The Case for Regulatory Rent-Seeking: CRA Based Protests of Bank Mergers and Acquisitions

This paper addresses the question of regulatory rent seekingbased on protests of proposed bank mergers and acquisitionssubmitted by community groups to bank regulators. Theories ofCRA-related community group behavior based on benevolence andrent seeking, yield significantly different implicationsconcerning the effect of a bank's CRA rating on protestprobability, allowing for a clear test of the underlyingmotive for protest activity. The analysis shows: (1) protestsimpose significant time cost on merger and acquisitionapplications and (2) the benevolent-based theory must berejected in favor of the rent-seeking theory.     

Privatisation and regulation in an Asian transitional economy: the case of Mongolia

Mongolia's transition to a market economy has entailed rapid and extensive privatisation accompanied by, inter alia, stabilisation, liberalisation and de‐regulation. The primary objective of this strategy was to cement the new political and economic order. Little weight was given to the problems created by the privatisation programme and only limited consideration given to questions of regulation in the economic, social and environmental spheres. However, the failure of the economy to translate economic growth into poverty reduction and the acceleration of the privatisation programme, which includes the progressive transfer of land, and proposals to privatise health, educational and cultural assets, have made regulation a more pressing issue. New, powerful social classes and interest groups have emerged, which have contributed to regulatory failure and capture and have undermined public policy. We identify a range of issues relating to privatisation and regulation and discuss the degree to which they are being addressed by the post‐1990 political class. Although there exist a number of regulatory agencies, there is a lack of political commitment, and only piecemeal implementation and enforcement. The scarcity of experienced and technically competent staff capable of establishing and operating effective regulatory agencies and ensuring compliance is also a major problem. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

An improved protocol for the examination of rogue WWW sites

Internet server managers have a range of techniques available to help them improve service performance and security. These techniques can become barriers to the investigation of illicit or illegal activity. This paper describes some of the legitimate techniques which can be used to improve server performance or security, and which present challenges for the investigator. Furthermore, it proposes a rigorous procedure which should be followed to ensure that any investigation of a web site or server has been complete and accurate, and that all possible useful information has been extracted and examined.     

管理中的魔鬼细节

作者MarshallGoldsmith是全球高级领导者教育领域的先驱与权威，过去80年来在管理领域最有影响力的50位顶尖思想家之一。这篇文章出自于他的同名书，有读者说此书是价值25万美元的培训课程，不妨一读。在此书中，MarshallGoldsmithg．k你审视一下自己，看看这些问题是否已经成为你事业发展的瓶颈，你是...     

Crisis management shoring up america's economy and government

Credit crunches, loss of competitiveness, and teetering on the edge of bankruptcy, in both business and government, are the most serious crisis problems now confronting a growing number of modern nations and this irrespetive of political persuasion. Further, the ultimate practical way these traumatic experiences can be alleviated and in future avoided is by an increase of governing capacity.

More people in top positions need the qualities of the old-fashioned businessman, more legislators and policy makers need the long view; a perspective which includes survival knowledge as well as how to find balance in social change.

Administrators who devote their whole lives to seeking the public good need more freedom and opportunity to experiment and innovate. The worst aspects of bureaucracy are found in all systems, and the nations that are courageous and resourceful enough to face them head-on and overcome them are the ones most likely to survive.

Survival today appears in many guises. Can the nation-state survive? How, short of a restored internal citizen control, can you make democracy have real content? How can you possibly avoid stalemate and social disorder until responsibility for results is nailed down to the extent of assuring structural cooperation when survival of life or a way of life is at stake? It is even possible that the role of citizenship is more important than the role of the market system as now practiced.

For all these survival problems of business and government there are known, viable, managerial solutions. The sooner a nation analyzes its range of solutions and eventually forms a consensus, the more secure everyone will be and the sooner social upheaval and violence will be dealt with effectively. Crises are but the inevitable spinoffs of public lethargy, muddled goals and thinking.

What America in particular needs at this juncture, is nothing short of compelling, workable, goals. Goals that will unify and inspire as they overcome the reckless expenditure of money and resources over a relatively short period in the past.

The impersonal business cycle does not control nations’ destinies. Only improved governance, combining policy and results, can do that job.

We Americans need a New Federalism for Third Century goals.     

CIA assets and the rise of the Guadalajara connection

Why do some drug traffickers prosper and grow powerful while others languish behind bars? The answer usually depends less on their ruthlessness than their political protection. That principle holds true on the international level no less than on the domestic level. Since World War II, one of the most critical sources of such institutional protection for the drug trade has been the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency. An ideal illustration of this phenomenon was rise of the Guadalajara Cartel in Mexico, one of the largest drug suppliers to the North American market in the late 1970s and 1980s. Its extraordinary success is explained by its connections first to the Mexican intelligence agency DFS and, through it, to the CIA.