Precedent Externality, Network Effect, and the Possible Inefficiency of the Evolution of Laws

Using the traditional scenario of tort conflict as an example, I argue that the marginal precautionary costs of injurers and victims are not constant, as was assumed by most previous researchers. The precedent of a liability rule has some natural externality on the precaution technology, and hence marginal cost, faced by future agents involved in torts. The adoption of legal rules therefore has a network effect, meaning that the present prevalent adoption of one rule increases the probability of its future adoption. Treating the dynamic evolution of legal rules as a random process, we are able to apply an established result in the literature of network economies to conclude the path-dependence, non-predictability, and potential inefficiency concerning the final legal rule to which the dynamics converge.     

试论竞争法上的竞争维持与成本效益原则

本文是笔者在通过对亚太经济合作组织（ＡＰＥＣ）成员经济体的竞争政策、法律进行研究后写成的、文章共分五个部分,分别对竞争维持与成本效益原则的一般概况及运用等情况作了介绍和分析,     

侵权之诉还是政府干预——经济法与民法视野中的外部性矫正问题

外部性是造成市场失灵的重要原因。法律制度首先确定权利 ,然后采取提起侵权之诉 (民法方法 )或者政府直接干预 (经济法方法 )来矫正外部性。选择哪种方法 ,由交易费用的大小决定。影响交易费用大小的重要因素是权利和权利主体具有私人性还是社会公共性特征 ,经济法则适用于交易费用过高导致民法失灵的情形。从影响交易费用的因素可以推论 ,经济法以调整对象的社会公共性为本质特征 ,与民法相互配合 ,共同调整现代社会中日趋复杂的经济关系。     

公益诉讼及其“外部性”的经济学分析

案例一日前,湖南律师刘大华,以农行长沙分行高新支行于2004年12月10日“擅自”从他的账户上划扣10元金穗卡年费为由,将农行高新支行告上法庭,要求农行返还划扣的10元钱,并支付800元的误工费,为法院受理。据刘大华测算,如胜诉,全国4亿消费者将从中获益,可节约费用40亿元。案例二     

Privacy and the precautionary principle

The precautionary principle – which implies that where there are threats of serious or irreversible damage, lack of full scientific certainty shall not be used as a reason for postponing protective measures – has been adopted as a standard of environmental and health protection in international and European legislation. This article offers an overview of the precautionary principle as a legal standard applicable to European privacy and data protection legislation. For this reason, it takes particularly into account the guidelines of this legislation as well as the privacy impact assessment framework, raised by the European Commission through the Recommendation on Radio-Frequency Identification applications. In brief, the article stresses the role of the precautionary principle in improving privacy protection through liability, prudence and transparency.     

Market structure, performance, and efficiency of the Chinese banking sector

The Chinese banking system is evolving from a mono-bank system to one involving many banks of varied types and functions and there is a heated debate on whether competition can help to improve the performance and efficiency of the banks. This paper tests five hypotheses that have been proposed in the literature on the relationship between market structure, profitability, and efficiency using data envelopment analysis with a panel data of the 14 largest nationwide banks in China during the period of 1998–2007. The empirical results show clearly that neither the structure-conduct performance nor the efficient structure hypotheses hold in China. The strongest support is for the relative market power hypothesis that suggests that banks with differentiated services and products are those with higher market shares, and that they are able exercise their market power to obtain higher profits by setting higher prices. Technical efficiency has a significant effect upon bank profitability and the policy makers should promote further competition in the Chinese banking sector.     

Border carbon adjustments, WTO-law and the principle of common but differentiated responsibilities

This paper considers unilateral border measures, as contemplated by a number of developed states in conjunction with domestic emissions reduction schemes, as they relate to international trade and international environmental law. Specifically, I argue that to the extent that WTO-compliance requires strict adherence to the principle of nondiscrimination, as embodied in the national treatment and most-favored nation provisions in the General Agreement on Trade and Tariffs, there is the potential for conflict with the principle of common but differentiated responsibilities (CBDR), both as a free-standing principle of customary international law and as set out in various multilateral environmental agreements and, in particular in the climate change context, the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and the Kyoto Protocol. This is insofar as the unilateral imposition of BCAs by developed countries shifts costs of compliance with environmental legislation in developed economies onto the developing world. Such allocation may conflict with the principle of CBDR, which recognizes the unequal contribution to environmental degradation of developed countries as well as their enhanced ability to address the challenges presented by such degradation and, as a consequence, requires that they undertake more onerous obligations with respect to climate change mitigation. The paper concludes with a discussion of the extent to which this conflict is illustrative of a deeper tension between efficiency and equity considerations inherent in the intersection of international economic law and international environmental law.     

Horizontal mergers, efficiency gains and remedies

The combination of structural remedies and efficiency gains in a merger may lead to pro-competitive outcomes, thus maintaining pre-merger prices. Two types of efficiencies are necessary. The first corresponds to a flatter marginal cost function, the second to a decrease in the intercept of the marginal cost curve. If these efficiency gains are not sufficient to keep the post-merger price at the pre-merger level, then divestitures by the resultant merged entity are adopted. This paper allows a comparison between two kinds of divestitures and it can be shown that, depending on the efficiency gains, divested capital distributed among the remaining competitors in the market is optimal when compared to divested capital being placed on the hands of a single competitor.     

健全监督体系,提高行政效率

政府管理职能具有自然垄断的特性，垄断必然导致低效率、浪费和腐败。提高政府管理效率和控制腐败的措施是健全监督体系并充分发挥其监督功能，督促政府正确决策，高效执行，节约成本，及时纠错，杜绝腐败。这样，政府行政运行的效率便能得以提高。     

法与经济学视野中的外部性及其解决方法分析

对于外部性的含义,学者们多从经济学的角度进行界定;而对于外部性的解决方法,学者们又多从制度的角度加以寻求。从法律视角即权利和义务的角度,也可以对外部性进行界定,并由此提出法律解决的方法。在解决外部性方面,经济法机制优于民法和行政法机制,但经济法解决外部性也需要注意一些问题。     

End-of-life decision-making, the principle of double effect, and the devil's choice: a response to Roger Magnusson

Recently, the principle of double effect has come under scrutiny by Magnusson who believes it provides a subterfuge for those who act so as to end the lives of their patients. Specifically, he argues that the conceptual distinction between foresight and intention is dubious and, moreover, renders patients vulnerable to involuntary euthanasia. At the same time, Magnusson wants to protect doctors from criminal liability when faced with (what he understands to be) a "devil's choice" between ending the life of a patient or under-treating pain. Hence, Magnusson proposes that, subject to specific conditions, a so-called "defence of necessity" be recognised through either common law doctrine or legislation. However, to safeguard this defence, he must rely on what he most wants to reject: a fundamental aspect of the principle of double effect.     

Perceived responsibility and the least of evils principle

In a 3×3×2 factorial experiment subjects were asked to make a series of judgments about a hypothetical defendant. Varied in theinvestigation were the coercive characteristics of the situation for the defendant, the amount of harm done to the victim, and the legitimate alternatives available to the defendant to meet the demands of coercion. Observers judged the actor harshly for performing an illegal action when a legitimate alternative was available and when the amount of harm to the victim exceeded the level of coercion used against thedefendant. However, the defendant was exonerated from blame and punishment when legitimate alternatives were not available and when coercio level exceeded harm level. The implications of the findings were discussed in relationship to both jury decision making and the attribution of responsibility literature.     

风险社会中市场主体责任社会性的外部性理论阐析

风险社会中市场主体行为风险的外部性是市场主体责任社会性的风险根源,突出了社会性的经济法责任在解决风险外部性方面具有独特优势,如责任主体具有外延的广泛性和形态的多样性、责任归责原则的社会化、责任的认定与归结不一定以发生损害结果为要件等.这使得经济法责任能更好地预防和控制风险,弥补传统法律责任制度在解决外部性方面的不足,以满足人类社会生存与发展的共同需求,实现效率的最大化.     

略论法律至上原则

法律至上,是一切法治国家普遍奉行的原则,是法治之所以为法治而区别于专制、人治的根本特性.当古希腊思想家亚里士多德第一次提出了"法治应当优于一人之治"的主张之后,伴随着历史的发展特别是资产阶级取得政权、建立资产阶级民主制度,法律至上作为法治的一项根本原则,逐渐在支配着人类的治国观念.     

Market power,efficiency and stability of Indian banks

Economic Change and Restructuring - We investigate the relationship between stability and market power in the Indian banking system for the years 2005 to 2019. For this purpose, we employ three...