社会公正价值在中国社会主义道路中的动力作用研究

社会公正是人类社会的基本价值追求,人类社会是一个不断追求社会公正的价值活动过程。社会公正价值是社会主义思潮、制度产生的不可或缺的因素,也是中国人民选择并坚持社会主义道路的基本精神动因。     

代际公平、向上流动与“穷二代”大学生的职业发展——以湖南的分析为例

本文结合经验事实和实证研究,通过对湖南的典型分析,探讨规模日益庞大的穷二代大学生群体的生存态势、职业发展和地位提升问题,并从公平正义、代际流动与社会分层视角进行思考。研究发现,穷二代大学生群体的职业发展状况不乐观,就业质量不高,非正规就业居多,职业地位低,职业提升机会少。     

The reverse mortgage as an asset management tool

Abstract

Reverse mortgages are usually seen as a vehicle for increasing the income of poor, elderly households. This perspective, coupled with the relatively slow growth of reverse mortgage programs, has led some observers to question the growth potential of the reverse mortgage market. This article presents a more expansive view of reverse mortgages as a financial tool for tapping housing equity for various purposes and at various stages in the life cycle.

Three market segments for reverse mortgages are discussed: elderly persons living alone, other elderly households, and non‐elderly households. Potential uses include turning housing equity into personal human capital investment accounts, enabling children to provide care for their disabled parents, funding elderly households’ long‐term care insurance, and sustaining consumption. Recent progress in product development and availability and political pressures to find private financing for health and long‐term care suggest that the reverse mortgage market has considerable growth potential.     

地票模式与农村集体建设用地流转制度的案例研究

重庆城乡统筹试验区创新性地提出以地票模式探索农村集体建设用地流转管理制度改革.通过对农村集体建设用地复垦、复垦耕地综合管理、置换指标调配使用、农户补偿补助、地票流转交易等主要做法的调研,表明试验区在提高农村土地集约利用,改进土地占补利用方式,建立耕地保护新模式,激活农村土地资本价值,促进城乡要素双向流动,保障农民权益,拓宽农民增收渠道,积极稳妥推进城镇化,增强农业现代化等方面取得了积极的实效.就农民复垦主体地位确立,置换指标统筹使用,地票交易的制度设计、运行模式改进等进行了讨论,以期对深化我国农村集体土地管理制度改革发展提供可借鉴的实践经验.     

The committee assignment process as an optimal contracting problem

This paper adapts a simple model from the optimal contracting literature to explain the relationship between political parties and non-incumbent candidates. The model predicts that legislators with a higher opportunity cost of government service will receive better committee assignments. Using data that spans 12 Congresses (97th to 108th), I find that when the opportunity cost of Senate service is measured by previous occupation, freshmen senators with a high opportunity cost for serving (those who were lawyers) were given good committee assignments, while freshmen senators with a low opportunity cost for serving (professors, and those with relatives already in politics) were given worse committee assignments.     

Democratization as an emancipative process: The neglected role of mass motivations

Abstract.  Despite major differences, prevailing approaches in democratization research have one thing in common: they downplay the role of mass attitudes. This article criticizes the neglect of mass attitudes, arguing that it ignores the very essence of democratization. In light of human development theory, democratization is essentially an emancipative process, for it manifests human freedom by empowering people with civil and political rights. From this premise, the author concludes that democratization should be driven by emancipative forces in the population and that these forces are reflected in particular mass attitudes: liberty aspirations. Based on evidence from the Values Surveys, the analyses show that more widespread liberty aspirations facilitate progress and impede regress in the process of democratization. No other indicator – including GDP/capita and social capital – outperforms the effect of liberty aspirations on democratization. The article concludes that human development theory is useful because its emphasis on people empowerment highlights something that has been ignored in the democratization literature: emancipative motivational forces in the population.     

Viewpoint: The Evolution of Access to Space as an Idea and Technology

The focus of this paper is on the evolution of access to space from its beginnings as an idea to its implementation as a usable technology. This evolution takes place through the policy process that encompasses agenda setting, formulation, implementation and change. Agenda-setting is where the idea for access to space emerges. Formulation concerns the concepts and policies that then allow for implementation of launch vehicle technology. Implementation generates specific outcomes. These outcomes are initially characterized by rapid technological innovation followed by a steady state of development. The path of development is one of how access to space became wedded to national security. Changes occur as commerce and economics begin to play a role in access to space. The policy process evolves through the actions of the pertinent actors. An examination of the ways in which these pertinent actors interpreted, formulated and implemented the idea and technology of access to space is discussed. The interactions among actors take place on the basis of political, organizational and technical decisions that actors make in regard to access to space.     

Sampling People or People in Places? The BES as an Election Study

Electoral surveys conducted as part of the regular series of British Election Studies have used a stratified, clustered sampling design. This is constructed to ensure a nationally representative sample of voters (after weighting) but does not necessarily ensure a representative sample of the different social areas within the country. Much recent work has indicated the important role of local social and electoral milieux in the structuring of electoral behaviour but these are not reflected in the sampling design. An analysis of the geography of the face-to-face pre-election component of the 2005 BES shows not only that it was unrepresentative of certain types of area (defined using bespoke neighbourhood data) but also that it was less representative of such areas than the two (larger) internet samples (pre- and post-election) also undertaken as part of the 2005 BES. This suggests the need to reconsider the nature of the sample designs (even the entire survey methodology) to be deployed at future election studies in Great Britain.     

The EC as an international corporate actor: Two case studies in economic diplomacy

Abstract. Within the arena of international politics the European Community sometimes acts as an actor, but sometimes it does not. As is shown in this article:'traditional' European-integration approaches fail to explain this. The authors introduce an actor concept which seems to overcome such shortcomings. This approach is applied to a study of two action domains of the EC: one on chemicals control policies and non-tariff trade barriers, and the other on the Multi-Fibre Agreements.     

Uncertainty as an excuse for cheating our children: The case of nuclear wastes

Harming distant generations is typically an uncertain danger. Philosophers and economists use that uncertainty to excuse ignoring or discounting such dangers. Working within this orthodoxy, I firstly establish limits on the extent to which uncertainty can excuse such practices; and I find reasons for believing that problems of nuclear waste disposal might well breach those limits. Secondly, I show that the orthodoxy is appropriate only to modest forms of uncertainty. More profound uncertainty, characteristic of the nuclear waste problem in particular and distant futures in general, demands different decision rules which again argue for greater consideration of the interests of future generations.     

The Incorporated Company as an Instrument of Government: A Quest for a Comparative Understanding

Privatization initiatives and the doctrines of "New Public Management" have led to incorporated companies assuming considerable significance within government in many countries. The implications of this development for the structure and operation of the modern state are potentially far-reaching, but are yet to be appropriately comprehended. In response, the article seeks to establish a framework for understanding the basic characteristics and use of companies from a comparative perspective. Attention is focused on their "publicness" and accountability as affected by their ownership, management, financing, and control, which can all involve a varying mix of the "public" and "private" sectors both domestically and internationally. An underlying belief is that a lot more research and analysis are required in this important area of organizational activity.     

Going once, going twice, sold! The committee assignment process as an all-pay auction

I analyze the committee assignment process as an all-pay auction and derive equilibrium lobbying strategies of legislators competing for vacant seats on a committee. The model illustrates the relationship between sincere and revealed preferences, which earlier formal models of committee assignment do not explicitly consider. Incorporating seniority, party loyalty, effort constraints, or committee transfers can discourage those who highly value the assignment from competitively lobbying for the seat. I also offer an alternative interpretation of the model’s parameters to consider the pure partisan assignment model, where efforts are contributions to the party’s collective good.