Horizontal mergers and efficiencies; theory and anti trust practice

Horizontal mergers can be challenged by anti trust authorities under both the US and EU Horizontal Merger Guidelines. More horizontal mergers are unconditionally approved in the US than in the EU. EU merger policy toughened after 1998 but became more in line with US practices after 2004. Differences in merger policies between the US and the EU can be explained by a greater scope of the efficiency argument in the US. The paper argues that firms only want to merge in oligopoly, if they expect to realize substantial merger specific efficiency gains, which counterbalances the price increasing effect of merger.      

慈善的认知及其影响因素——读布鲁克斯的《谁会真正关心慈善》

布鲁克斯认为宗教信仰、对政府经济运作的怀疑态度、工作和健康的家庭是美国社会个人慈善行为的影响因素。反观中国,在全民慈善时代即将到来之时,慈善的价值理念和制度框架建设亟待跟上。     

新经济自由主义研究中应该注意区分的若干问题

在我们学习和借鉴西方市场经济的理论和政策过程中,越来越多的人对西方新自由主义思潮给予关注,并进行了针对性的研究,但其中存在着不同程度的误解和不适当的态度,妨碍着我们正确对待新自由主义思潮.我们要区分新自由主义经济学中的合理因素和谬误成分,区分新自由主义经济学所涉及的利益和立场在不同时间、不同范围、不同对象上的差异,区分理论界与政策决策当局认识的异同、学术界认识与"华盛顿共识"的异同,区分新经济自由主义的国内政策和国外政策的异同,注意新自由主义经济政策与国家干预主义和保护主义经济政策的交替、转换和灵活运用.发展中国家学习和借鉴新自由主义经济学必须注意:要将市场化与市场自由化、全面市场化区分开,将对外开放与对外全面自由开放区分开,将市场化、产权改革与全面私有化区分开,将市场化与快速市场化和快速自由化区分开.     

西方法律形式合理性形成中的数学因素

数学思维对亚里士多德的三段论逻辑体系的形成起着决定性的影啊,而西方文化逻辑就主要建立在亚里士多德的三段论逻辑体系之上。由于西方的数学是演绎数学,具有形式化的特点,所以,建立在演绎数学基础上的西方文化逻辑便具有注重形式化的特点。西方文化逻辑对西方文化中的所有学科都有影响,法律也不例外。西方的思维方式很大程度上是建立在演绎数学的基础之上,所以,受思维方式影响的西方法律也必然具有形式化的特点,即注重法律形式合理性。由于数学是理性的化身,所以,近现代西方法律理性化的结果使法律得到了数学理性更深的改造。数学思维虽然不是近现代西方法律形式合理性形成的唯一影响因素,但无疑是决定性的影响因素。     

论唐宋渔父词的文化意蕴与词史意义

以渔父为描写对象、抒情意象或抒情形象的渔父词作,自张志和一曲开始,历唐而宋唱和之作尤多,并且以渔父为题材的词作日渐繁盛.这些词或描写渔父的生活及其生活环境,或借渔父来抒发隐逸之思,或借渔父来参禅悟道.若按唐宋词抒情主人公形象分类,渔父词堪与思妇、游子、志士等类词相颉颃,可以成为一个独立的"渔父"系列,所具有的文化意蕴、词史价值值得重视,这对唐宋词抒情形象研究的全面展开将大有助益.     

哈萨克斯坦民族政策的变迁与思考

哈萨克斯坦是一个典型的多民族国家。作为原苏联的加盟共和国,其独立前的民族政策属于原苏联民族政策的一部分。而原苏联民族政策的焦点主要是民族自决、国家结构形式与俄罗斯化问题。哈萨克斯坦独立后,吸取原苏联民族政策的一些经验教训,同时为了维护国家统一与社会稳定,积极推行强化哈萨克族主体性的政策,倡导文化多元化、努力淡化民族意识。哈萨克斯坦的民族政策总体来说取得了一定的成效,较好地维护了哈萨克斯坦稳定、和谐与发展。其民族政策中的强化哈萨克语政策、强化主体民族历史传统的政策、国家统一前提下的民族文化自治政策、强化公民意识的政策、塑造统一哈萨克斯坦文化的政策等值得深思。     

台湾平埔族群文化变迁及其原因试析

平埔族群在清代被汉文化所融合,其文化变迁速度之快,传统文化消失之彻底为其它台湾少数民族所仅见。文章首先阐述平埔族群文化变迁的过程,然后对平埔族群文化变迁的原因作了分析,并认为平埔族群文化发生变迁原因是多方面的,既有客观原因也有主观原因。最后文章还对平埔族群文化变迁的实质作了探讨。     

从文化变迁看女性犯罪的社会预防

女性犯罪是当今社会不可忽视的一个重要问题,不但给众多家庭造成了悲剧,而且对社会危害程度日趋严重,已经成为影响经济发展、社会稳定的不可忽视的因素,应当引起高度重视。面对当前中国社会女性犯罪不断上升和蔓延的态势,对于女性犯罪的原因的探讨已经成为人们关注的焦点。本文从文化变迁的角度来分析当前中国社会女性犯罪的社会原因,力求突破一些传统的看法,澄清一些认识上的误区,从而对女性犯罪给出一些社会预防对策。     

Controlling immigration? How regulations affect migration flows

The aim of this article is to investigate whether or not and how immigration policies affect immigration flows. Such policy impacts have hardly been investigated so far as the necessary data is lacking. For the first time, two new datasets are combined to systematically measure immigration policies and bilateral migration flows for 33 Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) destination countries from over 170 countries of origin over the period 1982–2010. The study finds that immigration policies have an important effect on immigration flows and thus that states are able to control their borders. To some extent the control capacities depend on other factors in attracting or deterring immigrants. The article shows that the deterrence effect of restrictive immigration policies increases when unemployment rates are high. It appears that, in these contexts, states start to care more about effectively protecting their national economy. Moreover, policies are more effective for migrant groups from former colonies or when the stock of this group is already high in a destination country. In these circumstances, information on border regulations are more easily disseminated, which in turn makes them more effective.     

United in diversity? The convergence of cultural values among EU member states and candidates

The European Union (EU) is considered to be a unique economic and political union that integrates most European countries. This article focuses on the cultural aspect of European integration, which has been increasingly debated over the course of deepening and widening integration and in the context of the legitimation crisis of the EU. Among the main goals of the EU is to promote certain values, which raises the question of whether it has been efficient in (or enabled) reducing cultural value gaps among the participating countries. World polity and institutional isomorphism theories suggest that cultural values may trickle down in a vertical manner from the institutions of the EU to its member states and candidates. Furthermore, hybridisation theory postulates that values diffuse horizontally through intensified interactions enabled by the EU. These two perspectives imply the possibility of cultural convergence among countries associated with the EU. By contrast, the culture clash thesis assumes that differences in cultural identity prevent value convergence across countries; growing awareness of such differences may even increase the pre-existing cultural value distances. To test these different scenarios, distances in emancipative and secular values are compared across pairs of countries using combined repeated cross-sectional data from the European Values Study and the World Values Survey gathered between 1992 and 2011. This study finds that the longer a country has been part of the EU, the more closely its values approximate those of the EU founding countries, which in turn are the most homogenous. Initial cultural distance to the founders’ average values appears irrelevant to acquiring membership or candidacy status. However, new member states experienced substantial cultural convergence with old member states after 1992, as did current candidates between 2001 and 2008. Since 1992, nations not participating in the integration process have diverged substantially from EU members, essentially leading to cultural polarisation in Europe. The findings are independent of (changes in) economic disparities and suggest the importance of cultural diffusion as one of the fundamental mechanisms of cultural change. This empirical study contributes to the literature on European integration, political and sociological theories of globalisation, and cross-cultural theories of societal value change.