Countering Overseas Power in Global Value Chains: Information Asymmetries and Subcontracting in the Plastics Industry

Resource Dependency Theory (RDT) and Global Value Chain (GVC) analysis have been deployed in the strategic and international management literatures to address questions of power in dyadic relationships and global production networks, respectively. This paper integrates the two theoretical approaches in order to expand RDT, using insights from Hirschman's exit/voice model to show the options available to some firms but not others. Using the relationship between buyers and contract manufacturers from GVC analysis, we find a correlation between firm size and choice of strategic action in response to contract manufacturers' dependence on buyers. Large firms follow an acquiescence strategy while small manufacturers follow an avoidance strategy, able to use both exit and voice strategies. Enabled by scale or control over information, both of these approaches successfully reduce uncertainty and provide a source of sustained competitive advantage. Using a study of the production chain in consumer plastics manufacturing in China, we show how dependent firms respond to GVC induced pressure. We find that based on the size of the contract manufacturer, the range of strategic responses to power is constrained by the nature of the dependency in global value chains. This opens important insights into the role that structural characteristics of organizations (like size) play in determining strategic freedom.     

人口年龄结构变动对居民消费影响效应分析

通过标准消费人这一综合指标和我国1978-2012年的时间序列数据,在消费函数中引入人口年龄结构变量进行回归估计,结果表明：人均收入水平的提高会促进居民消费的增长,但是这种增长会随着人口年龄结构的变动,特别是老年人口比重的增加而趋缓。因此,为了缓解人口年龄结构变动对消费产生的影响,特此提出进一步提高我国居民消费水平的措施建设。     

Objective and subjective conditions for the continuity of the Peruvian extractive development model

ABSTRACT

The Peruvian economy depends for its growth on the export of its mineral resources. The core of the current economic development model is the export of the country's commodities and a free and (relatively) unregulated functioning of the markets. We argue that the continuity of the country's extractive development model is the consequence of the interplay between the objective and subjective conditions of Peruvian capitalist development. The analysis of the objective conditions is focused on the role of the country in the international division of labour, the relation between this role and the country’s economic and business structure, and the functionality of the extractive development model for the Peruvian State. In the case of the subjective conditions, the strength of the political Left, the labour movement and the social movements against mining capital are analyzed     

区域人口抚养负担的评价方法与实证分析

针对常用人口抚养负担评价方法的缺陷,构建了抚养负担数量指数和抚养负担质量指数,以便科学反映区域人口的抚养负担。并选取中国为实证对象,进行了有效验证。研究表明:从抚养负担数量指数看,除城镇外,农村和全国的抚养负担都在减轻;从抚养负担质量指数看,农村、城镇和全国的抚养负担都在大幅度减轻。相关分析显示中国非劳动人口比重下降的根源在于农村非劳动人口比重的减少,不过减小人口抚养负担的关键在于增强劳动人口的创收能力,并非仅依赖于非劳动人口比重的下降。     

中国各地区人口年龄结构变动的消费效应分析

消费是影响一国经济增长的重要因素,对于影响消费的众多因素研究,大多基于收入分配不均和收入不确定性视角,而忽略了另外一个非常重要的因素,那就是人口年龄结构变化对消费的影响效应。上世纪70年代计划生育政策的推行和人口预期寿命的延长,加快了我国人口转变及老龄化发展的步伐,这一转变必将改变居民的储蓄消费行为,影响储蓄-消费模式和消费率。基于我国2002-2008年省级面板数据,本文研究了各地区人口转变对消费率的影响。研究表明,消费率与少儿抚养比、老年抚养比之间分别存在正相关关系与负相关关系。     

双薪家庭的家务性别分工：经济依赖、性别观念或情感表达

基于２０１０年第三期中国妇女地位调查数据的分析显示,城镇家庭的家务劳动分工具有“女性为主,男性为辅”的特征。研究表明,经济依赖关系、工作时间、性别角色观念均显著地影响着两性的家务分工,但其影响机制存在差别。对于男性而言,经济上的独立与成就对于其家务劳动投入的影响最大,其次是工作时间与性别角色观念,这些要素均相对独立地发挥作用,男性家务劳动的承担不存在“性别表演”。对于女性而言,纯粹的经济独立（对配偶收入的依赖程度、本人的绝对收入状况等）并非其家务劳动投入的最好预测,性别角色观念也不独立地对家务劳动参与产生影响。部分女性的家务劳动在经济依赖与性别角色观念交互影响下存在着形态与效应各异的“性别表演”。这一特征揭示了两性在劳动力市场中的经济地位与社会文化期待交互影响的形塑作用。     

中国农村人口结构与居民消费研究

本文运用生命周期模型、家庭储蓄需求模型和家庭生育决策理论等分析了人口结构变化对居民消费的影响渠道,并利用2001～2009年中国农村省际面板数据对人口年龄结构、性别结构与居民消费的关系进行了经验分析。研究表明,农村少儿抚养比与农村居民消费率显著负相关,农村老年抚养比与农村居民消费率显著正相关,而农村人口性别比系数的稳健性较差。     

东亚模式与莱茵模式的部分结合:希腊宏观经济的结构特征及其形成机制

希腊在冷战时代融入美国主导的全球体系,使其经济出现了对外向型、市场化、全球化的"路径依赖",但因其人口结构所限,而无法走上出口导向型的道路。此后,希腊积极融入欧洲一体化进程,借助欧盟的内部整合政策和内部援助体制,实现了高负债与高赤字背景下的经济持续高速增长,结果使高负债和高赤字长期延续而形成惯性。在国内国际两方面因素的综合作用下,希腊宏观经济可视为半个"东亚模式"与半个"莱茵模式"的结合体。     

Comparing Long-Term Care Recipients in Urban and Rural Municipalities in Japan and Sweden

Japan and Sweden both have national systems of long-term care (LTC) and face similar challenges. This study compared various indicators of disability in LTC recipients in nine large urban, midsize urban, and rural municipalities in both countries. The aim was to establish whether urban-rural differences exist and whether they follow similar patterns in Japan and Sweden. It was found that LTC recipients in large urban municipalities in both countries were on average significantly less disabled than those from the other types of municipalities, regardless of the indicator for disability. Fewer persons in large urban municipalities live in extended families, which may increase the propensity to apply for LTC. The number of older people living alone in Japan is increasing, which means that the formal LTC system will come under increased pressure.     

Long-Term Care for Elder Women in Spain: Advances and Limitations

In Spain, elder women are the largest group in need of long-term care. Significant improvements in this issue took place between 2007 and 2011, thanks to the Dependency Law (2006). But severe limitations showed the difficulty of overcoming the historical backwardness of Spanish social policy. This article describes the situation of Spanish people with dependency in activities of daily living. It analyzes changes driven by this law, especially in their impacts on elder women. It assesses the extent to which those changes can alter the traditional model of care. There are three major findings: First, measures promoted by the law have improved the previous situation but are incapable of developing a new model. Care for elders still relies on family, with lack of professionalism, little socialization, and expanding commodification. Second, the current care model is fundamentally detrimental to older women and women caregivers. Third, this kind of model hinders the overcoming of gender inequalities in intrafamily, generational, and social relations.