论非正式制度安排对农村改革的影响

非正式制度安排影响农村改革进程,一方面促进了农村社会发展,另一方面有些非正式制度的变迁滞后却阻碍了农村改革。因此,只有加强正式制度的变迁与创新,注重非正式制度的改造与培育,促进非正式制度与农村地区社会经济良性互动,通过合理制度安排,实现正式制度与非正式制度在农村社会的相容,农村社会走向现代化才能获得积极的制度支持。     

论和谐社会中的非正式制度建设

制度由正式制度和非正式制度两个方面构成,非正式制度因素对于制度的实施效果起着不可忽视的作用,推进非正式制度建设,对于构建社会主义和谐社会具有重要意义。非正式制度安排的演变是一个长期渐进累积的过程,因此加强非正式制度建设,应该考虑意识形态变迁的特点,注重用和谐社会理念和科学发展观引导社会思想意识,重视正式制度变迁对非正式制度变迁的强制性推动作用,积极促进正式制度与非正式制度的互动融合,循序渐进地推进非正式制度变迁。     

俄罗斯经济转型:制度移植、制度陷阱与制度创新

经济转型或经济制度变迁无非就是制度设计和制度移植,并以后者居多.而制度移植的"成活率"相对较低,因为移植过程中往往只关注移植制度的形式,而没有注意制度的内涵,它与本土的非正式制度形成冲突,导致移植失灵,进而使制度变迁掉入制度陷阱.走出制度陷阱的出路只能是制度创新,即将移植来的正式制度形式与本土的非正式制度相融合.实践证明,俄罗斯20世纪90年代制度移植失败,普京执掌俄罗斯政权以来制度创新取得显著成就.     

非正式制度安排与中国的经济改革

本文运用当代新制度经济学的基本理论，对非正式制度安排在中国经济改革中的影响和作用进行了较为全面的考察。认为包括意识形态、伦理道德、习俗、文化传统等在内的非正式制度安排，影响了中国渐进式改革方式的选择，强化了制度变迁中的路径依赖性，它在一些方面延长了改革的时滞，另一些方面又促进了改革方针政策的顺利推行，有些非正式制度促进了经济绩效的提高，有些则干扰和降低了改革的绩效。说明了中国经济改革过程中，既要加强正式制度的变迁与创新，也要注重非正式制度的改造与培育，必须把市场经济制度的创新与我国国情与优秀传统结合起来，促进经济改革顺利而有效地进行     

制度变迁与制度均衡——中国民营企业劳动关系和谐演进

制度均衡是正式制度与非正式制度的供给与需求平衡。民营企业劳动关系市场化过程实质是制度变迁过程。按照制度经济学的理解,在此变迁中,劳动关系制度均衡是指正式制度与非正式制度的供给与需求平衡,劳动关系行为均衡是指劳资双方博弈力量均衡,均衡才能真正保证劳资利益和谐。但在现实中,民营企业劳动关系是劳资关系失衡,因此政府应该依据弱势劳动者的现实需要,增加与倾斜对弱势劳动者的制度供给,转变民营企业劳动关系制度变迁方式,构建政府嵌入型集体劳动关系处理机制,以达到民营企业劳动关系的制度均衡。     

中国农村非正式金融的制度变迁

由于正规金融在我国农村地区的缺失,使得非正规金融异常重要。我国农村非正式金融的制度变迁问题也就随之出现。在本文中,作者运用新制度经济学的制度变迁理论分析了我国农村非正式金融制度变迁的原因、主体、动力和效率等问题。     

制度创新是振兴东北老工业基地的关键

我国经济持续快速的增长,充分地验证了制度在资源配置、明确产权以及加快技术创新等方面的重要作用;东北地区与沿海发达地区在所有制结构、政府行政管理体制、企业制度创新、制度变迁以及经济发展水平等方面存在着差异。振兴东北老工业基地的关键是制度创新。应从政府职能、推进国有经济的战略调整和国有企业战略重组、加快投融资体制改革等方面采取相应的对策。     

非正式制度对日本公司治理的影响及对中国的启示

长期以来,对于公司治理的研究主要集中在技术和正式制度层面上。由于日本具有独特的儒教思想、蛸壶型文化以及特有的信息文化特征,使得日本的公司治理结构形成了与其他发达国家截然不同的特征。我国在完善公司治理结构过程中,不仅注重正式制度,还应注重非正式制度的完善,避免由于非正式制度的缺失导致正式制度的失效。     

文化因素与中国经济增长的绩效

按照新制度经济学的观点,价值信念、伦理道德、风俗习惯、意识形态等非正式制度安排即可以统称为“文化”的东西,是经济活动赖以进行的社会形式,它通过对人的行为选择和激励作用,以及对正式制度安排的制约,对一个社会的经济发展产生重大影响。本文据此着重分析了计划体制下的文化价值观念、改革开放以来的主流意识形态、传统文化等非正式制度安排与当代中国经济增长绩效的关系。     

非正式制度与西部文化转型

非正式制度是人们在长期的社会交互活动中自发形成的 ,在一定时空范围内为绝大多数社会成员普遍认可的 ,影响人们行为方式选择的非制度化行为规则。在西部文化过程中 ,以乡规民约、潜在价值观念、风俗习惯等形式表现出来的非正式制度发挥着重要作用 ,要推进西部地区的文化转型过程 ,就必须促使非正式制度的现代转换。     

运作于压力型科层制与乡土社会之间的乡镇政权:以桔镇为研究对象

乡镇政权运作的悖论在于其形式上的科层制设置与实质上的非正式运作,这不仅体现在权力运作的技术和策略上,更表现在乡镇对自身结构的转换上。本文以桔镇为典型个案,通过桔镇政权的职能与机构的组织配置以及“财”与“政”的运作,清晰地展现了乡镇政权非正式运作的实态,进而透析了其非正式运作的内在逻辑。研究发现,乡镇政权的非正式运作源于乡镇的一种“上下之间”的独特处境,即乡镇既位于一种自上而下的压力型科层制之下,又被置于一个非程式化的乡村社会之上。这种处境使乡镇嵌入三种关系之中：压力体制与科层体制的关系,压力性任务与资源匮乏的关系,以及程式化科层组织与非程式化乡村社会的关系。这三种关系的存在使乡镇政权组织必须在压力型体制、科层制和乡村社会的胶结状态中寻求自洽的生存之道,并最终型塑了乡镇政权运作的逻辑与特征。     

国家社会主义市场转型：问题与争议

市场转型研究通常包括四类问题: 各种资本(特别是政治资本和人力资本 ) 的回报率变化、倪志伟之“市场转型理论”的普适性问题、产权结构变化以及转型的最终结局。本文试图厘清上述诸问题研究的基本发展脉络，并着重阐述它们间理论上的关联。在制度转型研究中，凡研究当今中国和东欧市场转型的人员应当注重分析国家在大规模制度变迁中所起的中心作用，并意识到所谓的制度变迁，不仅包括正式制度的改变，也包括非正式限制的变化。     

邓小平制度经济理论与我国经济制度变迁

邓小平制度经济理论可以归纳为七个方面:(1)制度是生产力发展的关键因素,制度的优越性在于它能更好地促进生产力的发展;(2)在各种制度中,产权制度的作用最重要;(3)中国的宏观制度变迁是个渐进的过程;(4)人是现实的人,具有机会主义倾向,制度可以抑制人的机会主义动机及行为;(5)意识形态是重要的非正式制度安排,它可以降低正式制度的运行成本;(6)中国制度改革的关键是下放权力;(7)稳定的环境是市场经济运行的最基本条件。邓小平的制度经济理论对我国的社会经济制度变迁指明了方向,提供了理论基础。     

A remote sensing look at the economy of a Russian region (Rostov) adjacent to the Ukrainian crisis

Satellite data used in combination with a stochastic production function method reveal an inefficient formal economy in rural Rostov Oblast 2013–2015 embedded in an overall (formal and informal) relatively efficient economy with the measurement of both important to better understand non-economic impacts of sanctions. Increased military activity may have insulated the formal economy of the border area from poor economic performance and the deindustrialization that characterizes adjacent areas. The current Oblast Administration’s grant program to localities does not reward relatively efficient economic performance with a model suggested here to change the policy. The region’s economy has the ability to absorb many Ukrainian refugees though non-economic issues support the current assistance from other Russian regions in helping relocate refugees beyond Rostov region. Like other conflict zones, urban areas experience less of an impact relative to rural areas.     

The extent and limits of solidarity in Dutch health care

Solidarity and equal access are twin principles in the Dutch health care system: solidarity between the rich and poor and among people with high and low risks formally guarantees equal access to health care services. However, in the past few years government policies, guided by the ideology of market reform and free choice, have resulted in patterns of inequality that favour privately insured over sickness fund insured. In the meantime, the level of public support for the principles of solidarity and equal access is dropping. A significantly larger portion of the Dutch people now believes that it would be too costly to grant everyone the right to all medical treatments possible. An important reason for the decline of solidarity and equal accessibility is the scarcity of resources. The scarcity of resources and the waiting lists resulting from it will reduce the extent of the benefits package and the access to the care services of the health system. The better-off will have the resources to receive care services that are not part of the basic package. Moreover, the scarcity of resources will affect the readiness in society to provide informal care. Opposed to the compulsory macro solidarity of the health insurance system, informal care is based on a voluntary kind of solidarity in which personal choice plays an important role. Waiting lists and diminishing professional support weaken this readiness, as such support is a necessary condition for informal carers to keep caring for their relatives and friends. Because the informal care system is a necessary supplement to the formal system of care, the lack of help offered by the latter will in the end endanger the solidarity not only in informal care, but in the institutional care system as well.     

Public policies promoting the informal sector: Effects on incomes,employment and growth in Burkina Faso

Since the 1990s, Burkina Faso has intensified the implementation of supporting policies to enhance the access to capital and liquidity in the informal sector. This paper analyzes the effects of these public policies on incomes, employment and economic growth by taking into account the interactions between the informal sector, the formal sector and the agricultural sector. For that purpose, policy shocks are simulated through the Partnership for Economic Policy Network's static computable general equilibrium (CGE) model which is adapted to the structure of a 2008-based social accounting matrix developed by the International Food Policy Research Institute. Our results highlight mixed effects including a paradoxical contraction of the informal sector, the formal sector and economic growth as well as an improvement of the informal households and the farmers’ incomes.     

Differential Use of Informal and Formal Helping Networks Among Rural Elderly Black and White Floridians

Until recently, relatively little data has been available concerning either the minority elderly or the rural elderly. This paper presents data which examines differences between black and white rural elderly respondents with regard to their social situation as well as their use of both informal and formal support systems. The findings based on 112 interviews, suggest that there are important differences between the two groups, with implications for service delivery.     

Effectiveness of Local Governance: Interactions Between Social Capital and Institutional Structures

This paper critically evaluates the debate on what makes local governments more effective, higher social capital (such as trust, reciprocity, and informal social networks) or stronger institutional structures (such as democratic processes, ombudsman, and social audits). Empirical analysis of a decentralized welfare scheme in India, the Andhra Pradesh Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (APREGS), using the latent variable path analysis modeling approach reveals that creation of formal democratic institutional channels in itself does not impact governance performance. Rather, it is mediated by complex institutional and social capital issues. For example, formal information dissemination activates social capital, leading to effective local governance. However, this (higher social capital and better institutions) does not automatically lead to empowerment or trust in the local government. The influence of the economically and politically powerful mediates this relationship. These and other results, cumulatively, highlight the complexity involved in the effectiveness of government empowerment initiatives. The paper calls for a fresh and wider debate on decision‐making dynamics in rural India, especially the interaction between government institutions, social capital, and the historical societal dynamics.     

Compulsory intergenerational family solidarity shaping choices between work and care: Perceptions of informal female carers and local policymakers in Estonia

Estonians are obliged by law to provide maintenance for family members who are unable to cope by themselves. As a result, 80% of fragile older people receive informal care. Whether this is because the carers themselves feel solidarity and choose informal caring or because they lack alternatives is the question. We applied the cultural approach for explaining the construction of compulsory family solidarity in care provision to older people through the perceptions of informal carers and policy actors. Our interest is in how filial norms framed by individual responsibilities of care provision required by law can influence (i) informal carers’ perceptions concerning their choices between work and care and (ii) impact policy actors’ perceptions concerning eldercare service provision. Analysing the empirical data produced during focus groups with female carers and interviews with policy actors, we demonstrate the triple‐fold pressure to informal caregiving as an expression of compulsory family solidarity. Key Practitioner Message: ? The article demonstrates how the national Family Law Act constitutes a compulsory requirement of family solidarity in society; ? The compulsory family solidarity norm influences local‐level policymaking and inhibits the development of formal care services for older people; ? Informal carers’ choices between work and care are shaped by their personal filial norms, familialistic policymaking, and pressure exerted by older people.     

From “State and Society” to “Institutions and Life”: A Shift in the Study of Social Change in China

Abstract

The term “institutions and life” is proposed as an alternative perspective to “state and society.” Here, “institutions” refers to formal institutions set up in the name of the state and supporting its agents at various levels and in different departments in the exercise of their functions. “Life” refers to the everyday activities of social beings, involving not only the interests, powers and rights-based claims of expedient production and life strategies and techniques, but also relatively routine popular mores and informal institutions. The purpose of constructing and applying this perspective is to probe the complex mechanism of the interaction between living subjects and the agents of formal institutions in institutional practice and thereby analyze the actual logic and changing direction of China’s formal institutions and explore the mechanisms behind changes in mores so as to grasp the main thread running through China’s modern nation building.