Political choice and the child labor statute of 1938: Public interest or interest group legislation?

Federal regulation of child labor (unlike that passed in early nineteenth century England) did not materialize until the New Deal of the 1930s. The present paper examines, using anecdotal and empirical evidence, the motives underlying the passage of depression-based child labor legislation embodied in the Senate vote on the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). Our study, which utilizes both dichotomous and trichotomous probit models of the vote, finds evidence that there were critical and dominantprivate as opposed to public interests behind the restrictions that the FLSA placed on child labor and the exemptions that it established.     

析政治法制化

政治法制化旨在以明确的法律规范社会政治生活的有序运行、发展,并使社会政治生活真正做到有法可依、有法必依.本文从政治权力主体的法制化、政治权力关系的法制化、政治决策的法制化、政治参与的法制化等四个方面透析了政治法制化及其内涵.     

The effects of decentralization on special interest groups

Public Choice - It is well established in the literature that the number of interest group organizations varies across countries and states, with economic freedom and other institutional factors...     

禁止利用互联网有关信息的立法评析

我国互联网行政立法对禁止利用互联网有关信息的规定有了很大的进步,但存在严重的合宪性和合理性缺陷.这些规定既限制或剥夺了公民和社会组织的宪法权利,又难以实行操作,影响了法规规章的权威和效力.建议尽快建立可行的违宪审查制度,本文从七个方面对现行的互联网行政法规规章进行修改完善.     

论中国利益群体参与公共政策制定存在的问题

处于社会转型期的中国,如何处理利益群体参政问题关乎改革开放的历史进程和社会稳定。中国的渐进式改革路径在保持社会稳定方面发挥了重要的作用,但是这种渐进式改革更多地表现在经济领域,而政治领域的改革,特别是公民参政权的落实则略显迟滞和不够。由此引起的矛盾和问题使人们产生了诸多不满和怨恨,因此探讨中国利益群体在参与公共政策制定上存在的问题,对于进一步完善中国利益群体参政的路径、提高政府的执政能力和管理创新能力,其理论价值和现实意义不言而喻。     

浅析马克思实践活动的历史形态当代价值

实践是马克思主义哲学中一个处于核心位置的概念之一,在马克思看来一切人类社会历史领域出现的所有活动都是实践作用的结果。马克思实践活动的历史形态主要分为物质生产、精神生产、人的自身生产这三种,从不同的侧面阐述了实践活动,揭示了实践在人和社会发展过程中的作用,具有当代价值。     

合法性视野中的政治文明

人类政冶文明的发展呈现出由低级到高级的排列顺序 ,当今世界的现代政治文明由晚期资本主义政治文明和社会主义政治文明共同构成 ,与晚期资本主义政治文明相比 ,以中国为代表的社会主义政治文明具有突出的开放性、广泛性、适应性和先进性。这种政治文明主宰着现代政治文明的发展趋向 ,并随时准备调适自身的发展 ,从而向更高一级政治文明平台跃迁。因此 ,不断发展与完善的社会主义政治文明能够从根本上满足社会民众对政权本身的合法性诉求     

新农村建设中村民自治组织的利益机制与实践动力

利益是社会发展的根本动力,新农村建设必须实现利益机制与实践动力在时空、组织、制度和文化上的契合.基于对村民自治组织的利益诉求机制、利益动力机制、利益导向机制的分析,阐述了新农村建设中村民自治组织的参与功能、发展功能与整合功能,并构建了村民自治组织功能发挥的实践动力.     

从悟性文化向契约文化的转变--实现民族性格的现代成熟

本文以定义悟性文化和契约文化为前提,对悟性文化与契约文化的成因做了探讨.同时,针对悟性文化赖以存在条件的变化,改革开放政策导致契约文化引进,对两种文化接触、冲突可能导致的后果做了分析,对不同种文化做出正确价值判断提出了见解,对文化评价的常见错误做出了指正.文章断定悟性文化向契约文化转变已经成为一种必然趋势,而在两种文化的冲突和融合过程中,中国书创造新的文化物种.     

略论规范性文件的监督立法

规章以下的规范性文件在行政管理中起着举足轻重的作用 ,但是由于没有完整统一的立法对其进行规范和制约 ,因而在实践中产生很多问题 ,对其进行监督立法已是当务之急。本文根据现阶段规章以下规范性文件存在的问题 ,分析了对其进行立法规制的原因 ,探讨了监督立法的思路 ,设计了立法内容 ,并对目前不宜立法的内容进行了初步分析。     

行政契约概念之重构--一种立法的视角

行政契约的概念在学术界可谓众说纷纭、莫衷一是.但我国行政立法在界定行政契约时应注意将我国的现实与国外的制度经验相结合,应使行政契约概念真正体现该种行政方式的本质属性,应从行政契约的功能优势出发认识其容许性.在作此考量后,方能对我国的行政契约概念的内涵、外延等基本问题作出科学的规定.     

On the economic theory of interest groups: Towards a group frame of reference in political economics

This paper evaluates the development of the economic theory of interest groups. Although there is important progress, many substantial lacunae in our knowledge exist. I argue that part of the problem is the way Public Choice theory developed. Methodological individualism has led to an overindividualized ('a- social') view of human behavior. Furthermore, the importance of imperfect information has been underexposed. Acknowledging the essentially social character of human behavior and the lack of information leads to the conclusion that a more prominent place should be given to the role of social groups. A shift towards a “group frame of reference” is advocated.     

如何看待当前的法外"地方立法"

本文首先说明了什么是地方立法,分析了当前地方立法中存在的主要问题;然后指出了法外"地方立法"与国家立法之间的微妙关系,并就国家与地方如何对待基层政府的"立法权"问题作了分析,认为国家应严格控制地方的立法权,地方政府也应掌握好立法权的度,应合法、合理地使用这一权力,以免与国家立法权发生冲突;最后,还指出了现行<立法法>在地方立法权的主体方面所存在的缺陷.     

Do policies develop like scientific paradigms? On occupational safety and health legislation in Finland

Abstract. The article adds to the attempts to describe and explain legislation as an extended process. The case of Finnish labour protection policy is used as an illustration. It is argued that the labour protection policy is pursued in accordance with an established labour protection paradigm, which consists of the way of cognitively structuring the safety and health problem, of the accepted methods to deal with the problem and of the values underlying the policy. It is argued that the Finnish labour protection paradigm does not correspond with the real function of labour protection. Generally, the paper suggests that the paradigm-nature of public policies implies an inherent conservatism, allowing only partial adaption to social and political change.     

The political economy of sugar legislation

The findings of this paper are a rather straightforward account of the political economy of senatorial voting on the sugar program. In the spirit of Stigler and Peltzman's accounts of interest group activity, voting on sugar is indeed related to the concentration of economic interests in the Senators' states. States with high concentrations of sugar growers and processing tend to vote for the program, those with high concentration of users tend to vote against it. The emergence of corn syrup as a sugar substitute and its subsequent interests in the program further supports this perspective. These concentrated interests are associated with conditions ripe for overcoming the collective action problem and, we infer, use their organizations to influence senatorial behavior. The political variables suggest countervailing forces which can be interpreted, at least in part, as further examples of organized (here, politically organized) influences on the interests of Senators. Thus, while the model is one of opposing interests, those of producers and users tend to influence different Senators. The major group-interest trade-off, then, is between the pull of organized interests in the constituency with that of party organization at the national (or national institutional level), at least for those for whom the pull is in opposite directions.It is clear, then, that variables representing (concentrated) consumer interests as well as variables representing grower and processor interests as well as variables representing grower and processor interests are significant in determining voting patterns on sugar legislation in the Senate. This model, therefore, is not one in which one-sided organizational interests operate politically uncontested. That, even so, consumer interests are not powerful enough to prevent sugar programs from passing is clear at one level, due to the existence of the program over most of this period. The existing level of the transfers from consumers to producers and of deadweight losses must be reflective of the magnitude of their respective free rider problems. Yet voting on the program to renew or alter those benefits at any level clearly reflects these interests and their interplay.