IMF retrospective and prospective: A public goods viewpoint

The paper investigates changes in IMF activities using the analytical framework of international public goods. The IMF promotes international financial stability, whose outputs are joint products with varying degrees of publicness. In recent years, IMF loans (recipient-specific benefits) have assumed decreased importance, while the Fund’s technical assistance and monitoring activities have taken on greater importance. As a consequence, the club and purely public outputs (e.g., disseminating best practices) have grown as a share of IMF activities. Changes in the mix of IMF activities alter the mix of international public goods and, in so doing, change policy recommendations regarding the role of IMF. The future of IMF is also addressed, especially in light of increased private capital flows.

论中国县级政府在公共物品提供中的职能定位

中国政府职能划分普遍存在“职责同构”现象,地方政府与中央政府在公共物品提供上存在职责不清现象。作为与居民联系最密切的县级政府,在职能划分上存在诸多困境。本文在分析了中国县级政府的职能困境和比较国外县级政府在公共物品提供方面的经验作法後,提出了县级政府在公共物品的供给土应准确进行职能定位。     

论能源安全的公共产品属性与能源安全共同体构建

能源资源是大自然对人类社会的馈赠,本质上是各国和人民都有权享受的公共资源,对这种权利的安全保障是能源安全的应有之义。能源安全本质上是一项公共产品,突出能源安全的公共属性有助于能源安全的不断完善,有助于世界经济的发展和人类福祉的提高。从国家能源安全、区域能源安全到全球能源安全,国际能源安全的公共属性不断加强。国际能源安全公共属性特征的变化为"能源安全共同体"的形成创造了客观条件,国际社会各行为体有必要在主观认识上朝构建"能源安全共同体"的方向努力。"能源安全共同体"建构可从区域经济一体化开始,强化区域经济一体化组织成员对共同体的认识,把能源安全作为实现区域一体化的又一重要抓手,改革、完善和创新有关国际组织和机制,通过"政府间主义"—"跨国家主义"—"超国家主义"的路径演变逻辑,通过功能主义的纵向整合,构建层次递进的国际能源安全共同体。     

Natural Law,Basic Goods,and Fiduciary Altruism

Even though fiduciary duties take the highest position in the spectrum of legal altruism, and legal fiduciary altruism sometimes differs from moral fiduciary altruism, natural law morality is not necessarily useless in helping to explain, determine, and justify concrete rules in fiduciary law. Five specific inspirations, in addition to divergences, can be drawn by a closer look at the seven basic goods of John Finnis’ natural law theory. First, the basic good of life may help to determine the boundary of the best interest test under the duty of loyalty. Second, the basic good of play, in particular the distinction between business community and play community may help to justify the separate treatment between civil agency and commercial agency regarding the unconditional power of immediate termination. Third, practical reasonableness may help to explain the rule against set-off under the duty of no conflict. Fourth, different cultural notions of sociability may lead to distinct understandings with regard to the no-profit rule. Fifth, different attitudes towards knowledge in various religious beliefs may create distinct understandings about the burden of informed consent.     

Relational Goods and Endurance of Voluntary Associational Participation: The Case of the Indigenous Mapuche in Santiago de Chile

This article analyses the reasons for the continuing membership of Mapuche associations in Santiago de Chile after the promulgation of the Indigenous Law in 1993. By following a relational goods approach, the article suggests that the constructed nature of ethnicity leads the Mapuche to create and join ethnic associations in an urban milieu. This study reveals that the main motivations for sustaining an active associational engagement are threefold: identity recovery struggle, leaving an identity legacy and bonding with their ethnic peers; all of these identified as relational goods. This investigation is based on ethnographic fieldwork conducted over eight months.     

China–ASEAN economic relations after establishment of free trade area*

This paper aims to contribute to an understanding about the major changes in China–ASEAN economic relations after establishment of the China–ASEAN Free Trade Area (CAFTA) in 2010. First, China's merchandize trade balance with ASEAN has shifted from deficit to surplus since 2012. This reflects China's improving comparative advantage in manufacturing production vis-à-vis ASEAN as a whole. Second, with China's wage hike, ASEAN investors can no longer take advantage of China's cheap labor force. Concurrently, China's investment in ASEAN has been increasing and become more diversified, ranging from energy to manufacturing and services. Singapore has remained the most important investment destination for Chinese investors and the largest foreign investor in China among ASEAN countries. Third, China has comparative advantages in providing construction, telecommunications, computer and information services and other business services to ASEAN. On the other hand, ASEAN, led by Singapore, has opportunities in the financial services and tourism markets in China. Finally, the development of economic regionalism, notably the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership and Trans-Pacific Partnership, will remain critical for the CAFTA's relevance in regional economic integration, as well as China–ASEAN relations in the future.     

Fresh pipes with dirty water: How quality of government shapes the provision of public goods in democracies

A large strand of research holds that democracy with its broad representation and electoral accountability is beneficial for the provision of public goods. Yet, there is a large variation in how democracies perform, indicating that democratic institutions alone do not suffice for securing citizens’ wellbeing. Recent studies have stressed the equal importance of state capacity for public goods delivery. These studies, however, rarely investigate how the lack of state capacity mutes the effects of democratic institutions on public goods provision. This article addresses this gap by using a mixed methods design. First, the conditional effects of democracy and quality of government (QoG) are tested on the previously under-researched domain of the provision of clean water. The results show that democracy is associated with higher water quality only in countries where QoG is high. If QoG is low, more democracy is even related to lower water quality. The second stage of the analysis proceeds by examining how poor QoG disrupts the effects of democracy on public access to safe drinking water using interview data from a typical case of Moldova. The analysis illustrates that democracy has a number of positive effects and incentivises politicians to focus on the visible aspects of water provision, including the expansion of the water pipe network. However, low QoG hampers adoption and implementation of long-term policies necessary for securing an aspect of water provision that is harder to achieve – namely water quality. This leaves the fresh pipes with dirty water.     

关于农村公共物品供求问题研究现状的思考

以农业发展缓慢、农民负担沉重、农村社会问题突出为主要表象的“三农”问题出现,虽然原因是多方面的,但是农村公共物品供求不均衡是其中重要的方面。新农村建设时期,为农民提供基本而有保障的公共物品,实现农村公共物品的供求均衡,成为解决“三农”问题的关键一环。国内学者就我国农村公共物品的供求问题作了大量的研究,并形成了许多有价值的观点。对这些研究成果进行必要的梳理,将有助于进一步推进我国农村公共物品供求均衡,为实现农村公共物品完全服务于农民提供参考性建议。     

漫长的多中心之旅

本文讨论了我的个人经历、我们之中与印第安纳大学政治理论与政策分析研究所相关的许多人的努力,即研究在不同背景下,制度是如何影响行动和后果的。首先,我回顾了我作为年轻学子的经历和我的早期职业生涯,旨在激励那些面对难题的人们。然后,我讨论了我们的制度分析和我们对于都市治理和公共池塘资源的研究,这些研究帮助我逐步发展了分析复杂制度的较为一般的框架。这一框架已经能够使我们发掘和分析制度结构、行为和后果,做出和检验内在一致的预测,并且建立更好的理论。最后,我就未来学术发展方向,与大家分享了一些看法。     

Decentralization and Development in Contemporary Uganda

Abstract

There has long been an emphasis on the importance of decentralization in providing better quality public services in the developing world. In order to assess the effectiveness of decentralization I examine here the case study of Uganda, which has seen major decentralization of power over the last quarter-century. In particular the current government has introduced a five-tiered local government structure, decentralized both fiscal and political power to local governments and introduced regular local government elections. However, initial excitement about Uganda's decentralization programme has tapered off in recent years due to a number of problems outlined here. In particular, I show that decentralization in Uganda has suffered from a lack of independence from central government control, which has led to a lack of effectiveness in the provision of high quality public goods.