Emerging Chinese Role in Shaping St. Petersburg's Urban Landscape: Interscalar Investment Strategies in the Development of a Residential Megaproject

The paper, by an American geographer, discusses the origin and development of a Chinese-financed residential megaproject (Baltic Pearl) located southwest of St. Petersburg's historical district. Viewing Baltic Pearl as reportedly the largest investment project undertaken outside China by a government-sponsored Chinese consortium, the author places it in the context of state-level Sino-Russian relations and Russian unease over the influx of Chinese migrants and culture. Reflecting the author's extensive field work in St. Petersburg and Shanghai, the focus of the paper is on the way the consortium was forced to adopt interscalar (i.e., both state and municipal/urban) strategies responsive to local conditions, providing a potentially useful precedent and model for Chinese and other investors seeking to penetrate Russia's urban markets.     

The Transportation Sector of India's Economy: Dry Ports as Catalysts for Regional Development

Two East Asian specialists review the development of dry ports in India as part of a broader national program to eliminate transportation bottlenecks, improve transport efficiency, and spur the economic development of interior regions by lowering road and rail freight tariffs, and thus decreasing the costs of imports (and making exports more competitive). A key focus is on comparing the relative efficiency of public- versus private-sector operation of dry ports, and on examining the effects on dry port efficiency of current Indian Government policy. The authors test two hypotheses relating to the efficiency of port operations using information derived from their field study/interviews at 28 dry ports in Northwest India (reflecting three different types of ownership/operation combinations) as well as quantitative data measuring port efficiency.     

Going It Alone: Belarus as the Non-European European State

In the second paper of a symposium devoted to the contemporary status of Belarus, a noted American specialist on the electoral geography of the states of the former Soviet Union challenges assertions in the preceding article (Ioffe and Yarashevich, 2011) that only Russia and Ukraine are valid comparators against which to gauge the success of the Lukashenka model. Expanding the scope of comparison to include the three other countries neighboring Belarus (Latvia, Lithuania, and Poland), he demonstrates that a broader range of policy changes can be considered by its leadership in efforts to limit damage from the economic crisis in Belarus and position the country for renewed growth within a global economic frame-work. Examination of a wide range of social and economic indicators and government policies reveals, however, that in many ways an unreformed Belarus is poorly positioned for competition in an increasingly interconnected world, in which the elements for successful development are quite different from those providing economic stability in the past. A closing section of the paper revisits the debate on whether most Belarusian citizens actually aspire to a more "European" way of life or instead prefer the "Eastern" alignment and reliance on a Russian benefactor whose own economic future looks increasingly uncertain.     

日俄战后日本农村的报德运动

幕末为挽救农村的危机而由二宫尊德创立的报德运动,在明治维新后持续的农村疲敝中,由他的弟子一直继承下来。特别是在日俄战后的地方改良运动中,报德运动从自发的民间组织的行为变成了内务省主导下的运动,报德思想也成了地方改良运动的指导理念。     

日本经济萧条长期化的制度分析

日本经济的长期萧条有着深刻的制度原因,本文对经济管理模式、科技创新制度、土地使用制度、企业所有关系、主银行制度和劳动雇佣关系等六个方面的制度进行分析并提出这六方面的制度变迁建议,最后指出人的因素是导致制度变迁长期性和反复性的重要原因。     

日本文学通史写作的大成和终结--读叶渭渠、唐月梅著《日本文学史》

本文在认真回顾汉语日本文学通史写作历史的基础上,分析了叶渭渠、唐月梅著四卷本《日本文学史》的特色,认为这部著作为中国的日本文学通史写作树立了一块界标,也为后来的研究者铺下了坚固的基石。     

从灾害经济学角度对“三年自然灾害”时期的考察

1959～1961年我国经历了“三年经济困难”时期。关于其主要成因,1978年前一直错误地完全归咎于三年自然灾害。但近年来国内外又发表了一系列文章,认为这三年“风调雨顺”,根本没有自然灾害,“人祸”即决策错误是唯一的原因。本文根据对灾情、受灾面积等资料图表的分析,证实这三年发生了持续的严重自然灾害;同时分析了各种决策错误带来的不同影响,重点把粮食作为决定国家经济兴衰的生命线和因果关系链的比较指数,用计量方法分析当时农村因灾减产、因决策错误减产、因高征购而减少粮食存量之间的比例状况。本文的结论是:从农业粮食减产因素看,自然灾害略大于决策错误;从农村一个时期的集中缺粮情况因素看,决策错误影响远大于自然灾害,可以说是“三分天灾,七分人祸”。     

Neoliberalism and the Economic Utility of Immigration: Media Perspectives of Germany's Immigration Law

Abstract: Germany's new immigration law, which took effect in 2005, was hotly debated over a period of four years. This paper follows the debate on the law through the newsprint media, examines the representation of immigration as an economic utility, and investigates the contents of this economic‐utility perspective of immigration in light of neoliberal restructuring in Germany. The analysis focuses on 609 articles sampled from five major German daily newspapers published between July 2001 and August 2005. A discourse analysis suggests that the newsprint media represented immigration on the one hand as an economic necessity to replenish the labor market and ensure the international competitiveness of key industrial sectors. On the other hand, immigration was depicted as an economic liability that raises unemployment rates and burdens the public welfare system. Although the media emphasized the economic necessity of immigration, the final law does not permit any significant immigration of labor. The paper resolves this contradiction by situating media discourse in a wider context of neoliberal reforms and European Union expansion.     

地方经济史本地化的优势与陷阱

中国经济史学者研究地方经济史始于20世纪30年代。50年代之后,研究本地特色经济史已逐渐形成一股热潮。在当前阶段,经济史中的同地研究已占主要地位,成为研究的主流。这种现象可以称之为地方经济史研究的本土化或本地化,有利于研究者发挥优势,有利于中国经济史学科的深入发展,有利于发挥经济史学的社会功能。地方经济史研究的本地化,既是中国经济史学发展到当前阶段的必然结果,也是它进一步发展的要求与动力。地方经济史研究本地化的发展为中国经济史学科的建设奠定了坚实基础,促进经济史学研究的内容更加丰富和学风更趋朴实,但在研究中也要避免由乡土情感带来的感情和理智平衡问题造成的陷阱。     

日本发展入境旅游的政策措施与成效

自20世纪90年代开始,日本政府为推进入境旅游发展所采取的政策措施主要有：制定完备的旅游相关法律,成立专门行政管理机构制定并实施观光立国战略,规划建设广域国际旅游特区,加强国际旅游合作,积极申报世界遗产,发展生态旅游与产业观光游等。这些政策措施已经取得较为显著的成效,其中一些成功经验对我国发展入境旅游具有借鉴作用。