Compared to what? Media-guided reference points and relative economic voting

The idea of the relative economy, or benchmarking economic voting, has been around for a long time. However, the choice of international benchmark(s) remains underspecified, especially in cross-national and time-series studies. This paper argues that the selection process of benchmark(s) should be guided by the theory suggesting that voters benchmark countries that are similar, familiar, and connected, and that media guide voters to appreciate these reference points. Using domestic media coverage from Lexis-Nexis spanning 22 languages, 29 democracies, and over 30 years, this research identifies the unique reference points across time and space. Analysis of this novel dataset shows that voters react strongly to relative economic performance when they make vote choices. Moreover, the benchmarking effects become more pronounced with highly educated populations, but are not affected by clarity of responsibility.     

Voting for development? Ruling coalitions and literacy in India

Across the world, governments skew the distribution of state resources for political gain. But does such politicisation of resource allocation affect development trajectories in the long run? We focus on the long-term effects of voting for the ruling coalition on primary education in India. Using a close-election instrumental variable design and drawing on a new socio-economic dataset of India's state assembly constituencies in 1971 and 2001, we examine whether areas represented by members of ruling coalitions experienced greater increases in literacy over 30 years. We find no evidence of this being the case, in the overall data or in relevant sub-samples. The null results are precisely estimated, and are consistent across OLS and 2SLS specifications and several robustness checks. These findings suggest the politicised distribution of some funds in the short run does not affect long-term development trajectories.     

Is China’s rise now stalling?

The variations on power transition theory so widely used to frame analysis of U.S.–China relation tend to assume the inevitability or at least strong probability of China surpassing the United States in economic power if not necessarily military power. In the terminology of social psychology’s attribution theory, China is imputed with the identity of a state that is inevitably rising. The Chinese Communist Party encourages this attribution among Chinese people and foreigners. But China’s economic rise – the foundation of its comprehensive rise – appears to have entered an inflection point in the mid-2010s and may now be stalling. In critical respects, China increasingly resembles the last two countries that ‘attempted’ a globe-level rise: the unsuccessful cases of postwar Japan and the Soviet Union. China’s labor force is shrinking; the country relies excessively on unsustainable debt increases to fuel economic growth; and pollution is seriously harming public health. But even if China’s rise conclusively stalls, it may take quite some time before the Chinese public and outside observers recognize the new reality because of intrinsic biases in the cognitive logic of attributing identities to actors.     

经济犯罪概念解读

界定经济犯罪概念不能离开一定社会的经济形态 ,经济犯罪必须发生于市场经济秩序的运行过程中 ,这是其本质特征。同时 ,经济犯罪与财产犯罪不可混为一谈 ,并要注意对经济犯罪违法结构的分析。     

我国循环经济立法问题思考

循环经济是随着人们对于经济发展与环境破坏、资源短缺矛盾日益激烈的问题的反思而提出的一种新型的经济发展模式 ,它是可持续发展战略的实践形式。循环经济旨在通过把经济活动组织成一个“资源—产品—再生资源”的反馈流程 ,以实现“低开采、高利用、低排放” ,最终达到发展经济与保护环境、资源并举的可持续发展的目的。但是 ,循环经济发展模式的实行必须依靠强有力的制度支撑。     

论美国的市场经济模式与宏观调控法

美国是西方发达国家中混合经济体制的代表。美国市场经济模式的主要特性在于不采用计划等直接手段调控经济 ,而主要依靠财政政策和货币政策对国民经济进行间接调控。这种模式的形成有其历史根源 ,并深刻地影响着美国宏观调控法的体系和内容。美国的市场经济模式与宏观调控法之间存在的密切关系并体现出一种规律性 ,对完善我国的宏观调控立法不无启迪和借鉴意义     

发达国家行业协会发展模式及其比较

行业协会作为一种制度安排,其发展模式取决于市场经济体制模式、产业组织状况和社 会经济发展水平。不同社会经济及文化背景下产生的行业协会,与政府和企业的关系不同,在性质和功 能上具有不同的特点。     

关于加入WTO后我国经济法制建设的若干思考

我国目前的经济法律制度还难以实现与国际贸易规则较好地对接,亟需在相关的立法中进一步深化经济法制的理念,积极完善与WTO经济法律制度相适应的相关法律。     

试论市场经济条件下人民警察的职业道德教育

人民警察是具有武装性质的治安行政力量,肩负着打击敌人,保护人民,惩罚犯罪,保卫社会主义现代化建设的重任。因此,在市场经济条件下,采取有效方法,加强人民警察道德教育具有十分重要的意义。     

合同诈骗犯罪形成的原因及对策

合同诈骗犯罪形成有主客观两方面的原因。主观方面受害者放松警惕 ,管理混乱、制度不严 ,法律意识不强 ,缺乏市场经济知识 ,贪图私利损公利己 ,缺乏责任心是导致犯罪分子得逞的原因 ;客观方面法规不严、存在漏洞 ,打击不力等也助长了犯罪分子的嚣张气焰。对此 ,应采取加强内部管理、提高防范意识、完善法律法规、提高执法人员素质等措施对合同诈骗犯罪予以打击。