Trading when you cannot trade: Blackout periods in Italian firms

This paper is part of the general debate concerning corporate governance. It focuses on a mechanism of self-regulation geared at avoiding market abuses: the use of blackout periods during which insiders are temporarily prohibited from trading on the market. Data concerning corporate characteristics, blackout periods, and internal dealing, seem to indicate that companies with a large number of independent directors and a consistent ability to monitor are more likely to adopt blackout periods. However, the research shows that during 2003 insiders did not comply with Italy's Code of Best Practice; they did not totally refrain from trading during the assigned blackout periods. All three variables measuring frequency trading – the numbers of transactions carried out, of active insiders, and of shares traded – were statistically significant during the specified blackout periods. Therefore, this paper could have practical implications for policy makers. If they decide to adopt self-regulation to fight market abuses, they must be aware that a law is only as effective as its enforcement.     

Medical and legal aspects of genital mutilation and circumcision part I: female genital mutilation (FGM)

Female genital mutilation (FGM) is considered to be against the law and against morality not only in Western countries, although a woman of age and able to consent may sometimes think differently. The procedure may have serious physical and emotional consequences for the girl or woman. Nevertheless there are attempts to justify the procedure with medical and hygienic pseudoarguments, ideology, freedom of religion, cultural identity and social adequacy. Outside the Western world, some people claim that religion and culture alone justify the practice. In Germany, parents can lose the right to determine the residence of their daughter, if she is faced with the risk of genital mutilation in order to prevent that the child or girl is taken to her home country. Genital mutilation as a gender-specific threat is recognized as a reason to grant asylum or prevent deportation. Proposals to make genital mutilation a separate punishable offence are presently discussed by the legislator.     

Tatort beim Verbreiten von Werkstücken über das Internet

Verbreitung ist zufolge § 16 Abs 1 UrhG entweder Feilhalten oder das In-Verkehr-Bringen eines Werkstücks, wodurch einem anderen die tats?chliche oder rechtliche Verfügungsmacht darüber – wie beispielsweise beim Verkauf, der Schenkung, dem Verleihen oder dem Vermieten – einger?umt wird. Aus der für das Angebot verwendeten deutschen Sprache, aus der gew?hlten Website " sowie aus dem für die Abwicklung der Bezahlung angegebenen Konto ist ein für die Dauer der Abrufbarkeit via Internet verwirklichtes Feilhalten in ?sterreich objektiv und subjektiv indiziert. Der Erfolg des unbefugten In-Verkehr-Bringens trat nach Postaufgabe in Deutschland durch Zustellung des Werkstücks im Inland ein, wo der Erwerber die Verfügungsmacht darüber erlangte. Der Tatbestand des Verbreitens wurde dadurch ebenso verwirklicht.     

Incentive effects of class actions and punitive damages under alternative procedural regimes

In an economic perspective, punitive damages and class actions can be viewed as sharing a common economic function—creating optimal deterrence. Building on Parisi and Cenini (Class actions for Europe: perspectives from law and economics, ELGAR, 2010), we study the effect of alternative procedural regimes on the effectiveness of punitive damages and class actions. Specifically, we compare the workings of punitive damages and class actions in the American and English (“loser-pays”) regimes. Our findings help explain the limited use and late adoption of class actions and punitive damages in Europe.     

The retirement prospects of divorced women

For decades, policymakers have discussed how to remedy the high poverty rates of older widows. Yet older divorced women are more likely to be poor than older widows, and historical divorce and remarriage trends suggest that in the future a larger share of retired women will be divorced. This article uses the Social Security Administration's Modeling Income in the Near Term (version 6) to project the retirement resources and wellbeing of divorced women. We find that Social Security benefits and retirement incomes are projected to increase for divorced women and that their poverty rates are projected to decline, due in large part to women's increasing lifetime earnings. However, not all divorced women will be equally well off economic well-being in retirement varies by Social Security benefit type.     

The impact of changes in couples' earnings on married women's Social Security benefits

Women's labor force participation and earnings dramatically increased after World War II. Those changes have important implications for women's Social Security benefits. This article uses the Social Security Administration's Modeling Income in the Near Term (version 6) to examine Social Security benefits for current and future beneficiary wives. The projections show that fewer wives in more recent birth cohorts will be eligible for auxiliary benefits as spouses because their earnings are too high. If their husbands die, however, most wives will still be eligible for survivor benefits because, despite the increase in their earnings over time, they still typically have lower earnings than their husbands. Even so, the share of wives who would be ineligible for widow benefits is projected to double between cohorts.