Contracting in local public organizations: the institutional economics perspective

The institutional economics is one of the approaches to explain the utility of contracting of local public service provision. This paper described and critiqued the assumptions underlying institutional economics as it is used in organization theories. It also explains whether and why these assumptions hold in public sector organizations. Finally, it discusses implications from the institutional economics approach for the local agency. Local agencies taking new institutional economics perspective as the basis for its contracting decisions should take transaction risks and information asymmetry into account. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Turkish foreign policy in the post-Arab Spring era: from proactive to buffer state

Our globalising world is presently in a state of global turmoil. Risk, uncertainty, and insecurity are the terms that shape global/regional/national/local affairs and developments. The refugee crisis and the war against ISIL constitute the twin crises creating seismic impacts and consequences that in turn escalate risk and turmoil. Turkey is situated at the heart of these two crises, being very much affected by them and, therefore, perceived as a pivotal actor in the way in which the West is dealing with them. Yet, the West’s current instrumentalist and functionalist approach to Turkey as a buffer state designed to contain these two crises in the MENA does not offer an effective and sustainable solution to these crises, much less provide the stability and order that is direly needed in regional and global affairs.     

关于建构21世纪中国经济学的几点思考

21世纪中国经济学的建构有其必然性。根据中国经济发展的需要 ,2 1世纪中国经济学的构建应以制度分析为基点 ,以可持续发展为核心 ,以知识经济为前瞻 ,在此基础上 ,产生出具有中国特色的制度经济学、可持续发展经济学、知识经济学三大经济学主干分支。     

完善农民私权利的制度经济学分析

随着建设社会主义和谐社会和工业反哺农业的不断发展、深入,农村面貌已经有了较大的改观,农民人均收入在不断地增加。党的十六届五中全会提出,建设社会主义新农村是我国现代化进程中的重大而长期的历史任务,也是加强“三农”工作的重大战略举措,事关全面建设小康社会和社会主义现代化建设的全局。然而“三农”问题不仅仅是一个经济问题,更是一个法律问题。“三农”问题的核心是农民问题,而解决农民问题首先是要解决权利问题,具体来说,就是如何建立保护农民私权利的体制问题。     

Do intergovernmental transfers affect the distribution of manufacturing production across regions in federal countries? Theory and evidence for Argentina

The effect of changes in the distribution of top-to-bottom intergovernmental transfers on the location of manufacturing production is analysed using a modified version of the footloose capital model. An increase in the share of transfers received by a region increases its share of manufacturing production the larger are transaction costs; the larger is the share of transfers going directly to consumers; the larger is the share of manufacturing consumption vis-à-vis non-tradable consumption; and the easier consumers can substitute among manufacturing varieties. Using data for Argentina for 1983-2005, the empirical analysis appears to support the existence of two distinctive regimes, with smaller/poorer provinces benefiting in terms of the location of manufacturing production as a response to an increase in transfers. Also, for these provinces, the benefits are greater if they are politically aligned with the federal government, especially through the receipt of discretionary transfers. For large/rich provinces, the evidence is less conclusive.     

Gender,risk and the Wall Street Alpha Male

From the outset, analyses of the 2008 financial crisis, in mainstream as well as feminist discussions, have been gendered. In particular, rampant risk taking in an unregulated environment, widely deemed to be a principle cause of the crash, has been associated with masculine characteristics. In this article, I explore how the concepts of gender and risk entwine in two films on the financial crisis – The Other Guys and Margin Call. By looking at how gender is used to dramatise financial risk, I explore how understandings of high-risk behaviour are gendered, and the implications this has in the context of finance. Fictional representations mediate public understanding of this notoriously complex field as the number of films and documentaries on the crisis demonstrates. Exploring how gender is used to communicate risk reminds us that risk taking is part of a performance of masculinity that needs to be established by constructing a feminine, risk-averse other. The contention of this paper is that, to address gender bias in finance and the economy, gendered meanings of risk need to be openly challenged, and cultural and material analyses of gendered inequality brought into dialogue.     

创新：从经济学到哲学

创新理论首先出现于20世纪初的经济学领域。从根本上说,创新在人与社会的实践中具有普遍性质,创新也应成为哲学范畴,进入哲学视野。马克思和恩格斯的实践唯物主义包含着创新哲学的精髓与基本思想。我国改革开放以来的时代精神就是创新,创新已成为世界潮流。创新的哲学理论,应系统地论述创新的含义、功能、机制与发展等问题。     

中国经济挑战制度经济学?

中国经过20几年的改革实践,GDP以年均超过9%的速度增长,但中国法治与产权保护还很欠缺,这似乎在一些方面挑战现存的制度经济学。制度经济学关注的核心是产权保护与合约执行机制。其实,中国经济在制度资本欠缺的情况下仍能增长的一个重要原因在于其增长所依赖的行业。这就是制造业和服务业的发展对制度环境有着截然不同的制度要求。中国改革实践不但没有挑战制度经济学的核心命题,反倒证实了制度经济学的指导意义。     

Toward an integration of economic and sociological approaches?

This article answers the question whether sociology of law and law and economics can be unificd into one integrated science. First, it is argued that an integration process inside law and economics has taken place, integrating most schools and partial analyses into one mainstream law and economics. Second, it is argued that there are no natural barriers against an integration of sociology and economics. Purely economic theories cannot and do not exist. What is calledeconomic analysis of law is basically a mixture of, for instance, 70 percent economics, 10 percent sociology, 10 percent psychology, and 10 percent other sciences. In addition, there is no such a thing as a purely sociological concept; concepts are sociological only in the sense that they are invented by people who call themselves sociologists.Nevertheless one should not expect that such a richer social science will lead to fundamentally different predictions and policy recommendations than those derived from the current simplistic economic analysis of law. The aspects studied by sociologists but assumed away by legal economists to date have in most cases no influence on the determination of (optimal) legal rules or on the long-run effects of legal rules.     

MAKING A MOUNTAIN OUT OF A MOLEHILL: A LAW AND ECONOMICS DEFENSE OF SAME‐SEX FOSTER CARE ADOPTIONS

This article explores the methods by which homosexual partners can adopt children from foster care, primarily via the stepparent adoption method because most jurisdictions do not recognize same‐sex marriage or civil unions. In establishing that the children in foster care constitute a market not in equilibrium, I explore the significant barriers to entry that homosexual partners must overcome in order to adopt a child, including the biased rules of intestate succession, the inability of homosexuals to secure health insurance or other governmental subsidies for their nonbiological, adopted children, and the apparent misconception that homosexual parenting negatively affects the well‐being of the child. By deconstructing the barriers to entry in the foster care market for children, children will be afforded the opportunity to maximize their utility through permanency, and homosexual parents and the general public can maximize their utility through the reallocation of assets away from the foster care market, given that more children are likely to be adopted once homosexuals are granted unfettered adoption rights. The reallocation of assets away from the foster care market increases social efficiency, which is desired by all.