Civil and criminal sanctions against blackmail: an economic analysis

The rationale behind the legal prohibition of blackmail and its effects have worried lawyers, economists and philosophers. The paper tries to offer a new perspective on the issue by introducing a simple game-theoretic model of the blackmail interaction under three alternative legal regimes: blackmail as a legally enforceable contract, blackmail as a voidable contract, and criminal blackmail. We show that the first two are substantially equivalent, and are unable to prevent a successful blackmail equilibrium outcome. Making blackmail a crime can instead alter this result for some parameters of the model.We also explore the justification for criminalizing blackmail and find it, in line with previous Law and Economics literature on blackmail (Ginsburg and Shechtman (1993), Coase (1988)), in the correction (albeit incomplete) of misaligned incentives to acquire information and the revelation and no revelation outcomes involved in the blackmail transaction. This justification could be undermined by the advantages of what seems to be a superior legal regime in terms of efficiency: no legal regulation of blackmail. This hands-off system can also destabilize, in a one-shot interaction, the successful blackmail outcome. In plausible dynamic interactions, however, it fails to do so and, in fact, its effects actually resemble those of blackmail as an enforceable contract. This result might explain why most legal systems stick to the criminalization of blackmail.     

论我国人民代表大会制度下的分权体制——兼论我国人民代表大会制度的完善

本文认为 ,所谓分权体制 ,其精神实质 ,并不是国家权力配置的具体模式 ,而是将国家治理权划分为几种基本形式、分别赋予不同的国家机关来行使 ,以防止因权力过于集中所导致的权力腐败。由于历史和现实条件不同 ,分权体制的具体模式在不同国家有不同的表现。我国的人民代表大会制度是人民主权与国家治理权相统一的制度 ,人民代表大会代表人民主权 ,一府两院行使国家治理权     

国际调节与国际经济法学科理论新视角

伴随市场国际化产生国际调节机制。国际调节同市场调节、各国的国家调节互相配合、制约 ,相辅相成 ,共同构成国际市场调节机制体系。国际调节需要相应的法律予以规制和保障。这种规范国际调节、调整国际经济调节关系的法律 ,即为国际经济法。国内外国际经济法学界普遍认为 ,国际经济法调整国际经济关系。他们把平等主体间一般商品货币关系即商事关系也纳入进去 ,是一种大国际经济法观点。大国际经济法观点的产生有其历史根源。以WTO为代表的国际调节及其立法的产生和发展 ,将促使人们对传统国际经济法理论作反思 ,并在国际经济调节及其立法的基点上重构国际经济法学科理论体系。     

Assessing the regulatory model for water supply in Jakarta

This article assesses the regulatory model for urban water supply services in Jakarta, the capital of Indonesia. Water supply services have been privately operated there since February 1998 after two companies—Thames PAM Jaya (TPJ), operating in Eastern Jakarta, and PAM Lyonnaise Jaya (PALYJA), operating in Western Jakarta—signed 25‐years concession contracts with the state‐owned Jakarta City Water Company (PAM Jaya). An independent regulatory body, the Jakarta Water Supply Regulatory Body (JWSRB) was established in 2001. The article compares the regulatory system in Jakarta with the French and English approaches to water regulation. It then assesses this regulatory system from the perspective of customers in order to assess how well customer protection, a central purpose of regulation, is being performed. The article concludes that although the essential regulatory mechanisms and activities are operating in Jakarta, the key regulatory role of customer protection is not being performed because customers do not perceive that they receive an acceptable level of water supply services. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

政府监管投资基金市场的经济学与法学分析

政府之所以对投资基金市场进行监管具有深层次的理论原因,对这一理论原因的全面剖析有助于充分完善政府干预经济理论,也有助于分析各经济领域的法律监管现象。经济学和法学是分析政府干预投资基金市场的两个层面,本文通过对两个层面的分析,论证了政府对投资基金市场进行监管的必要性。     

浅论易制毒化学品管制工作存在的问题及对策

我国《易制毒化学品管理条例》实施后,易制毒化学品管理工作出现了许多新情况、新问题,即从业企业人员对易制毒化学品管理工作不够重视,易制毒化学品品种多,管理工作量大,基础工作薄弱,难已摸清企业底数,缺乏相应专业管理人员和技术装备等。为适应当前易制毒化学品管理的需要,应加大其管理的宣传力度,加大专业人员的业务知识培训与配备,健全管理机制,提高管理科技水平,广辟管理新领域。     

Back to first principles: a new model for the regulation of drug promotion

The US Food and Drug Administration''s (‘FDA’ or the ‘Agency’) current regulatory framework for drug promotion, by significantly restricting the ability of drug manufacturers to communicate important, accurate, up-to-date scientific information about their products that is truthful and non-misleading, runs afoul of the First Amendment and actually runs counter to the Agency''s public health mission. Our article proposes a New Model that represents an initial proposal for a modern, sustainable regulatory framework that comprehensively addresses drug promotion while protecting the public health, protecting manufacturers’ First Amendment rights, establishing clear and understandable rules, and maintaining the integrity of the FDA approval process. The New Model would create three categories of manufacturer communications—(1) Scientific Exchange and Other Exempt Communications, (2) Non-Core Communications, and (3) Core Communications—that would be regulated consistent with the First Amendment and according to the strength of the government''s interest in regulating the specific communications included within each category. The New Model should address the FDA''s concerns related to off-label speech while protecting drug manufacturers’ freedom to engage in truthful and non-misleading communications about their products.     

Risk Analysis of Nanomaterials: Exposing Nanotechnology's Naked Emperor

Risk analysis (encompassing risk assessment, management, and communication) is touted internationally as the most appropriate approach for governing nanomaterials. In this article, we survey existing criticisms of risk assessment as a basis for regulatory decision making on emerging technologies, particularly highlighting its exclusion of key societal dimensions, its epistemological underdetermination, and its lack of democratic accountability. We then review the specific case of nanomaterials and identify six major barriers to the effective operation of both risk assessment and risk management. These include a lack of: nano‐specific regulatory requirements, shared definitions, validated and accessible methods for safety testing, available scientific knowledge, reliable information on commercial use, and capacity for exposure mitigation. Finding the knowledge, standards, methods, tools, definitions, capacity, and political commitment all insufficient, we argue that risk analysis is a “naked emperor” for nanomaterial governance. We therefore suggest that additional concepts and approaches are essential for nanomaterials policy and regulation.     

Codes in context: How states,markets, and civil society shape adherence to global labor standards

Transnational business regulation is increasingly implemented through private voluntary programs – such as certification regimes and codes of conduct – that diffuse global standards. However, little is known about the conditions under which companies adhere to these standards. We conduct one of the first large‐scale comparative studies to determine which international, domestic, civil society, and market institutions promote supply chain factories' adherence to the global labor standards embodied in codes of conduct imposed by multinational buyers. We find that suppliers are more likely to adhere when they are embedded in states that participate actively in the International Labour Organization treaty regime and that have stringent domestic labor law and high levels of press freedom. We further demonstrate that suppliers perform better when they serve buyers located in countries where consumers are wealthy and socially conscious. These findings suggest the importance of overlapping state, civil society, and market governance regimes to meaningful transnational regulation.