Visas and work permits: Possible global negotiating initiatives

We discuss global options for initiatives intended to ameliorate adverse impacts of visa and work permit systems used by national governments around the world. We first describe and document some of their effects, noting the relative lack of other research work on these issues. We then discuss proposals for a new and supplemental global visa structure which have been made as part of the Mode 4 GATS negotiations in the WTO, suggesting that the GATS/WTO may be an imperfect institutional location for negotiating on these matters. We then evaluate other approaches, including what realistically could be possible if a new body specifically created for global negotiation in the area were to be used.

Voting on slavery at the Constitutional Convention

This paper provides the first empirical study of delegate voting behavior on issues of slavery at the U.S. Constitutional Convention. We analyze two categories of votes: those related to apportionment and those related to the regulation of the slave trade. Although it is widely believed that delegates voted consistent with the interests of their states on issues of slavery, we find that for votes on apportionment, the effect of state interests was enhanced by both the delegate’s personal interest and his religious background. For votes regulating the slave trade, state interests had a significant effect but only within specific regions.     

Three conditions under which experiments and observational studies produce comparable causal estimates: New findings from within‐study comparisons

This paper analyzes 12 recent within‐study comparisons contrasting causal estimates from a randomized experiment with those from an observational study sharing the same treatment group. The aim is to test whether different causal estimates result when a counterfactual group is formed, either with or without random assignment, and when statistical adjustments for selection are made in the group from which random assignment is absent. We identify three studies comparing experiments and regression‐discontinuity (RD) studies. They produce quite comparable causal estimates at points around the RD cutoff. We identify three other studies where the quasi‐experiment involves careful intact group matching on the pretest. Despite the logical possibility of hidden bias in this instance, all three cases also reproduce their experimental estimates, especially if the match is geographically local. We then identify two studies where the treatment and nonrandomized comparison groups manifestly differ at pretest but where the selection process into treatment is completely or very plausibly known. Here too, experimental results are recreated. Two of the remaining studies result in correspondent experimental and nonexperimental results under some circumstances but not others, while two others produce different experimental and nonexperimental estimates, though in each case the observational study was poorly designed and analyzed. Such evidence is more promising than what was achieved in past within‐study comparisons, most involving job training. Reasons for this difference are discussed. © 2008 by the Association for Public Policy Analysis and Management.     

The Forgotten Prophet: Tom Paine's Cosmopolitanism and International Relations

The recent questions about the viability of political realism highlight a need for alternative theoretical frameworks to guide international relations research. These alternatives, however, have been slow to emerge, due in part to the field's traditional neglect of political theory. In this essay I present an alternative based on a survey of Paine's international thought. Sir Michael Howard referred to Paine as the most important internationalist writer of all time, but his contributions have been largely ignored by students of international relations. Paine was a classic second image theorist who first posited how democratic governance would promote a peaceful world. Paine's works leave us with all the features of cosmopolitan thinking in international relations: Faith in reason and progress, the evils of authoritarian regimes, the democratic peace, the peaceful effect of trade, nonprovocative defense policies, open diplomacy, obsolescence of conquest, the universal respect for human rights, and the democratic propensity to engage in messianic interventionism. I conclude with a comparison of Kant and Paine where I argue that Paine is the more faithful representative of the Enlightenment for students of international relations.     

美国总统选举人团制度

总统选举入团制度是美国总统选举制度的重要组成部分.总统选举人团方案本身就是各种利益妥协的结果.经过二百多年的演变和发展,总统选举人团制度的内容和运行方式发生了诸多变化.迄今为止,它仍然是选举美国总统的重要机制,但存在许多缺陷和弊端.     

创造良好外部环境 促进中小企业发展

中小企业的发展受到许多外部条件的制约 ,如 :缺乏统一的宏观管理体制 ;缺乏公平的经济政策环境 ;融资环境不顺畅 ;社会化服务体系和法律保障体系不健全等。为促进我国中小企业的发展 ,结合我国国情 ,提出如下建议 :解放思想 ,转变观念 ;建立统一的中小企业管理机构 ;建立政策性融资渠道 ;发展创新直接融资渠道和间接融资渠道 ;建立健全社会化服务体系以及法律保障体系     

China's Future Economic Regionalization

This paper investigates China's economic growth potentials and limitation up to 2020 and recommends a trend of economic regionalization. A sustainable growing economy is a necessity for China's future stability. The growth sustainability of the Chinese economy depends essentially on its continued commitments to institutional reform and economic deregulation. China's relaxation of government intervention in economic activities has led and will be leading China to decentralize its central governmental authority over economic planning and control. This will consequently stimulate the emergence of regional economies in Mainland China. In the next two decades, there will likely be 10 regional economies with relatively independent industrial structures emerging in Greater China (or the Chinese Economic Area of Hong Kong, Macao, Taiwan and the Mainland) as a result of economic liberalization and decentralization.     

武汉·中国光谷吸引跨国公司投资的对策研究

跨国公司是企业国际化经营发展到高级阶段的产物,国际上对跨国公司有多种叫法,如全球公司、世界公司、多国公司等等.各种机构和学者根据不同的标准(如结构标准、业绩标准、行为标准等)对跨区公司也作了多种定义,而为大家普遍认同的是1983年联合国跨国公司中心在<世界发展中的跨国公司>报告中的定义,即跨国公司应该是这样一种企业:(1)包括设在两个或两个以上的国家的实体,不管这些实体的法律形式和领域如何;(2)在一个决策体系中进行经营,能通过一个或几个决策中心采取一致对策和共同战略;(3)各实体通过股权或其他方式形成联系,使其中一个或几个实体有可能对别的实体施加重大影响,特别是同其他实体分享知识资源和分担责任.跨国公司一般具有生产经营规模庞大、经济实力强盛,战略目标全球化,要素转让内部优先,内部管理一体化等特征.