The Role of the State in Economic Transformation: Comparing the Transition Experiences of Russia and China

This paper will examine the transition experiences of Russia and China, with the aim of drawing lessons about the relative effectiveness of the neoliberal and the state directed transition strategies. Section 2 considers Russia=s economic transition since 1992, which has been guided by the neoliberal strategy. Section 3 examines China=s economic experience since 1978, when it began a transition based on a different approach from the neoliberal one. Section 4 considers why, in countries that successfully pursue a state directed strategy, such as China, pressure builds up over time to shift to a neoliberal strategy. Section 5 offers concluding comments.

Developed economies are not suffering from the consequences of a financial crash, but from a structural crisis of neoliberal capitalism

Several economies across the world, most notably in the Eurozone, continue to show only weak signs of recovery from the financial crisis which began in 2008. David M. Kotz argues that developed economies are not merely suffering from the consequences of a financial crash or a severe recession, but from a structural crisis of ‘neoliberal capitalism’. Drawing on ‘social structure of accumulation’ theory, he writes that similar crises have occurred at other points throughout modern history and that the only route to returning to growth is to facilitate the emergence of a new institutional form of capitalism

The Role of the State in Economic Transformation: Comparing the Transition Experiences of Russia and China

This paper compares two radically different approaches to transforming an economic system based on central planning and state property into a capitalist system, the neoliberal transition strategy and the state directed transition strategy. Russia’s transition since 1992 is examined as an example of the neoliberal approach, while China’s transition since 1978 is analyzed as an example of the state directed approach. The primary explanation for China’s economically superior transition performance is located in the advantages of the state directed transition strategy. However, contradictions in a state directed transition strategy are identified which tend to promote an eventual shift toward a neoliberal strategy. JEL Categories: P27, P21, P52transition, neoliberalism, state, Russia, China

OVER-INVESTMENT AND THE ECONOMIC CRISIS OF 2008

This article criticizes the view that the financial sector crisis of 2008 was the primary cause of the real sector crisis. It argues that the real sector economic crisis in the US can be understood as a crisis of over-investment. The over-investment crisis tendency is explained and a method of empirically identifying an over-investment crisis is proposed. The article analyzes the decline in the rate of profit in the US prior to the crisis, from 2004 to 2007, and the movements of the determinants of the rate of profit during that period, to show which underlying factors led to the profit rate decline. The article also examines the components of aggregate demand for the period 2001-10. The results of the analysis suggest that this crisis should be considered as a case of asset-bubble induced over-investment, which both depressed the rate of profit and eventually caused a sharp fall in aggregate demand. </p

The Expected Lifetime of “Single-Address-Space” Operating Systems

Trends toward shared-memory programming paradigms, large (64-bit) address spaces, and memory-mapped files have led some to propose the use of a single virtual-address space, shared by all processes and processors. Typical proposals require the single address space to contain all process-private data, shared data, and stored files. To simplify management of an address space where stale pointers make it difficult to re-use addresses, some have claimed that a 64-bit address space is sufficiently large that there is no need to ever re-use addresses. Unfortunately, there has been no data to either support or refute these claims, or to aid in the design of appropriate address-space management policies. In this paper, we present the results of extensive kernel-level tracing of the workstations in our department, and discuss the implications for single-address-space operating systems. We found that single-address-space systems will not outgrow the available address space, but only if reasonable space-allocation policies are used, and only if the system can adapt as larger address spaces become available

A RECONCEPTUALIZATION OF SOCIAL STRUCTURE OF ACCUMULATION THEORY

This article puts forward a reconceptualization of the theory of a social structure of accumulation (SSA). The thirty years of neoliberalism presenta problem for SSA theory. According to current SSA theory, an SSA is an institutional configuration that for a long period of time promotes rapid capital accumulation and economic growth. Although neoliberalism is clearly a new and long-lasting institutional structure that replaced the postwar SSA, growth in the neoliberal economy has been relatively sluggish. This article offers a revised concept of an SSA, which makes it possible to explain neoliberalism as an SSA. It argues that every SSA promotes profit-making but does not necessarily bring accumulation that is rapid by some historical standard. It introduces the concept of liberal and regulated SSAs and examines the features of both types of SSA. It considers the implications of this revised SSA theory for understanding the current capitalist economic crisis. </p

Using Natural Language Processing and Sentiment Analysis to Augment Traditional User-Centered Design: Development and Usability Study

Background: Sarcopenia, defined as the age-associated loss of muscle mass and strength, can be effectively mitigated through resistance-based physical activity. With compliance at approximately 40% for home-based exercise prescriptions, implementing a remote sensing system would help patients and clinicians to better understand treatment progress and increase compliance. The inclusion of end users in the development of mobile apps for remote-sensing systems can ensure that they are both user friendly and facilitate compliance. With advancements in natural language processing (NLP), there is potential for these methods to be used with data collected through the user-centered design process. Objective: This study aims to develop a mobile app for a novel device through a user-centered design process with both older adults and clinicians while exploring whether data collected through this process can be used in NLP and sentiment analysis. Methods: Through a user-centered design process, we conducted semistructured interviews during the development of a geriatric-friendly Bluetooth-connected resistance exercise band app. We interviewed patients and clinicians at weeks 0, 5, and 10 of the app development. Each semistructured interview consisted of heuristic evaluations, cognitive walkthroughs, and observations. We used the Bing sentiment library for a sentiment analysis of interview transcripts and then applied NLP-based latent Dirichlet allocation (LDA) topic modeling to identify differences and similarities in patient and clinician participant interviews. Sentiment was defined as the sum of positive and negative words (each word with a +1 or −1 value). To assess utility, we used quantitative assessment questionnaires—System Usability Scale (SUS) and Usefulness, Satisfaction, and Ease of use (USE). Finally, we used multivariate linear models—adjusting for age, sex, subject group (clinician vs patient), and development—to explore the association between sentiment analysis and SUS and USE outcomes. Results: The mean age of the 22 participants was 68 (SD 14) years, and 17 (77%) were female. The overall mean SUS and USE scores were 66.4 (SD 13.6) and 41.3 (SD 15.2), respectively. Both patients and clinicians provided valuable insights into the needs of older adults when designing and building an app. The mean positive-negative sentiment per sentence was 0.19 (SD 0.21) and 0.47 (SD 0.21) for patient and clinician interviews, respectively. We found a positive association with positive sentiment in an interview and SUS score (ß=1.38; 95% CI 0.37 to 2.39; P=.01). There was no significant association between sentiment and the USE score. The LDA analysis found no overlap between patients and clinicians in the 8 identified topics. Conclusions: Involving patients and clinicians allowed us to design and build an app that is user friendly for older adults while supporting compliance. This is the first analysis using NLP and usability questionnaires in the quantification of user-centered design of technology for older adults