Retaining the Quota System in the South Korean Rice Market

On 30 December 2004, the Korean government reached an agreement to postpone tariffs on the rice market until 2014 in exchange for a gradual increase in the minimum market access quota (the access to the Korean market by others based on a percentage of Korea's total consumption of rice). However, economic reasoning shows that if the Korean government had decided to introduce the tariff system instead, the social welfare from the rice market would have increased considerably over the next ten years, even after taking into account the loss in the external value of rice farming. Thus, the 2004 choice of the quota in the rice market by the Korean government was a political decision. This article measures the social welfare in the rice market under the two alternative systems – tariff and quota – for the period 2005–15. It then explores the explanation for the 2004 decision by investigating three key variables: the characteristics of farmers' groups, their interaction with government executives and the legislature, and the trend in public opinion on rice market issues. In light of the organisational weakness of Korean agricultural interest groups, the focus is on farmers' tactics for achieving their goal, i.e. retaining the quota instead of introducing the tariff.     

Exports as a Determinant of Long-Run Growth in Paraguay, 1966-96

During the 1970s and early 1980s Paraguay experienced relatively high rates of economic growth as well as a boom in primary goods production destined for export. The question which this research addresses concerns the relationship between these events and the applicability of the so-called export-led growth (ELG) hypothesis. The hypothesis is investigated via the use of modern time series methods including Granger causality tests, error correction modeling, and vector autoregression. The basic conclusion reached is that the ELG does not have much relevance to the Paraguayan case.     

Territorial dispossession: dynamics of capitalist expansion in rural territories in South America

The rural territories of the Agrarian South have been occupying a central role as epicentres for the recent dynamics of capitalist expansion. Over the last years this has led to an increase in the process of control and extraction of natural common goods by different mechanisms such as agribusiness, mining-energetic projects, mega-infrastructure building, cultural dispossession and so on. Taking the territory as the central analytical approach that involves different dimensions and scales, we analyse the recent transformations in several rural sceneries from South America where various forms of dispossession of natural goods have been presented. With this perspective, we hope to contribute to the analysis and understanding of the agrarian transformations in the Agrarian South.     

Merging legality with illegality in Paraguay: the cluster of order in Pedro Juan Caballero

Paraguay is often described as a territory of drug trafficking, smuggling and commercial piracy. However, the country remains understudied by academics researching criminality and illegal markets. Pedro Juan Caballero, a city located on the northern border with Brazil, is an interesting case study to illustrate how legality and illegality merge in Paraguay to create hybrid social orders. The daily life in the city, one of the best places in the world for cultivating marijuana, unfolds between the higher homicides rates and some of the lowest levels of common criminality in Paraguay. Far from being a matter of state weakness, the expansion and tolerance of illegal activities is framed within a cluster of order that combines both rational legal practices and neo-­patrimonial norms. The presence and roles of state institutions are re-signified, generating alternative hierarchies, practices and values to supply social, political and economic outcomes. Through in-depth interviews with key informants, ethnography visits and analyses of aggregated data, this paper describes the hybrid order of Pedro Juan Caballero by tallying the incentives that encourage social and institutional tolerance of illegality and describes how illegal practices create access to goods, services, protection and expectations not provided by the legal framework.     

On a Sociology of the Media

This article presents a detailed examination of the mass media's influence on candidate visibility and candidate awareness in House elections, using media markets as the vehicle for analysis. Simple comparisons reveal striking media market effects on both visibility and awareness: Voters are much more likely to report contact with the candidates in “media market districts"—House districts where there is a close fit between the local television market and the district's boundaries. Candidate recognition figures are also markedly higher in the media market setting. These findings indicate that the mass media have the potential to strongly influence competition in House races: Challengers are able to use the media advantages in media market districts to overcome the exposure gap associated with the incumbency advantage. Closer inspection reveals that these effects hold true even after controlling for other factors, most notably the spending activities of the candidates. These results suggest a substantial media influence on candidate awareness and thus on competition in House races.     

我国农村公共物品供给机制探究

建立和完善农村公共物品的有效供给机制,对推进我国农村经济社会健康发展具有重要意义。本文在评述国内外相关研究进展的基础上,对我国农村构建公共物品供给机制的必要性进行了分析,提出了完善农村公共物品供给机制的新思路。即构建以需求为主导的农村公共物品供给机制,健全农村公共物品供给的民主决策机制,强化财政和监管制度。     

国际贸易中海运货差探析

在国际贸易海上货物运输过程中,货差（货物短量）的现象司空见惯。货差发生的原因众多,其中包括运输过程中的运输允耗、装卸允耗和衡重误差等,即通常所说的5‰合理损耗问题。相关国际公约和《中华人民共和国海商法》对此都没有明文规定,给海事审判工作带来诸多不便。从承运人、托运人和提单持有人对合理损耗认识,结合相关案例,对大宗散装货物由于水尺计重在货物交付时发生的货差问题进行分析,借此引起提单持有人、承运人及其代理人对此问题的注意,以进一步维护提单持有人、承运人的利益。     

证券即时行情信息权属之探析

我国现有理论多以含义不清的“新型知识产权”指代证券即时行情信息权利,并试图从“数据库”或“知识产权”等角度对证券即时行情信息的权属进行论证。但现有的研究成果并未触及证券即时行情信息的权利本源,因此无法就商业实践中已经发生的信息权属争议起到“定分止争”的作用。应根据基本信息与衍生信息的不同类别而分别以“公共产品”和“准公共产品”的方式确定证券即时行情信息的权属并划分权利界限。     

抵押物转让中的利益衡量与制度设计

抵押人在抵押期间不丧失对抵押物的处分权,可以自由转让抵押物。但抵押物的转让需要顾及到抵押权人利益的保障,传统立法通过赋予抵押权人追及效力来实现于此。但这可能会损害受让人的利益,导致利益和风险分配的不平衡。抵押物转让制度的设计应当充分权衡抵押人、抵押权人以及受让人三者的利益冲突,并结合物尽其用这一物权法基本价值目标,做出妥善安排。由于抵押权是价值权,以价金物上代位为主导、追及效力为补充的抵押物转让制度是一个很好的尝试。     

Refugee Camp Economies

This paper describes the economy of a refugee camp. Key distortionsto the economy of Kyangwali Refugee Settlement in Uganda arenoted and the findings are used to construct a generic modelof a refugee camp economy. Camp economies are influenced byhost country policies, such as restrictions on refugees’movement and work, as well as by the physical and economic isolationof the site. Moreover, market outcomes interact with the natureof humanitarian assistance and the special demographic compositionof the refugees to determine the prices and quantities thatcharacterize the market. An awareness of the dynamics of therefugee camp economy has important implications for practitionersand scholars alike.