Government size and economic growth in Taiwan: A threshold regression approach

The Armey curve developed by [Armey, R. (1995). The freedom revolution. Washington, DC: Rognery Publishing Co.] and [Vedder, R. K., & Gallaway, L. E. (1998). Government size and economic growth. Joint Economic Committee] demonstrates that there is a non-linear relationship between government size and economic growth. In order to search for the threshold effects, this paper employs [Hansen, B. E. (2000). Sample splitting and threshold estimation. Econometrica, 68(3), 575–603] threshold regression model to test whether the Armey curve exists in Taiwan, allowing for endogenous government size thresholds. We apply the two-sector production function developed by [Ram, R. (1986). Government size and economic growth: A new framework and some evidence from cross-section and time-series data. American Economic Review, 76(1), 191–203] to construct the threshold regression model. Three classifications of government size are tested in sequence as threshold variables. The result indicates that all three classifications of government size have a threshold effect and that a non-linear relationship of the Armey curve exists in Taiwan.     

清末宪政改革与清政府权威资源的流失

政治权威资源包括政治权威的合法性、政治权威的政治整合能力和政治权威的自身素质三个主要方面。清末宪政改革的目的是想通过改革以挽回因内外危机的挑战而不断流失的权威资源,但囿于自身的素质,没有能实现对社会的有效整合,从而使其权威的合法性不断流失。     

构建和谐社会的政府绩效评估探讨

政府绩效评估是构建和谐社会的必然要求,它对构建和谐社会有极大的帮助。本文分析了现阶段我国政府绩效评估中存在的问题,即评估主体比较单一、评估指标不够科学、评估程序不够规范、评估手段不够成熟,提出了加强政府绩效评估促进社会和谐的几点建议。     

Engaging Indigenous Communities: Towards a Policy Framework for Indigenous Community Justice Programmes

Community engagement has come to the fore as a policy and programme approach that seeks to connect citizens both with each other and with government in order to deliver improved social and economic opportunities and outcomes. This model has become a key aspect of the intervention approach within Indigenous communities and is seen to have particular application in addressing community justice issues. This article examines a suite of community justice initiatives being used in Indigenous communities in Australia with a view to ascertaining how the principles of community engagement are operationalized. The article draws on this information and argues that community engagement is only one aspect of a number of community‐oriented justice initiatives currently being applied. These initiatives range from concepts of community as a location, community as an interest group, and the leveraging of community capital so as to tap into and build better and stronger relationships. In so doing, the latter attempts to increase the social infrastructure, resources and capacity of communities. However, despite government attention in this area, there is a lack of a policy and programmatic framework to guide a coherent and apposite approach to issues of community in specific policy settings. The article contributes to the development of a framework that begins the process of differentiating and assessing justice administration interventions.     

城市经营误入歧途之机制浅析

城市经营是近几年来城市管理和学术研究中的热点问题,但众多学者和城市管理者在城市经营的现实基础、内涵本质、所遵循的基础理论和所面临的问题等方面并没有取得一致的意见。虽然城市经营表现出的形式多种多样,但其内涵和本质是以提高城市竞争力为目标;城市经营的理论基础可以从蒂伯特模型、政府再造运动和布雷顿竞争性政府的概念中去寻找;片面理解城市经营不但会造成土地等城市资源枯竭、加重企业和群众负担以及城市负债过度,而且极易诱发金融风险;要防止城市经营走入歧途,不仅需要彻底解决地方政府财权事权不对等的问题,完善城市管理的立法工作,还需要全面反思城市的土地经营思路,规范政府行为和市场秩序的重建。     

《大公报》与南京政府初期之裁兵运动

南京国民政府成立之后,随着北伐成功以及中国形式上统一,裁兵运动重新提上议事日程.<大公报>认为裁兵不仅反映了民众呼声,亦是救民众于灾难之中的一项重要行动,遂担当起舆论鼓吹的角色,为裁兵运动大声疾呼,力图促进各界人士共同推动裁兵事业取得应有之绩效或实质性进展.该报详细报道了裁兵运动发展的全程并连篇累牍地发表评论,比较全面地分析了此次裁兵的缘起及其失败的后果.     

政府权威与社会公共利益

政府权威是社会公共利益的需要。在我国由计划经济向现代市场经济转变的过程中,社会利益的多元性和复杂性以及人们生存需求的多样化,都在更为深入的层面上对政府的社会秩序供给提出了新的要求,对传统的政府权威形成挑战。适应新的社会历史条件,强化政府权威,需要完善制度法规,限定权力,制衡权力,监督权力,推进民主化进程,增强社会凝聚力。     

关于政府构建与完善中小企业支持体系的思考

中小企业的发展,在推进国有企业改革、解决下岗职工再就业、增加财政收入、搞活城乡经济和加快小城镇建设等方面发挥了不可替代的作用。在我国中小企业的发展中,长期存在着一些制约其快速发展的因素,迫切需要政府构建和完善中小企业支持体系,以推动中小企业的持续、健康发展。     

Are corrupt acts contagious?: Evidence from the United States

This paper adds to the literature by shedding new light on the causes of corruption. Specifically, we provide evidence on the extent to which corruption might be contagious. In other words, what is the extent to which a demonstration effect is at play at inducing corrupt acts? Using state-level U.S. data over the 1995–2004 period, the results show that the effect of neighboring corruption is positive and statistically significant in all cases, implying that corruption does appear to be contagious. Specifically, a 10% increase in corruption in neighboring states appears to increase corruption in a state by about 4–11%. Of the different types of government activity, the size of defense and non-defense federal sectors in a state seem to have opposite effects on corruption, with the former contributing to corruption and the latter serving as a deterrent. The size of the state and local governments does not seem to be relevant. Of the variables controlling for detection and punishment of corrupt individuals, greater corrections employment reduces corruption, while greater judicial employment seems to increase corruption. Changes in the police force do not seem to have a statistically significant impact. These findings generally hold when we control for the disproportionate effects of the Washington, DC area and when a pooled data set is estimated. Contagion effects are also found for other crimes. Policy implications are discussed.     

化解当前我国乡镇债务的困境分析

当前,我国乡镇负债数额巨大,情况已经非常严峻。这不仅严重阻碍了我国农村社会经济的可持续发展,影响到乡镇政府的正常运行,而且有可能引发更大的经济和政治风险,成为我国政府当前必须解决的一项紧迫任务和时代课题。对于如何化解乡镇债务,学界已提出了许多好的看法和建议,但由于缺乏对中国乡镇具体环境变迁过程的关照,缺乏对乡镇债务具体形成的内在逻辑的分析,导致乡镇债务化解过程受到种种困境的制约。要顺利实现化解乡镇债务这个目标,首先要从正确认识化解乡镇债务的各种困境入手,进而提出有针对性的对策建议。