Chinese Enterprise Reform as a Market Process

The reform of China's enterprise system increasingly reflects the outcome of China's emerging property rights market. We distinguish between a centrally-directed reform strategy, with characteristics similar to those of a Pigouvian tax, and a market-driven reform process, which captures the essential features of a Coasian approach to social cost. The Coase Theorem postulates that eliminating transaction costs and attaching well specified property rights to public goods that generate externalities will allow uncoordinated economic agents to negotiate institutional arrangements that produce socially efficient allocation of resources. Extending Coase's reasoning to the case of socialist transition ' we argue that reforms that expand competition, move toward well-specified assignment of ownership rights to public enterprises, and reduce transaction costs will motivate the "ultimate" owners, including officials of national and sub-national government agencies, to reconfigure their assets or to combine their assets with those of other jurisdictions and/or private investors to create more efficient ownership arrangements. We review the extent to which China's reforms have established the conditions for an effective market in ownership rights to industrial property. We tabulate progress from 1 980 to present along the three major analytic dimensions inherent in Coase's analysis: competition, property rights, and transaction costs. We conclude that the sheer size and diversity of China's industrial economy will motivate a continuation of decentralized reform initiatives. To support this Coasian reform process, central and provincial governments need to expand initiatives to clarify property rights, particularly the right of alienation, reduce impediments to competition, and facilitate the reduction of transaction costs.http://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/39466/3/wp76.pd

Chinese Enterprise Reform as a Market Process

The reform of China's enterprise system increasingly reflects the outcome of China's emerging property rights market. We distinguish between a centrally-directed reform strategy, with characteristics similar to those of a Pigouvian tax, and a market-driven reform process, which captures the essential features of a Coasian approach to social cost. The Coase Theorem postulates that eliminating transaction costs and attaching well specified property rights to public goods that generate externalities will allow uncoordinated economic agents to negotiate institutional arrangements that produce socially efficient allocation of resources. Extending Coase's reasoning to the case of socialist transition ' we argue that reforms that expand competition, move toward well-specified assignment of ownership rights to public enterprises, and reduce transaction costs will motivate the "ultimate" owners, including officials of national and sub-national government agencies, to reconfigure their assets or to combine their assets with those of other jurisdictions and/or private investors to create more efficient ownership arrangements. We review the extent to which China's reforms have established the conditions for an effective market in ownership rights to industrial property. We tabulate progress from 1 980 to present along the three major analytic dimensions inherent in Coase's analysis: competition, property rights, and transaction costs. We conclude that the sheer size and diversity of China's industrial economy will motivate a continuation of decentralized reform initiatives. To support this Coasian reform process, central and provincial governments need to expand initiatives to clarify property rights, particularly the right of alienation, reduce impediments to competition, and facilitate the reduction of transaction costs.China, ownership, property rights, Coarse theorem, transition, merger, transaction costs

Enhancement and Civic Virtue

Opponents of biomedical enhancement frequently adopt what Allen Buchanan has called the “Personal Goods Assumption.” On this assumption, the benefits of biomedical enhancement will accrue primarily to those individuals who undergo enhancements, not to wider society. Buchanan has argued that biomedical enhancements might in fact have substantial social benefits by increasing productivity. We outline another way in which enhancements might benefit wider society: by augmenting civic virtue and thus improving the functioning of our political communities. We thus directly confront critics of biomedical enhancement who argue that it will lead to a loss of social cohesion and a breakdown in political lif

Crystallization of the glassy phase of grain boundaries in silicon nitride

Three types of hot-pressed silicon nitride specimens (containing 5wt% Y2O3 and 2wt% Al2O3 additives) which were subjected to different temperature heat treatments were studied by X-ray diffraction, X-ray microanalysis and high resolution electron microscopy. The results indicated that there were phase changes in the grain boundaries after heat treatment and the glassy phase at the grain boundaries was crystallized by heat treatment

Breeding bird, plant, and arthropod responses to restoration and management of riparian conservation easements in the Iowa River Corridor, east-central Iowa

As interfaces between terrestrial and aquatic systems, riparian areas are important for many wildlife species. Like other natural communities in the Midwest, however, riparian areas have been greatly altered. Recently, habitat restoration through farm-bill and flood-mitigation programs, such as the Wetlands Reserve Program (WRP) and Emergency Wetlands Reserve Program (EWRP), has substantially increased the amount of riparian habitat in the midwestern United States. Working on restored areas in the Iowa River Corridor of east-central Iowa, I assessed the effects of management on vegetation structure and composition, the abundance and biomass of arthropods, and bird use and reproductive success. For a better understanding of important habitat features, I also investigated the relationships between vegetation and arthropod variables and bird use. Lastly, I quantified the extent of alteration of the Iowa River Corridor since settlement, the effects of restoration on the landscape, and the contribution of restored areas to bird populations. Restoration of riparian grasslands provided habitat for many bird species, including 9 grassland or wetland species of conservation concern. Although burning may have negatively influenced density of some bird species by removing residual vegetation and decreasing food resources, disking led to increased density of several species, and increased species richness and conservation value. Disking decreased cover of grasses, and increased forb cover; it also increased abundance and biomass of potential arthropod food resources. Dickcissels, in particular, appeared to respond positively to the changes brought about by disking. Nest success in these riparian habitats was generally low. Burning and disking, however, appeared to have positive effects on reproductive success, possibly by affecting the habitat use or foraging efficiency of predators. Although vegetation variables explained variation in bird density, species richness, and conservation value, adding arthropod abundance improved most models. Restored riparian grasslands in the Iowa River Corridor provided habitat for several bird species of conservation concern. Accounting for the influences of vegetation and arthropods, and using burning and disking as management tools, however, can likely increase the conservation benefits of these habitats for birds in the Iowa River Corridor and other riparian systems throughout the Midwest

Kiri Key'le

Jefferson, Thomas, 1743-1826, USA president 1801-1809Kutse lõunasöögil

The Richmond transit strike of 1903

A general history of the American Labor movement introduces the reader to the mainstream of trade unionism in the United States. It is the purpose of this paper however, to record the events of only one of the less important incidents in the twentieth century. That this experiment of labor in Richmond, Virginia in the year 1903 should have failed, does not detract from its value to the historian, for the study of even an unsuccessful strike may add to our knowledge of the various unions and anti-unionism. In addition, it certainly behooves us, as Richmond\u27s, to learn something further of the worst strike that the city ever experienced