Make or buy on the Russian railway? Coase,Williamson, and Tsar Nicholas II

There is a growing consensus among economists that the most procompetitive strategy for restructuring public utility enterprises includes complete vertical separation of the network or grid portion of a sector from other parts of the sector where competition is to be created. Although exceptions to this rule are readily granted, it is generally considered that any alternative strategy may pay a high cost in terms of discriminatory access to the grid by non-integrated entrants into the new competitive sector. This consensus is somewhat surprising in light of the simultaneous growth of transactions cost economics, with its emphasis on the benefits of close vertical relationships—including vertical integration—in the face of complexity, unforeseeable contingencies, and problems with contract law enforcement. These issues are considered in the context of a Russian railways restructuring plan which may, or may not, involve complete vertical separation.

论医疗责任保险——从法律经济学的角度切入

医疗责任保险是从国外引入的一种制度,目的之初在于,将医师的过错责任诱发的巨大风险社会化,以期医师安心于治理病患,而病患通过保险获得相应的保险费用保障自身的权益,缓和较为尖锐的医患关系和社会矛盾。但医疗责任保险发展的现实情况却是极其不理想的,学界对于医疗责任改革已有基本共识,具体设计上却甚少有人提出更为细致的建议。可以从法律经济学这个分析的全新视角,借助成本效益、纳什均衡、博弈的思维进路,以期为医疗责任保险制度的设计另辟蹊径。     

著作权与商标冲突判例检讨

目前,我国司法和执法机关在处理＂在先著作权与在后商标纠纷＂时,采取的是＂保护在先著作权的原则＂。这种司法实践仅仅维护了当下的个别正义,而没有着眼于未来长远的整体效用,不符合法律经济学的财富极大化原则。取而代之应该是＂向前看＂的纠纷解决机制,即事后许可,从而实现利益极大化。     

经管类大学生就业能力培养对策研究——以浙江高校为例

本文通过对浙江省地方高校经管类大学生就业能力的调查研究发现,一方面学生自身缺乏相应的能力,另一方面,学生对就业能力的认知与用人单位实际需求之间尚存在着差异,迫切需要加强对经管类专业大学生就业能力的培养。因此,本文从大学生、高校、企业和政府四个层面提出了相关的对策建议。     

Should Business and Non-Business Accounting be Different? A Comparative Perspective Applied to the French Central Government Accounting Standards

The French General Law of Finances of 2001 introduced a set of accounting standards including an explicit conceptual framework reconciling accrual basis accounting with the specific aspects of accounting for central government activities. This article analyzes this French set of accounting standards from a dualistic perspective that compares both business and non-business accounting. Three different views of accounting for business enterprises are addressed: the wealth-basis (static), the cash-basis, and the accrual-basis (dynamic). A dynamic view of the accrual basis is adapted to the specificities of non-business entities, including governments. The accounting representation is used here to explore further the nature and role of public sector activities within the economic system and their economic and monetary significance.     

An Exploratory Analysis of Fertility Differentials in India

The association between improving economic conditions and declining growth of population has led economists and demographers to hypothesise a direct relationship between indicators of economic development and fertility rates. Using recent National Family Health Survey data and the 1991 Census to explore factors contributing to fertility rates in India, we found that economic variables explain 70 per cent of the interstate variations in India's fertility rates. However, several non-economic variables explain an even greater proportion, for example, indicators of female autonomy explain 84 per cent of the variations. Our analysis demonstrates that to successfully explain Indian fertility rates, models must rely heavily on non-economic variables.     

转变行政管理思路 发展市场经济制度——皖粤黔川稳增长和转方式调结构调研报告

2012年经济增长下行压力加大,各地方采取了积极有效应对措施,实现经济平稳发展。该文根据对皖粤黔川四省的调研,在肯定成绩的同时,也找出了一些存在的困难和问题,并从长期困扰中国社会主义市场经济发展的思维习惯、管理体制、政策法规和运作路径入手,提出转变行政管理思路、改善行政工作方法等对策建议。     

The Cultural Logic of Work: Explaining Labour Deployment and Piece-Rate Contracts in Matar Taluka,Gujarat - Parts 1 and 2

This two-part essay seeks to explain why group-based and individual piecework arrangements have become the modal form of payment for a variety of agricultural tasks in central Gujarat, India. Part 1 of the essay reviews New Institutional Economics (NIE) and Marxist Political Economy (MPE) approaches to the labour process, and claims that while the 'efficiency' and 'disciplinary' considerations emphasized by NIE and MPE in their explanations of contractual change are important influences on the labour process, specific institutional outcomes depend heavily on the cultural realities of actors' practices. Part 2 challenges the epistemological assumptions of NIE and MPE narratives, specifically that agents with stable identities perform actions with fixed meanings. Instead, the recent surge in piecework employment must be viewed as part of an ongoing tussle between the dominant Lewa Patel caste and the subordinate Baraiya/Koli caste to alter their relative standings in the social order. Their unceasing attempts to reinvent their group identities have involved shifting understandings of 'work' - with direct implications for labour contracts. As a corrective to NIE and MPE, the essay proposes a semiotic approach to the labour process that bundles the notions of 'social regulation' and 'self-regulation' into the concept of 'work governmentality'.     

Admitting a Bad Influence: Contracting the Public Service

Abstract

Emulation of the private sector is a longstanding controversy in public administration, but could it constitute a bad influence, of the kind that parents seek to guard against by scrutinizing their children's peers? Effectiveness provides a perspective on how helpful or harmful private sector influence has been for the public service. The practice of contracting-out under the A-76 process receives particular scrutiny relative to maintaining the effectiveness of public agencies. A second perspective on private sector influence examines, through the theoretical perspective of transaction-cost economics, the promise of cost savings that justified recent acceleration of contracting-out. The author, himself a government contractor, also bases his analysis on personal experience.     

Citizenship,enclaves and earnings: comparing two cool countries

This paper uses the Canadian 2006 Census and the Swedish 2006 register data to analyse the citizenship effect on the relative earnings of immigrants, using instrumental variable regression to control for citizenship acquisition. We ask: ‘Is there a citizenship effect and if any, in which country is it that we find the largest effect and for which immigrant groups?’ We add one further dimension, asking if the size of the co-immigrant population in the municipality has an effect on earnings. We find that the impact of citizenship acquisition is substantial in both Canada and Sweden. However, the place of birth of immigrants is important. In most cases, immigrant women in Sweden enjoy a higher citizenship premium than is the case for immigrant women in Canada. Amongst men the picture is more mixed. Most European groups receive a larger citizenship premium in Canada as compared to Sweden. Being in a city with more immigrants of the same background is better for earnings in Sweden than in Canada. However, being in a city with a lot of immigrants (regardless of origin) is better in Canada as compared to Sweden.