Are There Negative Returns to Aid?

The World Bank report Assessing Aid assumes that an inflow of aid, above a certain level, starts to have negative effects. In this analysis we empirically test this assumption. We find evidence for negative returns to aid at high levels of aid inflows. However, the results are sensitive to both the countries included in the sample and model specification. Moreover, the turning-point above which aid starts to have a negative effect on growth seems to be much higher than assumed in the background calculations for Assessing Aid.     

野田政权对日美同盟关系的强化

日美同盟关系对日本政治与外交具有决定性的影响力。野田政权以重塑日美关系为支撑,改善同大国和周边国家关系,调整民主党的战略,谋求日本政治稳定的动向尤其显著。在政权面临再交替挑战的微妙时期,日美关系的调试承载着美日多方面的诉求。野田政权与奥巴马政权以四大课题为核心,对日美关系进行战略性安排、策略性地修复,其实质在于解决或跨越难题达成双赢,稳定和强化政治支持谋求长期政权。     

全球金融危机后国际贸易制度的完善与中国的对策

现有的国际贸易制度是建立在第二次世界大战后的政治和经济格局之上的,主要反映了英美对战后国际贸易政策的想法与安排。随着参与国家或地区的增多,这一体制需要作出适当的调整,全球金融危机进一步强化了这一必要性。在国际贸易规则的完善过程中中国应当发挥积极的作用。中国的贸易额和人均产值决定了中国的微妙处境。成为发达国家与发展中国家之间的桥梁,发挥双边和多边体系的作用,应是中国促进国际贸易秩序完善的基本原则与做法。     

Distrust as a hindrance to democratic governance in South Korea

This article focuses on the concept of trust and its implications for democratic governance in South Korea. Trust is an elusive concept that is often discussed using such synonyms as confidence, trustworthy, reliance, or anticipation of goodwill. Trust in interpersonal relations is different from trust in institutions. The case of South Korean politics and administration shows that the absence of trust hampers the process of building a mature democratic society and hinders the development of democratic governance. The article concludes by stressing the need to enhance trust in society, government, policy‐makers, and public administrators.     

包容性增长视角下泰国旅游经济发展模式研究

通过泰国案例研究发现,战略规划旅游经济的包容性增长,从“产业均衡”、“机会均等”、“财政包容”、“权利保障”四个方面,推动经济与社会的协同发展。旅游管理的善治与政府相关机构高效运作、旅游经济的稳定增长与生产性就业的增加、旅游社区社会包容性与均等经济发展机会、旅游对弱势群体扶贫安全保障四个方面,构成了泰国旅游经济包容性增长模式的核心。     

Retracting suburbia: Smart growth and the future of housing

Abstract

Metropolitan areas throughout the United States increasingly experience sprawl development. States such as Oregon and Maryland have enacted land use legislation that curbs sprawl by promoting denser urban growth. Smart growth, a new method of metropolitan development leading to more compact regions, offers an alternative to sprawl. Given that housing comprises a major share of the built environment, policies that promote denser residential development form a key component of smart growth.

This article provides an analytic review of the ways housing can be used to support successful smart growth policies. It focuses on three areas: the market for higher density housing, land use issues associated with denser housing development, and methods for financing higher density and mixed‐use housing. The literature on the link between smart growth and housing remains underdeveloped. We offer this synthesis as a way to advance the state of knowledge on smart growth's housing dimension.     

A practical analysis of shared‐appreciation mortgages

Abstract

When the development of large‐scale public housing projects was discontinued in the 1970s in both Canada and the United States, the policy response was very different. This article reviews the nature of the dissimilar low‐income housing policy paths, documenting the role of federal housing policy in the evolution of a significant nonprofit “third sector” in Canada's housing system; the decision of the U.S. federal government to rely on the private sector for subsidized rental supply; and, with very little help from the federal government, the ‘bottom‐up” attempt to develop a nonprofit housing sector in communities throughout the United States. In Canada, a permanent stock of good‐quality, nonprofit social housing was created along with a growing and increasingly competent community‐based housing development sector.

The Canadian experience demonstrates that it takes time to build the capacity of the nonprofit sector. The U.S. experience demonstrates that there is a great deal of community‐based talent ready and willing to provide nonprofit housing if reliable and adequate funding is available. Canada has made outstanding progress relative to the United States in the area of affordable housing supply, creating yet another small but significant difference in the quality of life for lower income households. The general Canadian approach to consistent national support of nonprofit and cooperative housing can be applied in the United States. Canada's relative success is not based on unique structural or systemic differences—that is, it is a matter of political choice and political will. The United States should look to Canada's 20‐year experience to determine whether some of the mechanisms used to support Canada's nonprofit sector might be transferable to the United States.     

The resolution trust corporation in historical perspective

Abstract

This paper contrasts the asset disposition challenges facing the Resolution Trust Corporation (RTC) with similar challenges that faced two earlier government agencies: the Home Owners Loan Corporation (HOLC) and the Federal Asset Disposition Association (FADA).

The paper first compares the quantity and diversity of RTC assets with the somewhat fewer but more uniform assets (one‐ to four‐family homes) sold by the HOLC. The FADA's challenge was quite modest compared with the RTC and the HOLC. The paper then contrasts current RTC policy issues with those that arose with the HOLC and the FADA. The paper does not, however, make specific policy recommendations.     

A model of unbalanced sectorial growth with application to transition economies

This paper studies the implications of a dynamic general equilibrium model with three production sectors, which are agriculture, industry and services. Due to the assumption of increasing returns, our model has multiple equilibria. There are two stable equilibria: one, in which a country produces only agricultural goods and converges to a steady state, and the other, in which a country operates all three sectors and has positive unbalanced long-run growth with contracting agriculture and expanding industry and services. These predictions agree well with the real-world development experiences of rich and poor countries. In the context of our model, we also investigate the evolution of the sectorial composition in the transition countries and find that such countries move to the rich rather than to the poor world.

和谐世界理念与联合国宪章精神

“和谐世界”理念具有丰富的内涵。本文从对“和谐世界”理念的基本要素和联合国宪章的有关条款的比较中认为,这一理念不仅根植于中国文明的沃土,又与《联合国宪章》的精神有着相通之处,具有很强的普世价值,符合当今国际关系准则发展的大趋势。联合国机制也为“和谐世界”的构建提供了重要支撑“。和谐世界”的构建应与弘扬宪章的精神,推进联合国改革,加强联合国的地位与作用相结合。