Health, Taxes, and Growth

This paper studies capital accumulation and consumption in the traditional Ramsey model under an exogenous growth framework. The model has three important features: (1) treating health as a simple function of consumption, which enable the study of health and growth in an aggregate macroeconomic model; (2) the existence of multiple equilibria of capital stock, health, and consumption, which is more consistent with the real world situation-rich countries may end up with high capital, better health, and higher consumption than poor countries; (3) the fundamental proposition of a consumption tax instead of capital taxation from the traditional growth model does not hold anymore in our model. As long as consumption goods contribute to health formation, the issue of a consumption tax versus an income (or capital) tax should be re-examined.Health, Capital accumulation, Taxation

The Fogel Approach to Health and Growth

According to Robert Fogel (1994a, 1994b), nutrition is the driving force for the increase in health human capital, which in turn has significantly promoted economic growth in the long run. In this paper, we take Fogel¡¯s finding to extend the standard Ramsey model by including the effect of consumption on nutrition and health human capital formation. It is demonstrated that there exist multiple equilibria in the modified Ramsey model with a subsistence level of consumption. That is to say, different countries may end up with different levels of long-run consumption, nutrition, health human capital, and physical capital.Health Human Capital, Consumption, Economic Growth, Poverty Trap

Innovation and Control: Universities, the Knowledge Economy, and the Authoritarian State in China

Like many other education systems in the world, Chinese education has undergone various reforms in order to adapt to the challenges that are perceived to emanate from the knowledge economy. Central to this transformation is the concept of ‘innovation’, which is to guide the country on its path from a production economy to a knowledge economy. Chinese policymakers have been targeting the higher education sector both as a motor for innovation and as a realm to be innovated, and have invested heavily in the sector’s internationalization, above all in the form of international collaboration and student mobility, affecting higher education and academia worldwide. However, a number of structural and political constraints delimit the directions that innovation can take, both within Chinese education in general and within Chinese higher education. The article takes stock of these constraints and assesses the potential for innovation in Chinese higher education in terms of the underlying school system, exam and recruitment policies, the (re-)organization of universities, as well as the universities’ and science system’s performance according to indicators of innovation. The article then identifies four ‘Chinese innovation dilemmas’, that is, educational policies and developments that are to spur innovation but run counter to existing structures and practices of educational, social, and political governance: ideological control versus creativity; state planning versus grassroots innovation; old-boy networks versus anti-corruption; and exam-based student recruitment versus flexible recruitment

Social Change and Teaching and Learning Citizenship Education: An Empirical Study of Three Schools in Guangzhou, China

Since the 1980s, China has increased its openness to the world and made tremendous domestic economic and social changes. This study investigates the relationship between social change and pedagogies in citizenship education (CE) and to what extent indoctrination is prevalent in CE in schools in Guangzhou, China. Data were drawn mainly from documents, student questionnaires, observed CE lessons, and interviews with students and CE teachers. Findings revealed the coexistence of various CE pedagogies (e.g., inculcation; values clarification; inquiry-based); perceived open and free classrooms in which students expressed and respected diverse views; rote learning for examination, not political, purposes; and teachers’ tension between reluctantly teaching politically sensitive topics and promoting multiple perspectives to foster critical thinking. These findings may reflect the complex interplay among different actors in the reselection of CE elements and pedagogies, in response to China’s gradual, post-1980s social transition to a less restrictive, more accommodating society.postprin

Improving Governmental Transparency in Korea: Toward Institutionalized and ICT-Enabled Transparency

The main purpose of this study is to examine how governmental transparency has improved in Korea. To this end, the author examines the periodic characteristics of governmental transparency while also analyzing the information that each administration in Korea has produced. Also investigated are institutional arrangements for accessing this information and the adoption of ICTs in government. It was not until the democratic transition of 1987 that the transparency of the government began to improve in Korea. The key characteristic of the transparency policy after democratization was the pursuit of the simultaneous progress of institutionalized and ICT-enabled governmental transparency. Citizens accessibility to and the disclosure of public information were institutionalized. Furthermore, ICTs enable citizens to access such information more efficiently through nonstop operations and one-click services. In the course of establishing the institutions to improve governmental transparency, however, executive dominance and bureaucrats resistance to governmental transparency were the major challenges

Essays On International Capitol Mobility

Unequal quality of fundamental institutions induces different patterns of international capital flows in terms of both direction and magnitude. This dissertation examines, theoretically and empirically, the link between the financial intermediation sector and capital flows by highlighting the role of institutions and the technological level that financial intermediaries have access to. The theoretical section employs a model with endogenous labour input in monitoring loans by the financial intermediary. Numerical exercises reveal that this modification improves the traditional exogenous model by replicating the stylized facts, in particular, the model is able to replicate and explain the non-monotonic relationship between institutional quality and international net bank flows. Furthermore, contrary to the exogenous model, the model with endogenous labour input is able to reproduce a loan interest rate profile which decreases as institutional quality improves. The empirical section uses a panel of 56 rich and middle-income countries and cross-border bank flows and reveals that, firstly, institutional quality matters slightly more for the mid-income countries in explaining the net bank flows, while for high-income countries it is the market fundamentals which are significant explanatory forces. Secondly, while for both income groups the rule of law and voice & accountability indices are significant, for mid-income countries government effectiveness is also of significance

Ammattilaisten käsityksiä nuorten syrjäytymisvaarasta, siihen vaikuttavista tekijöistä ja syrjäytymisen ehkäisemisestä

Pro gradu -tutkielmani tavoitteena on muodostaa kuva Rovaniemen kaupungin nuorison parissa syrjäytymisvaarasta haastattelemalla nuorten parissa työskenteleviä ammattilaisia sekä nojautumalla aihepiirin kirjallisuuteen. Tutkielmani on laadullinen tutkimus, jossa kuvaan ammattilaisten käsityksiä nuorten syrjäytymisvaarasta, sen syistä ja sen ehkäisemisestä. Tavoitin haastateltaviksi kolme nuorten parissa työskentelevää ammattilaista ja sain heidän kauttaan hyvän kuvan syrjäytymisvaaran ilmiöstä Rovaniemellä. Aiempi tutkimustieto oli myös apunani. Tutkielmani tulokset osoittavat, että nuorten syrjäytymisvaara on hyvin tiedostettu Rovaniemellä. Sen syitä on pohdittu paljon eri työryhmissä ja on myös voitu todeta, kuinka syrjäytymisvaarana syitä on runsaasti. Tärkeimpiä niistä ovat kodin kasvuolojen puutteellisuus, koulunkäynnin katkeaminen, koulupudokkuus, ylipäänsä koulutuksen puute, työttömyys, toimeentulo-ongelmat sekä päihteet ja huumeet. Nämä tekijät ennakoivat huono-osaisuutta ja syrjäytymisen vaaraa. Nuorten jääminen yhteiskunnallisten järjestelemien ulkopuolelle vaille koulutus- ja työmarkkinajärjestelmiä on syrjäytymisen riskitekijä. Tällöin myös sosiaaliset ongelmat lisääntyvät. Syrjäytymisvaaran auttamiseksi on tärkeää tietää nuoren yksilökohtainen tilanne, olla häneen yhteydessä, saada kontakti häneen sekä auttaa häntä pääsemään yli vaikeuksista hänet itsensä osallistaen. Keskustelu ja kuulluksi tuleminen sekä tieto- neuvonta- ja ohjauspalvelut yksilöllisellä ja nuorta kunnioittavalla tavalla ovat tärkeitä

Social policy, state legitimacy and strategic actors: governmentality and counter-conduct in authoritarian regime

Far from acting defensively to preserve the social relations and red ideologies that originally gave it power, the Chinese Communist Party is leading a social and economic transformation that could be expected to lead to direct challenges to its authority. The surprising degree of change in the Chinese socio-economic transformation and the fact that this transformation has been going on for forty years now and has not yet resulted in fundamental challenges subverting its rule have inspired my study. The overarching theoretical enquiry in my dissertation resonates with one of the most important theoretical questions in political sociology: how does the state maintain compliance from the governed in periods of rapid social and economic transformation, and how does the logic of its governmentality change along with its priorities? My work is built on the Weberian and Gramscian tradition of understanding state rule and highlights the individual’s rationale of “believing” and “consent”, but also takes account of the Foucaudian “governmentality” the state uses to maintain its rule and investigates the underlined rationality. Empirically, I take advantage of the pension changes among China’s social welfare reforms, decipher a two-way story of statecraft in authoritarian regimes and explore whether there may be room for cognitional counter-conduct from the public. My work demonstrates that the Chinese state works through benefit allocation, propaganda, experimentation with policy and many other approaches, in order to shape public expectations and justify its rule. However, the state’s well-designed statecraft needs to enable individuals to make sense of their experience and must resonate with their “common sense”. Individuals can update their knowledge from personal interest, information from government policies, signals from current society (their peers) to decide whether to stay loyal or choose non-compliance. In a situation when active counter-conduct such as resistance is not possible, individuals may choose cognitional rebellion and falsify their public compliance

The Golden Age of Oligarchy? Institutional Constraints and Leadership Discretion in Chinaís Cadre Management System.

Many authoritarian regimes in the modern era vest power in a collective governing body to prevent the emergence of personalist dictatorship. In these regimes, the maintenance of cohesion and unity among the ruling oligarchs is of first-order importance for the long-term resilience of authoritarianism. This dissertation suggests a typology of authoritarian rule based on the distribution of power among the first tier elites and their interaction with second tier followers. The specific institutional formula adopted derives in part from the regime’s attempts to cope with three common threats to oligarchic rule: personalization, demagoguery, and stagnation. I apply this analytic framework to contemporary China, arguing that the institutional arrangements in the CCP polity combine personalistic and collective features in first-tier interaction while ruling out reciprocal accountability between the two tiers. On the basis of this characterization, I put forward several observable implications for the operation of China’s cadre management system, which regulates the appointment and removal of public officials. These hypotheses are tested against empirical data, generating evidence to support the following propositions: 1>. the wielding of power within the oligarchy is constrained by institutional rules of power-sharing; 2>. the paramount leader is still provided with enough formal and informal resources to launch initiatives and avoid policy gridlock; 3>. relations between the two tiers of leaders are hierarchical, as the second tier followers are deprived of any meaningful impact on personnel and policy decisions. While it is difficult to predict whether the CCP regime will be blessed with another long spell of economic growth and political stability, the two-and-a-half decades following the Tiananmen crisis provides a vivid example of how elite cohesiveness is sustained by sophisticated power arrangements.PhDPolitical ScienceUniversity of Michigan, Horace H. Rackham School of Graduate Studieshttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/113384/1/qingjie_1.pd