中国的崛起与朝鲜半岛关系

2010年发生的"天安号"和"延平岛"事件是使崛起的中国面临维持还是改变东北亚安全现状的重要的战略选择。由于朝鲜半岛关系到中国的核心利益,我们应把它界定为地缘战略重点。在朝鲜半岛问题上中国应起到建设性作用,为其解决提供规则,与有关各方更多地共享利益,维护朝鲜半岛的和平稳定。在具体战略运作上,既要坚持韬光养晦,又要积极有所作为;既要顾全大局,又要具体情况具体分析;既要坚持多边机制,又要加强双边关系。     

对传统公共物品理论的破与立——兼论后公共物品时代的政府职能定位理论

对于公共物品的界定,西方学者见仁见智,而国内学者大多以消费上的非竞争性和非排他性作为公共物品的充分条件和必要条件。本文否定了物品(包括服务)存在消费上的非竞争性和非排他性,进而否定了以物品的客观属性来界定公共物品的传统公共物品理论,主张以需求溢出理论作为后公共物品时代的政府职能定位理论。     

“洋货”观照下的“故物”——中国近代论评法家“法治”思想的路向与歧见

在中国"传统内"的释评系统中,法家的"法治"思想这个"故物",没有得到新的阐述与发展。到了近代,西方法治思想这个"洋货"成为重新解读"故物"的利器。但梁启超与萧公权同样用"洋货"观照"故物",却得出了法家"法治"思想之"真"与"伪"的不同结论。用"洋货"观照"故物",已成为具有重大影响与意义的思想学术路向,但也应克服其"强为比附"的结习。     

财政法的经济学根基——交易成本公共物品理论的提出

传统上,财政学和财政法均认为财政存在的必要性在于外部性理论以及在此基础上提出的传统公共物品理论。而交易成本公共物品理论则主张,财政法的经济学根基不在于外部性,而在于解决外部性的交易成本的高低。政府应以更低的交易费用来提供公共物品,提供公共物品的目的是为了降低整个社会的交易费用。财政和财政法的主要职能是降低整个社会的交易费用,而不是所谓的教务式的“提供公共物品”。借“私人不愿提供公共物品”之名而行垄断之实,其结果往往导致该物品的交易费用增加。因此,在决定一类物品由谁提供时,政府应该这样思考：该物品由私人提供和由国家提供,哪种方式交易费用较低？政府如何降低其交易费用？     

浅析中国在东亚区域合作中提供公共产品的若干问题

20世纪90年代以来,东亚的区域合作已经取得了显著进展,但强调民族主义和跨国主义并存的东亚新区域主义的发展并不等于东亚一体化的形成,东亚区域合作仍然在不断整合当中.中国作为正在崛起中的大国,在东亚区域合作中担当着重要角色.中国能否在东亚区域合作中提供公共产品,以何种方式提供公共产品,在提供公共产品方面以何为现实依据,这不仅对东亚区域合作的成功与结构整合有重大意义,也将对东亚国际关系乃至整个世界格局产生重大影响.     

区域性公共产品:东亚区域合作的新动力

区域性公共产品理论在区域合作和地区一体化中显示了较强的解释力。东亚区域合作对区域性公共产品的需求,是由该地区各成员国政治、经济和文化的多样性所决定的,提高区域公共产品的供应水平来克服其发展障碍成为东亚各国的内在要求。区域性公共产品与东亚区域合作之间是相互促进的:一方面,区域性公共产品可为东亚区域合作提供新的动力来源;另一方面,东亚区域性公共产品的有效供给与其区域合作的进程是密切关联的,区域合作的不断加强可以使区域性公共产品供给的效率得到改善和提高。     

Buying stolen goods: the ambiguity in trading consumer-to-consumer

This study investigates the buying of stolen goods in Denmark. The study consists of a self-report survey based on a representative sample of the general Danish population (n = 2311) and six focus group interviews consisting of both informants experienced with buying stolen goods and of those with no experience (n = 37). The survey showed that 4.8% had bought stolen goods, while 15.7% were uncertain whether they had bought stolen goods. Young people, males, and unemployed were more likely to purchase stolen goods. No clear correlation between income and buying stolen goods was found. Focus groups suggest the buyers of stolen goods did not buy stolen goods because they could not afford legitimate products. We recommend targeting consumers not interested in buying stolen goods with information about how to avoid such activity.     

The Shadow Price of Social Change and Its Evaluation

This paper analyzes the “shadow price” of social transformation. For the first time, an attempt was made to determine the approaches to measuring this value with regard to nonmarket phenomena and processes, and to apply these approaches in an empirical analysis, based on a representative survey in Russia (N = 1,000) using experimental situations.

Specifically, it quantitatively evaluates (1) the degree of divergence between the real and the ideal structure of the time budget of several important domains of social life; (2) the ratio of social ills to social benefits; (3) individual public welfare functions; and (4) the social cost, legitimated by citizens, of reproducing two fundamental public goods: “the capacity to maintain ‘superpower’ status” and “the well-being of the future generations.”

The authors introduce and operationalize the novel concept of the socially suboptimal product of labor, that is, the product resulting from alienated (or unwilling) labor, and conversely, the product that could potentially result from using unutilized willing labor. In doing so we support the idea of distinguishing productive and unproductive forms within both the notion of labor and the notion of leisure. Aggregated estimates of these values show the share of gross domestic product (GDP) that could be optimized due to a redistribution of the time budget of the population between the main areas of life, according to ideal social preferences.

The balance of social benefits and social ills resulting from the life experiences and activities of individuals is empirically evaluated. We consider this balance, which is the sum of impacts of the social environment on the individual, as a suitable model for explaining how individuals make decisions about whether or not to participate in public life.

“Individual public welfare functions” are assessed empirically, demonstrating that individual utility depends on personal and collective consumption. Empirical testing covered a wide range of nation-building areas with public investment in relevant types of merit and public goods.

Then the authors propose and test on empirical data an opportunity cost approach to evaluating socially legitimate amounts of funding for the fundamental social benefits “superpower” or “additional power” of the nation.

The cost of the public good “well-being of the future generations” is calculated for the Russian sample.

Finally, the estimates of the discount rates of human lives and “healthy and prosperous years of life” were obtained for Russia for the first time.

The findings of the study are relevant for the efficient management of complex socioeconomic systems. The authors strongly believe that revealing the structure of existing social preferences and estimating their impact on various areas of social life will help improve policymaking by explicitly taking into account the specifics of the real social contract between the state and society.     

农村公共产品权益保障政策执行现状研究

农民权益保障问题是解决"三农"问题、构建社会主义和谐社会和建设社会主义新农村的关键所在。近年来,党中央出台了一系列保障农民享有公共产品权益的政策。调查发现,农村公共产品权益保障政策备受关注,但是相关政策的执行困难指数较高、政策执行部门存在较强的政策执行偏好等问题,亟待采取相应对策以优化政策执行,进一步加强农民权益保障。     

Minimum Alcohol Pricing: Balancing the ‘Essentially Incomparable’ in Scotch Whisky

This note contrasts the approaches taken by the Court of Justice of the European Union and the UK Supreme Court in the high‐profile litigation which preceded the introduction of minimum alcohol pricing in Scotland. The case of Scotch Whisky Association and others v The Lord Advocate and another hinged, ultimately, on the necessity of minimum pricing to achieve important public health goals. The notably differing viewpoints adopted by the domestic and Union courts, however, both illustrate the elusiveness of the proportionality criterion, and expose tensions between domestic and supranational control in the context of internal market regulation.