Information-based trade in Russia and the effects of listing abroad

This paper offers empirical evidence about transaction cost in Russia. After relating empirical measures of information and liquidity to corporate characteristics, competitive theories about cross-listings are tested. Since cross-listings generate competitive effects on transaction costs, potential to affect price discovery exists. The results reveal a lower share of private information for cross-listed firms since more transparent accounting standards reduce the incentives to collect superior information. Robustness for the evidence presented in favor of the legal bonding hypothesis is provided by those firms which list with the highest Russian standards. Measures of information-based trade are lower and the likelihood of listing abroad is significantly higher.     

上海市道路交通事故受伤人员伤残分析

目的分析道路交通事故伤残的特征,为制定和修改伤残鉴定标准和相关法规提供参考。方法对上海市因道路交通事故受伤,2005年经法医评定构成伤残的案例资料进行回顾性分析。结果伤残部位以肢体最多（53.3%）,其次为头部（23.3%）,脊柱（9.7%）,胸部（5.8%）和腹部（4.4%）。2005年上海市交通事故年累积致残率为414.8/10万,男性（505.7/10万）高于女性（318.7/10万）,以35～59岁的致残率最高（538.2/10万）,60岁以上致残率呈现下降趋势（30.2/10万）。伤残者中交通方式以非机动车最多,其次为行人。结论2005年上海市道路交通伤致残率青壮年（35～59岁）最高,对社会经济和劳动力损失大。     

Nationalism in Russia

The articles in this issue examine the role played by nationalism in present-day Russian politics, focusing particularly on potential policy approaches to dealing with the various nationalist discourses that have gained in prominence in recent years.     

俄罗斯：腐败成“一号公敌”

俄罗斯如今仍是一个存在严重腐败的国家。2008年,透明国际清廉指数排行榜上俄罗斯在全球180个国家和地区中位列147位;去年,又从2009年的146位下滑到154位。媒体称,俄罗斯是20国集团成员中最腐败的经济体,也是欧洲最腐败的国家,在“金砖四国”中的腐败程度也首屈一指。     

Insider-controlled Firms in Russia

Privatisation Vouchers in Russia were heavily invested in the holders' own firms. Using data from a recent survey, we show that insider control in firms privatised in 1992-4 through the voucher process (as distinct from the earlier leased buy-out method) is insecure and dependent on managers' support. For employees, investment in insider control appears to have been motivated by employment income insurance rather than expected excess returns on the equity. Managers are predominantly the same individuals as before privatisation and display considerable hostility to outside investors, probably because they fear dismissal should outsiders gain control. Despite insider control, firms are shedding labour quite rapidly through voluntary resignations. Employment dynamics appear to be unrelated to insider equity ownership.     

Drug Addiction in Russia

[From the editors of Pravozashchitnik:] The Council on Foreign and Defense Policy (www.svop.ru) is a nongovernmental organization. It was founded on 25 February 1992 in Moscow by a group of well-known and influential politicians, heads of business associations, eminent entrepreneurs, political and social activists, and representatives of the power ministries, the military-industrial complex, academe, and the mass media. The independent status and the considerable scientific and political authority that the council has attained enables it to play an important role in Russia's emerging civil society, a niche that state structures cannot fill.     

Political Opposition in Russia

The Communist Party is, by its very nature and principles of organization, a democratic and independent organization that bases its activity on voluntary public service. Lenin repeatedly emphasized this aspect of the matter. He wrote: "All the party's affairs are conducted, directly or through representatives, by all members of the party, enjoying equal rights and with no exceptions" (Lenin, Soch., Vol. II, p. 396).     

商事调解的域外发展及其借鉴意义

随着全球对ADR的愈加重视,域外商事调解在调解机构和调解员的共同努力下经历了大发展的时期。一方面,商事主体对商事调解反应积极,调解员收入增加且队伍日益壮大。另一方面,调解机构的发展喜忧参半,国际商事调解虽有一定发展,仲裁仍然为国际商事纠纷主要解决手段。但无论如何,商事调解都有其不可替代的功能,商事调解市场也会更加成熟。域外商事调解的发展为起步中的中国商事调解提供了参考和借鉴。     

Social support and homicide in transitional Russia

Like the United States, Russia is a large industrialized nation with high violence rates. Although its overall homicide rate is among the highest in the world, however, local rates of crime vary widely. Similarly, the level of social support provided by the state varies throughout Russia due to former Soviet policies, the differential pace of political and economic change, and the level of development. Relying upon recent criminological literature on social support theory, this study tested the hypotheses that areas with higher levels of social support will have lower homicide rates and that the effects of negative socioeconomic change on homicide rates will be moderated by levels of social support. Utilizing data from Russian regions (n = 78) and controlling for other structural covariates, negative binomial regression was employed to estimate the effects of social support on regional homicide rates. As expected, negative socioeconomic change was associated with higher homicide rates, but the results provided no support for direct or conditioning effects of social support on homicide. The findings are discussed in the context of Russia-specific conditions and of the meaning of these findings for recent research on social support and crime.     

A case of suicidal hanging in an automobile

A case of suicidal hanging inside an automobile is presented. To our knowledge, hanging has not been previously reported as a cause of death in a motor vehicle driver. The causes of death in automobile-related suicides are discussed.     

Identification of the driver in an automobile collision

We report on a three-occupant automobile collision in which one of the two survivors claimed that the deceased had operated the vehicle. We attempted to identify the driver. The left face and neck of the deceased appeared to have struck the vehicle's interior. The survivors were slightly injured on the right side of their faces. In Japan, the passenger side is on the left, and in this case, the right side of the vehicle had been damaged. By comparing the injuries of the deceased and the survivors in relation to the vehicle damages, we concluded that the deceased occupant had probably been a passenger, not the driver.     

The Adaptation of Immigrants in Russia

The author discusses the general immigration situation in Russia and surveys efforts to teach Russian to immigrants and their children.     

The Adaptation of Migrants in Russia

This issue of Russian Politics and Law addresses the topic of migration from the point of view of the host country, examining the tensions inherent in accepting large numbers of migrants, and the government policies aimed at immigrant integration at both the national and local levels. The articles in this issue demonstrate that government efforts to push immigrants to integrate into their host communities by learning the Russian language, abandoning traditional customs, and encouraging their children to assimilate have had limited success.     

Subjective Assessments of Poverty in Russia

Sociological studies conducted in 1970-80 reveal a striking feature of Russians which distinguishes them from most other ethnic groups: a rare tolerance for different types of social contact with other peoples.     

Political Propaganda in Contemporary Russia

An analysis of the forms and content of propaganda under the Putin-Medvedev regime focuses on the ideological concepts of the "power vertical" and "sovereign democracy."     

Criminal Justice in Soviet Russia

Compared to American criminal justice, the fabric of Russia's system is a tightly woven structure operating under centralized co-ordination. During recent history, the goals of Russia's criminal justice system have shifted from repression by terrorism to crime prevention through education and an emphasis on individual duty in peace-keeping matters.

The militia (police), created in 1917, has been mandated to prevent crime through intelligence activities, direct intervention, and citizen education. In 1966, it was given the responsibility for the supervision of offenders newly released from correctional institutions. Peoples Volunteer Brigades and the DRUZHINNIKS aid the militia in crime prevention.

The courts also make use of non-professionals in the persons of lay assessors to insure that the accused is judged by his “peers.” The court system itself is inquisitorial in nature as opposed to the American accusational model. As the accused person moves through pre-trial and trial procedures, one can see how his “rights” may be legally abridged at every step.

Russian courts have a variety of sentences from which to choose, ranging in harshness from public censure to death by shooting. Deprivation of liberty may be applied by degree from “education” to compulsory labor to strict incarceration. The Soviets are attempting an organized plan of diversionary sentencing, in order to reduce prison populations to all but the most dangerous offenders.

Correctional facilities depend on inmate commissions to keep order and motivate good behavior through group influence and peer pressure. Inmates as well as civilians have “a national duty to mind other people's business.”

In the United States, justice is fragmented into a variety of jurisdictions: municipal, county, state, and federal, each with its own law enforcement agencies, courts, and correctional agencies. Further, there is only limited coordination among the various segments of the system. There is little argument to the proposition that the American “system” of criminal justice is inefficient.

Unlike America's disjointed system, the Russian Criminal justice system is unified; militia (police), procurators (prosecutors), courts, and correctional facilities operate under a centralized coordinating body. This body is characterized by a unity of purpose and a high degree of systemic integration (Juviler, 1979, p. 1).