The Investment Approach to Public Service Provision

The investment approach to public service provision is now receiving considerable attention worldwide. By promoting data‐intensive assessments of baseline conditions and how government action can improve on them, the approach holds the potential to transform policy development, service implementation, and program evaluation. Recently, variations on the investment approach have been applied in Australia to explore the effectiveness of specific programs in employment training, criminal justice, and infrastructure development. This article reviews the investment approach, presents a Public Investment Checklist to guide such work, and discusses three examples. It concludes by considering the implications of investment thinking for the work of policy designers and public managers.     

Accountability in Public Service Quasi‐markets: The Case of the Australian National Disability Insurance Scheme

Australia's National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) represents the latest in a worldwide shift towards individualised funding models for the delivery of care services. However, market‐based models for care deliveries bring new considerations and dilemmas for accountability. Drawing on previous work by Dickinson et al. (2014), we examine a range of accountability dilemmas developing within the early implementation of the NDIS. These relate to accountability for the following: care outcomes, the spending of public money, care workers, and advocacy and market function. Examining these accountability dilemmas reveals differences in underpinning assumptions within the design and on‐going implementation of the NDIS, suggesting a plurality of logics within the scheme, which are in tension with one another. The contribution of this paper is to set out the accountability dilemmas, analyse them according to their underpinning logics, and present the NDIS as having potential to be a hybrid institution (Skelcher and Smith 2015). How these dilemmas will be settled is crucial to the implementation and ultimate operation of the scheme.     

附属刑法相关问题探讨

附属刑法是规定在非刑事法律中的刑法规范,它与刑法典之间的关系主要是补充与被补充、修改与被修改的关系,但它与刑法修正案、单行刑法等修改、补充刑法典的形式相比,具有较好衔接刑事责任与民事责任、行政责任以及节约立法成本的作用。附属刑法有依附型和独立型两种立法模式。对于补充、修改刑法典的附属刑法,只有全国人大及其常委会创制的非刑事法律中才能加以规定。刑法典的总则规范适用于附属刑法,除非附属刑法有特别规定。     

Citizens’ Perceptions of Governance in Rural and Urban China

This article presents three main findings from a purposive stratified survey of urban and rural residents. First, Chinese citizens “disaggregate” the state with high levels of satisfaction for Central government that fall dramatically as government gets closer to the people. Satisfaction levels are noticeably lower for those in rural China. Second, attitudes about the way policy is implemented by local governments raise concerns. Irrespective of place of residence, respondents feel that when implementing policy local officials and governments are mainly concerned with their own interests, are more receptive to the views of their superiors rather than those of ordinary people, favor those with money, and are formalistic in implementing policy rather than dealing with actual problems. Third, the areas of work that citizens would really like government to concentrate on are job creation and providing basic guarantees to protect against the shocks of the transition to a market economy. Tony Saich is the Daewoo Professor of International Affairs, Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University and Director of the Harvard University Asia Center. His recent research focuses on the development of social policy in China, particularly on the provision of public goods by local governments. His publications include Governance and Politics of China by Palgrave and edited volumes on Financial Sector Reform in China (with Yasheng Huang and Edward Steinfeld) and AIDS and Social Policy in China (with Joan Kaufman and Arthur Kleinman both by Harvard University Asia Center. He would like to thank Edward Cunningham for his great help in preparing this article. He also wants to thank Victor Yuan (Horizon Market Research Company) for his tremendous help in designing the survey and implementing it. In addition, I would like to thank Anita Chan, Martin King Whyte and two anonymous reviewers for their extremely helpful comments on an earlier draft.     

Effects on Knowledge of Nudging Citizens with Information

Nudging is a policy instrument that can affect citizen behavior, often by providing information. We argue that nudging can also affect citizens’ knowledge, which can become the basis for future choices. In this manner, providing information can make the nudging initiative stick. We test the effect of an information treatment on three types of knowledge in a field experiment. The treatment consists of information on reading strategies designed to nudge parents to read with their children, randomly assigned to 1438 families. We show how nudging by providing information does in fact increase parents’ knowledge, irrespective of socio-economic background.     

民法典设立先占取得制度之必要性与可能性透视

现行中国民事立法未明示规定先占取得制度,深刻影响着民法价值目标之合理性与体系建构之完整性。综观各 国立法,意识形态虽或相异,历史传统亦未必相同,但其于先占取得制度之构建方面却体现了一种共同之价值立 场并于法典中明示列出。以现行民事立法之价值选择与体系缺失两方面为切入点,分析先占取得制度阙如所产 生之诸种弊端,探明于未来民法典中增设先占取得制度之必然性及可能性,同时,以《中华人民共和国民法草案》 为蓝本对先占取得制度进行简要条文设计。     

《公司法》有关公司对外担保新规定的质疑

新修改的《公司法》有关公司对外担保问题的规定,对于规范公司担保秩序有一定的积极意义,但是这些规定也有明显的局限性,主要表现在:规则的自律性和强制性交融,担保的合法有效性未得到明确;法条过于简洁,牺牲了规则的精确性,导致规则的不确定性;过度追求交易安全,片面要求股东大会对担保事项决议,损害交易效率;未给特殊的公司类型留下特别的空间,妨碍公司日常业务的合法开展;法律本身的缺憾加上有关监管规章的未紧密配套,使得有关缺憾更加明显。     

关于格式条款法律控制问题的思考

格式条款是当事人为了重复使用而预先拟订,并在订立合同时未与对方协商的条款。格式条款合同的存在,一方面满足了社会化大生产和公用事业发展的需要,另一方面也在不同程度上侵害了消费者的合法权益。为此,应当通过法律控制的途径,从立法、执法和司法等方面对格式条款合同加以控制,以更好地发挥其在社会生活中的作用。     

刑法第306条罪状之解读

实践中,人们对刑法第306条罪状有着不同的理解。正当的路途应对罪状中的“在刑事诉讼中”、“毁灭、伪造证据,帮助当事人毁灭、伪造证据,威胁、引诱证人违背事实改变证言或者作伪证”以及“辩护人、诉讼代理人”等表述进行了较为精细的解读,以求准确理解立法精神,正确指导司法实践。     

违反法律、行政法规强制性规定的合同的法律效力辨析——对《合同法》第52条第5款的司法应用的解读

在司法实践中,由于不同的理解,对违反法律、行政法规强制性规定的合同法律效力的认定,在理论和司法实践中,出现了较大的偏差,因此有必要对此作进一步的澄清。本文试分析德国和台湾地区在此方面的理论和实际操作,结合我国国内立法现状,指出我国司法审判在适用该规定时,应充分考虑“强制性规定”所保护的权益与合同本身所涉权益平衡关系,并根据权益平衡结果区别确定合同的法律效力。