Ageing,Poverty and the Role of a Social Pension in Vietnam

Using the Vietnam Household Living Standard Survey in 2004, this article seeks to quantify the potential role and impacts of a social pension scheme for reducing elderly poverty in Vietnam. The authors simulate changes in the poverty rate, poverty gap and poverty severity of the elderly in the counterfactual situation that such a scheme had been introduced to Vietnam in the past. They consider a number of categorical targeting groups of elderly people along with various transfer parameters to assess the impacts of the scheme on social welfare. They conclude that, depending on the characteristics of the social pension, there would be beneficial poverty reductions, but also large leakages to the non‐poor people. For a variety of measures, the results suggest that targeting the elderly in rural areas might be the most effective use of limited resources. Simulations for different budgetary constraints show that, even with limited budgeting, a social pension scheme would significantly reduce poverty incidence for the elderly. Furthermore, for a given programme cost, combining lower benefits with lower eligibility requirements is more effective at reducing poverty than providing larger benefits to a more limited group of recipients.     

关于商代青铜面具的几个问题

本文对商代青铜面具的起源、文化内涵、传播等问题进行了探讨。认为青铜面具起源于石器时代,青铜面具的源地在北方,青铜面具的使用与巫术有关,墓葬中的青铜面具反映了死者的身份等级。     

基于GIS的区域经济分析与决策初步研究

GIS技术能为区域经济分析直接提供一种交互式的、可视化的决策支持,已广泛应用于地方、区域和国家各级水平的经济分析、规划决策过程中。在本文中,作者首先对区域经济分析决策的各种方法进行了必要的分析,说明了在区域经济分析中GIS所能提供的技术支持,然后对建立一个基于GIS的区域经济分析与决策信息支持系统进行了初步研究,并举例说明了GIS技术在经济分析与决策中的应用。     

Stability of Spatial Equilibrium*

Abstract. Asymptotic stability of equilibrium is often difficult to know when the number of variables exceeds four, since all eigenvalues of the Jacobian matrix are not analytically solvable. However, we obtain stability conditions for a general class of migration dynamics without computing eigenvalues. We show that a spatial equilibrium is stable in the presence of strong congestion diseconomies, but unstable in the presence of strong agglomeration economies. We also show existence of a stable equilibrium in the case of negligible interregional externalities, which is applicable to club goods, local public goods, and new economic geography.     

地理策划学探讨

21世纪中国的地理科学要发展,应当一端承接知识经济的高技术和高智力优势,一端紧密联系市场,增强在市场经济条件下为社会服务的功能。为此,创建地理策划学大有必要,它能更有效地将知识经济优势与市场需求连接起来,将地理学智力更有效地转化为生产力。本文首次探讨了地理策划学的内涵和地理策划的基本程序及应用领域。     

新中国外交史若干史实考订(续)

60年代末至 70年代初 ,是新中国外交史上对美、对苏政策进一步嬗变的重要时期。近年来史学界、文学界对这一时期的历史予以关注。虽然时代相隔并不遥远 ,但以讹传讹 ,谬误不少。为提倡认真、严谨的治学态度 ,呼吁治史的严肃性 ,本文就毛泽东“五二○”声明的起草和发表以及周恩来何时获悉中国恢复联大的合法席位等两个问题作一考证 ,以正视听。     

蒋介石与朱、王二学

朱熹、王阳明是儒学思想流派中的两个重要代表,蒋介石对王阳明备加推崇,对朱熹则褒贬互见,但他对儒学的尊崇态度使其与二间实际都保持着强烈的传承关系。随着其对儒学体认的加深,蒋越到晚年越表现出融合二的倾向。     

Carbon Sequestration in Community Forests: Trade‐offs,Multiple Outcomes and Institutional Diversity in the Bolivian Amazon

Carbon sequestration in community forests presents a major challenge for the Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD+) programme. This article uses a comparative analysis of the agricultural and forestry practices of indigenous peoples and settlers in the Bolivian Amazon to show how community‐level institutions regulate the trade‐offs between community livelihoods, forest species diversity, and carbon sequestration. The authors argue that REDD+ implementation in such areas runs the risk of: 1) reinforcing economic inequalities based on previous and potential land use impacts on ecosystems (baseline), depending on the socio‐cultural groups targeted; 2) increasing pressure on land used for food production, possibly reducing food security and redirecting labour towards scarce off‐farm income opportunities; 3) increasing dependence on external funding and carbon market fluctuations instead of local production strategies; and 4) further incentivising the privatization and commodification of land to avoid transaction costs associated with collective property rights. The article also advises against taking a strictly economic, market‐based approach to carbon sequestration, arguing that such an approach could endanger fragile socio‐ecological systems. REDD+ schemes should directly support existing efforts towards forest sustainability rather than simply compensating local land users for avoiding deforestation and forest degradation.