A comparison of the Russian 13% flat rate PIT evasion stratified contributions and the US tax schedule

This paper reviews the existing literature on consumer credit reporting, the most extensively used instrument to overcome information asymmetry and adverse selection problems in credit markets. Despite the copious literature in economics and some research in regulatory policy, the legal community has paid almost no attention to the legal framework of consumer credit information systems, specially within the context of the European Union. Studies on the topic, however, seem particularly relevant in view of the establishment of a single market for consumer credit. This article ultimately calls for further legal research to address consumer protection concerns and inform future legislation.      

论《消费者权益保护法》第49条对医疗纠纷的适用问题

医患关系是以生活消费为内容的消费关系 ,存在医患双方事实上的实力对比的悬殊 ,对医疗纠纷应当适用《消费者权益保护法》第 49条有关惩罚性赔偿的规定     

Information Asymmetry and the Financial Consumer Protection Policy

As complex structure of financial products severely limits consumers' understanding and causes an information asymmetry, the need to protect financial consumers has been a target of heated debates. This study designs a game theory-based model and presents that the reason behind an inadequate advisory service by financial institutions is a combination of consumers' poor financial literacy and sellers' abuse of such weakness to pursue their own profits. Our model shows that when there is information asymmetry on both product characteristics and investment preference of financial consumers, having competing companies that offer substitute products is not enough to ensure a proper advisory service. Two measures may be considered to address this issue. The first measure would be voluntary market efforts to strengthen financial consumer's literacy and self-regulatory mechanism. The second measure would be to step up administrative regulations on financial product sellers in both ex-ante and ex-post mechanisms.     

消费教育核心初探

我国的消费教育工作经过十多年的培育和近一些年来推动力度的加大,已经取得了可喜的成就。但是由于消费教育的核心问题长期未被重视,出现了将消费教育的内容片面化,甚至误导消费教育的方向等等问题。因此对消费教育应从确定消费教育核心的重要性、消费教育核心的选择原则、以绿色消费和消费者权益保护等方面为核心进行探讨。     

产品责任:北美视角的比较法评论

美国采纳严格产品责任的主要原因是:早期的法律不能给消费者提供充分的保护;调整保证的法律不是从消费者的角度出发的;美国的社会福利很大程度上不如其他西方国家。当今美国主要对于设计和信息性缺陷适用过失责任制度,严格产品制度仅适用于制造缺陷和非制造缺陷的销售者。欧洲和其他法域的严格产品制度远比美国严格。各种结构化和程序化的事务赋予美国公民更多诉至法院的机会。     

西方有效需求理论对我国扩大内需的启示

消费需求是最终需求,是拉动经济增长的最终动力。阐述西方有效需求理论的主要内容,在此基础上分析目前我国有效需求的基本状况,包括投资需求和消费需求不足的主要表现,由此得出有利于扩大内需的相关启示。     

当代社会学视野下的消费

日常生活世界一个最深刻的社会变迁,在于人们和物品之间的关系发生了根本性的变化:随着物品从生产资料转变为消费品,人们也从生产关系中的某一类主体(所有者或劳动者),转变成为一个消费者。消费社会学由于关注到了消费过程诸环节中突生性社会机制和社会力量所具有的社会后果,其相对的学科优势和合法性是明显的。     

大学生创业背景下高校消费合作社构建研究——以安徽财经大学本科生342份问卷为样本

高校消费合作社的构建过程,涵盖从初始阶段的资金筹集、店铺选址,到运营管理中的战略选择、业务分类和团队组成等各个环节。高校消费合作社的建立旨在满足高校大学生这一特殊群体的消费需求,构建时应当充分了解大学生的消费水平及特征,结合大学生对构建方式的倾向,根据不同背景,形成最佳方案。     

China's new regulatory regime tailored for the sharing economy: The case of Uber under Chinese local government regulation in comparison to the EU,US, and the UK

Although Uber's arrival in China has resulted in disruptive competition for incumbent taxi companies, it offers an attractive alternative in China's supply-demand-imbalanced urban passenger transport system. China's regulatory regime for Uber has evolved in three stages: from the regulatory vacuum prior to 2015 to its official legalization in 2015–2016, and the enactment of numerous local regulations in 2016, with specific and more demanding requirements for Uber. This policy is a part of the Chinese approach to the gradual liberalization of the urban passenger transport market. Policymakers should consider ‘fair competition’ as the guiding principle to balance the interests of sharing firms and incumbent service providers, as well as between different sharing firms. The core value of this principle lies in the benefits it provides for consumers and the way it engenders a pro-competitive market environment. The labor protection arrangements for sharing firms’ laborers should be more flexible and diversified. In order to recognize whether an Uber-Driver is an employee or independent contractor, a new standard taking into account a range of factors should be established through collective negotiations between the participants of the sharing economy, and dialogues between members of the judiciary, academics, and the policymakers. Further, consumer protection law and personal data protection provisions should apply when sharing firms misuse their distinctive algorithmic management model to compete unfairly to the detriment of consumers and other users. Ex ante regulatory measures designed to protect the personal data of users should be introduced for deployment in the context of the sharing economy. When enforcing these rules, a balance should be struck ensuring free data flow that is essential to sharing firms’ innovation and competition, and the need to ensure the level of data security required to underpin a well-functioning sharing society.     

Profiling the mobile customer – Is industry self-regulation adequate to protect consumer privacy when behavioural advertisers target mobile phones? – Part II

Mobile customers are increasingly being tracked and profiled by behavioural advertisers to enhance delivery of personalized advertising. This type of profiling relies on automated processes that mine databases containing personally-identifying or anonymous consumer data, and it raises a host of significant concerns about privacy and data protection. This second article in a two part series on “Profiling the Mobile Customer” explores how to best protect consumers’ privacy and personal data through available mechanisms that include industry self-regulation, privacy-enhancing technologies and legislative reform.¹ It discusses how well privacy and personal data concerns related to consumer profiling are addressed by two leading industry self-regulatory codes from the UK and the U.S. that aim to establish fair information practices for behavioural advertising by their member companies. It also discusses the current limitations of using technology to protect consumers from privacy abuses related to profiling. Concluding that industry self-regulation and available privacy-enhancing technologies will not be adequate to close important privacy gaps related to consumer profiling without legislative reform, it offers suggestions for EU and U.S. regulators about how to do this.²