Housing Market Dynamics Under Stochastic Growth: An Application to the Housing Market in Boulder, Colorado

Recent housing-market studies have modeled slow stock and price adjustment with some success. However, the empirical procedures used in these models break down if housing stocks or prices are driven by stochastic growth. In this paper I suggest an error-correction model for analyzing housing supply and demand under conditions of stochastic growth for a regional housing market. The model is applied to the housing market in Boulder, Colorado from 1981 through 1995—a period of rapid growth in housing values in the area. Long-run housing supply and demand are shown to be inelastic with respect to changes in the price of housing. The results indicate that developers respond more accurately to housing-market disequilibrium attributable to supply-side disturbances than to disturbances generated by changes in the demand for housing. On the other hand, price appreciation is driven primarily by demand disturbances.     

Corporations,Government and Development: The Case of Institutional Corruption in Tasmania

The proliferation of studies into corruption over the past decade has highlighted its widely differing manifestations and causes. This article applies the notion of institutional corruption to the case study of the Lennon government's approval of the Gunns pulp mill in Tasmania. A multidisciplinary framework is developed to explain why the approval process became embroiled in widespread allegations of commercial favouritism. It is argued that the institutional corruption involved in this process was an outcome of the interaction of the political economy of Tasmania, its political culture and the political psychology of Paul Lennon as leader. The implications of such a multidisciplinary approach for a study of corruption are discussed.     

历史上梅州山区的开发：地名学的视野

地名是人们在社会生活中给地理实体、行政区域或地点起的名称,地名往往带有强烈的延续性和稳定性,因而能够比较完整地保留命名时所反映的文化内涵。本文将粤东北山区梅州乡村地名为解读对象,探讨地名与生态环境,山区开发,地名与族群关系,地名与历史人物、历史事件,地名与军事设施及经济活动等的关系,以期再现客家聚落名称所蕴涵的丰富人文因素。     

Non‐Market Institutions in Economic Development: The Role of the Third Sector

In an article published in this journal in 2005, Dorward et al. argued that non‐market institutions are particularly effective in addressing market failures in the high‐transaction cost institutional environment which is often characteristic of low‐income countries. This comment develops additional theoretical underpinnings of this argument by exploring differences in the capacity for addressing market failure of for‐profit firms, on the one hand, and third sector organizations representing a major type of non‐market institutions, on the other. It is argued that while for‐profit firms address market failures by facilitating market exchange, third sector organizations do so by replacing exchange with self‐sufficiency. This recourse to self‐sufficiency is reflected in the important role of third sector organizations in economic development in low‐income countries.     

当代中国政治文化构建的一种历史审视

中国传统政治文化强调集权主义、注重伦理关系、强调道德至上 ,其最大优点就是注重人生的理想和精神因素的作用 ,而最大的弊端是重人治、轻法治 ,“文化大革命”将中国政治文化的特点充分展现出来 ,特别是将传统政治文化的缺陷充分显露出来。这说明传统政治文化对我们存在着深远的影响 ,因此我们要从自己历史上的政治文化中 ,找到稳定的、持久的、有积极意义的因素 ,从传统中构建“现代政治文化主体意识” ,即在构建当代中国政治文化时 ,要在重视精神理想的中国政治文化中 ,注入法治文化的基本要素 ,形成更科学的政治文化。     

Palaces,Feiras and Prazos: An Historical Archaeological Perspective of African–Portuguese Contact in Northern Zimbabwe

The consequences of the contact between Africans and Europeans during the early Atlantic Age are examined with a specific focus on the Mutapa State in northern Zimbabwe to the middle of the seventeenth century. The dynamics of contact are presented in terms of three categories of archaeological evidence, namely royal palaces (zimbabwe), trading markets (feiras) and fortifications. It is argued that some royal palaces assumed new identities as they adjusted to the new contact situations presented by the commerce with the Portuguese. The site reported in Portuguese documents as Massapa was one such palace initially, before becoming a fully fledged trading centre. With the intensification of market trade, the fortified stonewalled settlements found in the areas between the Mazowe and Ruya rivers attest to evidence for the conflict between the Mutapa state and the Portuguese, as presented in the written records, and environmental deterioration triggered by intensified exploitation of gold.     

Redivided Government and the Politics of the Budgetary Process in the Clinton Years: An Oral History Perspective

Paul Quirk and Bruce Nesmith argue that divided government may or may not be functional, depending mostly on the type of policy that dominates the legislative agenda. In this article, I draw on the University of Virginia Miller Center's oral history of Bill Clinton's tenure as president to review budgetary politics in the 1990s, during which divided government prevailed for all but two years. I conclude that in addition to type of policy, political circumstances help to determine whether divided government produces stalemate or compromise. Conflict between the parties led to budgetary stalemate in 1995–1996, cooperation in the form of the Balanced Budget Act in 1996–1997, and stalemate again beginning in January 1998.     

External Knowledge,Territorial Inertia and Local Development: An Exploratory Case Study

This study examines the relationship between an entrepreneur's absorptive capacity, the spiral of knowledge and local development. Although a great number of theoretical and empirical studies have pointed out the importance of local networking and informal contacts when spreading knowledge locally, very few of them have provided robust evidence on the role of the entrepreneur's absorptive capacity and external knowledge in local development. This paper tries to explain the reasons why this problem can no longer be ignored and provides a preliminary examination, through an exploratory case study, of the role that the entrepreneur's absorptive capacity and external knowledge play in overcoming territorial inertia and enhancing local development.     

从民俗信仰的视角剖析历史上的会道门

"会道门"一词成型于民国年间,前身系以秘密状态长期蛰伏于社会底层的民间教门。在其演化过程中,由于大量吸收融合了民间信仰和民俗文化成分,如巫术、符咒、谶谣、揭帖、禁忌、占卜、扶乩等,逐渐构成清末明初独具会道门特色的教门文化。从民俗信仰和民间文化的视角解构会道门,可以发现其自成一套亚文化体系,在民国年间急剧动荡的社会大背景下注入了许多新的元素,因不再囿于教门早期拼凑的儒释道文化体系而逐渐变得庞杂和宽泛,并因会道门中的枪会组织和刀会团体更贴近乡土社会的文化生活,因而在20世纪上半叶中国的政治、军事舞台上频频亮相,大起大落,构成了独特的社会风景。     

Nettle Fibre: Its Prospects,Uses and Problems in Historical Perspective

Abstract

The stinging nettle plant (Urtica dioica L.) is perhaps best known as an abundant and perennial weed, but throughout history it has been used as a source of fibre in many parts of the world. This paper explores the potential uses of nettle fibre within a historical context and describes efforts made by the German and UK governments to cultivate and process the fibre for special war purposes during World War I and II. There has recently been a revival of interest in this fascinating fibre, and recent attempts to commercialise production are discussed.     

从社会发展、政府职能谈地方志的未来

从用志到公共服务,通过开发利用志书,扩大方志事业的影响,稳定机构和队伍。数据库、网站、方志馆的建立更是为方志事业未来的发展打下基础。地方志是政府主修的公共文化产品,将其提供于社会,除地方志自身的努力外,还需要明确政府的职能,明确政府的责任,才可理顺公共服务这项工作的性质。所以,地方志的未来从政府职能的角度来说应是修志和公共服务双项职能共担,才能得到长久的发展。     

海外中国劳工保护制度的演变与未来展望--基于历史制度主义视角的分析

论文梳理了海外中国劳工保护制度变迁的内在逻辑,探讨了海外中国劳工保护制度变迁的动力机制和新形势下创新与提升的应对举措。研究显示:海外中国劳工保护制度经历起步探索期、规范建制期、调整拓展期、发展完善期的演进轨迹,展示出一个清晰和完整的兼有历时性与共时性的制度谱系。海外中国劳工保护制度演进有五种驱动力:理念转变、国内发展需要、国家实力提升、国际形势转变以及关键节点催化。海外中国劳工保护是我国海外利益维护的重要组成部分。在新冠肺炎疫情肆虐全球背景下,基于历史制度主义视角来重新审视海外中国劳工保护制度的演变具有特别重要的意义。     

历史语境、史学语境与史料的解读——以弗吉尼亚州批准美国宪法大会中一条材料的解读为例

"语境主义"意识对于历史研究具有重要的意义。历史学家在解读具体的史料时,只有清楚而准确地把握史料产生的"历史语境",以及由相关研究构成的"史学语境",才有可能探明史料的"原意",进而恰当地运用史料。     

Crop Diversification and Export Growth: Dynamics of Change in the Sri Lankan Peasant Sector

Self-sufficiency in foodgrains has seen countries of South and East Asia diversifying their agricultural base and trying to move peasant producers from rice to higher-value crops. This article examines policies applied in Sri Lanka in the wake of structural adjustment. Contract farming and corporate sector involvement are analysed as a mechanism of change, and crop characteristics, the macro policy environment, infrastructural facilities and other state supports are identified as important contributing factors. The government commitment to developing horticultural exports as a major industry is seen as a central issue, given constraints that have emerged in the implementation of this policy and pressures to curtail expenditure and reduce the budget deficit. A better focused and more coordinated package of supports is considered to be necessary. The welfare impact of recent growth is also analysed and is found to give some cause for concern.     

Punctuated Equilibria in the Private Sector and the Stability of Market Systems

The article examines longitudinal trends in expenditures by over 1,200 private firms, finding evidence of punctuated equilibrium—a pattern of change widely interpreted as evidence of stick‐slip dynamics in decision‐making processes. Levels of punctuation in the private sector closely resemble those observed in studies on public budgeting, suggesting that the private sector is not on average any less resistant to change than government. Both private‐ and public‐sector decision making is a function of deliberative processes, which the article compares to market systems. Deliberative decision making takes place when a group comes to a consensus about the allocation of resources. Market processes aggregate the actions of many independent decision makers to arrive at an outcome, such as the value of a commodity. The article considers the relative informational efficiency of these two processes and concludes that market systems should be more adaptive to incoming information. Three case studies provide natural experiments to investigate the stability of outputs during periods of deliberative and market control. A key finding is that when outputs are determined by market systems it greatly reduces the magnitude of punctuation.