Some issues on the Internationalization of Chinese Economics Periodicals

The internationalization of Chinese economics periodicals is a process of being well known, accepted and applied worldwide. It is affected by many factors, such as the Chinese scientific development level, the difficult extent of cultural communication, transmission methods, self-quality, the extent of openness, and the size of international targets. In particular, transmission methods and self-quality are two controllable variables. Digitization can accelerate the internationalization process of Chinese economics periodicals in form. The essence of internationalization of Chinese economics periodicals is to make it an international periodical that can be possessed, shared and applied together all over the world. Only when the Chinese national features are integrated with the international community can the Chinese economics periodicals really reach a higher level in its internationalization.     

重建和发展马克思经济学的研究思维——从本质到现象的研究路线是如何消逝的？

马克思在经济分析中实际上使用的是从本质到现象的研究路线,这种研究路线与社会经济现象这一研究对象相适应;不幸的是,这种研究路线在古典主义后期还没有发展成熟就逐渐蜕化了,以致现代主流经济学的研究方法与研究内容之间存在着严重脱节。究其原因主要有四：一是经济学者的知识素养日益狭隘而使得本质研究被抛弃;二是经济学纯理论化的努力而日益抽象化;三是马克思具体观点的教条化理解和发展窒息了该研究路线的蜕化;四是经济学研究对象从公共领域转向了私人领域而导致社会关怀的丧失。     

Critical theory and the capitalist state

This article is an overview of Michel Callon's contribution to the reformulation of economic sociology and anthropology. It contextualizes Callon's concepts within science and technology studies, and indicates the main lines of influence on his thinking about economic processes. Callon's work also opens up a number of debates and challenges to current perspectives within economic sociology. Finally, the article considers the way in which Callon's perspective reconfigures both the relation of politics and economics, and the nature of politics itself.     

Callonistics: a disentanglement

A critical response is offered to the special issue of Economy and Society devoted to Michel Callon's economics. The continuing weaknesses of his approach, as adopted and adapted from actor-network theory and the study of science and technology, are highlighted, together with the weaknesses of the economics itself. In addition, the latter is shown to conform heavily with recent developments within and around mainstream economics. The conclusion that capitalism does not exist, and so does not need a political economy, is argued both to disarm social theory in face of the current, virulent assault from economics imperialism and to waste the opportunity to offer an alternative economics of its own.     

The political economy of class conflict

Texts reviewed:

C. Crouch (1977) Class Conflict and the Industrial Relations Crisis, Heinemann Educational Books.

F. Hirsch and J. H. Goldthorpe (eds) (1978) The Political Economy of Inflation, Martin Robertson.     

On Marx's theory of agricultural rent: A reply to Ben Fine

This article criticizes both the 'Marxist' and 'sociological' conceptualizations of money to be found in the recent debate between Fine, Lapavitsas and Zelizer in Economy and Society . They neglect important contributions to the theory of money, especially the 'credit' and 'state' theories of money in the social sciences. These emphasize, as did Keynes, the central theoretical importance of money of account . These approaches were banished from orthodox economics and lost to sociology in the post- Methodenstreit division of intellectual labour in the social sciences. Marxist economics has never properly addressed this monetary analysis. Although neglected, it is not obscure and informs the more widely known post-Keynesian theory of money. This article argues that these heterodox theories of money are essentially sociological in that they involve the conceptualization of money as abstract value constituted by the social relation of the 'promise to pay'.     

More Bang for the Buck: Media Coverage of Suicide Attacks

ABSTRACT

This paper provides empirical evidence that suicide attacks systematically draw more media attention than non-suicide terrorist attacks. Analyzing 60,341 terrorist attack days in 189 countries from 1970 to 2012, I introduce a methodology to proxy for the media coverage each one of these attack days receives in the New York Times. Suicide attacks are associated with significantly more coverage. In the most complete regression, one suicide attack produces an additional 0.6 articles—a magnitude equivalent to the effect of 95 terrorism casualties. This link remains robust to including a comprehensive list of potentially confounding factors, fixed effects, and country-specific time trends. The effect is reproduced for alternative print and television outlets (BBC, Reuters, CNN, NBC, CBS), but remains weak for Google Trends (worldwide and in the U.S.), a more direct proxy for people’s interests, and is non-existent for C-SPAN, a television station dedicated to broadcasting political discussions directly. Thus, the media appears to cover suicide missions in an extraordinary fashion, which may in turn explain their prominence among terrorist organizations.     

Towards the Law &; Economics of development: Ragnar Nurkse (1907–1959)

The purpose of this essay is, first, to suggest Ragnar Nurkse as a Law & Economics thinker, and second, yet more importantly, to demonstrate the possibility and desirability of a Law & Economics of Development along Nurksean lines. Ragnar Nurkse (1907–1959), whose 100th birthday is celebrated in 2007, is one of the founding fathers of classic development economics. Given the recent interest in the Law & Economics of development, showing how a classic figure in the field successfully used such an approach might be of considerable interest, especially as development economics is a very emotional field which may well profit from the ‘objectivizing’ function of Law & Economics. Nurkse’s economics-based realism, his focus on what effect a program really has, rather than what it is supposed to have, and on what a policy can steer or change and what not, based on a typically Stiglerian attention to aggregate welfare, seem especially productive. Finally, the essay suggests a set of Nurkse-based principles or theses for a Law & Economics of Development.

中国转轨经济的特点与成功探索--兼论中国学人向诺贝尔经济学奖冲刺的突破口

中国共产党人把社会主义公有制与市场经济结合起来的成功探索,是旷世未有的伟大的制度创举,是中国转轨经济成功的关键,也是中国转轨经济的本质特征,是中国特色转轨经济学和社会主义经济学对当代世界的巨大贡献,因而必将是中国学人向诺贝尔经济学奖冲刺的突破口。     

Religious market structure and democratic performance: Clientelism

Is there a connection between government intervention in religious competition and partisan clientelism in democratic systems? Drawing on the economics of religion, we argue that alongside commonly examined population-level religious processes (religious diversity), state-level religious processes (government regulation of competition in the religious market) affect institutional performance in electoral democracies. Linking comparative indicators of religion-state relations with measures of partisan clientelism, statistical analysis suggests that uncompetitive religious markets, such as those where a dominant religion is sponsored by the state, create incentives, infrastructures and opportunities that favour clientelism. The study emphasises the importance of light-touch regulation of religion not merely as a normative principle narrowly related to religious freedom, but also as a potential remedy that can enhance the quality of political institutions.