The Uses of Neoliberalism

Abstract: The term “neoliberalism” has come to be used in a wide variety of partly overlapping and partly contradictory ways. This essay seeks to clarify some of the analytical and political work that the term does in its different usages. It then goes on to suggest that making an analytical distinction between neoliberal “arts of government” and the class‐based ideological “project” of neoliberalism can allow us to identify some surprising (and perhaps hopeful) new forms of politics that illustrate how fundamentally polyvalent neoliberal mechanisms of government can be. A range of empirical examples are discussed, mostly coming from my recent work on social policy and anti‐poverty politics in southern Africa.     

旅游目的地选择行为的收入群体差异——以北京、武汉、西安城镇居民为例

以北京、武汉、西安城镇居民为例,探究旅游目的地选择行为的收入群体差异。研究发现,不同收入群体的旅游目的地选择行为存在明显差异,具体表现在：①不同收入群体的景区到访率均随距离的增加呈e指数衰减,但衰减速率存在收入群体差异,收入越高的群体,到访率距离衰减速率相对越小。②中国城镇居民的国内旅游目的地选择行为具有“距离择近,景点择高,经济择富”的“三择”倾向,但不同收入群体的“三择”程度不同,收入越低的群体,“距离择近,经济择富”的倾向越明显。③不同收入群体到访率空间分异趋势一致,但高到访率空间大小不同,收入越高的群体,高到访率空间越大。④目的地亲景度存在收入群体差异,收入越高的群体,目的地亲景度越高。     

The Occupy Movement and the Top 1% in Canada

The Occupy movement catalyzed public debate on the issue of growing income inequality. This paper examines recent patterns of inequality in Canada, paying particular attention to changes in the characteristics of the top 1% of income earners. At the national level, the gap between the top percentile and the other 99% has widened considerably: in 2006, 11% of the nation's income was concentrated in the hands of top earners (whose mean income of $344,000 is 11 times that of the average Canadian) compared with 7.7% just 15 years earlier. Beneath such national‐level figures lie important geographical differences in the income hierarchy: the thresholds, average incomes and socio‐economic characteristics of the top 1% vary widely across provinces and cities. Among the most important spatial shifts observed is the growing concentration of high‐income groups in energy‐rich Western Canada, where Calgary has become the most unequal city in the country.     

Russia's Accession to the World Trade Organization

A prominent specialist on the Russian economy presents a timely assessment of Russia's accession to the World Trade Organization. The author discusses the reasons that prompted Russia to seek membership and scrutinizes the major obstacles, such as complexities of the accession process and the country's institutional malaise. An analysis of the effects of possible membership on the Russian economy is followed by a focus on Putin's first term (2000-2003) when he supported entry, and the second (2004-2007) when he lost interest. Also presented are two scenarios projecting reinvigorated pursuit of Russian membership, or abandonment of the goal. Journal of Economic Literature, Classification Numbers: F13, F40, O19. 1 table, 46 references.     

The Economics of Rural Households in Russia: Impact of Village Location

An American specialist on Russia's agrarian sector and two collaborators explore the effects of distance to nearby urban markets on the agricultural output and income of Russian rural households. Unlike previous studies that have largely tested such effects on the basis of household distance from relatively large oblast administrative centers, the authors adopt a micro-level scale of analysis, focusing on distance from smaller rayon centers. Comparison of two sample populations (near vs. remote from rayon center) from a larger survey population of 900 households in nine representative regions of Russia reveals marked differences in household incomes, commodity output, and real holdings of land that are statistically verified by a linear regression model. Journal of Economic Literature, Classification Numbers: O18, P32, Q15, Q18. 4 tables, 46 references.     

Factor Decomposition of Rural Income Inequalities in China

A Chinese geographer explores changes in inter-provincial rural income inequality in China since the late-1970s economic reforms by decomposing it into different component factors based on the Gini index (more specifically, into contributions by different income sources: wages, household operations, properties, and transfers). The influence of each factor on inequality changes is further decomposed into its structure effects and its real inequality effects. Quantitative analysis then makes it possible to determine the relative influence of each component on changes in rural provincial inequality over time.     

Beveridge’s rival: Juliet Rhys-Williams and the campaign for basic income, 1942–55

Historians of Britain’s post-war welfare state have long been aware of the shortcomings of the social insurance model, but the political impact of the Beveridge report has tended to obscure the alternative visions of welfare canvassed in the 1940s and 1950s. This article examines the social activist Juliet Rhys-Williams’ campaign for the integration of the tax and benefit systems and the provision of a universal basic income, which attracted wide interest from economists, journalists, and Liberal and Conservative politicians during and after the Second World War. Though Rhys-Williams’ proposals were not adopted, they helped establish a distinctive ‘social market’ perspective on welfare provision which has become central to British social policy debates since the 1960s and 1970s.     

昆明市保障性住区居民就业空间特征及其收入效应分析

保障性住房建设解决了大量城市低收入家庭的住房问题,但大多区位偏远、交通不便,远离城市就业中心,导致低收入人群的通勤成本上升,进而对其就业和收入产生影响。本研究以昆明市为样本城市,选取廉租房、公租房和经适房3类保障性住区,利用通勤距离、通勤时间、通勤方式、工作地点等指标,从居住-就业空间匹配角度,揭示保障性住区居民就业空间特征;并通过建立包含空间虚拟变量的多元回归方程,揭示了保障性住区居民就业空间特征对其收入的影响。     

Capacity for Freedom – Using a New Poverty Measure to Look at Regional Differences in Living Standards within Australia

Using a recently developed measure of multidimensional poverty, the Freedom Poverty Measure, the difference in poverty rates of major cities, inner regional, and other areas have been compared. The population living in ‘other areas’ had the highest proportion of individuals living in freedom poverty. Those in inner regional areas (P = 0.0303) and those in major cities (P < 0.0001) were significantly less likely to be in freedom poverty than those in ‘other areas’. However, when breaking the analysis down to look at the different poverty rates for different age groups across the three regional classifications, it was found that there was no difference in the likelihood of being in freedom poverty between children in inner regional and other areas, adults in inner regional and other areas, and older people in inner regional and other areas. This may indicate that the disadvantage experienced by those living in regional centres has been overlooked in the past and is an emerging contemporary issue for health and education equity as well as economic equality.     

20世纪50年代上海新公私合营企业的工资改革

1956年,全行业公私合营后不久,鉴于建立统一的政治体制及与计划经济体制相适应的新工资制度的需要,国家开始在新公私合营企业中实行工资改革。上海新合营企业的工资改革与全国各地一样正式开始于1956年9月,但由于情况复杂,历经准备试点及全面推开等阶段,直到1957年10月才基本结束。其中工资改革的集中统一领导,工资水平与工资增长指标,新工资等级,变相工资、计件工资、保留工资等问题成为工资改革中最重要的内容。新合营企业工资改革的完成,标志着与计划经济体制相适应的统一的企业工资制度开始全面确立,在收入分配环节上,基本完成了对新合营企业从产权到治理结构、再到分配制度的崭新的企业制度安排。