Why information and transparency about electricity matter: Fragmentation of governance and accountability under New Public Management

From 1995, Australian governments pursued efficiency benefits arising from significant structural reforms in the Electricity Supply Industry, including corporatisation and regulation of network monopolies, and introduction of competition for generators and for retailers. The restructure was motivated by the ideology of New Public Management and influenced by the field of neoliberal economics. More than two decades later, prices paid for electricity by residential and commercial customers have escalated sharply, resulting in sustained anger from all consumers. The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission Chair has admitted that ‘The National Electricity Market is largely broken’. This article documents the reduction in public access to information about electricity supply, the fragmentation in responsibility and accountability for consumer outcomes, and the consequences of these changes for transparency, industry operation, and retail electricity prices. New research enabled the creation of a database of Queensland energy production, consumption, and prices; this facilitated a fresh analysis of Queensland electricity sector performance since the restructure of electricity supply.     

公共政策合法性供给机制与走向以医改进程为中心的考察

公共政策合法性不仅是一个重要的法治理论问题,也是法治秩序得以形成的重要变量。三十年来的"医改"进程表明,公共领域正在中国蓬勃兴起,并促进了公共政策合法性供给机制的时代转向,即从内部创议走向社会动员、从公众默认走向价值回归、从符合真理观走向共识真理观、从中心的内部循环走向中心与边缘的双向互动,展现着中国公共政策的重要民主化变革。虽然其中还存在着某些需要解决的问题,但它无疑构成了对多元和谐秩序的关键支撑和推进民主法治建设的新兴动力。     

How domestic contexts shape international private governance: The case of the European Accord and American Alliance in Bangladesh

The international nature of supply chains has led to the rise of private authority in regulating the environmental and social impacts of production, which companies frequently address through corporate social responsibility (CSR) in the form of private governance (PG). Despite its claim to establish “global” rules, PG usually has national origins, and multiple efforts to address the same issue from different national perspectives frequently coexist. Numerous studies have explored the impact of national business systems on companies' domestic CSR practices, yet little is known about what factors shape CSR practices like PG internationally. Therefore, this study seeks to understand how differing domestic contexts shape approaches to CSR in the form of PG in host countries. I explore this empirically through the comparative case study of competing PG initiatives in the post-Rana Plaza Bangladesh garment industry, uniquely conceived to govern companies' practices rather than certify products. It combines empirical findings with the comparative CSR literature to hypothesize about ideal types of PG organizing in US and European contexts. It extends the analysis to also account for other influential factors, such as stakeholder pressure, thus demonstrating how institutional and agentic factors amalgamate to shape firms' choices. By explicating linkages between international PG and its domestic context, as well as between the comparative CSR and PG literature studies, this study extends our understanding of how and why international PG practices and preferences vary for firms originating from different environments.     

新农村建设中农村合作金融组织创新若干法律问题研究

农村金融是农村经济发展的关键。农村合作金融组织是符合我国农村经济现实的一种有效的金融机制,是农村金融体系的核心内容和重要基石。在新农村建设中,合作金融组织在促进农村经济的发展、构建农村和谐社会中发挥积极作用的同时,也日益暴露出诸多问题和矛盾。合作金融组织的创新和发展问题需要在认识和分析这些问题的基础上通过制度创新加以解决。     

经济学视角下的法律供给研究

法律是一种稀缺的社会资源,要做到对法律的有效运作,就必须通过市场机制对这种资源进行配置。通过对法律供给进行经济分析,我们发现法律的供给也是符合经济规律的。本文将就这个问题,用经济学的方法对法律供给的特点、影响法律供给的因素、法律供给弹性和法律供给模式等几个方面进行分析,得出有益结论以供各方参考。     

俄罗斯远东生活资料供给市场未来走势

近几年来,俄罗斯远东市场发生了重大变化,消费品供应形势明显好转,但是市场的繁荣在很大程度上是靠大量进口消费品带动的。今后远东发展的重点仍是原材料和能源工业,这是由现有产业结构的“超稳定性”所决定的。因此,远东农业、食品工业和轻工业发展滞后的局面难以根本改观,市场地产商品可供量与社会有支付能力的消费需求之间的矛盾不能得到缓解。俄罗斯在今后几年内将加入世界贸易组织。入世将使俄罗斯降低市场准入门槛,市场竞争更加激烈,同时也为中国消费品出口带来机遇和挑战。     

紧急状态下行政给付立法的缺失和建构

近年来,突发事件的频发引起了学界对紧急状态下行政行为法律规制的关注,但其重在紧急状态下侵益性行政行为的法律规制。事实上,在紧急状态下存在的大量行政给付行为,而给付行为失范不容忽视。为了更好地体现紧急状态行政给付法本应有的关注弱者的人文精神,以构建一个完整的和协社会,论文在对紧急状态下行政给付行为失范所导致的严重后果进行考察的基础上,分析了我国现行紧急状态行政给付立法上的不足,并对其予以建构。     

Regulating factory safety in the Bangladeshi garment industry

This paper examines how far the workplace inspection program established under the 2013 Accord on Fire and Building Safety has served to improve safety in Bangladesh garment factories, and the extent to which its operation has been influenced by factors that the literature suggests are important in shaping the outcomes of private regulatory initiatives. The findings suggest that such regulation can generate positive outcomes, even in the absence of strong public regulatory support. They also caution against discounting the role of compliance‐based enforcement strategies, while highlighting the importance of their adequate resourcing and transparency. Some support is also offered for the argument that such regulatory initiatives could directly influence the market dynamics that shape supplier working conditions.     

少子高龄化对日本经济的影响及启示——基于劳动力供给的视角

随着日本少子高龄化问题的不断加剧,日本经济受到严重影响,尤其对日本劳动力市场带来巨大挑战。目前,日本劳动力供给数量不足、年龄结构老化、年轻人失业率上升等问题日益凸显,女性劳动力、外国劳动力供给数量的增加虽然对劳动力不足有一定的弥补作用,但不能从根本上解决问题。日本政府一直高度重视少子高龄化带来的问题,并且积极采取措施解决劳动力供给不足现状,促进经济增长。对于少子高龄化速度不断加快的中国来说,为避免出现与日本相似的劳动力供给问题,政府应采取促进经济发展、落实全面放开二胎政策、完善社会保障制度、发展老龄产业等措施,防止未来中国劳动力供给不足问题的出现。     

农民工社会福利服务供给研究

摘要农民工是在特殊的历史时期出现的一个特殊的社会群体，是多年来中国社会中最为引人关注的一个群体。目前，中央以及各级政府高度重视农民工问题，正在逐步改革城乡二元社会结构，加大对农民工社会福利服务的供给力度，这必将有助于农民工问题的解决，推动农民工市民化的进程。