Multidisciplinary Projects

I. Studies on Public Choice ( current and projected ):
Members: A joint project by the ISSP economics and political departments in cooperation with several foreign scholars.

Seminar Series: This has already been active for a year. There are plans to publish a series of working papers.

Studies on Election Systems: Includes research on how different election systems influence the political views of people running for political office and affect party campaigns and rosters.

Studies on Legal Institutions: Studies on how different systems of legal remuneration affect the behavior of lawyers and plaintiffs during litigation and other related problems, e.g. rate of cases settled out of court and changes in social welfare.

Studies on the process of forming Legislative policy: Local research on this topic is severely lacking. This project plans to collect and systematize legislative materials and analyze different types of policy cases in an effort to understand the actions of members of the Legislative committee, the process by which they interact with members of the administration, and the essence of the process of policy-making. Of late, private companies have already created systems which can be used to input and retrieve full-text versions of legislative communiqués. The institute also plans to work together with other university scholars to put together an index system.

Studies of Voting patterns and Public Choice in Taiwan: Relative to the central government, the importance of Taiwan’s local government and legislative assembly is increasing with each passing day. This trend will only be reinforced by a simplification of administrative levels. In the past, research on Taiwan's electoral institutions and procedures were restricted to those focusing on Central Government, Municipal, and City Legislative elections, etc.. Local elections, especially county elections, were largely neglected. This project aims to create a research base which will allow its participating members to make a detailed analysis of Election behavior. Data is currently being systematically collected. At the same time, the project also aims to do even more research and analysis on the process of making public administrative policy.

Points of Development:

To confirm a series of conferences and work towards turning published material into an international periodical.

Comparative research on the similarities and differences between national legal policy patterns and that of other countries.

Pushing forward with plans to continue researching Taiwan's public local elections and voting patterns.

II. Social Resource Distribution
A Study on East Asia and Southeast Asia Economic Progress, Income Distribution, Social Problems, and Government Policy Relations (Currently applying for Financial Assistance)
Members: A joint project by the Economics and Social Studies Departments, in cooperation with scholars from Thailand, Korea, the Philippines, Malaysia, and Hong Kong.
Main purpose of study:

Carefully examine the evolution and actual levels of inequality between rich and poor in the newly industrialized countries and regions of East and Southeast Asia over the past twenty years. By seeking to affirm a definition of " Income", the study also hopes to give a more substantial meaning to cross-national comparative research.

To study economic progress and income distribution in Taiwan, Japan and other places and to study whether or not the effect of non-trade-off is applicable to other Southeast Asian countries and why.

To study whether or not there is a need to establish a new paradigm, if the effects of non-trade-off do not, indeed, apply to less advanced Southeast Asian countries.

Besides the above three basic directions, the project also studies related or auxiliary topics:

the evolving levels of inequality between rich and poor in specific countries;

social evolution in connection with economic progress and income distribution, focusing in particular on changes in race relations and household resource distribution;

the influence of government policies;

initial analysis and study of inequality between rich and poor in mainland China agricultural and village areas.

A Study of the Process and Influence of Social Resource Distribution (Planning Stage):

Main Purpose of Study: Social Resource Distribution is definitely an important multi-social disciplinary subject. Social Resource Distribution does not only influence the individual person in society, but also the social organizations which these individuals are an integral part of, e.g. the family. There is an intimate relationship between social resource distribution and the stages in their lives children, young adults, the middle-aged, and the elderly find themselves. Recently, in the rapidly industrializing regions of America and Europe, the rapid and continuous rise in the number of elderly in society has become a matter of grave concern. Social studies and population studies scholars point out that because the elderly need more social resources to maintain a definite standard of living, it is worth studying whether or not this trend means that more social resources are currently being consumed. The demands of other dependents, i.e. children and young adults, must also be considered. An important subject of future study is how to structure an appropriate social policy which will divide social resources in the most effective manner.

The influence of social resource distribution on the needs of society is extensive and, no doubt, at least touch upon the following items:

Point of Development: How a rising divorce rate increases the incidence of single female-parent households and self-supporting elderly widows, both underlying causes for women poverty.

Point of Development: How to maintain a minimum standard of living, how to continue granting residence policy and social security policies, middle and old age pensions, childbearing assistance, how to deal with the problem of national health (e.g. nationwide health insurance, the problem of the trend towards old people falling victim to chronic diseases, remedial medical assistance, home-patient care, and the best type of care for the old), are all closely related to social resource distribution.

Taiwan's aging population and the constant rise in the number of elderly in Taiwanese society will undoubtedly exert quite a strong influence on the structure and development of Taiwan in the future. Judging from the evidently close interdependent relationship between population distribution and social structure, the phenomenon of an aging population will greatly influence social and private resource and wealth distribution. Over the past couple of years, after the slowing down of economic progress in Taiwan, the gap between rich and poor has widened. In the future it will be especially worthwhile to study ways of hammering out and adopting a social security policy aimed at the redistribution of social resources and achieving social justice and equality.
This research topic is bound up with the study of politics, economics, society and social policy. This study plans to take the vantage point of politics and economics to study the public and private processes of social resource distribution. Our primary concern is to understand the relationship between social resource distribution and the quality of life of the citizenry, and, furthermore, how to promote social justice and equitable distribution. This study will be handled by the economic, social studies, and politics departments of the institute.

III. Study on East Asian Marine Development and Changes in East Asian Economic Institution
A Study on Taiwan's Long term capitalist development (Still in the process of applying for funding)

Members: A joint project of the Economics and History Departments, in cooperation with foreign research institutes and scholars

Point of Development: The History Department plans to use the Taiwan Development Corporation documents stored in the Taiwan Provincial Historical Documents Commission to study The Taiwan Development Corporation's influence on Taiwan's Economic development and this venture's relationship with the different regions of South China and Southeast Asia during the period of Japanese rule. Aside from this, this project plans to focus on Taiwan's problems in the realm of trade and shipping. The Economics Department, for its part, plans to use data from government related departments to study problems in Taiwan's rade and shipping distribution process.

Point of Development: (1) Study on Taiwanese Land Economy: The History Department places a special emphasis on Taiwan's land problems during the Qing dynasty and when it was under Japanese rule. The Economics department, on the other hand, stresses postwar fifties land reform, providing a systematic and comprehensive study of Taiwan's land economy. (2) The development of the shipping trade in postwar Taiwan.

A Study on East Asia's Trade, Socio-economic system, and long term development of its value system (In the planning process)

Point of Development: This study plans to study, from the standpoint of institutional change, using data and methods from four disciplines, history, sociology, economics, and philosophy, the history of socio-economic evolution and marine development in East Asia and the current state of capitalist institution development. It's purpose is to come to an in-depth understanding of the East Asian development experience.

IV. Studies on Control Economy and Law

Point of Development: Government control of the economy is common the world over. The scope of government regulation is wide. The processes of this type of control are subtle and ingrained. Let us take Taiwan as an example. From public facilities, institutions, and undertakings to financial insurance, from the rate of health insurance to the tuition standards of public and private schools, all are controlled by various laws and official rules and regulations. However, since 1980, a wave of new regulatory reform policies washed over the world, tightly controlled industries shrugged off their chains, public institutions were privatized. The wellspring of Regulatory reform is the global trend towards liberalization and privatization.

This study focuses on this particular topic, combining theory and hard data to recommend ways of strengthening a market economy:

A study of the economic theories of liberalization and privatization.

Regulatory reform policies and system engineering.

Economic analysis of regulatory rules and regulations.

Liberalization and laws of competition.

Regulatory reform projects include the following: telecommunications, cable television, and the internet.

V. Studies on the Constitution and Constitutional Government

Point of Development:

Foundational theory of basic constitutional rights;

Basic human rights: emphasizing analyses on foreign verdicts and principles;

Fundamental constitutional systems of democratic countries, including the question of the separation of powers and parliamentary systems;

A Study on the interpretation of the powers of constitutional organs;

The systems of autonomous regions.

Seminars: On November 31, 1986 the institute held an international academic roundtable conference on Presidential systems: "The choices of constitutional systems". Renowned American, German, and Taiwanese professors gathered together to discuss related problems. Plans are being made to publish a book or a journal of collected papers from the conference. In the future, depending on the demands of research, the institute plans to hold other smaller-scale conferences focusing on the same group of problems.

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