Varieties of paternalism and the heterogeneity of utility structures

A principal source of interest in behavioral economics has been its advertised contributions to policies aimed at ‘nudging’ people away from allegedly natural but self-defeating behavior toward patterns of response thought more likely to improve their welfare. This has occasioned controversies among economists and philosophers around the normative limits of paternalism, especially by technical policy advisors. One recent suggestion has been that ‘boosting,’ in which interventions aim to enhance people’s general cognitive skills and representational repertoires instead of manipulating their choice environments behind their backs, avoids the main normative challenges. A limitation in most of this literature is that it has focused on relatively sweeping policy recommendations and consequently on strong polar alternatives of general paternalism and strict laissez faire. We review a real instance, drawn from a consulting project we conducted for an investment bank, of a proposed intervention that is more typical of the kind that economists are more often actually called upon to offer. In this example, the sophistication of current tools for preference attribution, combined with philosophical externalism about the semantics of preferences that makes it less plausible to attribute their literal self-conscious representation to people as propositional attitude content becomes more tightly refined, blocks applicability of the distinction between nudging and boosting. This seems to call for irreducible, context-specific ethical judgment in assessing the appropriateness of the forms of paternalism that economists must actually wrestle with in going about their everyday business.     

城市科学20年的发展历程--祝贺中国城市科学研究会成立20周年

回顾北京市城市科学研究会的发展历程,分为多学科协同研究城市问题阶段;城市发展多学科综合研究阶段;城市发展综合研究向重点领域开展阶段.概括了北京城科会的主要学术成果.     

Regulating Banks through Market Discipline: A Survey of the Issues

Abstract.  The interest in the application of market discipline to regulate the financial industry has boomed recently due to the proposed New Capital Accord. This paper reviews the potential role market discipline can play in financial regulation. We start with a discussion of the rationale for financial regulation and with a brief history of the current regulatory mechanisms. Next, a definition of market discipline as a regulatory mechanism is advanced. We evaluate the disciplining power various market participants have. Finally, we argue that more external risk management disclosure is a condition sine qua non in order to enable market discipline as a regulatory mechanism. In this respect, the Basle Committee has taken the right approach.     

从美国物质科学资助转变看学科均衡发展

本文介绍了美国从70年代至今对物质科学资助的转变历程,探究其资助转变背后对于学科均衡发展的考量,其中,重点讨论美国国家科学基金会(NSF)在保持美国学科均衡发展中的重要作用和美国在不同时期通过资助转变对学科发展失衡的调节.最后,文章还就美国围绕学科均衡发展进行资助调整对我国的启示进行了分析.     

Estimating the Impact of Transgenic Bt Cotton on West and Central Africa: A General Equilibrium Approach

West and Central Africa (WCA)’s cotton sector is experiencing rising production costs and lower yields, reversing decades of growth. Declining input use, soil fertility and inefficient chemical pest controls are contributing factors. We evaluate the potential impact of Bt cotton on WCA using a multiregion general equilibrium model and multicountry estimates of Bt-induced productivity. We find that Bt cotton raises growers’ returns, land value and welfare. Released labor from cotton is shifted to food crops hence reducing labor shortage constraints. Overall, results indicate that potential gross benefits from Bt cotton are substantial for WCA cotton sector, and that the economic costs of nonadoption are equally significant.     

导游专业计算机教学中任务性学习的研究与实践

素质教育的一个重要部分就是学生综合应用能力及探究能力的培养。笔者针对导游专业的特点,在计算机基础教学中引入任务性学习方式,改善了教学效果,提高了该专业学生的计算机综合应用能力及自主探究能力。     

Disciplining: A question of ethics?

The importance of evaluating a discipline system from an ethical perspective is considered. Disciplinary practices in contemporary organizations are frequently characterized by managers having to choose from among alternative courses of corrective action. Since the selected alternative may have serious consequences for the individuals involved, its rightness or wrongness is of concern. The pattern of these choices reflects the overall disciplinary practice of the organization, and is an issue that warrants attention from an ethical perspective. Basic schools of thought that influence contemporary discipline practices are discussed and suggestions are made for conducting an evaluation of the ethical nature of a discipline system.     

地区形象营销理论研究综述

国内外的相关研究表明:地区形象营销的理论研究已由地区形象的设计研究演变为地区形象营销的战略研究;地区形象营销的研究学科以社会人文学科为主,地理学、市场营销学等学科对地区形象营销的研究也具有特别重要的意义。     

饭店员工"360度绩效考核方法"研究

全面地分析了360度绩效考核方法在饭店应用的意义、可能产生的风险，并系统地阐述了饭店采用360度绩效考核方法的设计原则、技术路线、评价项目及标准设计、考核操作方法设计、反馈设计等。     

对高校经济管理类实验室地位和作用的再认识

该文从教学、育人、科研、学科建设、创新、社会服务几方面,谈了对新时期高校经济管理类实验室地位和作用的再认识。