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上海交通大学高等教育研究院 “研究生教育研究中心”及“牛津-上海交大联合高等教育研究中心（筹建）”招聘科研助理启示

benjmnworld — Sun, 27 Feb 2011 20:35:34 +0000

研究生教育研究中心招聘科研助理启示

上海交通大学高等教育研究院 “研究生教育研究中心”及“牛津-上海交大联合高等教育研究中心（筹建）”招聘科研助理启示

上海交通大学高等教育研究院（高教院）是一所具有国际影响力的高等教育科研与教学机构，致力于在提升自身研究水平和社会影响力的基础上，为各级教育机构、政府和非政府公共组织培养高层次、复合型和应用型的高等教育和科技与教育管理专门人才。高教院专任教师队伍100%具有博士学位，其中在国外知名大学获得博士学位或进行博士后研究的教师占50%。

设于上海交通大学高等教育研究院的“研究生教育研究中心”是国内大学中第一所专门进行研究生教育研究的机构，近年来为国务院学位委员会、中国学位与研究生教育学会完成了大量的科研课题和咨询报告，编写和出版了《国外研究生教育动态》月刊，受到国务院学位委员会委员的广泛好评。其发展目标是成为具有国际影响力的学位与研究生教育研究中心、国外学位与研究生教育的数据信息中心、国内学位与研究生教育的政策文件和研究文献中心、学位与研究生教育改革与发展的政策咨询中心。

“牛津-上海交大联合高等教育研究室（筹建）”是牛津大学教育系和上海交通大学高等教育研究院联合成立的高等教育研究机构。牛津大学有800余年历史，是英语国家中最古老的大学，有着世界性的影响。牛津大学教育系有100余年历史，最新的英国高等学校科研评估(RAE)将其科研水准评为教育学领域全英第一。“牛津-上海交大联合高等教育研究室（筹建）”致力成为高等教育合作研究以及研究生、教师交流学习的重要平台。

现因工作需要，“研究生教育研究中心”及“牛津-上海交大联合高等教育研究中心（筹建）”拟以项目聘用方式向校内外公开招聘（全职）科研助理一名，有关事项如下：

岗位职责

l 负责中心的科研辅助工作，为科研活动提供研究支持

l 协助科研项目的管理

l 协助完成各类学术活动的组织与事务处理

l 协助处理中心日常事务

基本条件和要求

l 具有大学本科及以上学历：有教育学专业背景、研究生学历者尤佳

l 具有出色的英语水平：优秀的翻译能力，能流利地与外国专家进行口语交流，有海外留学经历者优先

l 具有一定的科研能力和良好的信息采集能力

l 具有良好的个人品质、敬业精神、创新意识和团队精神，身体健康、性格随和、工作细致，有强烈的责任心，具备一定的社会交往能力

l 文字功底强，熟悉公文写作等

l 熟练运用各种办公软件

待遇

采用项目聘用（长期）的形式办理用工手续，基本待遇、补贴与奖励视个人情况而定

报名时间与方式

应聘者于2011年3月31日之前将应聘登记表以及个人简历（中英文）发至yyan@sjtu.edu.cn；主题注明“应聘-姓名-专业-学历-院校”；初审合格后，即刻通知面试时间与程序。

联系人：严媛

联系地址：上海市东川路800号上海交通大学陈瑞球楼高等教育研究院229室（200240）

应聘登记表下载

最后更新于：2011年02月25日

～～～～～～～～～～～～～～～～～～～～～～～

感兴趣的童鞋们踊跃报名或者帮忙分享吧，这份工作待遇不错，工作主要内容是负责《国外研究生教育动态》杂志的编辑，所以如果是读新闻的同学也可以尝试～

Chinese Dynasties

benjmnworld — Tue, 18 Jan 2011 21:44:43 +0000

星期日泰晤士报：中美博弈，中国智胜一筹

benjmnworld — Tue, 21 Dec 2010 07:19:23 +0000

英国《星期日泰晤士报》网站12月19日文章原题：奥巴马在智慧上不敌中国人（作者欧文·施特尔策）

中国人正在和美国进行一场大师级的棋赛，下一步之后的动作都无法看清。美国还在继续它奉行已久的贸易政策：自由贸易，偶尔会陷入贸易保护主义，这时必须要安抚心怀不满的选民；信任并依赖世界贸易组织来解决分歧，当该组织在廉价轮胎的问题上站在美国一边时，这种依赖与信任令美国赢得了一些东西；然后是会议、会议、会议。所有这些都和20世纪大同小异。

贸易：一种武器

中国却在做着完全不同的事情。美国强调贸易政策是中国发展的一件武器。

中国发展经济给中国人提供了就业和更高的生活水平，美国人则在嘲笑：为出口行业提供补贴的做法不可能永远持续下去，因为流入的美元迟早会引发通货膨胀。事实上，这样的局面正在出现，而且迫使中国当局采取众多举措来控制信贷和通胀，不过从中国所关注的长远来看，这些举措的意义不会很大。

目前，中国的国库充斥着一些美国借条，使它对美国外交政策具有重要的影响力。希拉里·克林顿去年在一次午餐会上这样问时任澳大利亚总理陆克文：“你如何能强硬对待自己的财神爷？”的确，如果中国开始抛售美国债券和美元，中国自身的资产会缩水，但如果这满足了一个更大的目标，那么这不过会被视为军事预算的一部分。

另外，中国制造的商品在全球都有市场。古老的丝绸之路上行走的是驮着香料和瓷器的骆驼，将来它们将被空中飞的运输机和海上行驶的货轮取代，这些飞机和轮船载着太阳能电池板和中国制造的各类商品。

投资：更为长远

想利用中国巨大市场的每笔交易都有条件——将核电站、绿色能源产品及汽车等方面的技术交给中国。最初的定单让美国公司高管感到高兴，因为他们关注的是公司下一季度财报。但中国人将目光瞄准2020年甚至更远，并绕开了资本家。

列宁曾说：“资本家会卖给我们绳子，将来我们会用这根绳子绞死他们。” 与那时相比，情况似乎没有任何变化。

情况其实更糟了。在奥巴马和自由贸易的支持者庆贺一桩新买卖，让美国制造商可以向韩国出售更多汽车之际，中国人却正在非洲、南美和中东站稳脚跟。中国已经表明，在国际上采取的这些动作不只关系到金钱与贸易平衡。

美国的政策仍然是不鼓励国外投资，试图对国外投资收益征收更高的税。可是中国国有企业及获得国家补贴的公司却已经向诸如苏丹这样的资源丰富的非洲国家投入了资金，他们目前正在抢夺拉美的资源，其中包括石油、天然气、铜、金、银、锂，以及用来种植大豆的土地。

外交：更有成效

接下来出现了21世纪版本的“大博弈”。奥巴马和规模贸易庞大的贸易代表团访问印度，回国后兴奋地吹嘘与印度达成了价值约100亿美元的贸易协议。但是上周，中国总理温家宝上演了技高一筹的一幕。

他出访印度，在中国一些银行的支持下，初步达成了价值160亿美元的贸易协议，并宣布中国将向印度商品开放市场，以此作为增加双边贸易的举措之一，目的是到2015年将双边贸易额增加一倍，达到1000亿美元。

现在一些国家已可以用人民币进行贸易结算，而随着人民币可以更加方便地兑换，这些做法会更加普遍。

另外，中国正在实现海军、网络作战能力、导弹和反卫星武器的现代化。

不过，在人才教育这件事情上，美国却有许多优势。全球的创新成果及大企业家仍大多出自美国；美国幸运地拥有一大批年轻人，这和中国不同；聪明的中国人仍然喜欢到美国大学接受教育。美国的强大优势还在于，美国梦仍然是吸引冒险家的磁石，他们在寻找机会向上攀登：美国军队依然是世界上最强大的军事力量；而且美国有幸拥有丰富的自然资源。

缺失的就是明智的政策。而且我们还会继续奉行近年来这些自我毁灭的政策吗？这可不是注定的事。

Travel Alert – Inclement weather in Western Europe

benjmnworld — Thu, 02 Dec 2010 09:39:57 +0000

Dec 1, 2010

Latest reports indicate that heavy snow and subzero temperatures in western Europe closed at least four airports Wednesday, including Gatwick, one of Britain’s busiest.

Edinburgh airport in Scotland, Lyon-Bron airport in southeastern France, and Geneva, Switzerland’s second biggest airport, were all closed as staff struggled to clear the runways.

The European air traffic control authority Eurocontrol also reported severe delays at Berlin’s Tegel airport and in northern Spain.

Swiss weather agency Meteosuisse forecast more snowfall throughout the day as a low-pressure front centered over western Europe moves slowly eastward.

It may also be noted that Finland’s national carrier Finnair cancelled more than 200 international and domestic flights Wednesday on the second day of a cabin crew strike, while both sides wait for the national labour mediator to reconvene negotiations.

If you or your colleagues are traveling to, through or from cities with Europe, please be aware that there is a potential of delays or cancelations.

Nov 30, 2010

News reports indicate that severe weather has affected flights at several airports in Europe on Tuesday morning. Heavy snow disrupted travel as some airports temporarily closed. Delays and cancelations were affecting European services.

In the U.K., heavy snow forced the Edinburgh Airport to close, the BAA Airports Ltd. said on its website. Glasgow Airport was reported to be “currently open” after shutting down on Monday.

London Stansted Airport is open. However, flights may be affected because of adverse weather elsewhere in the U.K.

Icy conditions and snow are also affecting road travel in Britain. More snow was forecast for Scotland and northeast England.

Some flights were canceled at the Amsterdam airport because of the weather conditions.

At Frankfurt airport, at least 200 flights have been canceled and many other flights are experiencing significant delays, a Fraport AG spokesperson said , adding no further snowfall was expected for the rest of Tuesday. Stranded passengers on an ICE high-speed train were evacuated overnight in southern Germany after heavy snow fell on overhead wires, cutting off power. According to AccuWeather, cold temperatures and snow are forecast for Germany during the next five days.

If you or your colleagues are traveling to, through or from cities with Europe, please be aware that there is a potential of delays or cancelations.

FWD: Email Etiquette

benjmnworld — Tue, 30 Nov 2010 14:55:17 +0000

When it comes to your business e-mail communications, you need to make an impression that can lend to the determination that you are a credible professional and someone that will be easy and a pleasure to do business with. You only have one chance to make that first impression which will be invaluable to building trust and confidence. These days, your first contact with other people will often be through email. In fact, while you may never actually meet them face to face, you might well end up having a productive ongoing email relationship with them for years.

Why do you need email etiquette?

Professionalism: by using proper email language you will convey a professional image
Efficiency: emails that get to the point are much more effective than lenghlty emails.
Avoid confusion, poorly worded emails can lead to misinterpretation or mistakes

Here are some simple rules of email etiquette you can follow in order to make sure your emails will be warmly and productively received.

Check your organization’s email policy is. Many organizations have rules about the types of message that can be sent and also if your email is monitored or screened.
Make sure your e-mail includes a courteous greeting and closing. Helps to make your e-mail not seem demanding or terse.
Address your contact with the appropriate level of formality and make sure you spelled their name correctly.
Spell check – emails with typos are simply not taken as seriously.
Read your email out loud to ensure the tone is that which you desire. Try to avoid relying on formatting for emphasis; rather choose the words that reflect your meaning instead.
Be sure you are including all relevant details or information necessary to understand your request or point of view.
Refrain from using the Reply to All feature to give your opinion to those who may not be interested. In most cases replying to the Sender alone is your best course of action.
Type in complete sentences. To type random phrases or cryptic thoughts does not lend to clear communication.
Always acknowledge emails from those you know in a timely manner.
Be sure the Subject: field accurately reflects the content of your email.
Keep emails brief and to the point.
Always end your emails with “Thank you,” “Sincerely,” “Best regards”
Avoid unnecessarily large file sizes. Digital photos especially, learn how to resize your digital photographs.
Don’t type in CAPITALS as this is considered to be SHOUTING. This is one of the rudest things you can do.
Use BCCs (Blind Carbon Copies) when addressing a message to a group of people who don’t necessarily know each other.
Don’t write anything you wouldn’t say in public.
Be Professional, stay away from abbreviations and don’t use emoticons (the little smiley faces).
Ask Before You Send an Attachment: Because of large size attachments or computer viruses, many people won’t open attachments unless they know the sender, ask the recipient first.
Think before you forward! Get the sender’s permission first.
Don’t send confidential or secret information through email. Email messages are more like postcards than sealed letters; they pass through many computers to get to their destination.

From PM4Dev

英媒称美国对中国崛起“羡慕嫉妒恨” 对华依赖渐长

benjmnworld — Tue, 23 Nov 2010 18:11:23 +0000

美国中期选举在喧嚣中结束之后，中美关系将何去何从再次成为举世瞩目的话题。英国媒体于11月22日撰文称，当今的美国对中国崛起的情绪复杂，夹杂了羡慕、嫉妒和一些恨意。但是西方世界对中国的依赖，其实正在日益增长。

英国《独立报》11月22日文章称，包括美国在内的西方各国，对那些正在崛起的国家抱有十分复杂的态度，可以归结为“羡慕嫉妒恨”的结合体。羡慕，是因为中印等国成功地将上百万人从贫困中解救出来；嫉妒，是因为全球性的刺激政策令崛起国家受益匪浅，可是发达国家却因债务过重而复苏缓慢；而恨，则是因为对美联储主席伯南克等西方决策者而言，崛起国家永远是可持续性全球经济复苏的“绊脚石”。

文章称，时至今日，中国、俄罗斯和沙特阿拉伯等经济体，已经足以与美国、法国等传统强国抗衡。于是伯南克在最近一再强调，除非世界上的顺差国家让它们的汇率提升，否则世界经济的复苏永远是缓慢、不平衡且不牢固的。他坚定地认为，现在的世界已经陷入中国快、美国慢的“双重速度”局面，并且这两种速度合一才能真正地稳定下来。

文章评论说，伯南克的观点值得怀疑，因为所谓的“双重速度”局面已经持续了几十年。包括中国在内的崛起国家的产出一直比消费要高，于是它们保持着高昂的贸易顺差。然而这并不意味着中国就要依赖于美国或是其它西方国家的消费者。事实上，西方消费者对崛起国家丰富且廉价的商品正在产生依赖，真正离不开中国和其它崛起经济体的，正是包括美国在内的西方世界。

[转]iPad征税有违国际惯例中国特色征税方式和幅度

benjmnworld — Fri, 19 Nov 2010 18:09:25 +0000

近期海关对入境游客、邮寄物品进行“严打”，iPad入境1000的税款让“行邮税”进入到公众视野之中。虽然行邮税确属“国际惯例”，但无论是从征税方式还是到征缴幅度，目前的行邮税体制都难以掩盖过高、过严的现实.

★中国特色的征税方式与征税幅度 www.6park.com

行邮税是海关对入境旅客行李物品和个人邮递物品征收的进口税。由于其中包含了进口环节的增值税和消费税，实际上为个人非贸易性入境物品征收的进口关税和进口工商税收的总称。课税对象包括入境携带的应税行李物品、个人邮递物品、馈赠物品以及以其他方式入境的个人物品等。

行李物品进口完税价格就高不就低，征税不按“发票”来 www.6park.com

从海关角度来说，海关54号公告有法可依，并且是2007年入境物品征税调整以来的“老调重弹”，但从征税方式上看，海关的完税价格显得有些草率。根据海关的《完税价格表》，笔记本电脑使用的一般完税价格是5000元，而iPad等电子产品在香港购买的实际购买价格并不到4000元。在国内很多型号也未达到 5000元，将所有这些产品都以5000元作为完税价格，就等同于以5000元作为这些产品的“最低价格”，作为缴税的基数来计税，导致实际税负高于本应缴纳的税额。

目前以海关监管机构单方面确定的完税价格表，并不符合缴税基数的通行做法，同时用明显过高的缴税基数来一概推翻境外各国和地区所用商业“发票”所记商品售价的合理性做法也不符合国际惯例。

邮寄物超50元要收“邮税”，想要免税不大可能

此前海关总署发布的第43号公告称，从9月1日起，取消了过去对个人邮递物品500元的免税额，并且对邮递进境物品应缴进口税超过50元的一律按商品价值全额征税。“邮税”起征限额被大幅降低。

根据海关总署《入境旅客行李物品和个人邮递物品完税价格表》，每千克奶粉的税额是20元；香水、乳液、粉底单件物品税额为50元。若按过去500元标准来看，每寄25千克的奶粉才达到征税标准，按900克一罐算，相当于27罐左右，化妆品则可以购买数十件之多。不过随着43号的生效，今年9月1日起，奶粉一次也只能寄两罐才可以免于征税，而邮寄化妆品1瓶就会达到应征税额的限制，若考虑到通胀因素，50元的税基起征根本无法满足正常需求。

20%-50%高税率，欧盟澳洲标准仅为5%-9%

和欧美等国相比，我国的行邮税也保持着明显的高税率，目前行邮税所采用的进口税税率共设四档，分别为10%、20%、30%和50%。适用第一档10%税率的物品主要为书报、刊物、影像制品及金、银制品、食品、饮料等；第二档20%税率的主要包括纺织品及其制成品、数码相机及其他电器用具、自行车、手表、钟表等，30%多为高尔夫球及球具、1万元以上高档手表，50%则为烟、酒、化妆品等。而相对于国内这四档进口税率，在国际快递公司DHL在网站上，给出的欧盟行邮税一般性参考仅为5-9%。

★行邮税征收方式有违WTO协议

海关称有贸易“货物”和私人“物品”之分，WTO规则适用于所有“进出境产品”

海关总署监管司负责人14日在接受采访时说，根据《中华人民共和国海关法》，我国对进出境商品主要区分为货物、物品两大类。所谓货物，就是通过贸易渠道进出境，用于加工、生产、销售等的商品。

但根据WTO《关税与贸易总协定》第11条，规定不得对进出境产品实行除关税、国内税等之外的禁止或限制措施。WTO的这一规则适用于所有“进出境产品”，并没有物品和货物之分。海关将个人行邮物品与货物区别对待，并通过设置限值加以限制，不符合WTO关于禁止数量限制的规定。世界主要国家除明确规定禁止入境物品外，均未区别对待货物和个人行邮物品，而且与商业进口相比，个人行邮物品通常可享受更简便快捷的程序，从低征税，不设限额。

海关称有贸易“货物”和私人“物品”之分，WTO规则适用于所有“进出境产品”

至于WTO规定，IT类产品要逐渐将关税降至零，而海关发言人接受采访时表示只是针对“货物”而言。而居民携带“物品”，仍需缴纳进口税。若按世贸规则，在没有物品货物区分条件下，向计算机类产品开征关税则明显有悖入世承诺。我国目前已经加入WTO《信息技术协定》，在进口关税和消费税上，按照协定，包括通讯设备、计算机、芯片在内的二百多项信息技术产品将已在2005年实施零关税并且取消消费税。因此，行邮税上若按关税方式征税并不合理。而退一万步讲，即使征税取消关税与消费税，若按增值税收取计算机等电子产品税款，20% 明显高出17%的最高增值税税率，带有明显惩罚性特征。
向“计算机”征关税，有悖WTO《信息技术协定》承诺

海关对计算机产品完税价格大一统，“就高不就低”、严重脱离成交价的征税方式实际上在为iPad设置最低限价门槛，当游客入关携带的iPad价格低于规定的5000元时，1000元带明显具有惩罚性特征的高额附加税随即而来。

而按照1981年正式生效的WTO新估价法的要求，最低限价的估价方法在成员国中被禁止使用。这是因为最低限价是对以成交价格为估价基础的估价制度的否定，违背了新法规确立的估价原则。制定完税价格，应当充分考虑该类商品通行售价，参考市场售价。海关现行对计算机类产品完税价格的规定与WTO《海关估价协定》不符

★国际惯例：行邮税从轻从简

私人物品一般不予征税，鲜有专门针对游客的完税价格表

在英国、澳大利亚和美国等国，并没有专门针对旅客和“淘客”们的《入境旅客行李物品和个人邮递物品完税价格表》，游客入境或邮寄物品超过限额也会收税，每个国家有所不同，进口税会按照关税、消费税或增值税征收。从英国、澳大利亚海关给游客发出的通知上不难发现，对游客个人携带物品征税主要集中在烟酒及奢侈品等，对于一般性物品，旅客可以证明为自用的，一般不予征税。

在澳大利亚，游客非私人携带物品若超过900澳元，则需缴纳进口税，但海关网站上也明确表示，游客可以出示购买票据，以便计算所需缴纳的进口税税款。加拿大海关也在游客须知中明确，超过限额的行李若需征缴关税，可以出示购买票据，消费税或增值税部分，一般税率也在5%左右。

澳洲网购免税额可达1000澳币，30多种化妆品免税率超1/3

以澳大利亚为例，05年后个人邮递物品免税额上调至1000澳币，海关并不会对已经列为免税物品、从亚马逊网购而来的电子产品征缴关税，计算机等数码产品也未出现在关税分类中。并且，若需缴纳消费税，消费税税率也一般不到10%。以化妆品为例，分类中34种产品有13种免税，其余产品税率仅为5%。即使是香烟或酒类，所征关税比例也不过20%。

★结语

海关今天可以“平均”iPad，明天就能“统一”LV，“规矩”大笔一挥，难免让人起疑，更易让人心悸，何来方便大众之说？面对质疑，一口一个国际惯例，却只谈征税这个惯例，不谈如何征税这个更具操作性的惯例。

转自网易财经网

www

Why Can Knowledge Sharing Enhance Cultivation of Innovative Talents in Universities?

benjmnworld — Wed, 10 Nov 2010 16:37:39 +0000

Photo by Pink Sherbet via Getty Image

In the era of knowledge, universities, possess tremendous amounts of high intelligent talents, modern research equipment as well as research institutions with most advanced technology and information, are bases for generating new knowledge, new thoughts and new technologies. Therefore, cultivating innovative talents becomes the one of the highest priorities. The process of innovation is defined as the development and implementation of new ideas by people who over time engage in transactions with others within an institutional context.[1] Innovative talents have innovative consciousness, innovative thoughts and capability for innovation. New ideas on their own do not create innovation. They need to be developed and merged into local conditions through organizational process, practices and political environments. [2] Thus, universities have to integrate their strategy on cultivating innovative talents together with the current situation respectively.

Why can knowledge sharing enhance cultivation of innovative talents in universities?

1. Knowledge Sharing Accelerates the Generation of New Thoughts

With the rapid development of information technology, facebook, twitter, delicious, netvibes, igoogle, dropbox etc. as well as other online resources are building up solid platforms for knowledge sharing. These resources have turned the abstract concepts into direct images and can cultivate the ability of self-learning, self-exploring and self-problem resolving. Through community of practice, students can share and discuss their views and thoughts, and can obtain general and deep knowledge for the same question within short period of time. Discussion is complementary to dialogue and is best employed in situations of convergent thinking and decision making (Figure 1.1), in discussion, different views are presented and defended, so best view and arguments to support the decision that needs to be made are searched. [3]

2. Knowledge Sharing Is Beneficial to Enhance Cross-disciplinary Integration

Knowledge sharing can break the traditional borders of disciplines and enhance cross-disciplinary integration. It can increase more knowledge areas and provide new aspects of current knowledge. The fast-changing of social needs drives universities to conduct more research and action on inter-disciplinary approaches, deepen their research areas and develop innovative aspects.

3. Knowledge Sharing Provides Effective Platform for Research Scientists Development

Staff development has been brought up into every university’s agenda. Through community of practice, research scientists can obtain first hand information and discuss research questions and obstacles. They can also gain knowledge from other disciplines in order to facilitate their research.

4. Knowledge Sharing Promotes the Construction of Institutional Innovative Structure

The difference between universities, regardless of hardware and software, lies actually on whether a knowledge sharing mechanism has been set up or not. Knowledge sharing provides a platform for the setup of institutional innovative structure. This will lead to the possible reform of the mandate, course content and skills application etc. and provide students with opportunities to be more exposed to divergent and convergent thinking.

Knowledge sharing is an engine to transform knowledge into more value. Hence, the implementation and process of knowledge is not easy. Universities need to seek better mechanisms for their knowledge sharing initiatives and to conquer all of the challenges such as culture, technology, strategy etc.

[1] Van de van 1986

[2] A. Jashapara, Knowledge Management, An Integrated Approach

[3] Senge 1990

[TIME]India vs China: Which is the best role model for the developing world?

benjmnworld — Sat, 30 Oct 2010 06:57:36 +0000

China is the Michael Jordan of emerging economies. Just as every up-and-coming basketball hopeful wanted to “be like Mike,” every up-and-coming poor nation wants to “be like China.” And why not? China has boasted an incredible record of alleviating poverty, building industry, creating jobs, and translating economic power into political power. The rise of China has made the West doubt the continued validity of its cherished principles of democratic, fee-market capitalism. Instead, some believe that China’s state-heavy, semi-market economy — or “state capitalism” — is better suited to the demands of the modern world. The old “Washington Consensus,” based on a devotion to free markets and free enterprise, is being replaced by the “Beijing Consensus.”

But is China’s Beijing Consensus really the winning formula for poor nations? Larry Summers, Obama’s assistant on economic policy, raised the idea in a recent speech that India’s political-economic model, which he labeled the “Mumbai Consensus,” may in the end win the day:

And perhaps – perhaps – in 2040, the discussion will be less about the Washington Consensus or the Beijing Consensus, than about the Mumbai Consensus – a third way not based on ideas of laissez-faire capitalism that have proven obsolete or ideas of authoritarian capitalism that ultimately will prove not to be enduringly successful. Instead, a Mumbai Consensus based on the idea of a democratic developmental state, driven not by a mercantilist emphasis on exports, but a people-centered emphasis on growing levels of consumptions and a widening middle class.

So what’s a better model for the developing world – the Mumbai Consensus or the Beijing Consensus?

In the inevitable comparisons between the world’s two largest countries and two fastest-growing economies, India usually ends up on the losing end. India’s economic growth has consistently trailed China’s, and India hasn’t eradicated poverty as quickly as China, even when adjusting for the fact that India started its pro-growth reforms a dozen years after China. That’s led to a potentially dangerous level of frustration among India’s poor. India has struggled to compete with China in large-scale, export-oriented manufacturing, and doesn’t attract as much foreign investment as China. The fractured government in India acts more slowly than China’s to implement policy or build much-needed infrastructure. Just compare Beijing’s ultra-organized 2008 Olympics to New Delhi’s embarrassing 2010 Commonwealth Games.

But at the same time, India’s economic system has some often ignored advantages over China’s:

More balanced growth. Whenever economists talk about China, they focus on the need to “rebalance.” That means China is too dependent on exports and investment for its growth, and needs to increase the role of private consumption to make its growth more balanced. India is already where China wants to be. Consumer spending plays a much bigger role in India’s economy than in China’s. Thus India doesn’t have to implement policies that distort the global economy (like China does with its currency regime). India, in fact, buys more from the rest of the world than it sells. India’s growth is thus less susceptible to shocks from the international economy.

More rational companies and banks. Under China’s “state capitalism,” the state-owned banking system and big companies can easily fall victim to government mandates and policy priorities, leading to problems like asset bubbles, excess capacity and a weakened financial system. India’s companies are more focused on profitability than China’s (as you can see from this chart). Historically India’s banks tend to have lower levels of bad loans, and though China’s nonperforming loan ratio has improved dramatically in recent years, serious concerns remain that the big government-sponsored credit boom of 2009, aimed at boosting growth during the Great Recession, could eat into Chinese banks’ balance sheets in coming years. The private sector in India also has a lower level of debt. According to data kindly provided to me by Fitch, bank credit to the private sector in China reached 148% of GDP in 2009 compared to only 54% in India. I admit I’m making a sweeping generalization here — China does have its share of smart companies, from industrial giants like Geely to start-ups like Tencent. But I think it’s fair to argue that India’s corporate and banking sectors are more professional and healthier than China’s.

Democracy. Few things annoy me more than having to sit through mindless praise of China’s authoritarian political system, especially from Westerners who don’t live under one. Many businessmen believe that authoritarianism in China has been a necessary factor behind the economy’s rapid growth. But India proves that countries don’t need dictators to create rapid development and gains in human welfare. India’s raucous democracy has been able to produce one of the world’s best records of economic growth over the past two decades – and preserve people’s civil liberties in the process. I’m certain to get comments on this post complaining that India doesn’t have a true democracy, that it’s all corrupt and unjust. But people do vote and governments do change in India, and that means the vote of the average person does count. Perhaps the convoluted nature of India’s democratic policymaking is one reason why the economy doesn’t grow as quickly as China’s. But would you sacrifice human rights for the sake of an extra percentage point or two of GDP growth? (I wouldn’t.)

This isn’t to say that India doesn’t have problems that need fixing. Its state-owned enterprises are a mess and badly need privatization. Policymakers need to find way of spreading India’s growth miracle to parts of the nation still relatively untouched. But at the same time, it is hard to argue that the Mumbai Consensus isn’t a serious rival to the Beijing Consensus.

Blog by Michael Schuman, TIME BLOG

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Here are some comments towards this post:

1. The author in this article and some economists seem in complete ignorance of the fact that China has the largest automobile market, the largest cell phone market, the largest TV market, the largest computer market, the largest agriculture product market… In fact it is hard to find that China is not number 1 or number 2 market of any significant products. If this is not consumption, what else should be? In contrast, the automobile market in India is a pigmy (15% of chinese market) in comparison with China’s. India market sizes are lagging behind China’s in almost every single category, and is praised as consumption driven. The reason for that is lack of production competiveness in India, and there is not much to export.

2. Government ownership of key strategic industries is why China will dominate. Why? Private corporations care not for the general welfare, only for their own welfare, which is many times at odds with the general welfare. So when government owns essentially all the big corporations in all the key strategic sectors like central banking, commercial and investment banking, armaments, power generation and distribution, oil and petrochemicals, telecommunications, coal, aviation and shipping industries, as it does in China, government can make sure that the corporations in these industries do not act against the general welfare assuming that government itself is acting in the interest of the general welfare. (This control of the strategic industries is so complete, 99 of the largest corporations in China trading in the stock exchanges are majority owned by Chinese government).

And all this ownership – including especially ownership of central, commercial, and investment banking – generates vast wealth and income for government way beyond what mere taxes could bring. This is actually a good thing, since it makes the potential problem of sovereign debt pretty much a problem that never materializes.

Not only that, but ownership of central, commercial, and investment banking results in more credit to credit-worthy business than would otherwise occur, resulting in more economic activity than would otherwise occur, resulting in more tax revenue than would otherwise occur, even without raising tax rates. What this means is that higher rates of non-performing loans can in the long run pay for themselves via the long term accumulating benefits of all this higher level of economic activity that would not occur from private ownership of banking. Note that government ownership of central banking is a backstop to all of this, providing the guarantee of never ending economic growth that is larger than could otherwise be.

On this issue of government owned or public banking: Note that not only is public banking almost all banking in China (only about 1/4 of banking in India is public banking), but there is a large amount of public banking in Germany, and in the US, the Bank of North Dakota is owned and operated by the state of North Dakota. It therefore is no coincidence that Germany has long been the economic engine of Europe and is the first European country to start really growing again since the Great Recession, and China and North Dakota kept thriving and growing during the Great Recession – North Dakota is the only state in the US that is still thriving and whose state government is not in financial trouble.

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Well I don’t want to comment much which country’s model is more advanced, but obviously China has achieved significantly in its development. Simply adopting the “Western Democracy Model” would never work in a confucious philosophical country. Only when all or most people are well educated, are exposed to different models, will China itself lead to change. It’s just a matter of time.

Unpopular Science – NY Times

benjmnworld — Wed, 27 Oct 2010 13:19:52 +0000

Whether we like it or not, human life is subject to the universal laws of physics.

My day, for example, starts with a demonstration of Newton’s First Law of Motion.

It states, “Every body continues in its state of rest, or of uniform motion in a straight line…”

“…unless it is compelled to change that state by forces impressed upon it.”

Based on supercomplicated physical observations, Einstein concluded that two objects may perceive time differently.

Based on simple life experience, I have concluded that this is true.

Newtonʼs Cradle shows how energy travels through a series of objects.

In our particular arrangement, kinetic energy is ultimately converted into a compression of the forehead.

The forehead can be uncrumpled by a downward movement of the jaw.

Excessive mechanical strain will compromise the elasticity of most materials, though.

The human body functions like a combustion engine. To produce energy, we need two things:
- Oxygen, supplied through the nostrils (once the toy car is removed, that is).
- Carbohydrates, which come in various forms (vanilla, chocolate, dulce de leche).

By the by: I had an idea for a carb-neutral ice cream.
All you need is to freeze a pint of ice cream to -3706 F.
The energy it will take your system to bring the ice cream up to a digestible temperature is roughly 1,000 calories, neatly burning away all those carbohydrates from the fat and sugar.
The only snag is the Third Law of Thermodynamics, which says it’s impossible to go below -459 F.
Bummer.

But back to Newton: he discovered that any two objects in the universe attract each other, and that this force is proportional to their mass.

The Earth is heavier than the Moon, and therefore attracts our bodies with a much greater force.

This explains why an empty refrigerator administrates a much smaller gravitational pull than, say, one thatʼs stacked with 50 pounds of delicious leftovers. Great: that means we can blame the leftovers.

(Fig. A): Letʼs examine the behavior of particles in a closed container.

(Fig. B): The more particles we squeeze into the container, the testier they will become, especially if the container happens to be a rush-hour downtown local at 86th and Lex.

(Fig. C): Usually the particles will distribute evenly, unless there is a weird-looking puddle on the floor.

The probability of finding a seat on the subway is inversely proportional to the number of people on the platform.

Even worse, the utter absence of people is 100 percent proportional to just having missed the train.

To describe different phenomena, physicists use various units.

PASCALS, for example, measure the pressure applied to a certain area.

COULOMBS measure electric charge (that can occur if said area is a synthetic carpet)

DECIBELS measure the intensity of the trouble the physicist gets into because he didnʼt take off his shoes first.

Often those units are named after people to recognize historic contributions to their field of expertise. One NEWTON, for example, describes the force that is necessary to accelerate 1 kilogram of mass by one meter per second squared.

This is not to be confused with one NIEMANN, which describes the force necessary to make a three-year-old put on his shoes and jacket when weʼre already late for kindergarten.

Once the child is ready to go, I search for my keys. I start spinning around to scan my surroundings. This rotation exposes my head and all its contents to centrifugal forces, resulting in loss of hair and elongated eyeballs. That’s why I need to wear prescription glasses, which are yet another thing I constantly misplace.

Obviously, the hair loss theory I just presented is bogus. Hair canʼt be “lost.” Since Antoine Lavoisier, we all know that “matter can be neither created nor destroyed, though it can be rearranged,” which, sadly, it eventually will.

Not everything can be explained through physics, though. Iʼve spent years searching for a rational explanation for the weight of my wifeʼs luggage. There is none. It is just a cruel joke of nature.

* This is just for knowledge sharing purpose and the post was originally from NY Times Blog. The blog owner does not take any legal responsibility for information being used commercially or being copied.