The stability of stated preferences for public goods: Evidence from recent budget games

We have investigated the stability of the individual response in recent budget games based on survey data, which is an important requirement for the reliability of this instrument. Budget games have gained popularity due to the problems encountered with alternative methods to determine preferences for public goods, such as the analysis of actual public expenditure date using median-voter theory or similar approaches. The short-term test-retest correlations (within an interval of one month) turn out to be rather low, typical around 0.3. No explanation of the test-retest differences could be found from the usual socio-economic and political characteristics of the respondents or from information characteristics of the survey design. Also, the pattern of budget-game outcomes for different countries and different periods is rather similar. The cumulative evidence suggests that the survey response to budget games is generated to a large extent by very general notions on the (un)desirability of public goods: defence is bad, education and health care are good. This implies that outcomes are often not related to the actual level and structure of public expenditure or revenues. As a result, the individual responses, even to the more sophisticated budget games, are subject to large uncertainty margins. Our results should warn researchers and, even more important, policy makers against giving too much weight to stated preferences for public expenditure or taxation levels obtained from budget games. Of course, further research is needed to obtain the precise limits of the instrument, including laboratory experimental economics.     

国际法院对岛礁争端的裁量与南海维权——东南亚国家的经验及其对中国的启示

东南亚国家中的马来西亚、印尼和新加坡通过国际法院裁决的方式成功地解决了相互之间的岛礁主权争端。在对马来西亚与印尼、马来西亚与新加坡岛礁主权争端案的裁决过程中,国际法院综合考量了有效控制、继承、禁止反言和先占原则。马来西亚与印尼、马来西亚与新加坡通过国际法院裁决解决相互间岛礁争端的经验对中国更好地维护南海主权具有一定的启示。     

Autosomal microsatellite data from Northwestern Colombia

Allele frequencies and some forensic parameters for 12 autosomal microsatellites (CSF1PO, TPOX, THO1, VWA, D16S539, D7S820, D13S317, D5S818, F13A1, FESFPS, F13B, LPL) were estimated from three departments from Northwestern Colombia. The total number of samples analysed was 1045 individuals.Comparative analysis among the three studied departments and with other published Colombian populations were also performed and discussed.     

The legal question of the obtention of human stem cells for biomedical research. Legislation policy considerations]

The future Law on Biomedical Research, whose draft bill has been approved by the Council of Ministers and that will soon begin its parliamentary process of approval, will regulate, among other matters, the research with embryos. Likewise, it will make a pronouncement on the so-called therapeutic cloning. This report makes a detailed analysis of different matters that must be borne in mind by the legislator in order to face the process of evaluation and approval of said Law in relation with the aforementioned matters. It makes a special analysis of the legal texts of an international nature to which Spain is unavoidably subjected to, in such a way that the legislative text that will finally be approved is not contrary to the dispositions that are within such.     

Transparency and accountability of central banks in their role of financial stability supervisor in OECD countries

We aim to get a better understanding of the accountability of central banks in their role of financial stability supervisors, distinguishing between three crucial elements: (1) the legal basis for the financial stability task, (2) providing of information on financial stability, and (3) the formal relationship between the accountable and the accountee. We conclude that in most OECD countries the law does not provide a clear objective for financial stability supervisors. Many central banks nowadays publish a stand-alone financial stability report. In most countries there are hardly any accountability measures in place regarding the objective of financial stability. JEL classification G28     

The European Research Area: On the Way Towards a European Scientific Community?

Abstract:  The concept of a European Research Area was launched by the Commission in 2000 with the intention of becoming a watershed in European research policy. The aim was to create an 'internal market of research', in contrast with previous efforts in research policy that amounted to continued fragmentation. Lack of support from both Member States and the Council, together with the almost exclusive use of the Open Method of Coordination for the design of the Area, meant that the initially high ambitions were not met. The social repercussions of the project were also watered down as a consequence.     

根据手指节皱纹推断年龄的研究及应用

为了快速、准确、简便地推断年龄,笔者收集广西区1195人活体手指背照片.通过对中指背近节横纹特征的观察,并用解剖学、法医学、数理统计学的理论进行研究,结果发现手指背横条纹随着年龄的增长呈规律变化,即皱纹由少到多、由浅到深、由不明显到明显、粗纹间距由窄变宽的规律特征,具有一定的法医学应用价值.     

荧光标记STR复合扩增检验系统的研究

本研究以化学合成的荧光标记引物建立了STR复合扩增体系,体系I包括4个STR基因座和牙釉蛋白基因,体系Ⅱ包括4个STR基因座,体系Ⅲ包括3个STR基因座.制备了体系I各基因座的等位基因标准对照,测定了各等位基因长度.对代表性等位基因进行了序列测定,确定了等位基因重复单位的重复数目及测量长度与等位基因命名的对应关系,对各基因座等位基因进行了标准命名.建立了复合扩增检验系统等位基因自动分析命名的模板.三个复合扩增检验体系的累积随机匹配概率为8.3×10-3,为遗传学分析建立了实用的检验系统.     

Predatory Innovation: A Step Beyond? (Understanding Competition in High-technology Markets)

The idea of a direct relationship between innovation and progress must be reconsidered. Innovation, in other periods of History merely pursued for the sake of Mankind, eventually turned into an grail for companies willing to see their sales increased. The last decades had witnessed another turn of the screw in that identification: innovation may be used as a weapon to destroy rivals and take over a market, regardless of any considerations of progress. Competition law is not foreign to these new circumstances. The inclusion of innovation as a variable in the context of an exclusionary strategy entails not only an important aggression to free competition, but to social welfare. Due to the novelty of these practices, competition law is still adapting itself to the new scenario. This paper explains the underlying complexity of the study of predatory innovation, establishing the foundations for its proper understanding and subsequent approach of the conclusions to market operators, legislators, judges and to society itself.