现代社会的道德定位:责任自觉

在现代社会,由于工具理性的全面统治和价值理性的消褪,给现代社会所带来的后果就是世界的“祛魅”,现代人所处的道德困境是意义感的丧失。解决生命的价值和生活的意义,只能是实现责任伦理的自觉。在中国市场经济不断深入和完善的过程中,责任伦理的自觉更具有现实意义。     

Business reform outcomes: Why so different?

Post-crisis policy making increasingly focuses on doing business reforms. We argue that the effects of those reforms will be different across countries. To understand the reasons for the reform outcome divergence, we advance a novel firm-size distribution (FSDs) argument. At the center of the argument is the fact that FSDs are different across countries and stable over time. Then, if a given doing business reform induces firms of different size to grow differently, this will produce a variety of reform outcomes across countries. To advance the argument, we set up a tractable general equilibrium (GE) model and study how firms of different size grow after a doing business reform. The model predicts that larger firms will grow faster than smaller firms after the reform. The model predictions are tested on the Enterprise Surveys (ES) data, merged with the Doing Business indicators. We confirm that firms of different size grow differently after a Doing Business reform. Thus, based on the notable differences of firm size distributions across countries, identical reforms to start, operate and close a business will produce a variety of reform outcomes across countries.     

In Vino Pecunia? The Association Between Beverage-Specific Drinking Behavior and Wages

The positive association between moderate alcohol consumption and wages is well documented in the economic literature. Positive health effects as well as networking mechanisms serve as explanations for the “alcohol–income puzzle.” Using individual-based microdata from the SOEP for 2006, we confirm that this relationship exists for Germany as well. More importantly, we shed light on the alcohol–income puzzle by analyzing, for the first time, the association between beverage-specific drinking behavior and wages. In our analysis, we disentangle the general wage effect of drinking into diverse effects for different types of drinkers. Mincerian estimates reveal significant and positive relationships between wine drinkers and wages as well as between multiple beverage drinkers and wages. When splitting the sample into age groups, the “drinking gain” disappears for employees under the age of 35 and increases in size and significance for higher age groups. We also find a “beer gain” for the oldest age group and male residents of rural areas as well as a “cocktail gain” for residents of urban areas. Several explanations for our empirical results are discussed in view of the likelihood that the alcohol–income puzzle is a multicausal phenomenon.

FDI’s Impact on Transitional Countries, Serbia as a Rational Choice: The FIAT-ZASTAVA Case

The privatization process and foreign direct investments (FDI) are among the most important economic issues in transitional countries. FDI has enormous influence on transitional countries that need serious structural changes. In this paper we will study FIAT’s decision to invest in the Serbian automotive industry. We will try to rationalize FIAT’s decision because Serbian car manufacturer ZASTAVA was not the only alternative for FIAT to invest in the Balkans. In order to justify FIAT’s decision we will apply the Mullins model of horizontal and vertical FDI, examine the importance of the cooperating history between two car manufacturers and compare macroeconomic conditions and Global Competitiveness of Serbia and Romania, which was the main alternative for FIAT. Finally, we will also try to explain why FIAT decided to announce the investment at the end of political campaign in Serbia when pools gave anti-European parties higher chances for victory, instead of waiting to see the outcome of the elections.

"李约瑟问题"的深层解读——从逻辑的观点看

“李约瑟问题”至今仍然困扰着学术界。学者们从各自的角度提出了不同的解答方案 ,但众说纷纭 ,莫衷一是。笔者从逻辑学的角度对“李约瑟问题”深层解读后认为 :“李约瑟问题”的重大意义在于启发我们对“科学”和“技术”的区分及其内在机制进行再思考 ;造成中国古代没有科学和近代科学落后的关键因素是逻辑传统的缺乏。     

顾客满意之谜

顾客满意是现代市场营销以及其他管理学科的核心概念。但是迄今为止,国内外学者还没有就顾客满意的定义等达成共识。本文在对顾客满意的定义、形成原因进行理论研究的基础上,分析了顾客满意对企业绩效的作用,最后探讨了顾客满意理论未来的研究方向。     

知识论语境主义对怀疑主义难题的解答

怀疑主义难题是怀疑主义最基本的论证形式,知识论语境主义是当代西方知识论中占支配地位的反怀疑主义理论。知识的归因具有语境敏感性,受归因对象和归因主体的影响。进行知识归因必须遵循语境补全原则和最佳知识论语境原则,运用知识论语境主义可以对怀疑主义难题作出新的解答。     

变革之际道德批判的困惑及其出路

当代中国正处于一个变革的时代，政治经济体制的改革，使得东方这块举世瞩目的土地上的一切都发生着迅速的变化。随着经济基础的变革，上层建筑和意识形态也必然随之发生变革。当前道德领域里的一个最基本的事实是，一方面，经济基础的变化不仅直接促使道德的变化和更新，而且，这种变化更新还交织在诸如政治、思想、艺术等观念的变化更新之中，显示出其错综复杂性。另一方面，道德的变革更新又成为变革时代从事变革的人们的主体性条件，直接影响着变革。因而，从伦理学角度研究当代中国道德变革的现实有着重要的理论和实践意义。     

从汇率谜团到汇率决定的社会福利平价

汇率及汇率制度之争的根本在于真实汇率的确定,而众多的汇率理论及实证模型得出的结论难以统一,有的甚至背道而驰。汇率及汇率制度理论发展至今,仍然存在诸多谜团。总结汇率理论及理论、实证汇率模型的根本假设在于购买力平价、利率平价和生产力差异。从汇率形成原理和人类经济发展角度以及东西方文明的最高诉求而言,以其作为汇率及汇率制度理论的基本假设,都不甚合理。社会福利平价是我们提出的一个有关汇率及汇率制度的新的基本假设,在此基础上,可以从一个侧面更好地揭示汇率及汇率制度选择的本质,特别是关于新兴市场经济国家汇率确定及汇率制度选择的依据问题。     

马可·波罗到底说谎了没有?

马可·波罗是否真的到过中国,至今仍然是一个谜。研究表明,马可·波罗确有其人,但他在42岁以前的行踪,除了《马可·波罗游记》的记载以外,没有任何材料可以证明马可.波罗身在何处。杨志玖先生发现的那条材料,充其量只不过是一条间接材料而已,不能够成为确凿证据。而怀疑论派的观点和看法又不是没有道理的。怀疑论派与肯定论派双方都没有任何证据来证明马可·波罗是否到过中国这一关键性的问题。而《马可·波罗游记》本身的内容确实有许多出自传闻,更严重的问题是,《马可·波罗游记》中存在着大量漏写、错误和混乱的地方,这又再一次证明《马可·波罗游记》对于中国的事情只是传闻而已。因此,对于马可·波罗的研究问题,在没有确切的证据以前,在学术界没有达成共识以前,任何单方面做出的结论,都是有不负责任甚至草率之嫌疑。