Assessing the Performance of the Price Cap Plan for Local Exchange Carriers in the United States

In 1991 the FCC implemented a price cap plan for local exchange carriers' interstate access service designed to deal with the regulatory boundaries problem arising from the breakup of AT&T in 1984. The experience with the price cap plan demonstrates the difficulty of predicting productivity growth accurately and makes clear that regulators cannot depend upon a pure price cap plan to keep prices within a reasonable range of costs. With periodic reviews to readjust plan parameters, however, a price cap plan can maintain the rate-of-return close to the target rate-of-return without diminishing the price cap plan's incentives for efficient production. A simple method of recalculating the X-factor based on the rate-of-return over the previous three years worked well in simulations. If this procedure had been used over the price cap period 1991 to 2000, prices would have been 20 percent lower and expenditures on LECs' telecommunications service subject to a price cap would have been $3.8 billion lower.     

INTRODUCING PERSPECTIVES IN FAMILY LAW AND SOCIAL SCIENCE RESEARCH

This article provides an editorial introduction to the following three related articles on the growing use and influence of social science research in family law. It first considers why this has become problematic and identifies some common strategies used by advocates, sometimes under the guise of scholarship, to destroy the standing of research findings contrary to their ideological or political position. Then it discusses briefly the remedies proposed to mitigate these kinds of problems within the following three articles.     

PUNCHING THE PARENTING TIME CLOCK: THE APPROXIMATION RULE,SOCIAL SCIENCE,AND THE BASEBALL BAT KIDS*

The American Law Institute proposes that in contested physical custody cases the court should allocate to each parent a proportion of the child's time that approximates the proportion of time each has spent performing caretaking functions in the past. Examined through the lens of child development research, the approximation rule is unlikely to improve on the best interests standard. It is difficult to apply; is perceived as gender‐biased; creates a new focus for disputing parents; renders a poor estimate of parents’ contributions to their child's best interests; overlooks parents’ intangible, yet significant, contributions to their child's well‐being; and miscalculates the essence of how a child experiences the family. A preferable alternative is a better defined, contemporary best interests standard that accommodates new knowledge and reforms that encourage nonadversarial, individualized resolutions of custody disputes.     

A SHORT COMMENTARY ON TIMOTHY M. TIPPINS AND JEFFREY P. WITTMANN'S "EMPIRICAL AND ETHICAL PROBLEMS WITH CUSTODY RECOMMENDATIONS

In this commentary, the call for clinical humility and judicial vigilance in custody recommendations is confirmed as valid and the Australian experience, where the child custody report writer has for some years been permitted to express an opinion on the ultimate issue, is considered. The inherent risks are briefly discussed, and the question of who of the judge and the social scientist might be better placed to decide the exquisitely difficult children's issues after family breakdown is touched upon. It suggests that a combination of the expert's opinion and judicial fact finding probably produces a result that is as good as it gets. But a greater danger is highlighted. It is the impact of the adversary system, and whether it is suitable in any event to these sensitive court decisions.     

论外商投资企业转移定价避税

目前我国许多外商投资企业长期亏损,但仍能够处于非破产境地,其中一个非常重要的原因就是其利用转移定价方式转移利润进而避税,这严重影响了我国的税收征管。本文从外商投资企业转移定价避税的一般表现形式入手,指明我国外商投资企业转移定价避税的特点,分析了现行税收法规对外商投资企业转移定价问题规制的内容及存在的缺陷,提出笔者对于完善相关立法的建议以及其他可采取的一些反避税措施的思考。     

Entpreprenerial Universities and Technology Transfer: A Conceptual Framework for Understanding Knowledge-Based Economic Development

This paper offers a framework to illuminate the role of universities in systems of innovation. The framework attempts to incorporate economic, social, and political influences that affect the ability of universities to both create new knowledge and deploy that knowledge in economically useful ways and thereby contribute to economic growth and prosperity. The objective of this paper is to build a more general understanding of university–industry relationships and their role in knowledge-based innovation systems.     

区际民事案件移送制度初探

区际民事案件移送制度的作用主要是为了节约司法资源、减低司法成本、提高司法效率、保证司法公正、缓和区际管辖权冲突、避免当事人挑选法院、保护当事人合法的诉讼权益和促进区际司法协助等。美国和澳大利亚区际民事案件移送制度的立法与实践对我国具有一定的借鉴意义。     

ON BEING A CHILD CUSTODY EVALUATOR: PROFESSIONAL AND PERSONAL CHALLENGES,RISKS, AND REWARDS

Conducting child custody evaluations is one of the most complex, challenging, and sometimes risky professional endeavors that a mental health professional can perform. This article examines the professional and personal challenges which may be encountered by the evaluator. In addition to discussing the role requirements and need to maintain awareness of bias and countertransference, challenges such as coping with state board or ethics complaints and possible risks to personal safety are also addressed. Suggestions for risk management and coping with the demands of these assessments are offered, as well as the benefits and rewards of engaging in this important work.     

MEDIATIVE EVALUATIONS: THE PROS AND PERILS OF BLENDING ROLES

Child custody evaluators with experience in mediation may be tempted to use mediation skills and strategies in their evaluation processes. This article explores the benefits and risks of blending mediation with evaluation, comparing the perspectives of professionals and clients.     

我国侦查中的强制到案措施之不足与整合

我国侦查中的强制侦查到案措施包括:拘传、拘留、逮捕,立法的不足在于:第一,没有明确强制到案措施与羁押的分离,混淆了羁押防范措施与强制到案措施之间的关系;第二,拘留所附带的关押期限太长,而使其变成一种准羁押的诉讼防范措施;第三,没有明确公安机关的无证强制到案措施,从而导致本属警察法所规范的留置盘问措施在侦查中滥用。要解决这些问题,必须建立羁押与强制到案措施分离的刑事诉讼强制措施体系,缩短拘留所附带的监禁期限,整合留置盘问与其他强制到案措施之间的关系,在刑事诉讼法中明确将留置盘问作为紧急情形下的侦查强制到案措施。