Buying Amendments? Lobbyists' Campaign Contributions and Microlegislation in the Creation of the Affordable Care Act

When do campaign contributions matter? This article advances the claim that a group that gives campaign contributions to US Members of Congress is more likely to achieve legislative success when (1) a single legislator can deliver to the group (2) a private benefit (3) without attracting negative attention. Using an original data set based on the written comments of nearly 900 interest groups lobbying the US Senate Finance Committee on health reform legislation in 2009, I link group requests to corresponding legislation. The analysis shows a significant relationship between lobby groups' campaign contributions and their legislative success, and at distinct units of analysis—the group, the side, and the group-senator dyad. The relationship is particularly strong in predicting senators’ amendments in committee. The rare data presented here offer compelling evidence that interest groups' legislative victories are sometimes connected to campaign contributions in a way that previous studies could not identify.     

Coping with financial crises: explaining variety in regional arrangements

Financial regional arrangements vary across countries and change over time. Until recently, most economists and political scientists took the European model of monetary integration as the yardstick to which all other regional financial arrangements had to measure up in this article. It is argued that the Euro crisis provides an opportunity for scholars to adopt a different perspective that does not interpret the variety of financial arrangements merely as economic deficiencies caused by the incapacity or unwillingness of regions to follow the European model. Instead, the comparative study of monetary and financial regionalism has to account for the different factors that shape variations. These go from different levels of economic development, over regional political and economic preferences to historical processes which shape the institutional context and the constellation of interests and social forces. Such an approach, which integrates economic and political science approaches, de-centres the Euro model and opens up a new understanding of the global diversity of regional monetary and financial cooperation, and their potential to cope with financial crises.     

Emerging US public affairs practice: the 2000+ PA model

Many larger US corporations are re‐assessing their participation in the public policy process and their entire approach to managing public affairs. This paper will attempt to synthesise much of what is happening to US corporate public affairs. It describes the forces driving the changes and addresses the ways corporations are responding to these forces. Finally, the paper offers an argument of the ‘New Public Affairs’ 2000 and beyond model as it will likely be practised in the USA, and perhaps elsewhere, at least early into this decade. Copyright © 2001 Henry Stewart Publications     

论侵权责任法规定行政侵权责任的必要性

行政侵权与一般民事侵权是两种不同的侵权,行政侵权责任是在公法领域中发生的私法责任。法院在审判实践中处理行政侵权案件时,应当优先适用国家赔偿法的有关规定;国家赔偿法无规定时则适用一般法,也就是适用侵权责任法的规定。民事法律规范在行政赔偿问题上的继续适用有内在的合理性;侵权责任法草案对行政侵权责任做出原则性的规定,符合我国的立法传统。因此,将来的侵权责任法规定行政侵权责任是必要的,也是可行的。     

中国企业在美国反垄断诉讼中的挑战与应对:基于对相关判决的质疑

中国企业在美国的一系列反垄断诉讼发生在中国加入世界贸易组织后与美国在经贸关系中博弈摩擦不断升级的背景之下,其中涉及了美国反托拉斯法的域外适用、国际礼让原则、外国法查明、外国政府对本国法律解释的效力等一系列焦点问题。在相关案件的判决中,美国法院就上述问题的观点和论述存在诸多漏洞和偏颇之处,包括限缩适用"国际礼让原则"中"真实冲突"的条件、外国法查明中客观性的缺失等。而未来随着中国企业日益成为美国反托拉斯重点关注对象,中国企业会面临更多挑战,需从美国国内法、国际法、中国相关政策法规的制定以及企业自身行为的合规性等方面积极应对。     

A Reevaluation of the Effects of State and ACA Dependent Coverage Mandates on Health Insurance Coverage

We study state and federal health insurance coverage mandates for young adults. Despite consistent findings that the Affordable Care Act's (ACA) federal mandate was effective, research has disagreed on whether preexisting, state-level mandates were successful in increasing coverage. We reconsider the issue with a new analytical perspective and newly available accurate data on state mandates. We show that the impact of the state mandates was substantive and concentrated among young adults between ages 19 and 23. Our estimates indicate that dependent coverage rose by 3.9 percentage points and overall coverage rose by 3.3 percentage points. Crowd-out of coverage through young adults’ own jobs was negligible. For those above 23, we find little evidence of changes in coverage. We incorporate these insights into analysis of the ACA's mandate, showing its effects were focused among those who were not eligible for state mandates, or were eligible but older than 23. Our results suggest that eligibility restrictions played important roles in limiting the scope of the state mandates, but they can be practical and effective tools for policymakers looking to ensure or expand coverage for young adults in the face of uncertainty about the ACA.     

Yahoo? Reining in the Wild West with the Alien Tort Claims Act

In the wake of globalisation, we have witnessed the rise of the transnational corporation—powerful, new players in an international human rights system ill-equipped to handle the challenge. Despite the best efforts of the United Nations, international treaties and human rights lawyers the world over, there is simply no mandatory international code of corporate conduct targeting human rights practices. Enter the Alien Tort Claims Act (ATCA), a once-obscure U.S. statute that provides a private cause of action for violations of international human rights law committed by governmental and non-governmental actors. This paper will examine recent ATCA jurisprudence, the landmark Unocal settlement, and the ATCA’s role in reining in Yahoo! Inc. for supplying evidence used to convict Chinese dissidents Wang Xiaoning and Shi Tao.

Tasmania's Tamar Valley Pulp Mill: A Comparison of Planning Processes Using a Good Environmental Governance Framework

In November 2004, the Tasmanian government requested the state's planning body, the Resource Planning and Development Commission (RPDC), to undertake an evaluation of a proposal to establish a pulp mill at Long Reach near Bell Bay on Tasmania's Tamar Estuary. In early 2007, Gunns Limited, the project's proponent, pulled out of the RPDC process and the government established an alternative, ‘fast‐track’ process under the Pulp Mill Assessment Act (PMAA). This article evaluates the RPDC and the PMAA assessment processes using a ‘good environmental governance’ framework composed of eight criteria – transparency, accountability, openness, balance, deliberation, efficiency, science and risk. The comparison reveals that although the RPDC process fell short of the ideal, it was markedly superior to the PMAA process that replaced it. The case highlights how political economic power can be used to the detriment of public planning and the communities and environment that rely on it.     

行使财产权行为犯罪构成判定

在判断行使财产权行为是否构成夺取罪方面存在司法上的困惑和理论上的缺失.传统观点认为,行使财产权行为不具有侵犯他人所有权的客体,没有非法占有的目的,而且是一种自助行为,不构成夺取类犯罪.在社会主义市场经济下的夺取罪构成要件需要进行重构.夺取罪犯罪客体采用以平稳占有说为基础的财产秩序.行使财产权利行为的非法占有目的虽然具有债权的法律依据,但其夺取行为和手段不符合法律规定.自助行为的成立需在主体、标的、主观目的、紧迫性和手段强度上符合要求.因此,行使财产权行为应构成夺取罪,除非其符合自助行为阻却违法的条件.     

美国国会议员访台现象研究(1997～2008)

台湾地区是美国国会议员访问最频繁的地区之一。本文分析了从1997年到2008年的美国国会议员访台记录分布及其决定因素,获得了如下主要发现:第一,美国国会议员访台频次变动受台湾岛内政治变动和美国国会选举周期影响,但以前者更为重要;第二,《与台湾关系法》赋予美国国会及其议员干预台湾问题的权力,是造成美国国会议员、特别是外交事务、军事、情报等委员会成员频繁访台的根本原因;第三,意识形态、选区利益、经贸关系等对美国国会议员访台也产生了一定的影响。