Getting things straight: The effects of ballot design and electoral structure on voter participation

This paper considers the implications of the straight-party voting option (STVO) on participation in judicial elections. Voters using straight-party options (by definition) do not vote for candidates in nonpartisan elections. Consequently, ballot roll-off in these elections is more likely to occur when people are given the chance to vote the party ticket and complete the voting process quickly. This is the case because nonpartisan judicial elections are considerably less salient than statewide and federal partisan elections. This article separates out the effects of the institutional structure of the election on political participation with the effects of ballot design. We find that in nonpartisan elections, the straight-party option decreases voter participation since voters who utilize the straight-ticket option may erroneously believe that they have voted for these nonpartisan offices, or simply ignore them. However, in nonpartisan elections without straight-ticket voting, participation is increased compared to nonpartisan elections with straight-ticket voting. Additionally, both forms of nonpartisan elections have less participation than partisan elections, all of which have the straight-ticket option. Thus, voter participation is affected not only by the type of election, but the type of voting rules in the election.     

农地交易:政府失灵与市场缺位

农地交易失控,关键问题就是地方政府权力过大、干预过多导致政府失灵和市场缺位。 要解决农地交易中政府失灵和制度失灵问题不能简单的运用行政手段,而应让位于市场,用市场手段调 节农地的供给和需求。     

A difficulty with oaths: On trust, trustworthiness, and signalling

In the wake of the Enron and Worldcom financial scandals that rocked Wall Street in 2002, the US government’s financial regulatory body, the Security and Exchange Commission (SEC) took the unprecedented step in June 2002 of requiring that the chief executives and chief financial officers of America’s 947 biggest companies to swear on oath that their company results and financial reports were to the best of their knowledge accurate. The one-off order was quickly followed by the passing of the Sarbanes-Oxely act, which will require many more CEOs and CFOs to certify their company reports and financial statements at regular intervals. In this paper we apply a simple signalling model to examine whether or not this type of institutional signal of trustworthiness is always efficient. We find that in the presence of signalling costs, the separating equilibrium can be socially inefficient as well as causing a general loss of trust. JEL classificationC72. D81. D82. K22     

从交易费用和契约看新制度经济学研究范式

随着我国市场经济改革的深化,我们面临着经济发展中有关契约设计、制度安排、组织创新等一系列深化改革的新问题,提高资源配置效率、降低交易成本的制度安排对改革的成功至关重要。交易费用和契约分析使经济学的研究进入了更为现实的世界和非市场的领域,提高了经济学理论对现实存在的经济组织和经济现象的解释力,为管理学特别是组织理论的发展提供了有力的支持。     

SOCIAL ORGANIZATION AND INSTRUMENTAL CRIME: ASSESSING THE EMPIRICAL VALIDITY OF CLASSIC AND CONTEMPORARY ANOMIE THEORIES*

This research assesses the empirical validity of the classic anomie theory articulated by Robert Merton and the important contemporary extension of his work encompassed in Messner and Rosenfeld's institutional anomie theory. Using a unique aggregate‐level data set, our empirical investigation reveals that, consistent with theoretical expectations, instrumental crime rates are significantly higher in areas where both a strong commitment to monetary success goals and a weak commitment to legitimate means exist. The tendency for this “goals/means” value complex to translate into higher rates of instrumental crime is reduced in the context of higher levels of welfare assistance and more frequent socializing among families. We also find that low levels of educational and economic attainment and high levels of inequality enhance the degree to which commitment to monetary success translates into instrumental crime. Overall, the findings are supportive of some claims by classic and contemporary anomie theories, but also they point to the need for further refinement of these perspectives and additional assessments of their empirical validity.     

Reflecting on 'Linkage': Cognitive and Institutional Change in The International Trading System

Since the creation of the World Trade Organisation, the international trading system has lived through a decade of sustained and vocal public criticism. International trade lawyers have made significant efforts to engage, evaluate and respond to these critiques. This article assesses the adequacy of these responses, focusing on the so-called 'trade and' debate – or 'trade linkage' debate – in international trade law. While this debate has produced valuable insights, it tends to legitimate and reproduce precisely those aspects of the trade regime which it purports to contest. Drawing on the insights of economic history, an alternative mode of scholarship is proposed – at once historical, critical, constructivist and institutionalist – to augment the current literature in the 'trade and' debate. Concrete lines of enquiry are proposed which, if followed, would help international trade lawyers to respond more productively and with greater legitimacy to contemporary public critiques of the international trading order.     

渐进转型中的区域边际制度变迁

诺斯的制度边际调整式理论已难以解释中国的转型经验,中国的大规模制度变迁选择边际—过渡性制度变迁为起始点,只要这些制度充分利用区域竞争机制和制度学习—扩展效应,不断突破无效率的路径依赖,就能向目标制度靠近。中国经验对常规制度变迁方式理论的充实,可以提高它对大规模制度变迁现象的解释力。     

城市社会公共安全市场的制度安排——以社区治安与犯罪预防为例

随着新型集体消费单位--社区的兴起,公共安全的需求出现了多样化和个别化,政府职能的转变也使公共安全市场形成并有所发展,对这一市场的制度安排面临着对不同治理结构的选择,同时也是传统公共安全管理体制的制度变迁.公共安全市场的制度安排应当是政府集中控制提供更多的间接服务,由市场中的企业提供多样化、个别化的直接服务,公众和社会组织广泛参与的运行模式.新型社会公共安全模式特别是在社区治安和犯罪预防方面突出体现公共安全市场的特点.     

浅析越南高校管理体制改革

20世纪90年代以来,越南高等学校管理体制经历了巨大的变革,高校从国家部委的附属机构逐渐转变为拥有办学自主权的独立法人。本文回顾越南高校管理体制改革历程,分三个阶段重点阐述了越南在推进高校管理体制改革进程中的主要举措以及执行中出现的问题。     

对中韩政府公共决策模式的制度分析

中韩两国政府公共决策模式的最大区别,源自于各自对制度理论学派当中＂人为设计制度观＂与＂自发生成制度观＂的偏执。作为选择政府主导型发展模式的后发展国家,中韩两国如要提高政府公共决策的公共性与实效性相互结合的程度和密度,需要摒弃对制度观的偏执,并在彼此借鉴的基础上,在博弈均衡制度观的统领下,进一步在制度安排的层面上完善对政府公共决策主体的监督机制。