Constitutional Barriers as Limitations to State Activity

The study deals with constitutional constraints and examines which constitutional limits or barriers set by ordinary law are effective against too much public policy. Are these limits useful to block the level and the growth of expenditures, taxation and public debt? Starting points of the analysis are historical considerations on past experiences with constitutional constraints. In a second step a typology of constitutional and legislative barriers will be presented and discussed. These barriers can be distinguished between quantitative and procedural constraints. Empirical findings for different countries as well as for the European Union will be presented. Finally, empirical results will be derived from a pooled cross sectional regression, where several factors are regressed on the annual deficit. It turns out that limits on taxation and expenditure limitations (TEL) as well as limits on public debt have pros and cons. These will be assessed on the basis of the empirical findings. A clear result of the comparative research points to the efficiency in blocking public policy, i.e. spending, taxation and the public debt. This entails that the main target of such rules is usually achieved.     

Vietnam’s integration into the global economy. Achievements and challenges

Aspiring to further integrate into the global economy Vietnam is confronted with tremendous political, economic and institutional challenges. Issues to be addressed are not only technical questions such as tariff reductions, abolishing quantitative restrictions, the investment regime or the gradual giving up of the foreign trade monopoly. Much was achieved but more challenges are laying ahead. If trade is to continue to serve as an engine of growth, Vietnam must develop a multidimensional strategy for trade expansion, which fits into an appropriate macroeconomic environment. Institutional reforms and improvements in the legal system are as important as human capacity building and an appropriate infrastructure for attracting FDI and expanding exports. Three prominent economic integration projects facilitate the process. They are a severe test of Hanois administrative and governance capacity but also demonstrate the governments obligation to restructure the national economy.     

Schweizerische Aussenpolitik im Wandel: Internationalisierung,Globalisierung und Multilateralisierung

Ausgehend von den drei Entwicklungen, wie sie sich in den Schlagworten Globalisierung, Internationalisierung und Multilateralisierung ausdrücken, geht der Artikel der Frage nach, inwiefern sich die genannten Prozesse auch in der schweizerischen Aussenpolitik identifizieren lassen. In der Untersuchung, die sich auf Staatsverträge beschränkt, wird diese Frage mit einer quantitativen Vollerhebung der aussenpolitischen Geschäfte für je vier Jahre in den 80er und 90er Jahren untersucht. Die empirische Analyse, die auf insgesamt 821 Fällen beruht, führt zu teilweise überraschenden Ergebnissen. Die Hypothesen zur Internationalisierung und zur Globalisierung liessen sich zumindest teilweise bestätigen. Punkto Multilateralisierung weisen unsere Auswertungen jedoch darauf hin, dass es in der schweizerischen Aussenpolitik, was die Zahl der Staatsverträge betrifft, von den 80er zu den 90er Jahren zu keiner Verschiebung von der bi- zur multilateralen Zusammenarbeit gekommen ist.     

Der Einfluss der Direktdemokratie auf die Sozialpolitik

Though it is neither possible to identify pure direct nor pure representative democracies, some polities employ direct democracy more often than others, like Switzerland or California. Based on an analysis of all referenda and initiatives in these two countries this study examines the impact of direct democracy on public policy making, especially on social policy. Starting from considerations upon the level of public policy within both systems, it is hypothesized that direct democracy generates a lower spending level than a representative democracy. This theoretical reasoning is supported by the empirical findings. Moreover, it is possible to identify a lag effect and a structural effect resulting from direct democracy. Differentiation between the several instruments of direct democracy illuminates different effects of direct democracy upon social policy, especially for Switzerland.     

能源安全:欧美中三角关系中的一大难题

本文认为,关于能源安全,国际关系理论两大流派建构主义和现实主义有着不同的解释。美国和中国似乎仍在推行现实主义的强权政治,而被边缘化的欧盟虽然推出了多边议程,但也可能将被迫遵循现实主义路线。文章主张,可通过将美、中、欧三方(或还包括其他国家)融入一个多边主义机制框架内,以克服它们之间的政策分歧,加强全球能源安全。这样做也有助于美、中、欧三方更好地协调能源政策,应对气候变化、发展和全球秩序等问题。     

The Rotating Council Presidency and the New Intergovernmentalism

The Lisbon Treaty fundamentally changed the presidency regime of the European Union at the expense of one of the oldest and most central institutions of European integration: the rotating presidency. The chair positions of the European Council, the Foreign Affairs Council and the Eurogroup have been decoupled from the rotating presidency. Understanding the reduced role of the rotating presidency requires attention for the changing dynamics of EU policymaking, especially for the new intergovernmentalism which implies decision-making outside the classic community method and for the rise of the European Council to the status of a lead institution.     

Consistency of Risk Preference Measures: An Artefactual Field Experiment from Rural China

A variety of measures have been developed to elicit individual risk preferences. How these measures perform in the field, in particular in developing countries with non-student subjects, is still an open question. We implement an artefactual field experiment in rural China to investigate (i) consistency across incentivised experimental risk measures, (ii) consistency in risk preferences elicitation between non-incentivised survey measures and incentivised experiments, and (iii) possible explanations for risk preference inconsistency across measures. We find that inconsistent risk preferences across survey and experimental measures may be explained by ambiguity preferences. In the survey, subjects may mix risk and ambiguity preferences.