Stability and Segregation in Group Formation

This paper presents a model of group formation based on the assumption that individuals prefer to associate with people similar to them. It is shown that, in general, if the number of groups that can be formed is bounded, then a stable partition of the society into groups may not exist. (A partition is defined as stable if none of the individuals would prefer be in a different group than the one he is in.) However, if individuals' characteristics are one-dimensional, then a stable partition always exists. We give sufficient conditions for stable partitions to be segregating (in the sense that, for example, low-characteristic individuals are in one group and high-characteristic ones are in another) and Pareto efficient. In addition, we propose a dynamic model of individual myopic behavior describing the evolution of group formation to an eventual stable, segregating, and Pareto efficient partition. Journal of Economic Literature Classification Numbers: C72, H41.     

公共物品供给主体的多元化研究

我国公共物品供给正在从政府一元化供给模式向政府、私营部门和非营利部门共同参与的多元化供给模式转变,这是政府公共物品供给模式回应经济主体多元化的转变。政府、私人组织和非营利组织在公共物品供给过程中,既存在竞争关系,也存在合作关系。最优制度安排的标准就是在多中心体制中寻求静态的稳定性和动态的适应性,以综合的供给模式实现公共物品供给的最优架构,达到效率和公平的统一。     

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).     

STRATEGIC EXPORT POLICY IN VERTICALLY RELATED MARKETS

This paper analyses how strategic export policies are affected by introducing an imperfectly competitive intermediate good into a Bertrand duopoly model with product differentiation, where a home and a foreign final‐good firm export to a third‐country market. It is shown that when the home and foreign markets for the intermediate good are segmented, the optimal export policy towards the final good is a tax. In contrast, under integrated markets, the optimal export intervention is a subsidy. Whether bilateral export intervention is welfare improving compared with free trade, depends on the degree of product differentiation between the home and foreign final goods.     

基于公共物品理论的农村水环境治理机制研究

在广大农村地区,落后的水环境治理与日益膨胀的污染负荷之间的矛盾使水环境污染问题日益严峻,并且呈现出迅速恶化的趋势。从我国农村水环境污染的现状出发,基于公共物品理论深入分析当前农村水环境治理中存在的治理主体缺失、治理资金投入不足、环保意识薄弱、二元化的环境治理政策等一系列问题,指出市场失灵和政府缺陷是导致农村水环境治理不足的最重要原因,并依此来构建我国农村水环境治理的机制。     

商品价值创造中的三种劳动及作用

商品价值创造中的三种劳动是耗费劳动、传导劳动和凝结劳动。耗费劳动是正在进行的劳动，它是价值的源泉，本身并不是价值；传导劳动表现为劳动资料，劳动资料在本期劳动过程中起着把活劳动传导到劳动对象中去的作用；凝结劳动是凝结在劳动对象中的人类一般劳动，即价值实体。劳动对象是耗费劳动是吸收器。耗费劳动与凝结劳动既不同质也不同量，耗费劳动能否成为凝结劳动或在多大量上成为凝结劳动取决于传导劳动的效能和劳动对象对耗费劳动的吸收程度。     

基于奢侈概念历史考略的奢侈品管理科学范式研究

奢侈品管理科学的范式研究是以广义定义为核心内容的规范研究到论证和确定狭义定义为主要方向的实证研究之间至关重要的一个研究阶段,起着承上启下的作用。从奢侈品形成的历史考略入手,对奢侈概念进行了系统的整理,确定了现代奢侈品定义的发展逻辑,理清概念间的逻辑关系和差异的历史成因,构建了奢侈品管理科学的基本范式,并在此基础上对奢侈品广义定义进行了修正和补充,为奢侈品管理领域的研究解决了科学划界问题。     

Who votes for public environmental goods in California?: Evidence from a spatial analysis of voting for environmental ballot measures

Voting referenda provide direct evidence of the demand for public goods. A number of previous studies have used referenda to analyze the support for public environmental goods. These studies have used aggregate data from large jurisdictional units (usually counties) and summary income measures such as the mean or median, and have usually found that higher income areas offer greater support for environmental propositions. We examine environmental referenda voting in California using census block group data, spatial dependence controls, and detailed income distribution data. We find that household income has a negative marginal effect on environmental referenda voting for most of the income range when using census block data. In addition, controls for spatial dependence significantly reduce the magnitude of most coefficients. This suggests that OLS estimates of referenda determinants are biased. We also show that county level data may be subject to severe aggregation bias and might not be appropriate for referenda studies.