日本财政投融资体制改革的特点及借鉴

日本的财政投融资体制曾经对日本经济的发展产生过重要影响。但是,随着日本经济的不断发展,财政投融资的僵化体制已经越来越不适应新的经济发展形势。在这一背景下,以市场筹集资金为核心的财政投融资体制改革便展开了。此次改革有如下特点：总体规模逐步缩小;资金来源更加多样化;资金运用方向有所调整;加强信息披露引入政策成本分析机制等。从日本财政投融资体制改革中我们可以借鉴的是改革方向的市场化、信息的透明和资金的重点集中投放。     

金融危机后的俄罗斯

普京治下的经济复苏,改善了俄罗斯的财政状况,提高了人民的生活水平,但没有使俄罗斯经济实现成功转型。全球金融危机暴露了俄罗斯经济状况的本质:普京八年的俄罗斯经济只是"恢复性增长",而非以投资和创新所驱动的可持续性增长,对能源仍然高度依赖。虽然危机之后俄经济有所恢复,但与能源价格上涨密切相关,其现代化进程任重道远。2012年之后的俄罗斯仍然将是一个缺少竞争力且严重依赖能源资源出口的国家。     

The Soviet Military–Industrial Complex and Economic Reform

The Soviet military and civilian economies are so closely integrated that economic reform cannot be treated as a purely civilian issue. Faltering economic growth coming at the same time as new challenges in the arms race has therefore focused the military's attention on how to improve the performance of the civilian economy. The Soviet military press has begun to portray current reform initiatives in a positive light, and the military economy has even been the model for some of these initiatives. Nonetheless, the military has not publicly supported any reforms involving marketization or private enterprise. Journal of Economic Literature, Classification Numbers: 052, 114, 124.     

俄罗斯与中国社会经济体系改革进程与模式比较研究——以俄中住房体系改革为视角

住房体系改革作为整体经济与社会制度变迁的一个组成部分,不仅对住房模式带来巨大的影响,同时还影响到一个国家的经济发展与社会问题的形成。仅就对经济的短期贡献而言,中国的住房体系改革成就无疑是引人瞩目的,而俄罗斯住房体系改革并未给经济增长带来额外的贡献。但从改革生成的结果现状,特别是已经形成的住房体系模式而言,中国住房体系改革结果的后期修正代价已经显现且成本巨大。在已经成熟的市场经济体系的未来制度改革设计方面,俄罗斯住房体系的制度变迁也许可以给我们提供一些思考的路径。     

Soviet Economic Reforms Since Stalin: Ideology,Politics, and Learning

An American political scientist reinterprets the politics of economic reform in the USSR from 1953 to 1991. The paper offers an integrated explanation for three features of reform policies: their reappearance during periods of political succession; their persistent partiality; and their radicalization over time. The explanation focuses on the interaction over time among political competition, ideology, and collective learning. Reasoning leads to conclusions that a consensus on the superiority of a market economy finally emerged within the Soviet leadership in 1990, but that the learning process has not resulted in a consensus on strategies and costs of transition, journal of Economic Literature, Classification Numbers: 040, 052.     

Soviet Assessments of Economic Reforms in Other Socialist Countries

A prominent American economist pieces together and analyzes Soviet assessments of economic reforms in other socialist countries. Included in the author's analysis are studies of Soviet specialists investigating changes in the administrative organization of the state sector, planning, pricing, banking, labor, agriculture, nonstate activity, and foreign economic relations, within the framework of a socialist planned economy. Also covered are more recent Soviet studies focusing on privatization, marketization, and government regulation in the transition to a capitalist market economy—work that influenced decisions about economic reforms in the Soviet Union. Journal of Economic Literature, Classification Numbers: P21, B20.     

The Political Economy of Myanmar’s Transition

Since holding elections in 2010, Myanmar has transitioned from a direct military dictatorship to a formally democratic system and has embarked on a period of rapid economic reform. After two decades of military rule, the pace of change has startled almost everyone and led to a great deal of cautious optimism. To make sense of the transition and assess the case for optimism, this article explores the political economy of Myanmar’s dual transition from state socialism to capitalism and from dictatorship to democracy. It analyses changes within Myanmar society from a critical political economy perspective in order to both situate these developments within broader regional trends and to evaluate the country’s current trajectory. In particular, the emergence of state-mediated capitalism and politico-business complexes in Myanmar’s borderlands are emphasised. These dynamics, which have empowered a narrow oligarchy, are less likely to be undone by the reform process than to fundamentally shape the contours of reform. Consequently, Myanmar’s future may not be unlike those of other Southeast Asian states that have experienced similar developmental trajectories.     

Sergey Glazyev and the revival of Soviet economics

A veteran Western observer and authority on Russia's political economy examines the recent debate on economic growth in Russia. Focusing on Sergey Glazyev, a prominent statist and nationalist favored by President Vladimir Putin, who reemerged at the top of the public debate, the author discusses the essence of his ideas (state capitalism, Eurasian integration, and expansionary fiscal and monetary policy). He proceeds to analyze the critical response of liberals, citing inter alia objections to loose fiscal and monetary policies. Russia's liberal economists favor broader international integration, whereas Putin is clearly in favor of state capitalism and Eurasian integration. This study ends with an up-to-date politico-economic assessment titled “Where is Putin going?”     

Citizen Activism in the Russian Transition

Two American specialists on Russia report the results of two nationwide surveys conducted in that country in 1992 (N = 1,393) and 1993 (N = 1,598). Focus was on rates and types of political activism and their correlation with attitudes toward economic and political reform. Conclusions are that different types of political activism attract different constituencies. People with higher income and occupational status participate in a wide range of activities but are significantly less likely than others to vote. Those with less to gain from the transition are more likely to vote—perhaps a legacy of communism—but take part less in activities which demand high levels of commitment and resources. Journal of Economic Literature Classification Numbers: P29, Jl8.     

The transition in the political economy of South Korean development

This article analyzes the current transition in the political economy of South Korea in the context of political democratization and economic development. Because South Korea can be regarded as a case in which successful economic growth preceded political democratization, the article reviews the advantage and the disadvantage of late industrialization and its limitations. It discusses rising conflicts of interest among economic agents, labor disputes, and the erosion of international competitiveness. The article also reviews the sociopolitical reform program advanced by the new administration and its ramifications for the economic prospects. The article concludes that the Korean economy will continue to grow but not as fast as it had grown in the past and that the new political environment will play a critical role in determining the characteristics of capitalism in South Korea. The success of future economic development will depend on the stability of the political system and the national capacity to resolve conflict of interests.     

Austerity versus pragmatism: a comparison of Latvian and Polish economic policies during the great recession and their consequences ten years later

ABSTRACT

Despite many initial similarities, Latvia and Poland represent two opposite extremes in terms of practical and theoretical approaches to the economic crisis. The Polish government applied a ‘pragmatic’ approach to fight the recession, based on expansionary fiscal policies and currency devaluation. Conversely, the Latvian administration opted for the Austerity and internal devaluation strategy. Consequently, the objective of this paper is to analyze, from the perspective of political economy, the strategies chosen for the economic crisis management and their effects in Latvia and Poland, in light of the main EU narratives about its causes and responses. The research contends that the economic performance of both countries during the crisis was due to their respective economic structures. On the one hand, Poland is a bigger, more diversified and industrialized economy, with fewer channels of vulnerability and could apply expansionary policies effectively. On the contrary, the economic model established in Latvia generated a high exposure to external shocks, in particular, with a double vulnerability in the banking sector. In this context, due to internal and external motives, the Latvian government decided to apply the austerity and internal devaluation strategy, worsening the economic decline and the subsequent recovery.     

Anatomy of Gorbachev's Economic Reform

The paper outlines and assesses the initial and potential effectiveness of a package of radical economic reforms, adopted by the CPSU Central Committee and Supreme Soviet in late June 1987. The areas involved include the central planning system, the enterprise, territorial versus sectoral management of the economy, the supply system, prices and wages, finance and credit, foreign trade, private and cooperative activity, and agriculture. Problems which may compromise the success of reform efforts, particularly inconsistencies between reform goals and long-established policies, are outlined as well. Journal of Economic Literature, Classification Numbers: 027, 054, 124.     

DJnomics and the transformation of the developmental state

Since the Asian financial crisis, the Korean state under Kim Dae Jung has witnessed significant challenges from foreign capital as well as from organized labor. Regime transition has influenced the social and political relations between the state and big business (chaebol). The traditional developmental state has gradually eroded as the power and capacity of the state was increasingly affected by economic globalization. The Korean economy has been transformed from a traditional developmental state model characterized by a hierarchical and authoritative relationship between the government and conglomerates into the market-oriented economic model.     

Modernizing the Estonian Farmhouse,Redefining the Family, 1880s–1930s

In the nineteenth century, the transition from a Baltic-German-controlled manor-and-serf economy to individually owned farmsteads transformed all aspects of life including the spatial organization and form of farmhouses in the western provinces of Tsarist Russia. Agricultural experts and social reformers discussed how to update the traditional threshing-room dwelling house (rehielamu) into a healthy dwelling for successful farmers and, after the Estonian War of Independence, for new settlers. Using material culture such as contemporary plans, I show that changing household relationships, in addition to economic and technological factors, helped to transform the ancient rehielamu into a modern dwelling.     

Correspondence

Abstract

In the preface to each of the eight volumes under review, the general editors of the series express dissatisfaction with the existing literature on south Korean development because of its preoccupation with macroeconomic factors such as “monetary, fiscal and foreign-exchange magnitudes and. . . the underlying policies affecting these magnitudes.” It is for this reason that they propose to undertake an investigation of the elements underlying the remarkable growth of the Korean economy and the distribution of the fruits of that growth, together with the associated changes in society and government; and... the importance of foreign economic assistance, particularly American assistance, in promoting these changes.     

中欧经贸关系发展中的制约因素及因应对策探析

随着中国与欧盟的经济迅速发展 ,特别是中国改革的深入进行、西部开发战略的实施、中国加入世界贸易组织 ,中欧经贸关系正面临广阔的前景。同时 ,欧盟东扩、欧盟贸易保护主义以及中国入世带来的挑战等因素也制约着中欧经贸关系的发展。中国应抓住机遇 ,迎接挑战 ,实施美欧日贸易平衡等战略 ,促进中欧经贸关系全方位、多层次、宽领域的良性发展。     

Regime Shift in Japan?Two Decades of Neoliberal Reforms

This paper uses insights drawn from a paired comparison of Switzerland and Japan to give an account of the changes brought about by neoliberal policy adaptation in Japan over the last two decades. In Switzerland, notwithstanding further liberalization of the traditionally liberal regime prompted by the economic hardships of the 1990s, the referendum system helped the Social Democrats and unions to defend their rights and maintain the welfare schemes belatedly established in the 1980s. By contrast, the Japanese ruling party not only delayed liberalization of the protectionist state, but also aggravated fiscal problems by implementing a series of expansionary macroeconomic policies in the 1990s. Thus, without pursuing coherently such neoliberal policies as fiscal consolidation, privatization, or market deregulation, the Japanese state now faces a serious dilemma between the immediate need for structural reforms and the social unease that would result. Focusing on the reform packages of the Nakasone (1982‐87), Hashimoto (1996‐98), and Koizumi (2001‐) administrations, the paper reviews the sequences of reform policies as an interplay among economic challenges, actors’ aspirations, and institutional constraints, and further develops arguments about the segmented structure, peculiar to the Japanese state, that retards political changes.     

Alternative narratives and collective memories: Israel's New Historians and the use of historical context

Abstract

The article presents a new overview on economic transition in Egypt, emphasizing the role of culture in shaping its recent economic history. Since partial independence, and culminating in the heyday of the Nasserite regime, ‘economic nationalism’ became a predominant national identity mark and a concept central to a local sense of authenticity. The article discusses the meaning of economic nationalism and why it turned such a powerful symbol of Egyptianness. The prevalence of this idea slowed down a transformation to an alternative economic regime when the development effort associated with economic nationalism partially failed. Instead, a huge and unregulated (‘hidden’) economy emerged, together with a corollary local consumer society. Fiercely resisted in a public discourse captivated by an older economic imagination, both have still shaped the Egyptian economy ever since.     

中国与越南会计改革比较研究

会计的改革与发展始终依赖于经济环境的变化.中国与越南部是由计划经济转向市场经济的发展中国家,然而,两国的会计改革既存在许多共同点,也在国际化策略、整体规划等方面存在差异.通过总结和比较两国会计改革的历程,可得到以下有益启示:会计改革既要向国际化趋同,积极参与国际会计准则的制定,又要结合本国国情进行会计改革,同时加强新会计准则的执行监督机制.     

The Gorbachev Reform: A Maximal Case

Assumptions that major reform in the Soviet economy cannot be realized are challenged. Beliefs that Gorbachev is unable or unwilling to take necessary political risks, that bureaucratic resistance will forestall efforts at incremental change, and that Communist ideology lacks themes that can be used to mobilize support for innovation are analyzed. Assessment of reform should be based on an awareness of the advantages (as well as risks) of a strategy tying Gorbachev's political fate to reform and of the effectiveness of a timetable that consolidates gains in services and agriculture before confronting an entrenched industrial bureaucracy. Journal of Economic Literature, Classification Numbers: 052, 113, 124.