The emergence of the rule of law in Russia

This paper challenges an empirical claim about the commercial courts (arbitrazhnye sudy) made by Kathryn Hendley and her co-authors in their paper “Law, Relationships and Private Enforcement: Transactional Strategies of Russian Enterprise” in Vol. 52, No. 4, Europe-Asia Studies in 2000. Basing their case on a quantitative survey of Russian firms, they conclude that economic actors in the 1990s relied on ‘the law and legal institutions’ because the commercial courts were relatively effective. In order to test this claim about the link between individual behaviour and the judiciary, I ask: What type of belief about corruption was held by Russian economic actors who trusted the commercial courts for conflict resolution at the end of the 1990s? The data set is drawn from a survey of 227 Russian firms made in 1997. I use self-reported data on economic actors’ preference for using or not using the commercial court (in case of a hypothetical conflict about a considerable amount of money) as a proxy for trust. A binary logistic regression model shows that economic actors who accepted corruption as a fact of life at the time of market entry were three times more likely to trust the commercial courts for conflict resolution than economic actors who rejected corruption. This finding contradicts any reasonable definition of the rule of law and suggests that the neo-liberal reformers should have paid more attention to the content – rather than merely to the speed – of reform.     

Creating flows of interpersonal bits: the automation of the London Stock Exchange,c. 1955–90

Abstract

This article deals with the concept of market information. In particular, it argues that references to the so-called conduit metaphor, which represents markets as a series of information flows, hide the localized, historically contingent and materially mediated practices of the economy. Following the tradition of the performative theory of social institutions, this article argues that the specific meaning of ‘market information’ and its concrete manifestations (e.g. prices) depend on the sociotechnical character of the calculative practices through which market participants orient their economic actions. The point is illustrated through a historical reconstruction of the introduction of price and quote dissemination technologies in the London Stock Exchange between 1955 and 1990. By highlighting the historical and technological contingency of prices, the case of the London Stock Exchange shows that it is impossible to provide a universally and temporally invariant definition of market information.     

Take an issue: cultural economy and finance

Abstract

Present-day capitalism is increasingly financial in character. At nearly every turn, finance and practices of financialization have begun to work their way into most areas of everyday life. The papers gathered together in this special section under the umbrella term ‘cultural economy of finance’ seek to explore the preparation of key areas of modern finance. In doing so, they demonstrate the productiveness of opening finance to a range of interdisciplinary inquiry to show how finance works and how debates about finance might be productively progressed.     

The challenges of economic integration: the case of shipping in ASEAN countries

Abstract

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) has agreed to establish an ASEAN single-shipping market (ASSM) by 2015. This paper aims to assess the impediments in achieving this vision and how they can affect the pace of integration. These impediments include the differences in their national shipping capacity, national shipping policies and regulations, and in their quality of shipping-related infrastructure and institutions. Due to these differences, the economic implications are likely to vary and raise important conceptual and implementation issues. The ASEAN experience could contribute to the understanding of shipping market integration and provide some lessons for other countries.     

Defending the organisation,not the members: Unions and the reform of job security legislation in Western Europe

European labour markets are often described as rigid with comparatively high levels of job protection that do not allow for the flexible adjustment of employment to economic fluctuations. This interpretation overlooks important sources of flexibility, however. Research has shown that recent labour market policy reforms have allowed for the creation of two‐tier labour markets consisting of insiders in standard employment relationships and outsiders in non‐standard employment. This outcome has typically been explained by pointing to the representational interests of unions or social‐democratic parties. It has been argued that rather than protecting all labour market participants, unions and social‐democratic parties focus on the interests of their members and their core constituency, respectively, most of whom are in standard employment relationships. In contrast, it is argued here that unions' institutional power resources are the crucial variable explaining this outcome. In difficult economic times, when unions are asked to make concessions, they will assent to labour market reforms, but only to those that do not fundamentally threaten to undermine their organisational interests. In the context of job security legislation, this means that unions defend the protection of permanent contracts while they compromise on the regulation of temporary employment. This ‘second best solution’ allows them to protect their organisational interests, both by retaining their institutional role in the administration of dismissals and by living up to their institutional role as one of the organisations responsible for the direction of labour market policy reform. Using fsQCA this article shows that unions' institutional power resources are more apt to explain the observed two‐tier reform pattern than the unions' or the social‐democratic parties' representational interests.     

Beyond the Social Market: Rethinking Capitalism and Public Policy

Despite its worthy motives, social market philosophy provides neither a useful analytical framework for understanding modern capitalism, nor the policy tools to address our present economic and social predicament. The concept of ‘market failure’, with its underlying assumption of market equilibrium, does not capture the systemically adverse outcomes of collective market forces. A more sophisticated understanding of capitalist economies, and the societies in which they exist, would recognise that the market economy is a dynamic but not self‐regulating system. It is embedded in, and impacts on, four other economies – of the natural environment, of family and care, of voluntary association, and of the public sector – which operate under different motivations and allocative principles. The role of government is central, to balance the values created by different kinds of institutions and to constrain the dynamic impacts of market forces. A number of policy conclusions are offered arising from this framework.     

市场转型中城市精英实践逻辑与困境

在社会转型的过程中,中国城市精英的变化及未来走向问题引人注目。在精英再生产理论和精英循环理论争论背景下,文章运用"实践逻辑"的思考方式,解释市场转型中精英的实践逻辑:精英配置、精英循环与精英互换,以及精英转型遇到的困境。改革开放以来,经济精英和技术精英的重要性越来越得到重视,而不是只有政治精英独占鳌头。而在精英阶层配置发生变化时,政治精英、经济精英和知识精英的互换频繁,并日益形成一个总体性联盟。这样随之而来的是精英阶层和底层社会的利益博弈,以及两级分化和社会断裂的危险。     

我国农村科技服务供给方式探析——以科技特派员制度为例

实现科技兴农不仅需要培养大量的农村实用人才,而且需要设定科学的体制机制,提高科技推广的效率。本文通过构建信息非对称下的博弈论模型,探讨了农村私人科技服务市场消失的原因,分析了科技特派员制度下股份合作、外部监督机制设计如何推动科技服务的效率提高,并分析了二者的交叉作用。文章在模型的基础上提出了加强农民的农技培训、外部监督职能向农业协会组织转移、构建政府支持下的私人科技服务市场等政策建议。     

政府、市场与社会关系视阈下的我国政策文化特征

政府、市场和社会关系的调整与变化对政策文化有着无可置疑的影响。当社会置身于政府统制状态下,政策文化呈现出心理上的依附与服从、思想上的盲目崇拜、价值取向上的泛平均主义等特征。当市场逐渐成为社会发展的主导地位时,一些新的政策文化特征——民主、公正、绩效等逐步显现。     

中美股票市场经济周期中的行业效应差异及成因分析简

本文分析了过去15年来中国股票市场在经济周期的四个不同阶段的强势行业的表现,并与美林模型关于美国股票市场在经济周期中不同阶段的行业效应进行了比较。美林模型对美国股票市场行业效应的分析,是基于美国的经济结构和经济周期特点而展开的。本文分析认为行业效应差异的成因主要在于中美两国在经济结构和周期波动特征方面的差异,指出中国资本市场在过去的经济短周期中,行业效应与投资驱动的经济结构和周期特征高度相关。