Bribery Problem in Kuwaiti Public Administration

This empirical study examines the bribery, problem in Kuwaiti public administration, its conception, magnitude, reasons, and its consequences. The study is a field research which is based on a random sample consisted of （600） people from various spheres of life in society. Study findings have shown that bribery in Kuwaiti administration is widespread and increasing, transcends nationality, gender, position, education level, and agencies in Kuwait which require paying attention to what kind of measures need to be taken to eradicate it. Recommendations are suggested on ways how to eradicate this problem in order not to become a phenomenon.     

Fiscal Consolidation and Australia's Public Debt

Australia has experienced one of the fastest growing public debt levels in the world post‐Global Financial Crisis due to a series of large federal budget deficits driven by high government spending. In this paper we examine the balance sheet implications of this escalating public debt, before proposing some macro‐fiscal objectives for determining its sustainable level. These objectives are to (i) restore the federal government's solvency; (ii) eliminate foreign public debt; and (iii) achieve budgetary balance over the business cycle. Empirically, we first examine how much fiscal consolidation is required for debt stabilisation at current levels, before considering what sized budget balances are needed to achieve the target debt to GDP ratios consistent with the proposed objectives. The results show that no target debt to GDP level consistent with the optimal levels will be met on current fiscal settings in the medium term. This implies significantly greater fiscal consolidation is required to minimise future fiscal risk.     

Strategic Treasury Debt Management in Public Policy

The Treasury should supplement its bond offerings with adjustable-rate coupon bonds. The adjustable coupon would be linked to the six-month Treasury bill auction yield. Given the different magnitude of adjustable and fixed mortgage rates, the interest servicing costs would be dramatically lower for the floating-coupon bonds. This idea is already a proven winner in the corporate bond market where close to 30 percent of new Eurobond offerings in the last 10 years have been adjustable-rate bonds. In addition to reducing servicing costs, the strategy will relieve some of the burden on the long-maturity fixed-coupon bonds. Reducing the supply of the fixed-coupon bonds should increase prices and decrease long-term yields. Reduction in long-term interest rates enhances spending, construction and capital expenditures. Most importantly, these bonds help enforce a low inflation policy.     

Fiscal Policy Composition,Public Debt,and Economic Activity

This paper uses a dynamic general equilibrium model i) toinvestigate how changes to different spending and revenue items of the budgetaffect economic activity and public finance; and ii) to evaluate thewelfare costs of alternative fiscal policy maneuvers. The paper shows that,unlike an increase in government purchases of final goods, an increasein public employment and transfers can have a contractionary effect onthe economy in the same way as a rise in tax rates. It also suggests thatfiscal adjustments implemented by cutting spending items increasehouseholds' welfare and are more effective in reducing the primary deficitand public debt than are increases in tax rates.     

Does Direct Democracy Reduce Public Debt Evidence from Swiss Municipalities

Although some countries have managed toobtain balanced budgets or even budgetsurpluses in recent times, public debts ofmany OECD countries remain at high levels.Since structural reforms of public spendinghave only infrequently taken place in mostcountries, fiscal pressure will increaseagain in the future due to society's ageingand the accompanying increases in socialtransfer spending. Constitutionalrestrictions on debt levels and legal rulesof the budgetary process, such as a strongrole of the minister of finance, aresupposed to be helping against the debtbias inherent in political decision-makingprocedures. In addition to such top downbudgetary procedures, this paperinvestigates the impact of referendumapproval of budget deficits by the voterson the level of public debt in a crosssection of the 134 largest Swissmunicipalities in 1990.     

Politico-Economic Determinants of Public Debt Growth: A Case Study for Austria

Based on a number of economic andparticularly politico-economic arguments,we examine the reasons for the growth ofthe central government's debt in Austriausing time series data for the period 1960 to 1999. Starting with an empiricaltest of Bohn's theory of sustainability offiscal policy, which is based on Barro'stax-smoothing model, we extend the model toaccount for several politico-economicvariables suggested by public choicetheories. Keynesian stabilization policyobjectives, influences of ideology andpolitical parties, the form of governmentand the political business cycle are testedregarding their ability to explain thegrowth of public debt in Austria. There issome empirical evidence for systematicinfluence of government behavior inaccordance with recent public choicetheories. However, it seems that the mostimportant influence on Austrian fiscalpolicy is the unemployment rate, which has asignificant influence on the decisions madeby policy-makers. Concluding, we brieflydiscuss the implications of these resultsfor the prospects of reducing public debtin Austria in the near future.     

测量国债规模的模型阐释——基于国债功能的变迁

采用经济学规范研究方法,沿袭了模型阐释国债规模测量的主流研究路径--当前价值的借款约束模型和国债自然规模模型,从宏观和微观、供给与需求的角度,剖析了决定一国国债规模的关键要素.关注了不同模型下的均衡结果,获得了国债功能变迁下测量国债规模的组合模型.研究表明,在制度变迁等外部因素影响下,国债功能有显著的变化.国债功能的变迁是国债规模波动的主要原因之一.理论上,现今的国债规模测量存在短期均衡和长期均衡交替呈现的基本特征.而在动态分析框架下,国债规模的测量受到宏观和微观因素的共同影响.研究对理论模型结果进行了操作性解释,为实证研究搭建了必要的实施框架.研究认为,进一步地探寻测量国债规模组合模型的微观基础,是将来研究的主要方向.     

论受贿犯罪未遂与既遂的基本问题

受贿罪是职务犯罪中常见的、多发的一种犯罪,是国家工作人员利用职权谋取财物,进行权钱交易的犯罪;其实质反映了权力和金钱之间的对价关系。当前,这种犯罪给我国反腐倡廉、严惩腐败的工作造成了很大阻碍,在一定程度上影响社会稳定,成为我国刑法打击的重点。在司法实践中,正确区分受贿罪既遂与未遂的界限,不仅具有较高的理论意义,更对打击该犯罪起到较强的指导作用。     

企业行贿的外部原因分析

企业作为逐利性集团,获取更大的利益无疑是其行贿的内在动机。但是没有外在条件,这种内在动机就无以转化为现实,更得不到强化。从企业外围因素分析,企业行贿的原因大致有如下七点:市场发育不完善、法律制度不健全、政府定位不清晰、权力配置不科学、官商关系不正常、违规做法未严惩、贿赂文化未清除。因此,治理企业行贿不仅要从企业自身入手,更要有效设置企业与政府的边界,让行政权力和市场权力归属明晰。     

预防商业机构贿赂失职罪的中国化进路——基于英国《反贿赂法》的分析

英国的《反贿赂法》中设立了全新的预防商业机构贿赂失职罪,适用严格责任且采用了"分段切割"的归责模式,规定了相应的程序性抗辩事由,以应对频发的商业机构商业贿赂行为,且取得了良好的成效。与之相对,我国对于商业机构的商业贿赂犯罪的刑法规制,长期依赖相关司法解释,罪名选择包括单位行贿罪、对单位行贿罪以及对非国家工作人员行贿罪,但是在具体适用上仍存在罪名设置空缺等问题。引入预防商业机构贿赂失职罪,符合对市场秩序法益的保护需求,并且有助于整合刑法规制体系,降低商业机构的经营风险。在引入本罪后,需要结合中国实际重塑其犯罪构成,督促商业机构制定与之对应的刑事合规计划,并且对配套的法律体系进行调整,包括对行刑处罚界限的划分、积极应对新类型的商业贿赂行为以及配合认罪认罚从宽程序的适用。     

The Impact of State Debt Management on Debt Activity

This article addresses the impact that state debt management has on the debt activity of a state debt program. A quantitative measure of state debt management is developed and used in analysis of state debt activity. The study finds that states with decentralized debt management issue more long-term debt as compared to states with other forms of debt management. The study also investigates the impact other institutional variables have on state debt activity and highlights the interaction effects of these variables with the institutional debt management variable. The study finds that the effects of previously tested variables such as the number of public authorities and constitutional debt limitations on debt activity are altered if the form of debt management is considered.     

Bribery and public procurement: an experimental study

A procurement contract is granted by a bureaucrat (the auctioneer) who is interested in a low price and a bribe from the provider. Procurement is thus a multi-dimensional bidding contest with one-dimensional type space (the privately known cost). The optimal price and bribe bid is derived based on an iid private cost assumption. In the experiment, bribes are negatively framed to capture that society is better off if bribes are rare or low. Although bid prices are lower than predicted, behavior is qualitatively in line with the linear equilibrium prediction. When bribes generate a negative externality, there is a significant increase in the variability of the data.     

Debt and the Local Economy: Problems in Benchmarking Local Government Debt Affordability

Debt creation imposes an obligation to repay borrowed funds from a wealth base that for most local governments is capitalized in property values. Therefore, the ability to afford debt is tied to the local economy, a factor often overlooked by localities in the analyses of their own position. However, debt levels are also relative, as the many debt affordability studies among governments and by bond rating agencies suggest. We argue here that economic concentration and interjurisdictional coordination fundamentally provide a broader analytical approach to the question a locality asks: can we afford more debt?     

文化视野下中国社会中的礼物与贿赂

在不同的社会文化背景下,对什么是腐败行为有着不同的判断标准。特别是在中国社会中,个体行动者通过自我道德化表演的策略将不被法律认可的贿赂掩饰和转变为能够被社会规范所接受的礼物,以此来刻意模糊礼物和贿赂的界限。通过对中国社会中礼物的运作逻辑及其社会文化意义、以及法律在认定贿赂过程中局限性的考察,可以看出礼物和贿赂的辨析方向:礼物交换运行在私人生活领域,双方以同质性的形式依据交换物的象征性价值进行交换,并在这一过程中构建起交换主体之间的关系;贿赂运行在公共领域,双方以异质性的形式依据交换物的经济性价值进行交换,更强调交换物本身数量的关系。     

商业贿赂中单位犯罪研究

我国司法实践中对于单位实施商业贿赂的认定,是将满足一定条件的个人贿赂行为转嫁给单位承担责任,而忽视了单位作为犯罪主体的自身特征和组织主体责任,难以有效地防止由单位自身不合理体制引发的贿赂犯罪。通过考察英美两国的相关法律和实践可以发现,对于商业贿赂行为,严惩单位犯罪且重视单位的合规计划已成为国际趋势。我国应转变商业贿赂中单位犯罪的认定模式,将单位作为与其成员相对的独立实体看待,以单位制定和执行反腐败合规计划的实际情况来认定单位自身过错,促使单位建立预防商业贿赂犯罪的多元防控体系。