A Minor Player in the Global Game

The U.S.Department of Treasury’s decision to postpone its mid-April report labeling China a currency manipulator was all but expected.Beijing Review reporters Chen Wen and Liu Yunyun     

The economic tradition and the constitution of science

There has been an institutional turn in the philosophy of science, which has led the discipline to become more concerned with understanding how the scientific process actually works. This paper argues that such a philosophy of science, which lies beyond only proposing a logic of science, has something to learn from economics. Economic thinking can be instrumental in understanding the actual scientific process, and in proposing proper institutions guiding scientific competition. It is, however, also argued that economics would benefit from overcoming the pure logic of choice inherent to the neoclassical approach, by further developing the institutional approach to economics.     

Triangulation of Salient Studies to Date on Trust-Building in Mediation

Many studies have empirically demonstrated the importance of trust-building between mediators and parties to a dispute. We wrote this article in response to a call by Stephen Goldberg and Margaret Shaw for studies conducted in North America to be triangulated in other countries where mediation is taking off as an alternative tool in the resolution of disputes. Our objective was to test theories on the factors that increase trust-building in mediation. With this in mind, the study conducted by Jean Poitras in Montreal (Canada) was triangulated in the Balearic Islands (Spain) and an analysis was made of the similarities and differences between both studies using different methods.     

Networked Coproduction of Public Services in Virtual Communities: From a Government‐Centric to a Community Approach to Public Service Support

Research on and practical attention for the coproduction of public services is increasing. Coproduction is seen as a way to strengthen the quality and legitimacy of public service and reduce costs. Scholarship on coproduction of public services repeatedly ignores the role of the new media. This is surprising since many proponents highlight its potential for changing traditional, government‐centric approaches to delivering public services. This article shows that digital communities form an important addition to the government‐centric form of public service provision since they foster both an exchange of experiential information and social‐emotional support.