Chinese Social Sciences Review (Volume 2)

Author: Zhang Shuguang / Deng Zhenglai (editors)
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2004-09-01
Features: The "Theme Discussion" section of this issue published two articles on financial issues. Dr. Sun Lijian's article advances the analysis of the financial system's resource allocation mechanism from a general static market mechanism to a dynamic market transmission mechanism. Through a comparison of the functions and micro-conduction mechanisms of market-dominated and bank-dominated financial systems in terms of liquidity, price discovery, risk diversification, information production, and corporate governance, the article points out that the construction of a financial system should pursue "reasonableness" rather than "perfection" to maintain efficiency and achieve the ideal state where enterprises create the maximum value for society while consumers derive the greatest enjoyment. Under the conditions of financial globalization, the market transmission mechanism is quite complex, and its effects may be contradictory. Therefore, it is essential to prevent and avoid the fallacy of composition. The key lies not in whether the system is bank-dominated or market-dominated, but in creating an environment that facilitates intermediaries or markets in providing good financial services to society. Yin Jianfeng's article introduces asymmetric information into the growth model, demonstrating that the heterogeneity of agents will lead to adverse selection and the "asymmetric information trap," negatively impacting economic growth. It further reveals that the financial system can identify heterogeneous agents through means such as credit rationing to overcome the "asymmetric information trap" and resolve adverse selection issues. Based on this, the conclusion is drawn that a decentralized, competitive banking industrial structure is unfavorable for credit rationing, while a relatively concentrated banking structure is superior to a relatively dispersed one. Several articles published in the "Academic Articles" and related sections are worth reading. Zhu Xiaoyang's paper employs the "extended case study" method to discuss the transformation of a village in Yunnan over more than half a century, illustrating how people redefine significant historical events based on the environmental conditions of their time, forming "conditional information" for individual and collective action and the "collective memory" of the village community, which in turn influences the "reality" of village development and community order-building, including village elections and self-governance in the 1990s. Wang Xiaozhang's paper compares and analyzes the ideas of Georg Simmel and Max Weber on modern self-practice, revealing their inherent tension in denying prophecy yet playing the role of a prophet, while also highlighting the limitations of each. Simmel views self-practice as an endless battle of life transcending itself and fighting against itself, and only by maintaining a certain degree of superficiality can life continue. Weber proposed asceticism as a personality and self-practice, but modern society has dissolved the value rationality that underpinned early Puritan asceticism. Supervision is a common phenomenon in organizations, and supervision decisions are important organizational decisions. Wang Mijun's paper, building on previous research, discusses the impact of collusion on supervision decisions and organizational design, proving that collusion, information characteristics, and the characteristics of supervision technology are fundamental factors affecting supervision decisions and organizational design. Xu Zhangrun's article reviews Liang Shuming's thoughts on the constitution and constitutionalism, which not only holds significant academic value but also has profound practical implications for promoting democratic constitutionalism in China. Property rights theory has developed rapidly in recent decades, with continuous innovation and a vast body of literature. The reviews by Phluebooton and Pejovich (1972) and De Alessi (1980) are considered classics but fail to encompass further developments. The "Literature Review" section of this issue features an article by Xu Guangdong and Shi Hongxiu, which provides a new review of property rights theory in institutional economics from the perspective of intellectual history. This issue also publishes commentaries by 11 Ph.D. students from Peking University, Jilin University, and Renmin University, offering extensive reviews of the first four issues of The Chinese Social Sciences Review. The comments include praise, criticism, and encouragement, with insightful analyses and brilliant ideas across various aspects—academic and intellectual, theory and practice, real-world concerns and knowledge frameworks, intellectuals and knowledge production, editorial objectives and section settings, review methods and article selection. All of this converges on one point: for the advancement of Chinese academia.