领导团体腐败和作弊的社会经济影响：数量特征与客观评价

20世纪90年代以来,我国因领导团体作弊型腐败造成的经济和消费者福利损失迅速增加,其根本原因是行政权力对经济与市场的管制和干预,租金的来源主要是由政府控制引起的“公共区域”。学者们对我国租金价值计算表明,我国租金的绝对量有扩大的趋势,租金结构也发生了相应的变化。随着国家对经济活动管制的减少,租金的比例有降低的趋势。领导团体作弊型腐败不但扭曲了政府决策的合理性,并产生了严重的负外部性,且可能导致政府管理的失败,降低资源配置的效率和阻滞了国家的经济增长,最终影响到社会的稳定。官员腐败和作弊产生于制度的漏洞或不完善。制约与解决的有效手段是寻找能够适应生产力发展要求的新的制度安排。     

What has happened in Spain? The real estate bubble,corruption and housing development: A view from the local level

How have the recent real estate, mortgage and financial crises affected different countries, territories and cities? How have the different public and private stakeholders behaved and how accountable have they been for the origin and development thereof? What links are there among the local, national and global contexts in the crises? Recent geographic research ought to attempt to answer these questions, but there have, however, been few in-depth studies on the link between urbanisation, financial markets and the global crisis. The present paper analyses one of the principal causes of Spain’s recent evolution: urbanisation of the territory, the start and consequences of housing bubble; our study emphasises the differential elements in relation to the crisis in other countries. We study in greater depth the municipality of Torrelodones, which constitutes a reference due to the appearance of a residents’ movement opposed to the development process and which is a perfect example of the dynamics that led to the economic and social crisis. We describe in detail the lack of any strategic vision, participation or transparency in town planning decision-making, the processes by which reports and inspections were doctored, and the mechanisms of corruption of public decision-making in town planning. Finally, we analyse the concrete manner in which huge losses in mortgage markets occurred, with the collapse of the real estate bubble and the financial markets, which subsequently forced a State bailout.     

Background to the Liberia and Sierra Leone implosions

Liberia and Sierra Leone are tragic examples of what happens when central authority collapses and warlords emerge as de-facto rulers over large portions of the national territory. Horrors inflicted on non-combatants and the well publicized trading in conflict diamonds served to focus world attention on these two small countries sharing a common border. Both countries have experienced mixed success with outside military intervention for peace keeping and nation building purposes. What has happened is all the more distressing when one considers each countrys prospects at birth under the political and economic aegis of arguably two of the most powerful and enlightened countries of the time, Great Britain in the case of Sierra Leone and the United States in Liberia.     

Background to the Liberia and Sierra Leone implosions

Liberia and Sierra Leone are tragic examples of what happens when central authority collapses and warlords emerge as de-facto rulers over large portions of the national territory. Horrors inflicted on non-combatants and the well publicized trading in conflict diamonds served to focus world attention on these two small countries sharing a common border. Both countries have experienced mixed success with outside military intervention for peace keeping and nation building purposes. What has happened is all the more distressing when one considers each countrys prospects at birth under the political and economic aegis of arguably two of the most powerful and enlightened countries of the time, Great Britain in the case of Sierra Leone and the United States in Liberia.     

Determinants of CO2 emission for post-Soviet Union independent countries

This article analyses the determinants of CO₂ emission for 15 post-Soviet Union independent (PSI) countries given their recent transition to market-based economies and their relatively high levels of corruption. The direct and indirect effects of economic growth on CO₂ emission for the PSI countries are derived using a multiple-equation generalized method of moment (GMM) approach to account for simultaneity among corruption, growth and CO₂ emission. A linear relationship between gross domestic product (GDP) and CO₂ emission was observed from the analysis. Furthermore, GDP influences CO₂ emission directly, but also indirectly through its impact on corruption. Similarly, corruption affects CO₂ emission directly, as well as indirectly through its impact on GDP. Political democracy and economic freedom increase CO₂ emission indirectly through their impact on economic growth. Improved energy efficiency and the EU climate policy reduce CO₂ emission, while inflows of foreign direct investment tend to increase CO₂ emission.

Policy relevance

First, PSI countries need to invest more in efficient energy technologies to mitigate CO₂ emission levels significantly. Second, PSI policies aimed at reducing deforestation (thereby increasing population density) may help mitigate carbon emission. Third, PSI countries would be well served to recognize the detrimental effects of foreign direct investment before embarking on a misguided policy path that attracts such inflows at any cost.     

Violence and criminal order: the case of Ciudad Juarez

ABSTRACT

Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, suffered an explosion of criminal violence between 2008 and 2012 that cost the lives of more than ten thousand people, earning it notoriety as the world’s “murder capital.” Just a few years later, however, levels of violence had dropped back to pre-2008 levels, decreasing by more than 85 percent. Existing political, economic, and sociological theories provide compelling narratives about the origins of Mexico’s drug-related violence, but have much more difficulty explaining why violence might suddenly decrease to normal levels again. They also fail to explain how violence itself shapes mechanisms of formal and informal order, often leaving institutional legacies that can be both negative and positive. Based on research conducted since 2008, this paper argues that criminal violence in Ciudad Juarez, while initially begetting only more violence, gradually reconstituted the criminal order in such a way that peaceful interaction among competing criminal groups became possible.     

What has Corruption Got to do with it? Understanding the Persistence of Rural-Urban and Inter-Regional Inequalities in Ghana and Zimbabwe

Inequalities are no respecter of countries, including the affluent ones. Nevertheless, these problems appear to prevail more in the developing countries, which have the dubious distinction of having the highest degrees of inequalities in the world. Inequalities exist between urban and rural areas, as well as between the various regions. This paper discusses inequalities in Ghana and Zimbabwe, emphasizing the rural–urban dichotomy. Using data from the Ghana Demographic and Health Surveys (GDHS) and the Zimbabwe Demographic and Health Surveys (ZDHS) conducted by the respective statistical authorities of both countries and Macro International, the paper analyses existing inequalities in both countries. The paper also attempts to elucidate and understand the causes. It concludes that the traditional explanation of disparities that attribute the conditions to aberrations in the operations of market forces, while having some validity, may not provide a full explanation for Ghana and Zimbabwe’s predicament. It argues that whilst the existing disparities may be rooted in history, their persistence and worsening in the post-independence era could only be understood with reference to the corruption, nepotism and the mismanagement that have characterized these states since they gained their independence.     

State Legitimacy and the Unending Crisis of Petrol Subsidy Reforms in Nigeria

Why would the citizens of an oil-producing state continually resist reform-induced petrol price increases, even when subsidy payments are proved to be a serious threat to the capacity of the state to deliver its core constitutional mandates? In this paper, we tackle this question by contending that the difficulty in petrol subsidy implementation in a country like Nigeria has more to do with the clear lack of state legitimacy and public trust, and the recorded cases of political instability entrenched by forced attempts at reforms. By contextualizing the reform efforts in Nigeria within the framework of the relationship between state legitimacy and reforms, we are able to provide valid insights to a broader understanding of the “whys” of public resistance to the authority of the state to enforce reform. The Nigerian case, as revealed in this article, provides evidence of a shift in paradigm from the conventional and dominant Weberian emphasis of state legitimacy around the nature and sources of state authorities to a more functional context of citizens’ perception of the governance process as a source of legitimacy.     

水库中致腐蚀微生物杀菌剂的筛选及抗腐蚀涂料的检测

采用多管发酵培养法检测水样中致腐蚀并富集出测试菌群,设置杀菌剂浓度梯度,筛选出有效的杀菌剂,对不同配比及含不同杀菌剂的树脂涂层进行耐腐蚀及杀菌效果检测,并对其中效果最好的２２号杀菌菌剂涂层进行了长效性实验和耐菌性实验,结果表明含２２号杀菌剂的抗菌涂料是一种很好的抗水库中微生物腐蚀的材料。     

Farmer–herder conflicts, pastoral marginalisation and corruption: a case study from the inland Niger delta of Mali

This study aims to explain a farmer–herder conflict in the inland Niger delta of Mali. We focus on the interests and motivations of the actors involved in the conflict and the rent seeking of the local administration in handling the conflict. Since independence, the customary pastoral leaders (the jowros ) have gradually lost power and wealth to the benefit of previously underprivileged farmers (the rimaybé ). We argue that this process is mainly the result of national policies and laws giving priority to agricultural development at the expense of pastoralism. The result has been large-scale conversions of dry season pastures to rice fields. This pastoral marginalisation also results in increased land use conflicts between herders and farmers. In addition, rent seeking by local officials is perpetuating land use conflicts in the area. Hence, officials are benefiting from conflicts, while especially pastoralists, but also farmers, are losing out. The droughts of the 1970s and 1980s, leading to a more rapid encroachment of rice fields on pastures, as well as the power vacuum that emerged in the early days of the decentralisation process, further aggravated land disputes. Finally, we use this case study to call for an inclusion of issues of rent seeking and corruption more centrally in political ecology.