Convergence Between Europe and America: The Transition from Industrial to Innovation Policy

Traditionally, the U.S. and Western Europe have chosen different policies to foster commercial innovation. Whereas (federal) government intervention in the U.S. has required strict justifications and has been mainly indirect, most governments on the other side of the Atlantic have played an explicit and more active role in the economy. However, recent developments indicate a convergence between Europe and America, both in type of policy measures and their legitimation. Within a framework of risk profiles and a typology of justifications, we examine several U.S. and European programs (Etzkowitz, 1997). We find that the main reason for convergence in policy agendas and measures seems to be an incorporation of perceived missing links in the innovation systems in response to reciprocal competitive pressures. Hence, the federal government is aiming to play a more direct role in the U.S., while the university sector and technology transfer becomes increasingly integrated in European innovation policies.     

The UK Technology Transfer System: Calls for Stronger Links Between Higher Education and Industry

Links between higher education and industry are of vital economic importance. These links provide the environment for innovation and technology transfer and are crucial for sustaining competitiveness, reinventing organisations, creating new businesses, fighting unemployment, and accelerating development programmes. Recently, Britain realised its deficiencies in the areas of education and technology, and major efforts are being made to enhance its international competitiveness. The most recent proposal is for the establishment of a University for Industry. This article discusses the background in which the development of links between higher education and industry and the University for Industry will be made.     

Fiscal Federalism in Transition: Evidence from Ukraine

Effects of fiscal federalism on redistribution and economic growth are analyzed for Ukraine, a country with large regional differences. Since there is virtually no such empirical literature, except a study of the German case, and since there are several potential flaws, the results must be interpreted in a very tentative way. We find that this relatively poor, disorganized country with little democracy has effectively redistributed income from relatively wealthy to relatively poor regions and thus promoted regional economic convergence, and even dampened the recession in both types of regions. We also find that the evidence does not reject the view that relatively poor regions used the transfers in a growth-conducive fashion, and the paper argues that the findings may have implications beyond the case of Ukraine. But the analysis is tricky, uncertain, and merely a small step to an interesting research issue.     

A Typology of Tax Compliance in Developing Economies: Empirical Evidence from China's Shoe Industry

Drawing on fieldwork investigations of shoe manufacturers in southeastern China, this article provides empirical evidence for understanding these businesses’ taxpaying practices. We find that since business taxpayers largely regard tax law as illegitimate, instrumental considerations dominate these taxpayers’ decisions to pay or not pay taxes. We then incorporate “structural opportunities for evasion” and “perceived costs of evasion” to develop a two‐by‐two matrix to understand the following types of behavior: aggressive evasion, obliged compliance, strategic compliance, and reciprocal compliance. We argue that this matrix explains why value added tax fraud is widespread in China while voluntary compliance is rare. It also helps to illuminate compliance more generally in developing economies.     

Interactive Relations Between Universities and Firms: Empirical Evidence for Austria

In recent years interaction between universities and the business sector and the role of these collaborations in fostering innovation has received greater attention. This paper analyzes different types of interactions between the two sectors from the perspectives of universities and firms. The three major research questions address the frequency of different types of interactions, the benefits that companies derive from interaction with universities and determinants of interaction for both sectors.Two different surveys form the empirical base for this paper: One among innovative firms in Austria, one among all Austrian university departments. The methodologies we use are analyses of variance and logistic regressions. Our results demonstrate that the main channel of knowledge transfer from universities to the business sector still occurs through the mobility of human capital. The major barriers of interaction lie in the differences between cultures of the two spheres as well as lack of information at the side of firms.     

Efficiency in Banking: Empirical Evidence from the Czech Republic

The paper examines the cost efficiency of the Czech-banking system in the 1990s by applying the distribution free approach model. Reported results indicate that foreign banks were on average more efficient than the other banks, although their efficiency was comparable with the ‘good’ small banks’ efficiency in early years of their operation. Based on the estimated results it is argued that early privatisation of state-owned commercial banks and more liberal policy towards foreign banks in the early stage of transition would have enhanced the efficiency in the banking system.     

Institutions and the Growth of Knowledge: Evidence from International Environmental Regimes

This article argues that institutions not only reflect ideas prevalent at the time of their creation, but also play vital roles in driving the growth and dissemination of knowledge. Because institutions are not actors in their own right, however, it is essential to identify the mechanisms through which they influence the behavior of those who are producers and consumers of knowledge. The central section of the article explores three distinct mechanisms or families of mechanisms that come into play in this context:(1) framing the research agenda, (2) privileging certain types of knowledge claims, and (3) guiding the application of knowledge to specific policy concerns. The article's concluding section examines the policy implications flowing from the proposition that institutions play significant roles in creating knowledge regarding the issues they address. Throughout, observations relating to international environmental or resources regimes provide a source of illustrations.     

检察环节证据合法性审查实证研究

修订后的《刑事诉讼法》规定了检察机关的非法证据排除义务,并对检察环节开展证据合法性审查的具体程序和相应职责予以了明确规定。从司法实践来看,侦查活动的密闭性、审查模式的单一性、立法的不完善以及在审查过程中自由裁量缺乏必要的规制等问题制约了证据合法性审查的实效。为此,有必要从审查程序、配套制度以及认证规则等方面予以完善。     

Networking and Technology Transfer in the Spanish Ceramic Tiles Cluster: Its Role in the Sector Competitiveness

The ceramic tile cluster industry in Spain has actually a global turnover of approximately 3.000 M Euros of which a 60% is exported. Its annual growth has been around a steady 20% the last five tears. In spite of the traditional Italian technology leadership, the clusterization of this industry in Spain (90% of the producers are located in a 40 km geographical circle) has altered these traditional R&D roles. The increasing rate of technology transfer and co-operation, which is taking place, especially in the product development area, has enabled this change. This paper will aim to analyze the cluster competitiveness and the technology formal and informal cooperation networks, which have been established during the last twenty years in the industry and especially in the enamelling and decoration sub sector. A critical variable relates to product and design development. An outstanding fact has been the technology demand-pull movement exerted from the producers (200 firms mostly SMEs) and the consequent quick product development cycles observed in the latest sectoral fairs.     

Resisting Multiple Narratives of Law in Transition Countries: Russia and Beyond

Burbank, Jane . 2004 . Russian Peasants Go to Court: Legal Culture in the Countryside, 1905–1917 . Bloomington, IN : Indiana University Press. Pp. xix + 374. $49.95 cloth. Feifer, George . 1964 . Justice in Moscow . New York : Simon and Schuster. Pp. 336 . $20.95 paper. Kaminskaya, Dina . 1982 . Final Judgment: My Life as a Soviet Defense Attorney . Trans. Michael Glenny. New York : Simon and Schuster. Pp. 364 . Out of print. Ledeneva, Alena V . 2013 . Can Russia Modernise? Sistema, Power Networks and Informal Governance . Cambridge : Cambridge University Press. Pp. xv + 332. $90.00 cloth; $32.99 paper. McDonald, Tracy . 2011 . Face to the Village: The Riazan Countryside under Soviet Rule, 1921–1930 . Toronto : University of Toronto Press. Pp. xvii + 422. $75.00 cloth. Politkovskaya, Anna . 2004 . Putin's Russia: Life in a Failing Democracy . Trans. Arch Tait. London : Harvill Press. Pp. 304 . $17.00 paper. Popova, Maria . 2012 . Politicized Justice in Emerging Democracies: A Study of Courts in Russia and Ukraine . Cambridge : Cambridge University Press. Pp. xii + 197. $103.00 cloth; $29.99 paper. Romanova, Ol'ga . 2010 . Butyrka . Moscow : Izdatel'stvo Astrel'. Pp. 316 . 240 rubles. The literature on the role of law in countries with so‐called hybrid regimes that are stuck somewhere between democracy and authoritarianism tends to dwell on the politicization of law and the courts. This has the effect of discounting the importance of the vast majority of cases that are decided in accord with the law. Taking Russia as a case study, this essay reviews a cross‐section of the literature on its courts in order to document this tendency and explore why alternative narratives of law have failed to gain traction: Burbank's Russian Peasants Go to Court ( 2004 ); Feifer's Justice in Moscow ( 1964 ); Kaminskaya's Final Judgment ( 1982 ); Ledeneva's Can Russia Modernise? ( 2013 ); McDonald's Face to the Village ( 2011 ); Politkovskaya's Putin's Russia ( 2004 ); Popova's Politicized Justice in Emerging Democracies ( 2012 ); and Romanova's Butyrka ( 2010 ).     

Barriers Inhibiting Industry from Partnering with Universities: Evidence from the Advanced Technology Program

This paper describes a small, unique set of project data that was assembled as part of a larger study on universities as research partners. Herein, we summarize, to the extent possible, our interpretation of what the project data reveal about barriers, intellectual property (IP) concerns in particular, inhibiting industry from partnering with universities.     

Criminals and the Price System: Evidence from Czech Metal Thieves

Objectives

This paper tests the economic theory of criminal behavior. Specifically, it looks at “the carrot” side of the theory, studying how thieves react to changes in monetary gains from crime.

Methods

Using a unique crime-level dataset on metal theft in the Czech Republic, we study thieves’ behavior in a simple regression framework. We argue that variation in metal prices represents a quasi-experimental variation in gains from crime. It is because (1) people steal copper and other nonferrous metals only to sell them to scrapyard and (2) prices at scrapyards are set by the world market. This facilitates causal interpretation of our regression estimates.

Results

We find that a 1% increase (decrease) in the re-sale price causes metal thefts to increase (decrease) by 1–1.5%. We show that the relationship between prices and thefts is very robust. Moreover, we find that thieves’ responses to price shocks are rapid and consistent.

Conclusion

Our results are in line with the economic model of crime, wherein criminal behavior is modeled as a rational agent’s decision driven by the costs and benefits of undertaking criminal activities. Our estimates are also consistent with recent results from the United Kingdom, suggesting these patterns are more general.

     

Digital Knowledge Exploitation: ICT, Memory Institutions and Innovation from Cultural Assets

There has been considerable recognition of the regional embeddedness of the knowledge-based economy and its uneven geographical incidence, with mainly urban or metropolitan areas being the crucibles of knowledge-intensive activities. Drawing from recent research conducted analysing cultural industries, the paper explores how the knowledge-based economy can be built upon, focussing on the value afforded by regional cultural diversity which offers a means of economic development and growth to peripheral regions.     

社会转型期俄罗斯的公共所有权制度——兼论公共所有权与私人所有权的制度关系

上世纪90年代以来形成的俄罗斯公共所有权制度,在其主体、客体、权能、实现路径,及其调整社会生活范围、比重等方面,都经历了与社会转型同步的变迁。其中的重要线索是：在延续公共财产民法整体调整传统方法的前提下,围绕实现公共利益的根本目标,回应公共财产客体功能的特殊性及由此产生的法律调整方法特殊性要求,吸收与改造了大陆法国家“公产”与“私产”二分体制,构建了由俄罗斯特色的公共所有权向私人所有权循序过渡的类型序列。     

中外生物制药行业专利战略比较研究

生物制药为人类的疑难杂症提供了传统医药技术所不能获得的珍贵药物,为人类健康长寿展示了美好前景,业已成为各国非常重视的新的经济增长点。生物制药行业是一个以生物技术(主要是基因技术)为依托而发展的高新技术行业,以技术和知识为主要生产资本,产业发展有高投入、高风险、高回报的特点。新药的研究开发是该产业发展的最关键一环,拥有一件新药的知识产权往往就垄断了一个市场,所以,如何对研制成果有效地进行专利保护对于国家创新系统、整个行业和企业管理的层面来说都是极其重要的战略。 专利战略分为国家、行业和企业三个层面,行业专利战略主要指在国家专利战略的指导下,围绕本行业整体发展规划,依靠行业中各企业的联盟以及自治会等组织为行业的整体专利战略服务,属宏观管理层次,且涉外性较强。根据我国生物制药业发展的实际状况,该产业在我国刚刚兴起,国内相同企业间的竞争并不激烈,各自发展的空间较大;真正的威胁来自发达国家生物制药业对我国的生物制药业整体的冲击。我国生物制药业专利战略的主要任务应集中于防御国外相同行业对其的威胁,加快行业发展,提高国际竞争力,因此必须从整个行业这一宏观层面来分析如何     

中外行政诉讼第三人制度比较研究

行政诉讼第三人是行政诉讼中的一项重要制度,也是极具理论意义和实践价值的一个重要问题。我国的行政诉讼第三人制度在立法上存在着诸多的缺陷和不足,在司法实践中遇到了许多的困难和问题,亟待完善。本文试图通过我国大陆与德国、日本及我国台湾地区行政诉讼第三人在种类、范围、法律地位及参加诉讼的程序四个方面的比较研究,更为充分地认识上述国家和地区行政诉讼第三人制度的特点和长处,为完善我国的行政诉讼第三人制度提供参考。〔1〕一、行政诉讼第三人的种类　　(一)德国在德国行政诉讼上,第三人被称为“参加人”。《联邦德国行政法院…     

让尾巴摇狗：美国情态证据实证研究

情态证据指的是在庭审时,被告人或证人等的面部、声音或身体等各部分及其整体上表现出来的能够证明案件真实情况的材料。情态证据至今仍被（西方）法律认可为判断证人可靠性的重要基础,在现代司法中起着至关重要的作用。确保审判者能够观察证人作证时情态的机会,为公开审判（开庭审判）提供了历史的和现代的正当性。在美国司法体系中,陪审团可以合法运用证人席上证人的情态证据;对于证人席外情态证据的使用则在实际上存在,法律上没有形成统一而稳定的规范。法官可以在证据排除、藐视法庭罪、量刑、听证、案件事实判断和陪审团选择程序中使用情态证据。检察官可以在辩诉交易和量刑建议、陪审团候选人＂无因排除＂和审判程序中合理使用情态证据。律师在诉讼过程中不仅从法律意义上,更从诉讼策略意义上运用情态证据。