Drivers of Economic Reform in Vietnam's Provinces

Allowing provinces to find their own way forward was central to Vietnam's progress in institutional and economic development. This article examines who drives this process of economic reform and finds that, in those provinces making the most progress, the private sector played an important role, not against, but with government. Both national and foreign enterprises played a role, but small enterprises tended to be marginalised. Some of the best insights come from comparing provinces and observing how different alignments of interest influenced the reform process.     

Chinese Contract Law and the Economic Reform

China’s previous contract laws had many contradictions and failed to meet the needs of China’s developing market economy. Although some problems still need to be dealt with, the unified contract law is more advanced, systematic and plays an important role in fostering and encouraging transactions.

上海供给侧结构性改革的对策和路径

随着城乡居民消费观念的不断转变,当前国内供给结构已不适应这种需求结构的变化.这些结构性问题,仅靠刺激需求无法解决,必须把改善供给侧结构作为当前的主攻方向,着力扩大有效供给、创造新供给.     

中国经济新常态的结构性问题与供给侧改革

新常态下我国面临的绝大部分结构性矛盾和问题,不仅仅是全球化周期、固定投资周期的叠加产物,更多是长期以来计划体制和粗放式发展所积累和形成的.要解决这些问题,必须着眼中长期的结构调整,通过供给侧结构性改革,统筹内生变量和外生变量,实现社会生产方式的调整和完善,为中长期持续健康经济增长开拓空间.     

供给侧结构性改革与中国经济增长趋势预测

随着供给侧结构性改革的推进,中国资源要素供给效率和供给质量将明显上升,经济结构将进一步优化,制度创新将进一步释放经济增长活力,中国经济增长潜力将转化为实际经济增长.基于中国经济增长潜力的释放,对中国未来经济增长趋势进行预测,从现在到2050年,中国长周期经济增长将逐步趋缓,并向世界平均经济增速收敛,到2050年可能回归至3％～4％的增速水平.     

Women and Economic Security in Retirement:Implications for Social Security Reform

Gender-related parenting roles lower incomes of women during the working-age years and in retirement years. National retirement income programs contribute to this gender-related difference in retirement income to the degree that they consider lifetime earnings in calculating benefits. This article examines two national pension systems: those of Australia and Sweden. The pension systems of these two countries often are considered as the extremes of pension generosity, and they are based upon different philosophies about the role of government in insuring against economic risk. Due to fiscal issues and the changing roles of women in the labor market, both have reformed their systems. How system reforms can balance the role of the government in insuring against income risk and the growing financial independence of women in the work force are discussed.     

Perceived Economic Uncertainty and Fertility: Evidence From a Labor Market Reform

Whereas in theory individuals tend to postpone fertility decisions in times of economic uncertainty, empirical evidence on that question is scarce. Using data from the German Socio‐Economic Panel (N = 4,548), the authors estimated the effect of economic concerns on the probability of becoming pregnant in the next year. They exploited exogenous variation in economic concerns induced by the announcement of a major German unemployment benefit reform as an instrumental variable and found that strong economic concerns were significantly related to lower fertility of women between ages 26 and 44 years cohabiting with a male partner. Jointly estimating the impact of male and female concerns in a model that allows for endogeneity of perceived economic uncertainty revealed that it was strong economic concerns perceived by the women that reduced fertility. The effect was driven by male main breadwinner couples, by couples with a medium household income, and by couples who already had children.