Corruption,Cooperation and Endogenous Time Discount Rates

Virtually all uses of repeated games tostudy of cooperation assume that people'stime discount rates are exogenous andfixed. Here we offer an evolutionary gameembedded in a multi-period model ofinvestment and consumption in whichindividual time discounts are determined bytheir convergence to values determined byEvolutionary Stable Strategies. Oursubstantive motivation, though, iscorruption and its relationship to economicgrowth. To understand the observedrelationship between levels of corruptionand economic indicators of social welfare,we argue that corruption is a form ofcooperation that requires closeinterpersonal monitoring. If we assume,moreover, that when people discount thefuture greatly the only sustainable formsof cooperation are those that allow forclose monitoring, then our analysis can beinterpreted as a dynamic model of therelationship between corruption andinvestment.     

'Designing Better Health Care in the South': A Case Study of Unsuccessful Transformational Change in Public Sector Health Service Reform

This article presents a case study of a project known as 'Designing Better Health Care in the South' that attempted to transform four separately incorporated health services in southern Adelaide into a single regional health service. The project's efforts are examined using Kotter's (1996) model of the preconditions for transformational change in organisations and the areas in which it met or failed to meet these preconditions are analysed, using results from an evaluation that was commenced during the course of the attempted reform. The article provides valuable insights into an attempted major change by four public sector health organisations and the facilitators and barriers to such change. It also examines the way in which forces beyond the control of individual public sector agencies can significantly impact on attempts to implement organisational change in response to an identified need. This case study offers a rare glimpse into the micro detail of health care reform processes that are so widespread in contemporary health services but which are rarely systematically evaluated.     

Cross-National Concepts in Supranational Governance: State–Society Relations and EU Policy Making

The emergence of multiple and shifting modes of governance both intranationally and supranationally has posed difficulties for analysts accustomed to refining or testing singular types of politics. When confronted with this changing complexity, a comprehensive framework can be a very useful diagnostic and organizational tool. This article devises one such conceptual framework to clarify and systematize varieties of state autonomy and state–society relations. By combining fundamental conceptions of action, elemental control mechanisms, and basic types of interaction, a comprehensive framework is constructed for characterizing and comparing governance modes in a conceptually coherent manner. Many of the abstract spaces within this conceptual field share affinities with types of state autonomy and state–society relations depicted in major theoretical approaches to national politics (i.e., authoritarianism, statism, pluralism, corporatism, institutionalism, and Marxism). This article uses this conceptual framework to systematize these major governance modes and to illuminate their coexistence in supranational governance by examining the European Union policy process.     

Economic Freedom and Taxation: Is There a Trade-off in the Locational Competition Between Countries?

This paper investigates the relationshipbetween economic freedomand taxation. We argue that an economicallyfree environment improvesthe attractiveness of a location, which, inturn, enables governmentsto levy higher business taxes. To test thishypothesis empirically, weestimate the impact of economic freedom onthe national tax policy,where the latter is measured by thecorporate tax revenue related toGNP (corporate tax ratio). We utilize adata set of 46 developed and lessdeveloped countries between 1980 and 1997and find a clear confirmationof our hypothesis. Further, a simulationanalysis reveals that the observedchange in economic freedom has equalizedthe international distributionof corporate tax ratios.     

奥运安全与流动人口犯罪--流动人口犯罪的发展趋势与防控策略

本文预断,受奥运筹办工作的影响,流动人口犯罪的数量将会增长,犯罪的类型也将增多.对流动人口犯罪,我们应冷静对待,理性地分析原因、探讨合理对策;应采取切实有效措施保护流动人口的正当权益;应把犯罪机会的减少、控制作为流动人口犯罪防控的重点.     

Book reviews

Journal of Chinese Political Science -     

人肺癌中TNF-α基因多态性分布的意义及其对细胞凋亡的影响

目的:观察TNF-α基因启动子区-308位核苷酸多态性基因型在肺癌和对照人群中的分布,以及这种多态性对该基因表达和细胞凋亡的影响。方法:PER-RFLP分析112例肺癌和99例正常人的TNF-α基因启动子区-308位核苷酸多态性,TNF-α-308*G等位基因记做TNF-α1,TNF-α-308*A等位基因记做TNF- α2。免疫组织化学方法检测肺癌组织中TNF-α的表达,比较不同基因型肺癌病例的标本之间TNF-α基因表达的差异性。TUNEL法检测肺癌组织中细胞凋亡,并对比分析TNF-α-308位核苷酸多态性及其对肺癌组织中TNF -α表达和不同类型细胞凋亡的影响。结果:肺癌组与对照组的基因型分布为TNF-α1/1(52．7％、46．5％)。 TNF-α1/2(35．7％、48．5％),TNF-α2／2(11．6％、5．1％);等位基因频率为TNF-α1(70．5％、70．7％),TNF- α2(29．5％、29．3％),组间没有显著性差异,P>0．05。两种基因型个体在TNF-α基因表达上,TNF-α2/2基因型个体高于TNF-α1／1基因型的个体,两者差异显著,P<0．01。TNF-α表达的高低与癌细胞凋亡有比较明确的关系,TNF-α表达高的病例,肺癌细胞凋亡也多,与表达低的病例之间有明显差异,P<0．01。TNF-α表达的高低与间质细胞凋亡之间没有明确的关系。间质细胞平均凋亡指数在高、低分化的肺癌中分别为3．4±0．4和 3．1±0．5,组间没有显著性差异,P>0．015;癌细胞的平均凋亡指数在高、低分化的肺癌中分别为2．4±0．3和 1．7±0．4,两组间有显著性差异,P<0．05,,结论:TNF-α-308位核苷酸的多态性基因型在肺癌和正常人中的分布之间没有明显差别,这种多态性可能不是肺癌易感的遗传因素。但这种多态性与该基因的表达有关。TNF-α高表达肺癌细胞凋亡较多,间质细胞凋亡与TNF-α表达的高低变化之间没有明确的关系。在高分化的肺癌中, TNF-α表达较高,癌细胞凋亡也多,TNF-α-308位核苷酸的多态性可能与了肺癌的分化有关。