Welfare benefits and birth decisions of never-married women

For some time now, the out-of-wedlock birthrate has been increasing rapidly in the United States. This has prompted several states to propose (and in some cases, enact) legislation to deny access to higher AFDC benefits for families in which the mother gives birth while receiving AFDC. The authors investigate whether AFDC benefit levels are systematically related to the family-size decisions of never-married women. Using a bivariate probit model with state and time fixed effects, applied to Current Population Survey data for the years 1980–1988, it is found that the basic benefit level for a family of two (one adult and one child) and the incremental benefit for a second child positively affects the family size decisions of black and Hispanic women, but not of white women. The effects are concentrated among high school dropouts (no effects are found for high school graduates). The authors conclude that rather than to uniformly deny benefits to all AFDC women that bear children, a better targeted policy might be to alter the AFDC benefit structure in such a way as to encourage single mothers to complete high school. However, being a high school dropout might be a proxy for some other underlying characteristic of the woman, and encouraging women to complete high school who otherwise would not might have no effect whatsoever on nonmarital births.     

Towards a European migration policy

The stagnating West European population combined with the prosperous economic development of the European Community (EC) generate strong economic incentives for immigration. The drastic political changes in Eastern Europe have caused additional migration pressures. There are a variety of problems with the economic and political integration of migrants, however. The paper argues that immigration can compensate for demographic losses due to the decline and ageing of the European labor force. Economic theory further predicts welfare gains from free factor movements, which should be reaped as long as social costs and adjustment costs are not prohibitive. An active European migration policy is recommended to achieve this aim.This article is a completely revised version of CEPR Discussion Paper No. 641, presented by the second author at the CEPR Workshop The economies of migration on 23 November 1991 in London, UK, and at a hearing of the European Parliament on 25 May 1992 in Bruxelles, Belgium.     

The Intrinsic Value of Decision Rights

Philosophers, psychologists, and economists have long argued that certain decision rights carry not only instrumental value but may also be valuable for their own sake. The ideas of autonomy, freedom, and liberty derive their intuitive appeal—at least partly—from an assumed positive intrinsic value of decision rights. Providing clean evidence for the existence of this intrinsic value and measuring its size, however, is intricate. Here, we develop a method capable of achieving these goals. The data reveal that the large majority of our subjects intrinsically value decision rights beyond their instrumental benefit. The intrinsic valuation of decision rights has potentially important consequences for corporate governance, human resource management, and optimal job design: it may explain why managers value power, why employees appreciate jobs with task discretion, why individuals sort into self‐employment, and why the reallocation of decision rights is often very difficult and cumbersome. Our method and results may also prove useful in developing an empirical revealed preference foundation for concepts such as “freedom of choice” and “individual autonomy.”     

脱贫攻坚的成效考量与示范意义

为进一步衡量地区脱贫攻坚的实际成效和居民生活品质,利用2019年安徽省岳西县有关数据,构建居民获得感、幸福感和安全感评价指标体系,分析当地脱贫成效,总结精准脱贫提升居民“三感”的示范做法。研究发现:该地居民获得感和幸福感较弱,收入、物价、医疗等方面有待改善;而居民安全感较强,工作感受、居住条件等满意度较高。据此构建提升居民“三感”的长效机制,对于巩固脱贫攻坚成果和乡村振兴具有较强的现实意义。     

经史之辨：王闿运《春秋》三传观

王闿运是清末著名经学家,以推尊<春秋>公羊学而闻名于世.他在<春秋>是经而不是史的"经史之辩"基础之上,对<春秋>三传进行褒貶尊黜,认为<公羊>、<榖梁>相发而并存,构建了自己独特的<春秋>三传现.     

家庭养老的困境与出路——兼论孝与不孝的理性

家庭养老是长期农耕文明条件下亲代与子代的互惠行为,孝是家庭养老实现的制度保证。现代工业社会家庭养老的互惠性急剧下降,孝道的影响力逐渐衰微,家庭养老逐渐被个人养老为主、社会养老为辅的现代养老模式替代。发挥家庭养老的补充作用离不开政府的政策激励,如增加养老的收益或者增加不养老的成本,孝的教化作为长远的治本之策并非振兴家庭养老的当前出路。     

股改后上市公司股权融资偏好实证研究

中国上市公司的股权融资问题一直备受争议与关注。随着股权分置改革的完成,我国上市公司的融资偏好是否发生了变化?通过对股改后股权再融资集中的2006、2007两年内进行股权再融资的上市公司的实证研究,PROB IT模型检验了与控制权收益相关的两个指标以及其他上市公司变量与股权再融资之间的概率关系。终极控股权下的现金流权通过了检验,即现金流权越高的非国有上市公司越倾向于股权再融资;侵占度没有通过检验,这一定程度上说明股权分置改革起到了抑制通过股权再融资获取控制权私利的行为。     

论“非遗”传承人的保护方式

非物质文化遗产是以口传心授的方式得以传承和延续的口承文化。其保护的关键是对传承人的保护。杰出的传承人在非物质文化遗产的传承和延续中起着重要的作用,但历史上杰出传承者的出现,则是以社会经济基础和社会开放政策为条件的。我国政府构建了由国家级、省市级、地市级和区县级四级非物质文化遗产名录组成的保护体系,每一个名录项目,都有相应的项目代表性传承人为支撑。代表性传承人的认定已积累了较为成熟的经验,但传承人的权益却仍然是亟待研究和解决的课题。     

江苏中小企业信用再担保业务经济效益研究

江苏中小企业信用再担保体系的建立有效地缓解了中小企业融资难题。运用系统动态学方法,模拟江苏再担保业务经济效益演化趋势,发现代偿率是影响经济效益的关键因素,能实现江苏再担保业的长远发展。     

严复经济伦理思想中的进化论元素——基于义利观的考察与分析

从严复引进西方进化论思想的考察入手,以义利观为例较为深入地解析了严复经济伦理思想中进化论元素的具体内涵,阐述了严复经济伦理思想中进化论思想元素的历史意义和价值。分析认为,严复在引进西方进化论思想的同时对其进行了创造性改造,颠覆了封建传统的经济伦理思想,为当时的进步力量——资产阶级登上政治舞台做好了思想铺垫。严复的努力推动了近代中国向西方寻求富强的思想运动的发展,具有积极的历史意义。