Regional Difference in Social Capital and Its Impact on Regional Economic Growth in China

Social capital has played an increasingly important role in regional development.China is a country with high stocks of social capital.Using several different indicators of social capital,this study tries to research the regional disparities in social capital and the influence of social capital on economic growth of China in 1978-2004.Measuring social capital with indicators of associations,charities and blood donation rates,this study finds significant regional disparities in social capital at provincial level in China.Those indicators for social capital are highly correlated with regional economic performance.Statistical analysis shows that social capital has a significant and positive effect on a long-term provincial economic growth.This relationship exists after controlling policy,macro location factors,and per capita GDP in the initial year.The empirical findings indicate that institutions,culture and social relations are critical for regional development in China.Therefore,the creation and support of social capital should be paid more attention to when making regional policy.

Changes in Agricultural System as Farmers Adapt to Economic-Social and Climatic Changes in the Min Upriver Rural Areas in Western Sichuan,Southwestern China

Rapid economic growth in China has brought about great economic-social changes in rural areas, having considerable impact on the society in economy and environment. With a per capita possession of about 0.08 ha of cropland, Chinese farmers in rural areas adopt various ways in response to these changes in a bit to maintain their livelihood, wherein the agricultural system is facing one more options possible. To understand how rural communities have used different mechanisms to adapt to the economic and natural changes, we joined a survey in dry valleys of the Min upriver area under Maoxian county of western Sichuan province, southwestern China and visited the local people. Changes in the main crop cultivation have shown up an important means to keep up their household income. Farm households start seeking economic growth through diversified cultivating of cereal and economic crops in five lines, namely cereal, apple monoculture, apple and vegetables, plum and vegetables, mixed fruits and vegetables. These new lines mirror farmers' flexibility to cope with today's economic-social and climatic changes. The farming operation has changed all the more from a subsistence on grain to special agricultural products. Economic reforms in the early 1980 s motivated theprogress first in conversion of production from grain to fruits, and the desire to increase family income turned out to be an impetus for the subsequent events. At present, more farmers moving out of the rural areas, uneasy availability of labor force, increased opportunity cost of labors and their wages, increased farm size, and the urgent demand for the agricultural labor force, all these combine into the trend of the agricultural system of China on facing further economic-social reforms and reconstruction of the countryside across China.

Entrepreneurial Mind-Set Among Female University Students： A Study of University of Jos Students, Nigeria

In today＇s world, entrepreneurship is seen as the vital source for economic growth, and education in the creation and development of entrepreneurial attitudes. It is, therefore, natural to consider female students as the primary resource of future entrepreneurs. Entrepreneurship as a career option is becoming increasingly desirable. Responding to this need, many colleges and universities around the world have significantly increased their offerings of entrepreneurship courses over the past 25 years. Entrepreneurship courses are not only offered by Business Institutes, but other faculties like Social Sciences, Natural Sciences, Engineering, and Information Technology are also offering these courses in their syllabus. The problem under focus was to examine entrepreneurial mindset among female university students, a study of University of Jos. The study also ascertained the rate at which variables like： perception of entrepreneurship, role model and university＇s role to promote entrepreneurship are translated into entrepreneurial mindset of female students of University of Jos. A sample size of about 400 was adopted from the three Faculties of Management Science, Natural Sciences, and Social Sciences which were selected at random. Furthermore, the data obtained were analyzed using simple percentage and presented in tables and charts, the hypothesis which states that there is no significant relationship between the teaching of entrepreneurship and university female students＇ entrepreneurial mindset which was tested using z-test analyses of population proportion earlier conducted. This implies a weak relationship between the teaching of entrepreneurship and university female students＇ entrepreneurial mindset. Based on the above inference, the research recommended that, as providers of entrepreneurship trainings, universities must create entrepreneurship supportive environment that could encourage entrepreneurial activity which would in turn help develop an enterprise culture among the female students.

Research on features and questions of Korean social welfare model

In the second half of the 1990s, South Korea has undergone dramatic changes called fetal movement of welfare state. However, after the foreign exchange crisis, members of the South Korean society are faced with unstable employment and income instability, where the degree of risk of unemployment is higher than ever before. Deepening of globalization has a complex influence on social welfare development. Despite social welfare developing, the reasons of income inequality and more serious poverty are diverse. Developmentalism strategy since the 1960s in Korea has obvious limitations, which cannot continue to play an effective function according to changing internal and external conditions. In order to get rid of this situation, it should create a virtuous cycle of welfare and growth, and materialize the development strategy of the social welfare in the macro-economic and social development stratezv.

The Impacts of External Debt on Economic Growth in Transition Economies

The 1989 and following years were the periods in which many important economic and political tumovers took place in the world. That was the time when Berlin Wall fell down with scattering the Eastern block and many politically independent states came into being, at the same time, ongoing about 70 years socialist system also started to change into liberal system. The constituted 27 states in 1991 were tended to liberal economic system instead of socialist economy, and these states were called as transition economies. In this study, the relationship between indebtedness and growth rate of transition countries were analyzed by panel autoregressive distributed lag model （ARDL）. Before panel ARDL application, stationary properties of the variables have been checked with first and second generation unit root test. For the second generation unit root tests, CADF tests have been used. Also cross section dependency has been examined by LM tests.

Scientific Land Reform in Nepal： Question of Equity and Efficiency

Scientific Land Reform is at centre of decades＇ conflict and even during Peace Process in Nepal. In this regards, land reform attempts to address equity and efficiency so as to address historical inequity and injustices for promoting peace process in Nepal. From equity perspective, landlessness, unequal power structure and social relation, injustices and discrimination for long centuries are key land issues. Along with this, economic efficiency is the fundamental for enhancing agricultural growth leading to economic growth. In particular, this article argues that, in the given prevailing condition, i.e. traditional and subsistence and rampant rural poverty and unequal power structure and injustices, small farms perform better leading to food and livelihood security at household level. Consequently, ＇Scientific Land Reform＇ has been defined by taking into account the essence of equity and efficiency.

Trend of Final Energy Intensity Changes in Lao PDR

While being developed, Lao society and economy have gradually shifted from agricultural-based to service-industrial oriented one. As a result, final energy consumption has rapidly changed. This paper studied a trend of changes in final energy intensity by looking at sector-wide energy demand and shares in gross domestic products. It was found that intensity of total final energy consumption in Lao PDR （People＇s Democratic Republic） gradually decreased during the last decades. This was resulted of high stable economic growth and comparatively slow growth in energy demand. Furthermore, Lao economy still relays mainly on less-energy intensive economic sectors, such as services and traditional agriculture. Although energy intensities of the industry, transportation and services sectors continuously decreased, but have slowed down in recent years. Moreover, energy intensity of agricultural sector continues increasing. All these facts give a ground for thinking that in the future, when socio-economic development of the country will reach higher level, there will be more energy consuming activities, then energy demand will increase while economic growth will slow down, and therefore, energy intensity is to increase. Knowledge on trend of energy consumption changes would be useful for predicting energy demand and securing energy supply in the future.

Sociology and Degrowth： Visions of Social Change, Entropy and Evolution in a Waydown Era

In the last few years, different sources pointed to a same message： industrial civilization had entered into an overshoot mode; the natural limits to growth had been already surpassed. This frontier does not wait for us in the future; it already belongs to our past. If population and the economy are truly beyond the limits, then current visions and theories of social change would be deeply perturbed. If the development era is approaching its end, then many sociological theories on current societies will share the same destiny： sustainable development doctrines between them. It is worth to examine theories that explicitly look at the social world which at least are not incompatible with it. Four different approaches are discussed in this context： governance of complexity, post-development and alternative local development, utopian sceneries of a prosperous waydown, visions of collapse and the die-off. As a conclusion, the paper accepts an evolutionary perspective supports that there are some potentials for conscious social change, but it does not justify the belief in a particular only line of history. This conclusion does not satisfy the desire of knowing the future; nevertheless it may be the only one possible. The future is not written. Neither in history nor in evolution; not even in the mixture of history and evolution that conforms us as inhabitants of the Earth.

Planning Strategic Sustainable Development in Malaysia by Incorporating the Concept of Low Carbon Society

Malaysia has undergone rapid urbanization and economic growth for past decades and is expected to continue to have an average economic grow at 5%-6% per annum in the next five years. This phenomenon of growth and pursuit of socio-economic progress has great impact not only on the economy but also on community life style and environment. The concept of sustainable development was adopted by Malaysia government as early as mid 1990s to address some of the emerging environmental issues and more specifically on climate change issues recently. Malaysia government announced a commitment of voluntary 40% reduction in CO2 emission intensity by 2020 during the Conference of Party （COP15） meeting in Copenhagen in 2009. In parallel to this commitment of CO2 emission reduction, the concept of sustainable development in urban planning should incorporate a more comprehensive and quantitative approach in the preparation of development plan as well as in exercising the routine development control practice at the local planning authority. This paper prepares a quantitative scenario study on the establishment of low carbon society in Iskandar Malaysia.

小型微利企业的税收筹划

根据国家统计部门统计,我国的小型微利企业占企业总数的94.15%,这些中小企业在吸纳人员就业和促进社会经济增长方面做出了突出的贡献,中小企业的健康发展对我国经济的持续稳定有着重要的战略意义。有鉴于此,国家陆续出台了针对小型微利企业的一系列税收扶持政策,从税收层面切实为小型微利企业进行减负。2014年4月8日、18日,财政部。

Steadfastly Maintain Our Direction and Explore New Roads： Sixty Years of Socialist Practice in China

To examine the directions and developmental process of China＇s socialist construction at a time when the Chinese economy is growing rapidly despite the current world economic crisis is an act of no ordinary significance. Broadly speaking, China＇s sixty years of socialist construction can be divided into two phases： the first thirty years from 1949 to 1979 and the second thirty from 1979 to 2009. The first thirty years of China＇s socialist revolution and construction laid a solid foundation for the reform and opening up of the next thirty years, a period in which China＇s continued exploration of new directions led to spectacular achievements. History teaches us that the linchpin of building socialism is not whether you have a detailed blueprint for socialism, but whether you have a grand vision for understanding socialism and the courage to direct socialist construction. Although China today faces many problems and even grave challenges, we will open up an ever wider path for socialism with Chinese characteristics so long as our country adheres to the direction of socialism.

Responsible Research and Innovation and Its Implications for China

Responsible research and innovation （RRI） represents a new evotvtng approach to governing research and innovation that takes into account potential impacts on the environment and society. Most published studies on RRI focus on the social benefits of research and innovation through examining RRI＇s definitions and approaches for its implementation. In contrast, the present study addresses the influence of RRI on economic growth, and discusses the situations in which RRI will benefit economies. Our study finds that for its implementation to be successful RRI needs to meet certain conditions, and that its implementation is not always beneficial to economic growth. To achieve a better result from RRI as part of an innovation policy, each country should balance the push and pull power of RRI to make sure that it becomes a building block rather than a stumbling block for innovation, economic growth and social welfare. To assure that RRI can be successfully implemented, China needs to strengthen and improve the participation mechanisms for stakeholders in major scientific and technological innovative activities.