Retrogressive regime drift within a theory of emergent order

This paper explores the robustness of systems of political economy from within an emergent perspective. Robustness is a quality of the nexus of relationships that emerge within a political economy, and particular attention is given to processes of regime drift that might generate retrogression within a political economy. The central claim advanced here is that robustness is facilitated through polycentric organizational arrangements that entail high degeneracy, while fragility and the emergence of decadence is facilitated in relatively hierarchical arrangements that possess low degeneracy. JEL Code D02, D78, P16, P48, Z13     

政府间职能纵向配置的规范分析

本文从公共需求的多样性、差异性和变动性出发,分析了信息不对称条件下公共需求的偏好显示与排序问题,认为公共品的受益范围、偏好同质性、支付能力、公共需求排序方式和排序成本是在规范意义上影响政府间职能纵向划分的主要因素。公共需求偏好显示及排序所要求的小政府同公共产品与服务供给效率的矛盾,以及不同地方政府之间公共产品和服务组合的差异化与社会公平之间的矛盾,是政府间财权事权纵向配置面临的两个基本问题。本文在区分供应与生产的基础上,归纳了政府间职能纵向划分的基本模式。     

Polycentricity, reciprocity, and farmer adoption of conservation practices under community-based governance

Significant steps have occurred under Australia's ‘regional delivery model’ towards devolving responsibilities for natural resource management (NRM) to community-based regional bodies, particularly in respect of motivating farmers to adopt priority conservation practices. Challenges remain in effectively engaging the large populations covered by these bodies, especially with these bodies expected to assume responsibilities that risk them becoming perceived as extensions of government and favoring particular stakeholders. In this article, I examine whether polycentric systems of collaborative community-based governance can help address these challenges. The examination involves double-censored regression analyses of data from postal surveys of farmers in three regions. The findings suggest that community-based approaches are capable under the regional delivery model of motivating greater voluntary cooperation from farmers than otherwise possible. They highlight the importance of farmers coming to adopt reciprocity strategies in their key institutional relationships under this model. It seems subregional bodies have an advantage over regional bodies in motivating such behavior from farmers because the former are better positioned to engage them sufficiently to turn around norms of free-riding or opposition entrenched by earlier paternalistic approaches to agri-environmental conservation. This indicates the value of a polycentric approach to community-based NRM wherein responsibilities are devolved to the lowest possible governance level consistent with the principle of subsidiarity. The economic dividend from increased voluntary adoption of conservation practices under this approach arises from the reduced transaction, political and other opportunity costs of achieving the same result entirely through coercion or financial inducements.     

Modelling urban networks at mega-regional scale: Are increasingly complex urban systems sustainable?

Are the dynamics of mega-regions sustainable or not? We explore the hypothesis that increasing complexity in mega-regions implies less demands on resources needed to generate organized information, thereby making the systems more efficient and stable. This article aims to identify structural indicators for measuring urban networks at the mega-regional scale. We use night-time light data from the broad band near-visible infrared channel of the DMSP-OLS to monitor the dynamics of urbanization. We study the urban networks as graphs, where nodes are cities, and the main road and railway infrastructures represent the edges. We propose four indicators for measuring the complexity, polycentricity, efficiency and stability of networks of cities. These indicators are derived from studies and approaches such as the use of graphs and small-world networks that other authors have carried out to explain similar structures. In the article we apply the structural indicators to 12 European mega-regions. The main conclusion is that mega-regional urban systems respond to increasing complexity by adapting their relational structures to become more efficient and stable, and become more sustainable forms of organization. Consequently, it could be necessary to re-direct land use policies towards improving sustainability at the level of the mega-region.     

北京市就业中心的识别:实证方法及应用

基于城市空间结构的经典理论和就业中心识别的实证方法.利用北京市2001年和2004年的就业人口数据,在验证主中心存在的同时,采用两阶段方法,对次中心进行了识别.结果表明,北京目前仍然是一个单中心主导的城市空间结构,单中心方程对城市总体就业人口密度的解释能力超过了60%.但随着都市区的扩张,中关村等次中心开始陆续出现,并开始影响周边地区的就业分布和空间形态,这表明北京正向多中心的空间结构转变.此外,还也结合北京城市增长、制度转型和历史路径依赖的特点,对北京城市空间结构的演变机理进行了分析.