The Interest Cost Implications of the Financial Advisor Turned Underwriter

The Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board (MSRB) does not prohibit municipal financial advisors from participating in the bidding process to serve as underwriter on issues for which they provided advisory services. Some municipalities prohibit the practice, viewing such an arrangement as a conflict of interest. Using data from nearly one thousand competitively sold municipal debt issues in the state of Texas from 1991 to 1995, I test whether or not competition alone in the bidding process is sufficient to protect the interests of the issuer. For general obligation debt and state-backed school district debt these data indicate that there are no interest cost implications for the practice. For municipal and special district revenue debt I find weak evidence of some additional interest (about six basis points) when the advisor serves as underwriter, but the effect is not consistent enough throughout the data to reach statistical significance at the p<0.001 level (see note 10). What I do find is that unrated issues are much more likely to be bid on and won by the advisor, indicating that cities should be concerned about the guidance of their advisor when that advice is to take an unrated issue to market.     

The University's Role in Credentialing the Public Finance Officer

Three main issues related to the certification of public finance officers are reviewed in this article: (1) the evolutionary development of the Government Finance Officers Association of Texas (GFOAT) through the last fifteen years; (2) the advantages of national versus state-based certification; and (3) the role of universities in the credentialing process. The beneficial role of the last one is pointed out as regard to both the profession and the academy. The authors advocate the idea that the involvement of universities enhances the credibility of certification programs. The advantages are based on the greater pool of expertise and the increased variety of opportunities for continuing education for public officials without university education.     

浅议我国一人公司立法

一人公司是十九世纪以后出现的一种特殊类型的公司.一百多年来,许多国家和地区纷纷出台法律规范对其进行规制.然而,当前我国在此领域内的立法仍属空白,这与国际立法趋势以及我国经济发展的实际需求极不协调.因此,我国应加快相关立法的步伐,要从制度设计上强化内部监督,并适时引入公司法人格否定制度以完善一人公司的法律运作机制.     

"十一五"武汉区域金融中心建设的外部环境与内部条件分析

"十一五"期间加快武汉区域金融中心的建设工作已被武汉市政府相关决策部门提上议事日程.由于区域金融中心的建设是一个复杂的系统工程,需要精心筹划、缜密安排.本文对"十一五"武汉区域金融中心建设的外部环境和内部条件进行了全面深入的分析,以期为拟定切实可行的武汉区域金融中心建设的规划方案提供良好的决策依据.     

Contractarianism, Liberal Neutrality, and Epistemology

This paper examines three arguments that attempt to justify liberal neutrality. Firstly the type of neutrality between conceptions of the good that is sought by the arguments is explained. Then the contractarian procedure that is one of the premises of each of the arguments is presented. The remaining sections then examine the arguments, which are Thomas Nagel's appeal to epistemic restraint, Brian Barry's appeal to the uncertainty thesis, and John Rawls's appeal to the burdens of judgement. The arguments attempt to show how the contractarian procedure results in liberal neutrality. They do so by trying to show how no conception of the good can be acceptable to everyone due to the epistemological status of conceptions of the good. It is concluded that none of the arguments succeeds.     

20世纪80年代中苏经济体制改革差异之比较

20世纪80年代 ,中苏两国都进行了举世瞩目的经济体制改革 ,然而改革的结果却迥然不同。这与两国在经济体制改革的政治基础、策略方针、社会环境等方面存在的重大差异息息相关。文章对此作了一些分析和比较。     

论法治社会与法治国家 --兼谈中国社会主义法治模式的价值选择

社会与国家是人类创造并生存于其间的两个最基本的组织体,从法律意义上说,它们分别代表着两种不同的价值导向.社会决定国家是国家与社会关系的主要方面,法治的真正基础与源泉是社会而不是国家.现代法治是法治国家与法治社会的统一.在当代中国,建构以社会为本位的社会主义法治模式是最可行亦是最有效的.目前,在法治建设中应确立私法优位理念、社会优位理念和权利优位理念.     

Understanding sustainable development in the context of other emergent environmental perspectives

Concepts of preservation, conservation, and development shaped in large part the debate about U.S. environmental policy at the end of the 19th century. Forest use was often the focal point of controversy. Throughout the 20th century, Americans continued debating forest use, but by the late 20th century, the assumption that 19th century beliefs prevailed had begun to create a barrier to understanding changing perspectives. This paper begins by discussing one of these new perspectives, sustainable development, which has gained international prominence since the 1992 United Nations Conference on Environment and Development after being mentioned in the 1986 World Commission on Environment and Development's Our Common Future. Following the introduction to sustainable development, this paper briefly presents the results of a 1989 study using Q methodology, which identified the emergence of sustainable development as one of several beliefs in a more complex framework of perspectives on forest use than had been assumed. In addition to sustainable development, this new framework included beliefs in nature as a community to be respected, a place for personal growth, a means for demonstrating self-reliance, and a rallying point for grassroots activism. This paper examines sustainable development in the context of these other belief types and concludes by cautioning policymakers to consider these additional policy arguments and define the policy agenda more fully.     

Reviews

Curtis Keeble, Britain and the Soviet Union, 1917–89. London: Macmillan, 1990, xiv+387 pp., £40.00.

Baruch Hazan, Gorbachev's Gamble: The 19th All‐Union Party Conference. Boulder, San Francisco, and London: Westview Press, 1990, 485 pp., $42.50.

Martin Crouch, Revolution and Evolution: Gorbachev and Soviet Politics. New York, London: Philip Allan, 1989, x+245 pp., £24.50 h/b, £8.95 p/b.

Adam Westoby, The Evolution of Communism. Oxford: Polity Press, 1989, vii+333 pp., £29.50 h/b, £9.95 p/b.

Mikael Sandberg, Learning from Capitalists. A Study of Soviet Assimilation of Western Technology. Stockholm: Almqvist & Wiksell International, 1989, xi+264 pp., SEK 148.00 p/b.

Stephen Fortescue, Science Policy in the Soviet Union. London: Routledge, 1990, ix+230 pp., £35.00.

Zhores Medvedev, The Legacy of Chernobyl. Oxford: Basil Blackwell, 1990, 344 pp., £19.95.

Jonathon R. Adelman & Christiann Lea Gibson, eds., Contemporary Soviet Military Affairs: The Legacy of World War II. London: Unwin Hyman, 1989, viii+193 pp., $39.95.

Ellen Brun & Jacques Hersch, Soviet‐Third World Relations in a Capitalist World: The Political Economy of Broken Promises. London & Basingstoke, Macmillan Press (in association with the Danish International Development Agency, Danida), 1990, x+335 pp., £35.00.

Douglas A. Macgregor, The Soviet‐East German Military Alliance. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1989, xii+178 pp., £25.00 ($34.50).

Stanislaw Gomulka, Yong‐Chool Ha, Cae‐One Kim, eds., Economic Reforms in the Socialist World. Basingstoke & London: Macmillan, 1989, x+244 pp., £35.00.

Jacques Sapir, Les fluctuations économiques en URSS 1941–1985. Paris: Editions de l'Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales, 1989, 239 pp., 200 Francs.

Eugene Shirley, Jr. & Michael Rowe, eds., Candle in the Wind: Religion in the Soviet Union. Lanham, MD: Ethics and Public Policy Center Publishers, 1989, xxvii+356 pp., $39.50 h/b., $21.95 p/b.

Nikki R. Keddie & Mark J. Gasiorowski eds., Neither East Nor West: Iran, the USSR, and the USA. New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 1990, ix+295 pp., £30.00, h b., £9.95 p b.

R. Craig Nation, War on War: Lenin, the Zimmerwald Left and the Origins of Communist Internationalism. Durham & London: Duke University Press, 1990, xiv+313 pp., £42.25.