Brazil��s growth performance: a comparative perspective to the Asian giants

We compare economic efficiencies in Brazil, India, and China, where economic efficiency measures the gap between potential and actual output for a given input combination and technological factor. We use stochastic production frontier models to measure the contributions of factors of production and technology to growth and estimate non-positive error terms that capture production inefficiencies in each country. The results suggest that China and India had relatively inefficient production in the early 1980s but have since improved production efficiency substantially. In the same period, production efficiency in Brazil has lagged those of China and India. The gap between Brazil??s production efficiency and those of its Asian peers has narrowed in recent years. However, production remains more efficient in China and India, supporting more rapid growth in these countries relative to Brazil.     

Assessing the Effect of Incentive Regulation on Productive Efficiency in Telecommunications in the United States

The use of incentive regulation in telecommunications in the United States requires accurate measurement of the change in productivity. An approach to measuring productivity change, the Malmquist index approach, is introduced that not only provides a measure of that change but also allows for a decomposition into two mutually exclusive and exhaustive components—changes in technical efficiency over time and shifts in technology over time. Using annual data on four output measures and six input measures for the period 1988 to 1999 for nineteen local exchange carriers, the results indicate that productivity increased by about 5.5 percent per year. This growth is due primarily to innovation rather than improvements in efficiency. Of the nineteen LECs in the sample, eleven were operating efficiently throughout the entire 1988–1999 period. Of the remaining eight, four showed a slight improvement in efficiency while the efficiency of four declined. In the aggregate, however, there was virtually no change in efficiency. Finally, a comparison is made between two methods of estimating the change in productivity. The conventional growth accounting approach yields a lower estimate of the rate of change in productivity than the Malmquist index approach yield. The difference between these estimates is interpreted as the lower bound of the bias associated with the conventional growth accounting approach to measuring the growth in productivity.     

Women's bread — men's capital

The family enterprises of small rural entrepreneurs in proto-industrial textile production have been little studied so far. This article focuses on the ways in which family labor assists in entrepreneurial activities and nonindustrial activities within the domestic unit contribute to the creation of proto-industrial capital. The empirical material on early modern Zurich (Switzerland) documents large household economies among entrepreneurs engaging in agriculture as well as among drapers who employ their family labor in weaving or in ancillary tasks connected with the activity of putting out dependent weavers. It also demonstrates an association between proto-industrial entrepreneurship and baking, the latter often being performed by female family labor. This finding is explained by the use of bread as a means of paying workers and by the lack of access to capital markets: baking implies the creation of a surplus value within the family economy that can be directly converted into proto-industrial capital.     

Women's bread — men's capital: The domestic economy of small textile entrepreneurs in rural Zurich in the 17th and 18th centuries

The family enterprises of small rural entrepreneurs in proto-industrial textile production have been little studied so far. This article focuses on the ways in which family labor assists in entrepreneurial activities and nonindustrial activities within the domestic unit contribute to the creation of proto-industrial capital. The empirical material on early modern Zurich (Switzerland) documents large household economies among entrepreneurs engaging in agriculture as well as among drapers who employ their family labor in weaving or in ancillary tasks connected with the activity of putting out dependent weavers. It also demonstrates an association between proto-industrial entrepreneurship and baking, the latter often being performed by female family labor. This finding is explained by the use of bread as a means of paying workers and by the lack of access to capital markets: baking implies the creation of a surplus value within the family economy that can be directly converted into proto-industrial capital.     

论身份混同背景下我国外资并购中国家安全审查程序的完善

我国现有的外资并购中的国家安全审查程序主要是站在资本输入大国的立场设计的,没有考虑到我国既是"引进来战略"下的资本输入大国,又是"走出去战略"下的资本输出大国的混同身份。已有的审查程序在启动审查、申报前磋商、重新启动审查等方面不完善,减缓协议、申报撤回、监督机制、权利救济机制等制度缺失。借鉴国外成熟的经验,考虑身份混同对审查程序的新要求,我国应完善关于启动审查、申报前磋商、重新启动审查的规定,增加减缓协议制度、申报撤回制度、监督机制、权利救济机制。     

POLICE KILLINGS AND CAPITAL PUNISHMENT: THE POST-FURMAN PERIOD

In view of (1) escalating national attention and political and judicial activity centering on capital punishment during recent years and (2) concomitant changes in police killing rates, this paper investigates the impact of the death penalty on rates of lethal assaults against the police for the post- Furman period, 1973–1984. In keeping with recent investigations of deterrence and general homicides, multiple regression is used as a means of controlling for the influence of possible confounding variables in examining the capital punishment/police killings relationship. Consistent with previous investigations, the present analysis provides no indication that our national return to capital punishment since Furman has had a systematic impact on police homicides. Law enforcement officers are not afforded an added measure of protection in death penalty compared to abolitionist states, nor is there anything but a chance association between the rate of police killings and the level of use of the death sentence for convicted murderers.     

Identification of Mobile Phone and Analysis of Original Version of Videos through a Delay Time Analysis of Sound Signals from Mobile Phone Videos

This study designs a method of identifying the camera model used to take videos that are distributed through mobile phones and determines the original version of the mobile phone video for use as legal evidence. For this analysis, an experiment was conducted to find the unique characteristics of each mobile phone. The videos recorded by mobile phones were analyzed to establish the delay time of sound signals, and the differences between the delay times of sound signals for different mobile phones were traced by classifying their characteristics. Furthermore, the sound input signals for mobile phone videos used as legal evidence were analyzed to ascertain whether they have the unique characteristics of the original version. The objective of this study was to find a method for validating the use of mobile phone videos as legal evidence using mobile phones through differences in the delay times of sound input signals.     

国外农业降低化石能源消耗模式比较

化石能源问题,是世界各国和我国当前关注的热点问题。对于农业发展而言,能源将是影响农业现代化最重要的问题。本文通过对国外农业利用化石能源若干模式比较,寻找一条适合我国21世纪农业能源发展之路。     

社会保险基金投资监管法律制度比较研究

社会保险基金是社会保险的物质条件,社会保险基金投资监管是社会保险系统的“免疫系统”。由于在资本市场的成熟程度、政府的监管能力和社会保险基金投资模式上的差异,各国的社会保险基金投资监管法律制度不尽相同。各国的社会保险基金投资模式、监管理念、监管体制、监管制度和监管绩效等方面呈现出各自的特色。     

从信用基础看我国公司资本制度的变革

在市场经济背景下,公司资本制度是公司信用基础的集中体现。主要发达国家或地区的公司资本制度改革趋势是放松资本管制,便利公司筹资。尽管我国公司资本制度的历史演进顺应了这一国际趋势,但法定资本制仍然阻碍了公司运行效率的提高。借鉴主要发达国家或地区的先进经验,结合我国国情,基于股份有限公司资合性和有限责任与人和性的公司信用基础差异,变革我国公司资本制度的基本路径是:前者实施折衷资本制,后者实施法定资本制。     

Getting out what we put in: productivity of the English National Health Service

Many countries are incorporating direct measures of non-market outputs in the national accounts. For any particular output to be included there has to be data about it for two adjacent periods. This is problematic because the classification of non-market outputs is often subject to wholesale revision. We outline the challenges associated with classification changes and propose a solution. To illustrate we construct output and input indices and estimate productivity growth of the English National Health Service (NHS) for the period 2003-2004 to 2007-2008. Our index of output growth incorporates all care provided to NHS patients and captures improvements in survival rates, waiting times and disease management. We find that more patients are being treated and the quality of the care they receive has been improving. We implement our approach to dealing with changes as to how health services are defined and show what effect this has on estimates of output growth. Our index of input growth captures all labour, intermediate and capital inputs into health service production and we improve on how capital has been measured in the past. Inputs have increased over time but there has also been a slowdown since 2005-2006, primarily the result of a levelling off in staff recruitment and less reliance on the use of agency staff. Productivity is assessed by comparing output growth with growth in inputs, the net effect being constant productivity growth between 2003-2004 and 2007-2008.     

New capital accumulation in transition economies: implications for capital-labor and capital-output ratios

This paper investigates the impact of new capital accumulation on capital-labor and capital-output ratios in 26 transition economies (TE) of Central and Eastern Europe and former USSR. Using a perpetual inventory method, we estimate the amount of capital accumulated in these countries since the start of market reforms and compare it to results for developed countries and largest emerging market economies. We found that on per worker basis, capital accumulation in TE is lagging far behind that of their mature market neighbors in European Union. Disparities in capital-output ratios were not as pronounced, as higher capital-labor ratios were reached in economies with higher levels of GDP per capita. Regression analysis indicates that capital per worker was accumulated faster in TE having higher saving rates, relatively higher priced labor, closer proximity to Western Europe, and higher manufacturing share in the economy. The K/Y levels were influenced by the same determinants except for relative input costs.     

论我国农业补贴法律制度的构建

农业补贴法律制度是世界各国经济发展进入工业化中期发展阶段后所普遍实施的工业反哺农业、支持农业发展的法律制度,在各国农业法律体系中占有重要的地位.我国农业法应专列"农业补贴"一章,规定农业直接支付补贴、农业生产资料投入补贴、农业环境保护补贴、不发达地区农业开发补贴等制度,同时规定农业补贴相关主体的责任追究机制.     

In The Interests of Comprehensive Development

Articles have repeatedly appeared in this journal on the work of the administrations of capital construction of the executive committees of city soviets and their role in the comprehensive development of cities. It would be difficult to overestimate that role. For the working out of optimal project plans, skillful use of funds and their concentration on projects nearing completion, promptness of delivery of equipment, and as a consequence, an increase in the efficiency of construction work depend primarily and specifically on the administrations of capital construction.     

工业反哺农业与农民合作社立法

社会的整体和谐发展要求工业反哺农业,加快农业现代化进程。加强有关农业主体地位的立法是关键,农民合作社是工业反哺农业的组织依托。工业要反哺农业,应从完善立法要件、资金注入的确定性、政府扶持制度、社员权的救济制度、审计监督制度等方面着手;尤其要不断完善我国农民合作社的立法,从而提高我国工业反哺农业的效益。     

Technology transfer into capital-intensive industry: I. The paper industry by the year 2000

Traditionally, new technology has been slow to enter the paper industry, which turns over its capital stock in about 40 years. In this paper, we will examine some of the reasons for this long transition period and the implications of such a transition period for government policy. If the turnover time could be cut in half, the potential energy savings could be 4 quadrillion Btu (Quads) in 20 years. Examples of new technologies that will become prominent throughout the paper industry by the year 2000 include vapor recompression evaporation, oxygen bleaching, twin-wire forming and extended nip pressing. We present explicit projections of production shares (based on a computer model) for selected new technologies. New technology blends into an industry over a period of years. This paper examines some of the factors that accelerate or retard this transition in the capital-intensive (“heavy”) industries. For purposes of this article, our example is the paper industry, and so the examples of new innovations are drawn from pulp and paper-making processes. (Incidentally, we use the term “paper” throughout as a shorthand for SIC 26, Pulp, Paper and Paperboard.) The examination of paper-industry technology reported here is based to a great extent on a study of industrial energy use [1] conducted by the Office of Technology Assessment (OTA) for the U.S. Congress. The OTA study examined the four most energy-intensive American industries (paper, steel, chemicals and petroleum refining), to identify technologies to improve energy efficiency, to project industrial energy use in each industry between now and the end of the century, and to assess the impact of various policies on energy use and energy efficiency. The study found remarkable similarities between the four industries. One notable commonality is the attitude of management towards introduction of new technology.     

Human Life and Human Rights: death penalty Data and sentencing Procedure during the Song Dynasty

The adjudication and amnesty system in the Song Dynasty has been thoroughly researched by academia, but the annual death penalty numbers have not been credibly determined due to insufficient and disorganized historical records. The period’s policy that no innocent person would be executed was based on the double-digit record of capital punishments for Zhenguan during the Tang Dynasty, and the execution number was adjusted accordingly. As a special procedure, Zoucai (a request for judgment) was used to reduce the death penalty numbers. The value of human life, concern about excessive execution, and trimming of the capital punishment regime resulted in conversations between the emperors and their officials about the death penalty, which allowed the law that executed capital punishments during the Song Dynasty to strike a proper balance between justice, efficiency, and mercy, while avoiding rigidity and abuse.     

我国农业投资立法略论

现代化农业的建设离不开对农业科学持续大量的投入,加强农业投资立法,从法律层面明确各农业投资主体的权利义务,严格规范各投资主体的农业投资活动,为农业投资行为提供法律的确定性和可预见性具有重要意义.农业投资立法应当以财政资金引导多元投入原则、保护各投资主体合法利益原则、农业可持续发展原则和科学管理与有效监督原则为指导,在明确各农业投资主体法律地位的基础上构建以《农业法》为核心的农业投资法律体系.     

资本约束制度的进化和机制设计——以中美公司法的比较为核心

我国学者常常将美国公司法上的资本制度称之为授权资本制,并将其与大陆法相对,作为物种多元的样本,同时也作为比较法研究的时候,进行理论折中的一端。本文从进化的角度揭示出,在其他国家历史上也存在着和我国、大陆国家类似的法定资本制度,但随着社会生活的发展和法律规制技术,乃至于法律理论和理念的变化,这些僵化而无效的制度被不断的扬弃,而代之以宽松的资本规制+趋严的诚信义务(fidu-ciaryduty)的方式。具体表现为:(1)从政府通过法律强行性规范直接限制,进化到股东、公司、董事和债权人之间的相互制约;(2)从注重公司资本的起点,进化到以破产为核心标准来进行规制;(3)从公司和股东之间的不当交易及其方式的事前限制,进化到对诚信义务的事后责任分配。     

Innovation capital

In this paper we compare the relationship between a firm’s innovation capital and the likelihood that a firm will commercialize an invention. Our index of innovation capital is the product of the firm’s human capital, social capital, and reputational capital. We find from our empirical experiment, which uses Small Business Innovation Research data, that innovation capital is a statistically more important entrepreneurial input to the innovation output of commercialization than any of its components.