Institutional design for credence goods: Can the existence of financial incentive be problematic? Evidences from childbirth system of Bangladesh

The introduction of an incentive system in order to increase the provision of credence goods such as health services can be problematic. This article identifies the possible magnitude of overtreatment by physicians in private clinics compared with the situation in government and nongovernment health facilities in Bangladesh. The five to ten times higher volume of cesarean childbirths in private clinics (higher incentive institutions) compared with the volume in government/NGOs health facilities (lower incentive institutions) is indicative of the problem of overtreatment. This problem may become acute where there is only one private clinic in an area; however, the mere increase in the number of private clinics may not solve the problem.     

公共物品供给与国内冲突的复发

根据新制度经济学理论,不同类型的公共物品供给是国家对国民接受现存政治秩序和纳税的回报。长期的政治和社会经济物品供给不妥或不足会导致国民的“怨恨”,破坏统治合法性,从而为反政府武装组织的动员和招募打开机会窗口,激发国内冲突。怨恨不会随着战争的结束而自动消失。对于普通士兵而言,怨恨是否会平息或化解取决于公共物品供给的变化。无论是原统治集团继续掌权,还是反叛集团取而代之,改善公共物品供给都是无法回避的问题,也是决定内战是否死灰复燃的关键因素。基于1947-2008年“武装冲突数据库”的“生存分析”支持了本文的基本假设,那就是公共物品供给显著地降低国内冲突复发的风险。经验研究还发现,战后和平建设主要是一个国内政治过程。国际战争、经济相互依存等国际因素会产生局部的显著影响,但作用并不大。国内政治物品的供给,尤其是政治参与和政治竞争对于冲突复发的遏制作用远比其他类型物品强。相对于经济物品,社会福利物品能够产生及时的作用,和平效果明显。此外,族群冲突的复发受制于更多类型的国内公共物品供给,因此较之非族群冲突,实现持久和平的机会更多,相对更容易化解。     

Engaging the reluctant taxpayer

Abstract

A commitment to political neutrality means that citizens have a legitimate complaint when the coercive power of the state is used to advance some particular conception of how it is good to live. In this paper I investigate how to address this complaint in the case of public funding for the arts. There are two promising ways to justify public arts spending. First, as Thomas Nagel argues, the arts are a source of intrinsic values and so command our respect. I reject this argument because intrinsic values are not automatically political values. Second, Ronald Dworkin argues that access to the arts is required to fully participate in social life. This argument draws a connection between the arts and citizenship and so fares better in establishing a political justification for the arts. However, Dworkin relies on the special value of high art relative to popular art, which undermines the neutrality of his argument. I show that a justification can be given that does not depend on the high value of the arts. I develop an account that shows how the arts can support just relations between citizens. This account is in keeping with a liberal commitment to neutrality.     

Practices and meanings of non-professional stock-trading in Taiwan: a case of relational work

Non-professional investors, especially outside the Anglo-Saxon context, represent an important and under-researched topic for sociological studies of finance. The paper presents a qualitative study of non-professional investors in Taiwan, where levels of participation in the stock market are very high. It shows that investors are embedded in complex networks of social relations, cultural norms and economic projects. We use Zelizer’s notions of ‘relational work’ and ‘earmarking’ to explore how economic relations construct and reinforce social relations: investing is productive of, as well as derived from, social structures. Stock market participation secures access to social groupings and reproduces hierarchical relations in families and social networks. Our study seeks to highlight the relational content of financial markets, and calls for further investigation of the relational work performed by the material-calculative architectures of high finance.     

社会主义市场经济条件下治安防范产业化的新途径

在社会主义市场经济新形势下,研究治安防范产业化这一社会治安综合治理的新途径,及其产生的必然性、涉及的领域,并对扶持其发展提出建设性意见。     

Outside and inside competition for international organizations—from analysis to innovations

The analysis of the competitive environment of international organizations has been neglected in scholarly research. Both the external and the internal type of competition in international organizations are rather weak and their performance is far from ideal. To strengthen both types of competition, several tentative proposals are advanced. They range from the introduction of an international competition agency, competition rules, a monitoring institute, voucher systems, matching contributions, popular participation rights by citizens to the use of prediction markets and institutionalized devil’s advocates. These proposals are put forward to stimulate discussion and to advance new ideas about the design of international organizations.

论居民身份证收费的存与废——兼评我国行政收费制度

政府以提供公共服务为职能，并且在其所提供的公共产品中唯有其提供准公共产品时才允许向消费该类公共产品的居民适当收取费用。而身份证属于政府部门根据自身的行政管理需要而向全体社会成员提供的纯公共产品，因此政府首次发放和更换身份证应该实行免费制度。随着政府服务职能的提高和公民权利意识的增强，类似的证件收费以及其他不合理的行政收费也应该得到清理和废止，从而最终实现行政收费领域法治化目标。     

政府治理模式的变迁与启示

西方国家的新公共管理运动通过引入市场机制、塑造企业化的政府,对提高公共品供给效率产生了巨大影响。这启示我们对政府的性质、政府与市场的关系以及公共品的供给方式进行反思。     

新农村建设中公共物品供给问题及对策

农村公共物品供给问题是目前我国建设社会主义新农村必须着力解决的主要问题之一。我国农村公共物品供给在取得许多成就的同时,还存在着供给主体单一、资金短缺、供求失衡以及地区差异明显等问题。针对这些问题找出相应的对策,对破解"三农"问题乃至对整个新农村的建设都具有重要意义。