Further evidence on the relationship between economic freedom and economic growth

Much of the literature on the power of elected officials and bureaucratic agencies argues, from an empirical perspective, that bureaus appears to exercise autonomy. In this paper, a theoretical model sets out the conditions under which the Congress, the President, and one agency (we use the U.S. Federal Reserve as an extended example) can dictate policy outcomes. The results of the paper include the “Congressional Dominance” theorem: If more than 2/3 of House members, and more than 2/3 of Senate members, agree on something, they get it. The theorem is obvious (the “proof” is in the U.S. Constitution), but often forgotten in the substantive literature. More realistic results are derived for situations where the preferences of members of Congress are more diverse. Powers of the President to influence policy with, and without, appointments are also analyzed.     

政治民主、经济民主及其相互关系分析

人类历史演进的过程表现为自身权利的无限扩展和实现的过程.经济民主和政治民主正是人类实现其自身权利的重要途径.因此在厘清两者基本概念的基础上,对其交互关系进行分析是十分必要的.     

多民族国家与民主关系的复杂性

多民族国家与民主之间是否相互反对,从19世纪自由主义思想家密尔提出民主与多民族不兼容命题以来成为学界所关心的问题。从上世纪苏联东欧国家巨变,民族问题愈演愈烈的条件下,近年来中国学界对此进行了热烈讨论,提出了不同的看法。本文通过对世界上诸多多民族国家的历史与现实比较发现,多民族国家与民主政治之间存在着复杂的关系,它们之间既存在着相互反对的方面,也存在着互动的方面。不同国家或地区由于历史与现实状况限制,呈现出复杂多样的情况。在对多民族国家与民主关系的认识上应该从实际出发,客观地理解它们之间的关系,从多民族国家民主建设的经验中吸取有益的成份。     

民主:在信任与不信任之间——兼论民主与信任的关系

民主总是处于"信任"与"不信任"之间。本文从政治社会学的视角出发,探究了民主何以总是处于信任与不信任之间,并提出并不是所有类型的信任都有益于民主,信任与民主之间存在着一个悖论。     

Cross-city evidence on the relationship between immigration and crime

Public concerns about the costs of immigration and crime are high, and sometimes overlapping. This article investigates the relationship between immigration into a metropolitan area and that area's crime rate during the 1980s. Using data from the Uniform Crime Reports and the Current Population Surveys, we find, in the cross section, that cities with high crime rates tend to have large numbers of immigrants. However, controlling for the demographic characteristics of the cities, recent immigrants appear to have no effect on crime rates. In explaining changes in a city's crime rate over time, the flow of immigrants again has no effect, whether or not we control for other city-level characteristics. In a secondary analysis of individual data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (NLSY), we find that youth born abroad are statistically significantly less likely than native-born youth to be criminally active.     

试析当代中国基层民主与政治发展的关系

政治发展的一项重要内容是民主政治的发展进步,在当代中国的民主建设进程中,基层民主政治的发展一直是社会各界关注的焦点,甚至被某些人视为中国民主政治的基本生长点。本文以理清基层民主与政治发展的含义及相关关系入手,在概述当代中国基层民主政治发展情况的基础上,辨析了一些对基层民主政治发展评价不当的问题,指出应当更加客观、理性地看待基层民主在中国特色社会主义政治发展道路中的地位。     

Relationships between government size and economic growth: Japan's government reforms and evidence from OECD

This paper examines the relationship between government size and economic growth of 21 industrialized countries. Government size is measured by government final consumption expenditures and transfer payments. The relationship between government consumption is expected to increase GDP growth for developing countries, and reduce it for industrialized countries. Government consumption can contribute to increased economic growth. However, government consumption is likely to expand beyond an efficient level in industrialized countries. In contrast, transfer payments, and social welfare programs are likely to reduce economic growth for most countries. These programs reduce work incentives and encourage tax avoidance activities. Work disincentives and tax avoidance reduce economic growth. These expected relationships are consistent with economic performance and government size for the countries considered here. Inefficiency and excessive government growth are checked by voter feedback as tax burdens exceed the associated benefits. Unfortunately, government program costs and benefits are asymmetrically distributed. The resulting tendency is to expand government programs, particularly programs that benefit a majority of voters at the expense of a minority. This tendency becomes even more acute as the tax system becomes more progressive (i.e., tax burdens become concentrated. Reductions in government size are more likely with stagnant or declining economic growth, and in government programs whose costs are widely shared, compared to programs with widely shared benefits and narrowly shared costs.     

论经济自由与政府调控的关系——由美国经济危机引发的思考

美国次贷危机引发了如何正确处理经济自由与政府调控的关系的深入讨论.相当长一个时期以来,大多数西方学者和政要过分地夸大市场这只.看不见的手"在经济生活中的作用,抑或说强调极端的经济自由.19世纪中叶以后,由于西方国家过分推崇强调经济自由,完全依赖市场这只"看不见的手"的弊端开始暴露.20世纪初的凯恩斯主义和罗斯福新政引导西方资本主义国家度过了经济危机,为资本主义的重新发展奠定了基础.在现代市场经济中,金融及其衍生工具是刺激经济发展的重要因素之一,但是,证券、期货等金融衍生工具本身就带有强烈的投机性和风险性,如果缺乏必要的监管,任凭其随心所欲地自由泛滥,就不可避免地出现问题.西方资本主义制度建立以来的历史证明,什么时候把自由规范在一个合理的限度内,经济和社会发展就健康有序,什么时候自由离开了必要的限制,就会引发灾难.     

Patterns of democracy reconsidered: The ambiguous relationship between corporatism and consensualism

Arend Lijphart's Patterns of Democracy, similar to most of his work, elicited fierce scientific debate. This article replicates some of the analyses proposed in its second edition (published in 2012) in the light of the critiques received by the first edition (published in 2009). It primarily examines the relationship between institutional setup and interest group representation, disentangling the effect of consensualism from that of corporatism on issues such as macroeconomic performance and governance capabilities. The article further deepens our understanding of the complex causal mechanisms connecting these variables, proposing a more sophisticated empirical investigation that emphasises selection effects and conjunctural causation.     

实质民主与形式民主之争——20世纪社会主义与自由主义关于民主问题的分歧之一

自由主义式民主是一种形式民主,这一特征体现在:民主必须受到自由原则的约束;自由主义争取的平等始终只是法律面前人人平等;自由主义把民主作为一种政治方法与手段.可见,民主在自由主义理论中只是一个工具性的角色.社会主义诉求的实质性民主与自由主义建构的彤式民主有所不同:社会主义民主是日的与手段的统一;社会主义民主追求的是实际民主权利的平等.从实质民主与形式民主之争可以得出以下结论:民主与自由是社会主义民主与自由主义民主的不同的价值诉求.     

Malapportionment and democracy: A curvilinear relationship

This article examines electoral malapportionment by illuminating the relationship between malapportionment level and democracy. Although a seminal study rejects this relationship, we argue that a logical and empirically significant relationship exists, which is curvilinear and is based on a framework focusing on incumbent politicians' incentives and the constraints they face regarding malapportionment. Malapportionment is lowest in established democracies and electoral authoritarian regimes with an overwhelmingly strong incumbent; it is relatively high in new democracies and authoritarian regimes with robust opposition forces. The seminal study's null finding is due to the mismatch between theoretical mechanisms and choice of democracy indices. Employing an original cross-national dataset, we conduct regression analyses; the results support our claims. Furthermore, on controlling the degree of democracy, the single-member district system's effects become insignificant. Australia, Belarus, the Gambia, Japan, Malaysia, Tunisia, and the United States illustrate the political logic underlying curvilinear relations at democracy's various levels.     

经济体制与政治稳定形态的关系探析

马克思主义认为,经济基础决定上层建筑,有什么样的经济基础,就会出现什么样的维护这一经济基础的上层建筑.计划经济产生静态的政治稳定,市场经济要求动态的政治稳定.静态政治稳定南于其封闭性和停滞性,与当前中国丰十会发展的方向和目标相背离.动态的政治稳定是新时期中国惟一可以选择的政治稳定形态.     

Explaining cross‐national variation in the relationship between priority congruence and satisfaction with democracy

Previous research has shown that citizens tend to be more satisfied with the functioning of democracy when their ideological positions are more proximate to representatives'. This article argues that congruence in policy priorities between citizens and political elites should have a similar effect: citizens whose concerns are shared by elites should perceive them to be more attentive and responsive to public concerns and societal needs. Yet, the relationship might vary with differences in expectations towards democracy and representation. Specifically, it should be stronger in more democratic countries and older democracies. The hypotheses are empirically tested in a multilevel regression framework, where voter survey data from the 2009 European Election Study is linked with candidate survey data. The results indicate that citizens are indeed more satisfied with democracy if elites share their concerns, and the effect increases with democratic experience.     

在平等与自由之间拯救民主——萨托利论美国民主

萨托利试图厘清古典民主与现代民主、直接(参与式)民主与间接(代议制)民主、自由与平等之间的联系与冲突,为当代西方民主政治提供他认为是相适的理论,即自由民主理论。其核心是自由与民主结合(或说民主必须以自由为前提),并以法治宪政为保障。     

Schools of democracy? Disentangling the relationship between civic participation and political action in 17 European countries

Since Tocqueville's seminal writings, voluntary associations have been proclaimed to be schools of democracy. According to this claim, which regained popularity during the 1990s, involvement in voluntary associations stimulates political action. By participating in these associations, members are socialised to become politically active. Supposedly, having face‐to‐face contact with other members induces civic mindedness – the propensity to think and care more about the wider world. Participating in shared activities, organising meetings and events, and cooperating with other members are claimed to induce civic skills and political efficacy. Over the years, many authors have elaborated on these ideas. This article offers a systematic examination of the neo‐Tocquevillian approach, putting the theoretical ideas to an empirical test. It offers a critical overview of the literature on the beneficial role of voluntary associations and dissects it into five testable claims. Subsequently, these claims are tested by cross‐sectional, hierarchical analyses of 17 European countries. The authors conclude that the neo‐Tocquevillian theory faces serious lack of empirical support. In line with the expectations, they find a strong, positive correlation between associational involvement and political action. Moreover, this correlation is positive in all countries under study. However, more informative hypotheses on this correlation are falsified. First, the correlation is stronger for interest and activist organisations than for leisure organisations. Second, passive (or ‘checkbook’) members show much higher levels of political action than non‐involved, whereas the additional effects of active participation are marginal. Third, the correlation between associational involvement and political action is not explained by civic skills and civic mindedness. In sum, the authors find no evidence for a direct, causal relation between associational involvement and political action. The socialisation mechanism plays a marginal role at best. Rather, this article's findings imply that selection effects account for a large part of the correlation between associational involvement and political action. The conclusion reached therefore is that voluntary associations are not the schools of democracy they are proclaimed to be, but rather pools of democracy.     

宪政与民主的复杂关系

从民主的角度对宪政进行定义是一种普遍的方式。因为,民主和宪政具有和谐关系。这既体现在二者在理论基础、制度设计和价值目标上的相同之处,又体现在民主能对实现宪政的目标即限制权力有援助作用。但这种亲和性并不能掩盖民主与宪政潜在的差异。它们二者间甚至还可能存在潜在的冲突关系。因此,民主与宪政处于复杂的关系当中。     

Industrial and economic democracy in Sweden: from consensus to confrontation

Abstract. At the beginning of the 1970s, there was a wide-spread political consensus in Sweden that something had to be done in order to increase employee influence in companies and counteract the concentration of private capital. A series of laws on industrial democracy were passed by Parliament, virtually without opposition. The reforms were followed in 1975–1976 by a push towards economic democracy in the form of so-called wage earners' funds. The trade union movement was the leading actor behind these proposals. This broader issue was much more controversial and soon became the focus of sharp disagreement between the parties and the dominant interest organizations. The article analyses the development from consensus to confrontation in industrial and economic democracy in Sweden. Special attention is given to the Public Commission on Wage Earners' Funds, which sat between 1975–1981 without being able to produce any constructive or concrete results.     

The effect of trade openness on economic growth: Some empirical evidence from emerging market economies

This study investigates the impact of trade openness on economic growth in a panel of five emerging market economies, covering the data period from 1993 to 2016. Based on the panel estimation methods, the empirical results confirm the long‐run relationship among trade openness, economic growth, financial development, inflation, labour force, and technology, whereas the findings of long‐run elasticities show that trade openness has a positive considerable impact on economic growth. Furthermore, the heterogeneous panel non‐causality tests indicate the presence of a bidirectional causality between economic growth and inflation and a unidirectional causality that runs from economic growth to trade openness and economic growth to financial development in the short run. Finally, the findings suggested that trade openness plays a substantial role in promoting economic growth while also promoting economic development in these five emerging market economies.     

Colonial legacies and economic growth

Much of the work on colonialism has been theoretical or anecdotal. In this paper, I close the gap between the literature on development and new growth theory by testing the effect of colonization on subsequent growth and development. In a sample of 63 ex-colonial states from 1961-1990, I find that colonies that were held for longer periods of time than other countries tend to perform better, on average, after independence. Finally, I show that the level of education at the time of independence can help to explain much of the development gap between the former British and French colonies in Africa.