China and India Enter Global Markets: A Review of Comparative Economic Development and Future Prospects

An American economist specializing in the economic and business development of China as well as India presents the results of a focused comparison of their emergence as global economic powers in the late 20^th and early 21^st centuries. More specifically, she selectively reviews the body of published research comparing China and India, with emphasis on the literature covering the two countries' economic achievements, the nature of reforms and institutions, as well as the overall social contexts within which development and growth are occurring. The author addresses such major questions as the importance of timing and location in the two countries' development trajectories as well as the implications of different modes of guidance (market versus state direction) for those trajectories. A concluding section identifies several possible directions for future research. Journal of Economic Literature, Classification Numbers: F010, O110, O530, P200, P520. 1 figure, 2 tables, 120 references.     

Spatial Disparities and Economic Development in China, 1953-92: A Comparative Study

It seems to be widely accepted that China's interior development during the Maoist period was based on ‘equality’ considerations, which narrowed Chinese regional disparities. By contrast, the recent coastal development during Deng's reform era has been coined as ‘uneven’ and ‘undesirable’, because it has created tremendous inequalities across the country. However, the findings of this study suggest that the question may not be that simple. This article examines the spatial disparities of economic development in China between 1953 and 1992, focusing on a time-series comparison between the development policies of Mao and Deng, their outcomes and the resulting changes. By using provincial and regional economic and investment data, the article elaborates why Mao's interior development did not lead to a more equitable outcome than Deng's uneven strategy of’ east coastal development’. The findings provide an insight into some of the unexpected outcomes of more than forty years of socialist development, in the realm of economic growth and disparity.     

Berlin and Florence in the Age of Enlightenment: Jewish Experience in Comparative Perspective

Into the 1930s, the Jewish population in Germany used the termEnlightenment (Aufklärung) emphatically to formulate itsself-image. At the end of the twentieth century scarcely anythingremained of the once emotional semantics. The most recent literatureon relations between Jews and the Enlightenment elaborates thehostility of the German Enlightenment towards Jews with philologicalacuity. The essay examines the relationship between the Enlightenmentand Jewry and Jewish experiences in the eighteenth century froma comparative perspective. The Berlin Enlightenment is comparedwith its Florentine counterpart. This comparison shows thatintellectuals in the Prussian capital were far more open andunbiased towards Jews than their Tuscan counterparts. Whilein Berlin Jews were admitted to the academies and convivialsocieties, this was largely denied them in Tuscany. Despite the altered climate at the end of the Enlightenmentperiod, the article emphasizes that, if there was ever a periodin German-Jewish history that may be deemed balanced, then itwas the age of Enlightenment. The comparison between Prussiaand Tuscany can thus help us to understand how the Enlightenmentcould become such an emphatic and emotional point of orientationfor German Jews in the nineteenth century.     

Wang,Haicheng.Writing and the Ancient State: Early China in Comparative Perspective

Writing and the Ancient State: Early China in Comparative Perspective is an ambitious book, ambitious both in terms of the problem it unpacks and the materials the author has collected and examined.It reconstructs the functions of writing in early civilizations, through which the author attempts to probe a fundamental question: the origins of writing, especially its invention in Chinese civilization.     

Managing National Diversity through Political Structures and Ideologies: The Soviet Experience in Comparative Perspective

Abstract. The nationalisms faced by Gorbachev after 1985 were an outcome of Soviet policies, and most of them were not secessionist. Why, then, couldn't the Soviet state accommodate them? This article puts Soviet attempts to manage ethnic diversity into a comparative perspective, and looks at some of the ways in which the ideology and political structures of the USSR contributed to its failure to overcome its ethnic problems. Like other authoritarian states, the Soviet state was not based on consensus, and some of its policies exacerbated rather than diminished differences between ethnic groups. Moreover, the absence of intellectual and political pluralism, and the inflexibility of Soviet political structures made it difficult for the Soviet leadership to reconcile differences between the centre and the union republics and between ethnic groups, and this rigidity contributed to the disintegration of the USSR.     

The Genesis of Economic Cooperation in the Stories of Joseph: A Constitutional and Institutional Economic Reconstruction

Abstract

The paper analyzes in constitutional and institutional economic terms Joseph’s economic policies, such as changes to property rights arrangements for farming, the introduction of a barter tax on crop production, and the multi-layered bureaucratic hierarchies of Egypt. Utilizing Buchanan’s approach to constitutional economics, I argue that these policies lowered attack/defense costs as they arise, when a group attempts to escape from the natural distribution state (the “war of all”, as Hobbes called it). A key thesis is that this encouraged interacting parties, already on the grounds of selfinterested choice, to engage in societal contracting out of the “war of all,” thereby reaping mutual gains.

Complementary to this strand of analysis, I have drawn on other institutional economic concepts, particularly those that were introduced by Williamson, and by North and Weingast. The paper argues in this respect that Joseph’s policies credibly and more reliably guaranteed property rights, which in turn lowered transaction costs of the interacting parties, i.e. Egypt and Israel. This ultimately yielded mutual gains and high economic performance for the society depicted in Genesis. In this way, cooperation was generated in economic terms.     

安克斯密特历史经验理论——历史哲学的新视角

安克斯密特自20世纪80年代便开始了对历史经验理论相关问题的思考,在90年代及以后的一系列著作和文章中对历史经验理论进行了较为系统的论述。安克斯密特将历史经验分为主观的历史经验、客观的历史经验和崇高的历史经验三种类型,他最为推崇崇高的历史经验。历史经验最为明显的特征是它促使过去从当前分离出去,从而导致历史意识和历史编纂的产生;而历史经验又会通过超越过去与现在的距离或差异,去恢复到过去从当前分离出去之前的状态。安克斯密特的历史经验理论反映了当代哲学、历史哲学以及史学实践领域的变化,企图促成历史哲学的新转向,弥补历史哲学与史学实践之间的隔膜。     

20世纪90年代中国区域经济发展的历史考察与基本经验

从20世纪90年代初开始,中国区域经济发展开始由非均衡发展转向区域协调发展。区域协调发展战略的形成有着特定的历史与现实背景。1991年和1999年是中国区域战略大调整的转折点,1991年开始强调区域协调发展,1999年正式提出西部大开发战略。随着区域经济政策的制定与实施,中国区域经济格局发生了深刻变化。考察中国区域经济发展历程,其基本经验对中国未来区域发展有着重要的启示与借鉴意义。     

全球视野下的中国与欧洲的比较研究

本文从全球史的视角对中国和欧洲两千年来的历史发展脉络进行了对比探讨。本文注意到在前工业化时期欧洲历史表现出某种周期性循环的特征。地理大发现后,陆上和海上远程贸易帮助欧洲打破了经济发展的马尔萨斯式生态资源瓶颈。中国历史发展显现出以朝代为单位的短时段的周期性循环和跨越数个朝代的长时段的周期性历史变迁。明以来中国社会文化心态的“内卷化”,清中叶后的人口剧增,形成中国人文和经济地理环境的总体恶化态势,再加上中国未能及时大规模参与当时正形成的全球性生产与贸易体系的经济活动,终酿成19世纪末叶的贫弱落后状况。全球史为中国“封建社会”长期停滞问题提供了一条新的解释路径。