The determinants of value of incoming cross-border mergers & acquisitions in European transition countries

This research aims to determine variables that affect the aggregate value of incoming cross-border M&As in European transitional countries. Dynamic panel models have been estimated using Arellano and Bond GMM estimator for period between year 1994 and 2008. The ratio of the total value of cross-border M&A to GDP of the country is the dependent variable. Independent variables include following indicators: lagged value of cross-border M&A to GDP, lagged GDP per capita, lagged GDP growth, inflation, interest rate spread, lagged private credit to GDP ratio, market capitalization to GDP ratio, lagged rule of law and lagged control of corruption.     

对“文本”的扬弃：WTO条约解释方法的一种修正——以服务贸易具体承诺表的解释为分析起点

＂文本主义＂是WTO上诉机构所倚重的条约解释方法,这种＂文本主义＂的方法在适用于服务贸易具体承诺表的解释时,可能会产生增加WTO成员在《WTO协定》项下义务的负面效果。因此,服务贸易具体承诺表的解释中有必要引入单个缔约国意图的解释因素。此外,鉴于《WTO协定》文本并不完美,存在着＂空白＂之处,在特定情形中有必要引入《维也纳条约法公约》第31、32条规定之外的条约解释习惯规则,＂遇有疑义,从宽解释＂即为适例。     

Export processing zones and corporate environmental performance in emerging economies: The case of the oil,gas, and chemical sectors of Trinidad and Tobago

Export processing zones (EPZs) are increasingly being established to promote economic growth in developing countries. However, they remain controversial and are often criticized for being associated with a “race to the bottom” characterized by the easing of labor and environmental standards. This paper investigates whether the decision to locate facilities inside these zones is associated with higher corporate environmental performance. Findings indicate that facilities operating in Trinidad and Tobago’s EPZs are more likely to show higher corporate environmental performance than those outside. Additionally, firms in state-managed zones appear to show higher corporate environmental performance than those located in privately managed zones. Enhanced institutional pressures from regulators, local communities, and fellow tenant firms may explain these differences. These results suggest that environmental policy makers and environmentalists can take advantage of already established EPZs to promote enclave enhanced institutional pressures associated with superior corporate environmental performance.

Income inequality,development and electoral turnout – New evidence on a burgeoning debate

In this article, we comprehensively analyze the macro-level link between income inequality and electoral turnout. First, we re-examine prior studies which affirm that higher inequality puts a drain on electoral turnout in wealthy industrialized Western countries. Second, we evaluate whether there is an association between the two concepts in a larger, more representative sample of democratic elections around the world. Third, we analyze if income inequality has a different influence on participation in the Western and non-Western countries. Controlling for nine theoretically informed covariates, we assess these claims in a multilevel framework with evidence from more than 550 democratic elections between 1970 and 2010. We find little evidence that electoral turnout is affected by income inequality. Our results also indicate that this “null” effect does not differ between the Western- and the non-Western world. However, we do find evidence that mandatory voting laws and more decisive elections boost turnout considerably.     

Greening Constitutions with Environmental Rights: Testing the Isomorphism Thesis

Why do some countries have constitutional environmental rights while others do not? In this paper, I conduct statistical analyses to respond to this inquiry. Through studying the impact of intraregional constitutional design, I aim to understand why states adopt environmental rights. I argue that regional isomorphism—i.e., the tendency among states within a region to converge on certain policies—may explain the trend toward constitutionalization of environmental rights. In this paper I (1) define and provide historical background on environmental rights, (2) describe theories which support regional isomorphism as a means of explaining the adoption of constitutional environmental rights, and (3) conduct statistical tests to determine the validity of the regional isomorphism thesis. I find that the enactment of constitutional environmental rights within a region does not increase the likelihood that another state within the same region will include environmental rights within its constitution.     

Nonpunctuated and Sweeping Policy Change: Bhutan Tobacco Policy Making from 1991 to 2009

This paper examines policy outputs associated with the 2004 Bhutan antitobacco law, including 2009 amendments, to determine if the law is congruent with punctuated equilibrium or social policy realism theories of policy change. There was no direct and sudden tobacco policy output change in Bhutan due to a shock to the policy system contrary to what punctuated equilibrium theory would predict. Rather, policy change was sweeping but nonpunctuated. This paper reconfirms prior findings of social policy realism theory that various and complex policy output patterns occur due to a mixture of contingent and complex factors. Under social policy realism, a complex interplay of factors drive policy with the state, corporate actors, and interest groups, and the market often playing a primary role. These complex policy outputs have a direct impact on society and the natural environment reflected in government policy output actions or inactions.     

金砖国家在透明国际清廉指数中的排名变化及其原因探究

“金砖国家”概念的提出,是“金砖五国”等新兴经济体实力不断壮大并伴随全球经济格局深刻演变的产物。包括中国在内的五个新兴国家无论是在经济发展还是社会进步方面都受到了前所未有的瞩目,五国的反腐败及廉政建设亦是备受外界关注。近二十年来,金砖国家在反腐倡廉建设方面付出了诸多努力。但是,清廉指数3．4分左右的平均分仍然时刻提醒着各国腐败形势依旧严峻,反腐败工作还有很长的路要走。     

T. S. Eliot's The Waste Land in Lithuanian translation

Small states, argued Peter Katzenstein a quarter of a century ago, were different. Faced with the fluctuations of world markets, they adopt democratic corporatism and domestic compensation, thus ensuring political legitimacy and successful economic adjustment. The Baltic countries are an interesting case study for this framework, because in many ways they are “smaller” than the seven countries analyzed by Katzenstein. This article finds that, on a broader level, Katzenstein’s framework is very helpful in highlighting the key developments in the Baltic countries. On the other hand, the specific causal mechanism that can be drawn from this framework running from smallness, to democratic corporatism, to political legitimacy, as well as domestic compensation, has not developed in the Baltics.     

关于风化犯罪立法的完善——以东南亚3国与中国的立法比较为视角

本文通过对东南亚国家中具有代表性的泰国、越南、新加坡3国与中国关于妨害风化犯罪的立法比较,发现其各自不同的法律特色;东南亚国家与我国在法律文化上有诸多共性,这对我国法律的完善具有极大的参考价值。