Which democracies prosper? Electoral rules, form of government and economic growth

Electoral rules and form of government have important economic effects, for example on taxation and public spending. However, there are no robust results in the literature when it comes to their effect on economic growth. This paper investigates whether electoral rules and form of government affects economic growth by applying panel data techniques on a very extensive dataset. There is no robust effect of presidentialism or parliamentarism on growth. However, there is very robust evidence for a positive, and quite substantial, effect of Proportional Representation (PR) electoral rules on economic growth. This is partly due to PR systems’ propensity to generate broad-interest policies, like universal education spending, property rights protection and free-trade, rather than special interest economic policies. Also semi-proportional systems seem to enhance growth relative to plural-majoritarian systems.     

The heterogeneity of consumer sentiment in an increasingly homogenous global economy

Recent investigations concerning consumer confidence in the U.S. have shed light on both the economic and political forces that contribute to its dynamics. And yet, as the recent financial crisis makes clear, the world economy is an increasingly interdependent place. This paper explores whether, in fact, consumer confidence responds differently to economic events in different political and institutional contexts. Our preliminary findings indicate that consumer confidence has shared variance in four countries for which we have data, but also unique variance with origins in national politics.     

Valence politics and economic crisis: Electoral choice in Canada 2008

This paper investigates factors affecting voting behavior in Canada’s October 2008 federal election. The election was held in the context of a rapidly worsening financial crisis that threatened to become a global economic meltdown. National survey data gathered in the 2008 Political Support in Canada Study reveal that the deteriorating economy trumped the opposition Liberal Party’s Green Shift Program as the major campaign issue by a huge margin. Damage done to the governing Conservatives by the economic crisis was limited by perceptions of their leader, Prime Minister Stephen Harper. Analyses of a mixed logit model of electoral choice shows that although the Conservatives had a relatively small share of party identifiers and Harper was widely disliked, his image as “safe pair on hands” helped his party weather the political storm generated by the flood of bad economic news.     

Economic voting theory: Testing new dimensions

Classical economic voting theory has received considerable empirical support. Voters reward the incumbent for good times, punish it for bad. But the success of this paradigm, which views the economy as strictly a valence issue, has crowded out testing of other theoretical dimensions. In particular, positional and patrimonial economic voting have hardly been examined. The former concerns the different preferences voters have on economic policy issues, such as progressive taxation. The latter concerns the place of voters in the economic structure itself, not merely as members of a social class but as actual property owners. Through analysis of a special battery of economic items, from a 2008 US presidential election survey, we demonstrate that the economy was important to voters in three ways: valence, position, and patrimony. Taken together, these dimensions go far as an explanation of vote choice, at least with respect to the short-term forces acting on this political behavior.     

中国经济增长的动力机制与发展方式转变

中国改革开放以来的发展经验表明,以工业和服务业为产业主导、以城市化为空间载体、以市场化为体制基础、以国际化为战略支撑的发展模式共同推动了中国经济的持续高速增长.但是,产业结构、资源环境、社会总需求结构、收入分配、人力资本等方面所存在的问题也制约了中国经济的持续增长.突破这些经济发展障碍,需要在产业结构、市场竞争机制和公...     

涉毒行为的社会经济成本分析

涉毒行为给社会经济造成现实的威胁和破坏。毒品消费行为诱发大量的违法犯罪。涉毒行为与违法犯罪在价值规律的作用下共衍、共生,形成恶性循环,对社会经济的发展造成巨大危害。为了维系社会的安全与稳定,政府和社会支付的成本也逐年攀升,这期待我们拿出智慧与勇气,去迎接毒品问题带来的各种挑战。     

经济民族主义刍议

从民族主义、全球化、区域化、国家战略几个角度来看,可对现今世界的经济民族主义现象作出不同的解释。经济民族主义基于民族主义,它是后者在经济层面上的表现。不同时期的经济民族主义有着不同的形式,不同的地域也各有差异。在当今全球化背景下,在经济民族主义盛行之际,中国如何制定自己的国家发展战略事关国民生计,意义重大。     

Power at the Centre: is the National Economic Council a Model for a New Way of Organising Things?

The centre of power in the UK lies in No 10 Downing Street and is surprisingly weak in terms of numbers. This article, written by a former insider, looks at how power is exercised in a variety of ways, some formal, through cabinet and its committees some informal, through the force of personality of the Prime Minister and his team especially his policy unit. It goes on to examine the creation and functioning of the National Economic Council, set up by Gordon Brown in response to the financial and economic crisis of 2007–8. It argues that this was a successful innovation towards a more structured approach that delivered faster policy formation and delivery and created a sense of unity. While it is probably a model that works best in crisis moments, it could be taken forward in other ways.     

不对称结构和本体性安全视角下的中缅关系：依赖与偏离

当前缅甸政治转型对中缅关系带来的影响已成为国内外不少学者关注的焦点。本文试图从不对称权力结构和本体性安全的视角，对中缅双边关系的历史与现实进行理论探索，分析缅甸对中国产生依赖性与离心力的结构限制。本文认为，缅甸对中国形成既依赖又偏离的两种倾向是由中缅不对称结构关系决定的，在此结构下缅甸对自身本体性安全的关注起着关键作用。因而，政治转型后的缅甸在对中国的依赖与偏离的博弈中孰强孰弱，主要取决于不对称权力结构中缅甸的本体性安全是否能得到充分保障。     

高等职业教育经济法教材建设探索

教材是教学的基本依据和基础资源,但在高职教育迅猛发展的背景下,高职教材建设的步伐却明显滞后,造成相当数量专业的学生缺乏专门、适用的教材的局面,以至严重掣肘了高职教育科学、协调地向前发展.推进高职经济法教材建设,应将基本理论与实务融为一体,突出实践,以培养学生实际应用能力为目标.