Enter the dragon: the ecological disorganisation of Chinese capital in Africa

This article draws on the theory and recent research on ‘ecological disorganization’- defined as ‘the ways in which human preferences for organizing economic production consistent with the objectives of capitalism are an inherent contradiction with the health of the ecological system’- to explore the ‘corporate violence’ apropos of Chinese investment in Africa. In line with other ecological disorganization theorists, we show how the deployment of Chinese capital in Africa structures and reproduces subjectivation, but also how, ultimately, this subjectivation is implicated in Africa’s ecological disorganization.     

The Political Determinants of Foreign Direct Investment: A Firm-Level Analysis

Many large-N cross-national studies claim to show that political institutions and phenomena determine where foreign direct investment (FDI) flows. In this article, I argue that these studies tend to overemphasize statistical significance and often neglect to assess the explanatory or predictive power of their theories. To illustrate the problem, I estimate variations of a statistical model published in an influential article on “Political Risk, Institutions, and FDI.” I find that none of the political variables that the authors consider accounts for much of the variation in aggregate FDI inflows. To ensure that this underwhelming result is not driven by misspecification or measurement error, I leverage a large firm-level data set on the investment location decisions of thousands of multinational firms. Using nonparametric machine-learning techniques and out-of-sample tests, I show that gravity variables can help us develop very accurate expectations about firm behavior but that none of the 31 “political determinants” of FDI that I consider can do much to improve our expectations. These findings have important implications because they suggest that governments retain some room to move in the face of economic globalization.     

What the #@!* are they Fighting About?!?: Reflections on Fairness,Identity, Social Capital,and Peacemaking in Family Conflicts

Peacemaking is particularly challenging in family conflicts. Deeply held feelings about identity, fair treatment, moral issues, and protecting social capital often cause people in conflict to make self‐defeating decisions. There are, however, techniques that enable mediators, Collaborative Practice professionals, and other peacemakers to overcome the settlement barriers created by these strongly held views. These techniques include those pioneered by psychotherapists using the Internal Family Systems model, which enables parties to see that their strongly held views comprise only part of the constellation of feelings that they have about the conflict.

Key Points for the Family Court Community:
• Parents who feel that their role as father or mother is in danger often find it difficult to focus on the children's best interests.
• The “rule of reciprocity” causes people who feel wronged to exact even harsher punishment on those who harmed them.
• The concept of “social capital” explains why people care so passionately about whether they are treated fairly and about their reputation for fairness.
• The Internal Family Systems model helps peacemakers to understand how to work with the parties’ ambivalence about settlement versus courtroom vindication.

     

公刘活动区域考略

《诗经·公刘》详细叙述了周人先祖公刘带领周民迁都的史实。自《毛传》以来,学者多认为迁都地点是由邰到豳,邰、豳两地都在陕西境内。而现在位于陇东地区的庆阳,亦有不、公刘遗迹。由此,本文试就公刘的活动区域,尤其是其在庆阳地区的活动加以考证。     

外资并购我国企业若干问题研究

在国际并购浪潮的大背景下,众多外商投资者将并购目标瞄准了中国市场,形成了一股并购我国企业的热潮。外资并购的积极作用是明显的,同时带来的问题也是突出的。加快完善立法,控制资产流出,加强并购审批监管是当务之急。     

我国电力行业上市公司资本结构影响绩效的实证分析

构建能够反映我国电力上市公司资本结构特征的指标体系。然后用因子分析方法将这些指标综合成彼此互不相关的少数几个主因子。在此基础上，用主因子对代表公司绩效的托宾Q值作多元回归分析。最后，根据所建模型分析资本结构中影响公司绩效的主要因素，以及这些因素与公司绩效之间的关系，为电力行业上市公司优化其资本结构和提高公司绩效提供决策依据。     

社会资本与社会组织运转——以甘东用水协会为例

促进人们之间相互合作有三种机制——科层、市场和自组织.三种机制在官僚成本、交易成本与结社成本低的情况下都能很好地促进民众之间的合作,但是在缺少社会资本的地方,随着三种成本的上升,合作机制可能都会导致不合作行为的发生.根据对中国目前唯一的整体实行参与式灌溉管理改革并取得成功的中型灌区——甘东用水协会进行实地调研,从协会在现实中所遇到的用水户合作困境出发,针对甘东用水协会内用水户为什么不积极参与和自己利益密切相关的社会组织的建设这个问题,从科层影子、扭曲市场和公民社会缺乏三个方面对甘东用水协会困境进行了分析.得出:政府或者其他外部机构在社会资本缺乏、市场机制难以奏效的地方建立用水协会这类社会组织,要想实现其可持续发展,必须使其脱离科层控制;而且政府或者外部机构在投资方向上也要更加侧重于促进地方社会资本增加的项目,而不是用时髦的、现代的、复杂的组织或者设备来简单代替原来的基础设施.     

我们从《资本论》中学习什么（上）

《资本论》在马克思主义理论中享有至高无上的地位.然而,自从世界和中国发生重大变化以来,深入研读和系统学习《资本论》的情景已成为过去.是《资本论》真的已经“过时”了,还是我们的认识出了问题？值得深思反省.最重要的是要搞清楚,我们究竟从《资本论》中学习什么,如何用于指导中国的实践.我们从《资本论》中可以和应当学习的东西,主要包括两个方面：一方面是从《资本论》的精神实质和基本观点得到的教诲;另一方面是从《资本论》的立场、观点、方法得到的启示.我们首先应当从总体上统揽《资本论》的框架概要和精神实质,准确无误地把握《资本论》的基本观点和主要结论,坚持以“科学上的诚实”精神对待、解读和运用《资本论》.在此基础上,最重要的是用于指导走“中国特色社会主义道路”的实践.     

组织化的权力和资本与碎片化的多元利益主体——旧城改造中的公众参与及其本质缺陷

城市空间快速的扩展与重塑是城市化的必然结果,而其中的利益冲突及相关社会问题也日益引起人们的关注。在城市旧城改造中,组织化的权力和资本与碎片化的多元利益主体之间的不均衡博弈,使组织化的权力与资本成为旧城改造实质上的主体。这一主体因其组织化而力量强大,它要么侵蚀了其他利益主体的利益,要么一厢情愿地代表了其他利益主体的自身需求和公共利益诉求。而改变城市治理模式,积极发挥社会组织与民间团体在城市建设与改造中的作用,既是维护不同利益主体利益的保证,也是维护公共利益的保证。