, the exchange rate has continued on a path of depreciation against the US dollar. In this paper, we show that although an equilibrium relationship exists between the exchange rate and prices in Mexico and the US (its main commercial partner), there are other forces affecting the former. The main factor in this relentless long-term depreciation is the loss of productivity in Mexico relative to the US. In addition, we show that the extraordinary liquidity supplied by the US during the 2008 crisis caused the Mexican peso to appreciate against the dollar.