Impact of microcredit on income,poverty, and economic vulnerability in Peninsular Malaysia

This article examines the effect of Amanah Ikhtiar Malaysia's (AIM) microcredit programme on low-income households' income, poverty rate, and vulnerability in Peninsular Malaysia. This study employed a quasi-experimental approach, cross-sectional design, and stratified random sampling method. Findings indicated that participation in AIM's microcredit programme leads to an increase in household income and reduces both the poverty rate and level of economic vulnerability. AIM and policymakers, therefore, should focus on promoting a supportive environment to improve cooperation among participants by designing a dynamic and well-diversified microfinance programme and specialised skills-building training programme.     

The persisting challenge of age-for-grade non-compliance in post-free primary education in Kenya

This article examines the prevalence of non-compliance on the age-for-grade policy in the post-free primary education system in Kenya. We utilised data from the 2009 cohort of enrolled primary schoolchildren. The analysis revealed non-compliance to be a persisting concern in the school system, characterised by both under-age and over-age enrolment at the age-for-grade level of analysis in spite of the introduction of free primary education in 2003. Irrespective of the nature of non-compliance, overcrowding in the lower grades is more prevalent, with potential for adverse compromises in quality of learning and the attendant added dimension of the mismatched grade-for-age curricula.     

A Rigorous Quasi‐Experimental Design to Evaluate the Causal Effect of a Mandatory Divorce Education Program

All couples with minor children who filed for divorce within a specific 6‐week period (N = 191 couples) in one jurisdiction were ordered to attend a divorce education program. The control group included about 20 couples randomly selected from each of six 6‐week intervals before and six 6‐week intervals after the treatment interval (N = 243 couples). Archival records were searched for variables such as legal and residential custody award, visitation percentage, and relitigation. The impact of the program was assessed by evaluating, for each variable, whether the data for program interval departed from the straight (regression) line drawn through all the control group intervals. Only the visitation time award significantly differed: 27.75% for treatment couples and 22.46% for control couples. Analyses show that the father's attendance at the program primarily accounts for the difference.

Key Points for the Family Court Community
• There are considerable methodological weaknesses in most of the existing evaluations of divorcing parent education programs.
• Stronger, more scientifically rigorous—and thus persuasive—designs are possible in court settings, such as the regression discontinuity quasi‐experimental design we feature here.
• Archival records, such as various court filings, are a rich and relatively untapped source of data.
• Being mandated to attend a single 2‐hour divorcing parent education class caused an increase in the visitation time award in divorce decrees.
• There is a disconnect between being mandated by a judge to attend a program and actual attendance.

     

毒品案件主观认定中的自由心证

在并未明确和确立自由心证制度的我国,自由心证已在刑事证据审查的广大领域占有了重要的一席之地,并发挥着潜移默化的证明作用。基于毒品犯罪证据收集中的实际困难,司法人员在犯罪嫌疑人拒不认罪,并否认自己主观明知的案件中,较多地从客观证据出发,运用经验规则与逻辑规则形成自己的主观判断(心证)。然而,自由心证是否公正和理性,则取决于司法人员的学识、经验和道德操守。     

CO<Subscript>2</Subscript> emission allowance allocation mechanisms,allocative efficiency and the environment: a static and dynamic perspective

The object of this paper is to place allocation mechanisms into a framework of Emission Trading Systems and thereby to establish a typology. It analyses how various assignment mechanisms deal with issues such as price determination, allocative efficiency and environmental considerations in a static and dynamic economy model. It analyses how allocation mechanisms are to be ranked and whether they serve the attainment of the general equilibrium. First the paper examines how market-based allocation mechanisms (auctions) perform in light of the above issues. Second the paper distinguishes between the two types of administrative allocation mechanisms: (1) financial administrative allocation mechanisms, combining payment schemes with bureaucratic expertise, and (2) free administrative allocation mechanisms, based inter alia on industrial policy considerations and on passed emission records (grandfathering). In particular, the value added of relative performance standards, which are for example included in the “Performance Standard Rate” (PSR) Emission Trading System, are examined as a means to provide allowances. The overall finding is that in a closed static economy and in the presence of an efficient trading market, different allocation methods produce equally efficient outcomes in allocative and environmental respects. With regard to an open dynamic economy, the impact of initial allocation mechanisms resembles those of a static closed economy. In such an economy the upper limit to the internalisation of negative externalities is given by operator’s costs of environmentally harmful relocation and hence the cost burden placed upon operators is crucial. Auctions and financial administrative allocation mechanisms perform less well than free administrative mechanisms. Relative standard base mechanisms, constituting an important element of the PSR Emission Trading System, perform better than grandfathering schemes because they take into account abatement possibilities of industries, minimise stranded costs and do not give rise to time shifting of abatement projects. It is therefore concluded that allocation mechanisms merit more attention than the discussion relating to capped trade and trade without a cap.      

行政法律裁判中的合宪性解释与价值衡量方法——对一个行政案件法律推理过程的具体考察

行政诉讼制度运行良好的一个重要指针就是法官能够在行政诉讼案件中运用正确的法律推理思维与方法而得到“正当的个案裁判”。法律推理具有不同于形式逻辑推理的重要特征。从一个具体行政案件的判决论证过程中,可以发现合宪性解释对于“作为具体化之宪法”的行政法来说具有重要的作用,而行政争议中复杂的价值冲突也使得价值衡量的推理方法尤为值得关注。     

论既判力的相对性

在既判力的研究中,强调较多的是既判力在确定判决效力上的强制力,对其相对性却没有引起足够的重视。文章对既判力相对性存在的制度意义、表现以及成因进行了分析,多角度地挖掘既判力制度整体上存在相对性的规律,寻找调控既判力相对性强弱的方法。     

从绩效评估到绩效管理：地方政府管理的转向

基于概念的内涵层面和绩效管理的构造维度之学理分析表明,绩效评估包含于绩效管理之中。绩效管理体现了管理的整个过程,试图通过过程来控制结果,而绩效评估强调的则是考核,倡导更多地关注结果。然而,在实际操作中,我国一些地方政府只重视绩效评估体系的构建,严重忽视绩效管理的过程,甚至将绩效评估等同于绩效管理,致使地方政府绩效评估实践难以取得突破性进展。有鉴于此,务需立足于管理过程的视角,实现从单方面注重地方政府绩效评估向全面推行地方政府绩效管理的转变。     

关于刑侦绩效管理的思考

刑侦绩效管理是指刑事侦查部门、侦查员和社会公众在刑事侦查目标指导下，通过沟通、反馈、指导和支持，使用合理配置的最低限度刑事侦查资源，优化刑侦队伍组织，行使刑侦管辖范围内最大的公共安全职责，为社会和公众提供更高品质和更高满意度的公共安全产品与服务的一种可持续发展的管理方法。实行刑侦绩效管理具有极其重要的意义。改进刑侦绩效管理可从以下几个方面入手：正确定位刑侦绩效管理目标；改进人事录用管理制度；发挥绩效考核在刑侦绩效管理中的重要作用；完善绩效考核与激励制度的关系；创新刑侦绩效管理办法。     

行政许可条件研究

许可条件是行政许可设定制度的一个重要内容,也是行政许可制度发挥作用的关键因素。许可条件是申请人能够获得许可的“最高限制性要求”,其设定不仅要做到形式合法,而且还必须兼顾公益与私益的平衡并以必要为限。行政许可设定机关应当遵循上述原则和要求,定期对其设定的行政许可事项及其条件进行评价。