Individual and Household Values of Mortality Reductions with Intrahousehold Bargaining

I derive alternative measures of maximum willingness to pay (WTP) and value of statistical life (VSL) for selfish members of two-person households who bargain efficiently over consumption of individual and household goods. There is then no systematic bias in letting one member conduct the valuation on behalf of the household. Public-good VSL may exceed private-good VSL when each member attaches (selfish) preferences to survival of the spouse, and to any income from a surviving spouse in period 2. When period 2 is a retirement period and household members’ incomes are fixed, interview surveys tend to overvalue VSL due to ignored negative effects of own survival on private of public pension budgets.JEL Classification: I12, G22, J17     

Is Transport Safety More Valuable in the Air?

Using a contingent valuation survey, people's willingness to pay for a given risk reduction is found to be much larger, consistently more than two times as large, when traveling by air compared to by taxi. Follow-up questions revealed that an important reason for this discrepancy is that many experience a higher mental suffering from flying, and that they are willing to pay to reduce this suffering. It was also consistently found that people are willing to pay more for a certain risk reduction if the original price was higher. Policy implications are discussed.     

从先验自我到生活世界

一直以来,先验自我被看成是孤立的主体;相应地,悬搁、还原被看成是现象学认识论的主要手段与途径。其实,先验自我因其构造性具有普遍性而本身就是主体间性的,因而悬搁与还原更是形而上学的奠基。先验自我的本质在于逻辑性,先验自我自身的逻辑性决定了它被把握为什么:逻辑。它首先是一种功能,就其能进行构造而言,表现为主体性;就其构造性具有普遍性而言,表现为交互主体性。先验自我把自身把握为功能性、主体性、交互主体性,而这一切都源于先验自我将自身根本地把握为逻辑性,并从中阐明了我们日常的交互主体性的世界实际上就是先验自我的显发,先验自我与生活世界实际上是一以贯之的一体。但二者是有区别的:前者是一个混沌未分的世界,它没有成见,没有一定,因而包含了所有的可能性;后者则是我们个人在自身的经历中形成的属于个人的特殊的世界,它包含了我们个人的成见,总是从一定的角度出发去看事情,而对事情的其他可能性却视而不见,因而也就没有如实地把握事情本身。为了把握事情本身,我们就要从个人的特殊的有成见的生活世界返回到先验自我,那样一个没有成见的世界。而这就需要悬搁与还原———它使我们摆脱个人的特殊的生活世界,即摆脱特殊的视角,从而如其所是的观照事情,并在这种观照之中保持我们自身人之为人的本质。从而表明悬搁与还原在形而上学层面上的奠基作用。     

走进"后文学时代"——一个历史结构主义者给21世纪文学所作的注解

在文艺理论和文学史的长期"铸造"下,社会显然已经形成了某种关于文学的"传统意识"。在许多人看来,文学作为一种人类的文化现象,肯定会长期存在下去;我们久已形成关于文学的一套理论认知和价值体系,也会长期存在下去。粗粗看去,这似乎是毫无疑问的。然而自从20世纪90年代以来,人们却发现:我们已有的理论判断和价值标准,在社会的文学现实面前经常处于"失语"状态。这是文学时代变化造成的。由于文学在数字技术和知识经济时代里有了不同既往的表现,由于这是一个新的"后文学时代",因此,我们以往的关于文学的理论看法和文学史观正在失去意义。     

谁的"日常生活审美化"?怎样做"文化研究"?--与陶东风教授商榷

"日常生活审美化"的兴起和倡导"文化研究"是陶东风近年来的主要观点.但是,由于这种观点没有对"日常生活审美化"进行清理和鉴定,仅仅停留在事实判断的层面上指认这一现象,从而取消了对它的价值判断.所以,把这种姿态或立场带入到文化研究中,必然会使文化研究出现批判精神的下滑、问题意识的缺席、价值立场的暧昧等问题.其结果,可能使中国的文化研究陷入西方文化研究已经陷入的困境.     

二十世纪八、九十年代女性文学的先锋品质

本文以先锋品质为切入点,对二十世纪八、九十年代的女性文学进行了一番巡视,从中洞悉此阶段女性文学在艺术探索和主题表现方面的反叛色彩和创新特质。二十世纪八、九十年代女性文学的先锋品质具体表现在三个方面:荒诞实验与黑暗王国的舞蹈、伊甸园的追寻、生命体验的书写。     

消费主义:一种异化的生活方式

在全球化浪潮的强烈冲击下,消费主义作为起源并盛行于西方发达国家的一种文化态度、价值观念和生活方式,正以其感性而鲜明的特征吸引着发展中国家的人们。在消费主义文化强大的示范和诱导下,发展中国家那些传统的、民族的消费生活方式就逐步转变为一种现代的消费主义生活方式。这种生活方式为构建社会主义和谐社会带来了许多危害,我们应该抵制消费主义,选择良好的生活方式,走可持续发展之路。     

Effects of Disease Type and Latency on the Value of Mortality Risk

We evaluate the effects of disease type and latency on willingness to pay (WTP) to reduce environmental risks of chronic, degenerative disease. Using contingent-valuation data collected from approximately 1,200 respondents in Taiwan, we find that WTP declines with latency between exposure to environmental contaminants and manifestation of any resulting disease, at a 1.5 percent annual rate for a 20 year latency period. WTP to reduce the risk of cancer is estimated to be about one-third larger than WTP to reduce risk of a similar chronic, degenerative disease. The value of risk reduction also depends on the affected organ, environmental pathway, or payment mechanism: estimated WTP to reduce the risk of lung disease due to industrial air pollution is twice as large as WTP to reduce the risk of liver disease due to contaminated drinking water.     

Listening to 'life knowledge': a new research direction in poverty studies

This article points to a current research direction in poverty studies, which explores the knowledge of people living in poverty. The article examines three studies from the USA, Europe and Israel which give voice to the 'life knowledge' of people living in poverty regarding different aspects of their lives. Through these examples, the article examines the potential contribution of 'life knowledge', possessed by people who are welfare-reliant, to the body of knowledge concerning welfare policy. Knowledge of this sort challenges standard preconceptions about the ways in which people cope with hardship and about the ways in which assistance might be given. The article discusses the ways in which 'life knowledge' can be recognised as such and investigated, and how it might contribute to the formation of public policy.