Political-economic problems in trade capacity building

Theoretically, trade capacity building should contribute to export-led growth and support liberal economic policies. Unfortunately, it often fails to meet this ideal due to resource misallocation, misplaced focus on existing obligations, and donor-driven implementation. This article presents a formal theory of political-economic problems in trade capacity building. I analyze trade liberalization as a repeated game with imperfect public monitoring between a developed and developing country. Modeling trade capacity building as an investment by the developed country, I show that it suffers from two problems. First, the need to enforce trade liberalization drives resource misallocation: costly projects are implemented only to build commitment capacity while others are not implemented because they encourage protectionism. Second, donor interests distort trade capacity building. Counterintuitively, if the donor can seek compensation from the recipient when it violates international trade law, it sometimes refuses to invest in low-cost trade capacity building while funding projects that hurt the recipient.     

Arsonists Suffering From Schizophrenia—A Description in Comparison with Other Offenders with a Similar Diagnosis

This study aims to describe the small and distinct subgroup of arsonists diagnosed with schizophrenia, their motives, personal, and crime scene characteristics. While prior research identified significant differences to other criminals, firesetters in general, or mentally disordered offenders, there are no comparisons with other offender patients with schizophrenia so far. In a forensic institution in Switzerland, a group of 30 arsonists with schizophrenia spectrum disorder (SSD) was compared to 340 other offender patients with SSD using retrograde file analysis and multiple adapted Fisher´s exact tests. While symptoms of SSD were most defining of both groups, arsonists with SSD were more often single, unemployed, prescribed psychiatric medication at index offense, had a smaller variety of criminal motives, and acted out of anger or revenge in the context of a relationship. In conclusion, symptoms of SSD may be more defining and useful in guiding clinical practice than aspects specific to arsonists.     

Klimaanpassung im Mehr-Ebenen-System des Rechts

Natur und Recht - Im Zentrum der Rechtsentwicklung im Klimaschutzrecht steht aktuell die Mitigation, also die Verringerung der Treibhausgasemissionen zur Stabilisierung der Erdatmosphäre. Es...     

The Kretschmann Effect: Personalisation and the March 2016 Länder Elections

This paper examines the influences of candidate perceptions on Germany’s spring 2016 Länder election results. It takes a comparative approach, using a modified Michigan model on the data collected simultaneously in three Länder (Baden-Württemberg, Rhineland-Palatinate, and Saxony-Anhalt). It explains why the Green party was successful in Baden-Württemberg but not in the other Länder, the impact of the major candidates, and what distinguishes the influences of the current prime ministers running for these elections. Whereas Winfried Kretschmann’s (Green party, Baden-Württemberg) high impact on the election results was driven mainly by a warmth dimension (sympathy), Malu Dreyer (SPD, Rhineland-Palatinate) was viewed as being competent. Both candidates were assets to their parties and co-responsible for the results. In comparison, in Saxony-Anhalt, none of the candidates were as important to the outcomes of the electoral success.     

Weak Enforcement of Intellectual Property Rights in China: integrating political,cultural and structural explanations

The discrepancy between de jure and de facto protection of intellectual property rights in China remains a heatedly debated topic. Unfortunately, political motivations have distorted the debate from its very beginning, which has not only resulted in a tendency for the different explanations to be played off against each other, but has also reinforced their specific flaws and biases. This study addresses these problems by advancing and integrating the three main explanatory frameworks for explaining the situation. The resulting integrated framework finds that structural factors such as bureaucratic fragmentation and political decentralization matter most in practical terms, but their durability cannot be understood without putting them into context. The findings also suggest that, contrary to most predictions, the future development of intellectual property protection in China might not follow the path laid down by other countries that have modernized in the past.     

Brandt, Edmund/Smeddinck, Ulrich (Hrsg.): Gute fachliche Praxis – zur Standardisierung von Verhalten. 2005, 198 S., brosch., € 29,–, BWV Berliner Wissenschafts-Verlag, Berlin. ISBN 3-8305-1053-5

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