Fiscal Austerity and Rental Housing Policy in the United States and United Kingdom, 2010–2016

After the 2008 global financial crisis, both the United States and the United Kingdom introduced austerity policies targeted at particular elements of their national budgets. The purpose of this article is to compare the nature of this retrenchment; the similarities and differences in how it was implemented; and its initial impacts on one of the expenditure areas particularly affected: affordable rental housing programs and housing support for low-income households. Using a wide range of data sources, we find evidence of political and fiscal policy analogies in the timing and forms of the initial policy choices and how these were modified in the face of economic and political pressures. There are considerable similarities both in the instruments used to reduce housing expenditures and in the early impacts on support mechanisms and recipients. However, we find different histories and trajectories of support between the two countries that suggest that the longer term differences in outcomes may be more important.     

Ethno-racial identity (politics) by law: “Fraud” and “choice”

Following an introduction to the changes in how ethno-racial identity is conceptualized in the social sciences and humanities by the destabilization of categorical frameworks, the author looks at how law reacts to these discussions and paradigm shifts, and argues that legal and administrative approaches face severe linguistic and conceptual limitations by operating within a “choice” and “fraud” binary. The article then questions if the free choice of identity exists as a principle of international minority protection law, a legal field that arguably represents a global political and ethical consensus. The author makes two claims. First, according to the basic tenet of legal logic, a proper right to free choice of identity allowing people to opt out of racial, ethnic, or national (minority) communities would necessitate the freedom to opt in to the majority or to any chosen group. The second claim, however, is that international law would not actually construct an approach to opting in. Thus, the right to free choice of identity is not an autonomous, sui generis right under international law.     

信用证欺诈例外原则的问题分析

信用证是国际贸易中重要的信用结算工具,由于信用证独立抽象的原则,银行只审单而不管实际的货物,导致国际贸易中利用信用证进行欺诈的案件屡屡发生。因此,各国纷纷采取信用证欺诈例外原则来进行补救,但信用证欺诈例外原则的滥用则会损害合法受益人及善意第三方在信用证项下的利益,因此,对欺诈原则应适当地适用,以发挥其最佳效用。     

论新《消费者权益保护法》规定的欺诈行为之认定

《中华人民共和国消费者权益保护法》(以下简称《消法》)自从1994年1月1日生效以来,就与人们的生活密切相关。本次修订因为规定了对经营者的惩罚性赔偿,所以备受人们瞩目。对于如何认定经营者的欺诈行为,消费者、经营者、欺诈三个词在此条中起着关键的作用,大量的争议也聚集在此三个关键词上。如果将其概念、范围用法律明确下来,那么此条解释和适用上的矛盾将会被很好的解决。     

我国公共租赁住房制度的政策法律分析——基于公共租赁住房市场化的研究视角

大力发展公共租赁住房是我国解决住房保障问题的一项重要政策选择,但政府主导的公共租赁住房制度在实施过程中面临着资金来源、土地供应、建设运营、租金标准和执行监督等诸多困难。借鉴有关国家成功经验,从我国实际情况出发,稳步推进公共租赁住房的市场化改革理应成为完善我国公共租赁住房制度的新趋向,而完备的住房租赁补贴制度则是这一制度体系健康运行的关键与核心。为此,我们还需专业化公司、新型土地供应、政策支持等相关配套制度的及时跟进,以形成政府与社会良性互动的住房保障格局。     

From voter ID to party ID: How political parties affect perceptions of election fraud in the U.S.

This paper uses a survey experiment to assess what individuals understand about election fraud and under what circumstances they see it as a problem. I argue that political parties are central to answering both these questions. Results from the 2011 CCES survey suggest respondents are able to differentiate between the relative incentives of Democrats and Republicans where fraud tactics are concerned, but whether voters see these tactics as problematic is heavily influenced by partisan bias. The results show little support for the notion that partisan ideology drives fraud assessments, and suggest support for the idea that individual concerns for fraud are shaped a desire for their preferred candidate to win. These results offer insights that might be applied more broadly to questions of perceptions of electoral integrity and procedural fairness in democracies.     

国际海事欺诈及预防

近年来,在国际贸易发展的同时,海事欺诈亦呈现蔓延之趋势。本文结合具体案例分析了海事欺诈之成因及预防对策。     

Deconstructing “Force and Fraud”: An Empirical Assessment of the Generality of Crime

Gottfredson and Hirschi (A General Theory of Crime, Stanford University Press, Stanford, CA, 1990) have proposed a general theory of crime to explain a set of behaviors they refer to as acts of force and fraud. Central to their theory is the claim that force and fraud are both manifestations of the individual's unrestrained pursuit of short-term gratification. At the same time, research from numerous disciplines suggests that the correlates of violence differ somewhat from those of property crime. The present study therefore uses data from the National Youth Survey to explore whether force and fraud can legitimately be viewed as manifestations of a single underlying construct among American adolescents. Overall, findings from confirmatory factor analyses suggest that they cannot. Rather, they suggest that multi-factor models of force and fraud improve significantly upon the fit of single-factor models and that force and fraud may therefore reflect overlapping, but empirically distinct, constructs.     

金融诈骗罪的两个误区及立法构想

以非法占有为目的应是金融诈骗罪的必备要件,但它一般不会从案件事实中直接反映出来,实践中常难于把握。故建议增设与金融诈骗罪相对应、但不要求“非法占有的目的”且刑罚较轻的新罪名。     

沉默诈欺构成论

沉默在特定情形下可以构成诈欺已成各国共识.对于沉默诈欺的构成,大陆法系国家在审判实践中形成了构成要件主义,规定了沉默构成诈欺的三个要件;英美法系则规定沉默只有在四类具体的合同中才能构成诈欺.尽管如此,两大法系均将告知义务的存在作为沉默构成诈欺的首要前提.我国的沉默诈欺制度既未明确告知义务这一前提,对诈欺故意的认定亦过于严苛,须借鉴大陆法系的一些做法对之予以修正.