Money for our people? Decentralisation and corruption in Romania: the cases of the equalisation,infrastructure and pre‐university education funds

In spite of the attempts, in the most recent years, to introduce simple, accountable and rule‐based mechanisms governing the flows of funds for Romanian local governments (LGs) there is evidence showing that deviations from the norms are still widespread and undermine the stated goals of many policies. This article aims to explore to what extent the political factor (party affiliation, i.e. local informal power networks) interferes with the allocation of public funds as far as three main areas of decentralised policy are concerned: (i) the general purpose equalisation transfers; (ii) the Roads Fund grants and (iii) the transfers for financing the pre‐university education. These components represent a relatively large share of the local budgets and are illustrative for two important attributions Romanian LGs perform today: maintaining the local infrastructure and providing essential social services. Through a set of variables—measuring, on the one hand, the real pattern of resource allocation and on the other hand, the intensity of politicisation in the three areas—we tested the hypothesis that intergovernmental financial flows in Romania are to a large extent captured by rent‐seeking groups. It turns out that this is indeed the case with the funds for infrastructure, and much less so with the transfers financing pre‐university education. Some conclusions from these contrasting situations are drawn which reflect on the broader discussion, the link between decentralisation and corruption. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

互联网融资创新、风险及其法律规制——以P2P网贷平台为分析视角

互联网金融作为传统金融自发改革、创新的产物,具有传统金融无可比拟的优势,但它既具备金融领域的固有风险,也具有互联网先进技术与传统金融结合而生成的新风险。对于这种风险,应该坚持"非法律规范—行政法规范—刑法规范"的调整位阶,以保护金融创新为监管的出发点。对于致力于信用担保的P2P网贷平台,应该对其资金池引入第三方托管,不应一概以非法吸收公众存款罪取缔。金融创新背景下,对金融管理秩序的垄断性保护失去了其正当性,对于非法吸收公众存款罪的解释,应该以公众财产权益这一法益为指导。     

后土地财政时期减支增收的财税法律规制

后土地财政时期出现的财税现实困境暴露出过往经济发展失衡的问题,究其根源,无疑是现存财税制度的供给无法有效应对后土地财政时期的预期。面对财税领域特别是地方财政增量减少的窘况,并不能一味以外延式增加地方财政收入的方式来解决。应以财税制度供给侧结构性改革为指导,转变“全能政府”的传统观念,运用财税衡平理念和理论,强化内涵式减支增收财税法制供给与实施保障。只有矫正过往稀缺财税资源粗放使用的痼疾,使财税资源集约化配置,才能产生有效率的高质量经济发展功效。应通过财税衡平法律机制的纠偏,优化财富分配的社会实质公平效能,最终实现新时代社会和谐与经济可持续发展的理想目标。     

财政法视角下的公共财政界定

公共财政由于具有积极分配财政资源的特殊属性,在促进和谐社会建设、促进社会公平分配等方面有着不可估量的作用。随着我国总体经济方式的调整,财政实践中已基本形成公共财政的思路与目标,财政方式也已随之发生改变,财政干预的活动方式也发生改变。财政法作为主要调整公共财政关系的法律,对保障公共财政具有重要作用。由于财政法理论的特殊性,它不能简单地等同于或借用经济学上的一般分析,财政法视角下的公共财政的界定是财政法首要的问题。财政法理论需要尽快或更多注意公共财政的建设目标与进程,并作为财政法基础理论建构的内容。     

互联网金融快速发展对银行经营的影响探析

互联网金融以其便捷、高效、低成本等优势对银行传统金融业务不断进行渗透,对银行经营造成了一定的影响。一方面,迅速发展的互联网金融业务在我国金融市场上发挥了"鲶鱼效应",成为我国金融体系的有益补充,填补了银行等正规金融机构的服务盲区。另一方面,互联网金融业务的迅速发展也给银行经营带来了不小的竞争压力,造成了银行存款流失、资金成本上升、小微企业贷款客户流失、代理支付结算业务利润下降等一系列问题。     

对"省直管县"体制的反思

"省直管县"已经成为行政体制改革的大趋势,但是我们并不主张全国范围内统一实施省直管县。中国与西方国家有很大的区别,西方国家的体制并不一定适应中国的具体情况,不应一切西化。政府层级变化是一个自然的发育过程,只可顺势而为,不可强力推行。在"省直管县"改革过程中各省可因地制宜,自主选择;应该注意把握改革的方式、节奏和速度,切忌操之过急,搞一刀切。     

Global poverty and inequality: are the revised estimates open to an alternative interpretation?

The level of, and trends in, global inequality and global poverty are indicative assessments of who has benefited from economic growth. The revision of price data has led to a reassessment of those estimates. Through an extensive overview of the implications, we argue that the data can be read in different ways. Official estimates show global extreme poverty and global inequality are considerably lower than previously thought. We argue that these changes are much less significant than they at first appear, and we present a more nuanced alternative interpretation by exploring changes across the entire global distribution.     

The Conservatives' Grassroots 'Revival'

Healthy party grassroots constituency organisations play an important part in modern electoral campaigning, especially in marginal seats, and political parties try to concentrate their efforts on those closely contested constituencies. Recent evidence on party fund-raising at a local level shows that the Conservatives have taken considerable strides in supporting their campaign organisations in marginals, and have done so in a way which enhances their long-term campaigning potential there. The party's grassroots organisations are increasingly well-resourced, especially in the seats the Conservatives need to win back if they are to win the next General Election. However, while fund-raising suggests a healthy grassroots where it is needed, party membership data highlights continued problems for the party.     

Headlong into the Polanyian Dilemma: The Impact of Middle-Class Moral Panic on the British Government's Response to the Sub-prime Crisis

This article focuses on the discursive construction in Britain of a middle-class moral panic occasioned by the distress caused to self-styled 'responsible mortgage borrowers' by falling house prices. In the context of the move towards asset-based welfare the sub-prime crisis manifested itself most obviously in the popular consciousness as a threat to housing market wealth. The Labour government used the political space opened up by the narrative of middle-class moral panic in order to protect banks' balance sheets from the consequences of their own failed investments in mortgage-backed securities. The ensuing arrangements immunised banks from the implications of market self-regulation in the first-phase response to the sub-prime crisis while simultaneously allowing them to continue to impose the experience of market self-regulation on their customers. An increasingly asymmetric approach to banking regulation has arisen analogous to that which Karl Polanyi associated with the contradictory co-existence of market and non-market forms.     

金融危机中避免失业减少裁员之策——德国的对策

金融危机席卷全球,各国面临着同样的问题:经济萎缩,产量下滑,就业困难。德国劳动法框架内避免或者减少裁员的做法主要是:在工作量减少时,采取放弃加班,减少使用劳务派遣工,消耗时间账户的盈余,预支年休假,实行短时工作制或者减时减薪等措施。在无法避免裁员时,通过制定"社会计划",给予失业金救济金,以减少对员工的不利影响。