One-stop border posts and informal livelihoods in Busia,Kenya

‘One-stop border posts’ (OSBP) are being developed on East African trade corridors to support growth in cross-border trade in the region. This article presents a household survey examining the impact of the OSBP at Busia on the Kenya–Uganda border on the livelihoods of informal traders and workers. It finds positive effects through enhanced access to cross-border trade. However, it also finds negative effects, including reduced work opportunities for unskilled manual workers. Further research is needed into the long-term effects on the price and foreign exchange differentials which currently incentivise the informal trade, before the effects can be fully assessed.     

律师保密义务的经济学探析——海派经济学的法学观点

本文属于法律经济学的研究范畴,试图以经济学方法探讨律师保密义务在确保公正的前提下可能出现的效率问题,从而分析这项制度安排的合理性。文章通过对两者涉及的各相关主体进行以“成本收益”分析为核心的行为分析,发现流行的律师保密义务理论和措施无法在较低的私人成本、社会成本支出水平上实现司法收益的最大化,即这项制度导致了司法资源配置的低效率。     

The Economics of Prisons

This survey scans the English language research on prisons published since the appearance of Becker's (1968) seminal piece. After first describing the economic nature of prison and parole, issues concerning comparative institutional analysis and organizational design are discussed, including the role of private prisons. Empirical evidence on production functions for prisons, recidivism and offender rehabilitation programs is reviewed. A brief overview of policy issues and suggestions for future research concludes the survey.     

法学研究方法论与刑事诉讼的现代化——以法律经济学研究方法论为例的检视

刑事诉讼的现代化必须立基于刑事诉讼法学研究的科学化,而刑事诉讼研究者确立科学的法学研究方法论则是后者的基石。法学研究方法论是关于法学研究方法和思路的总体性抽象说明,它的重点在于解释说明研究过程中研究者的哲学观念和基础认知,更多的反映了研究者预设的主观价值判断和基本的学术立场。需要在区分法学研究方法论与法学研究方法、法律(学)方法论三个概念的基础上,认知法学研究方法论的特殊价值。刑事诉讼法学的研究应以法律经济学研究方法论为借鉴,从研究的逻辑起点、研究的认识论基础和研究的学术认知立场三个层面入手,培塑本学科的法学研究方法论。     

组织演化观点下的产业经济学

产业经济学家一直关注产业组织的构成,同时也致力于探究产业组织演化的动力问题。产业组织主要有资源配置方式、产业和企业等三个层次。在综合考虑先天遗传性因素和后天的竞争环境对组织演化的决定性影响之后,产业组织演化的动力问题可以在一个表述清楚的一般性框架中获得澄清。     

新制度经济学视角下政府成本控制

政府成本是行政学研究领域中具有重要实践意义的课题,目前大部分关于政府成本的研究多从公共行政学、公共财政学甚至行政法学角度展开的。从我国目前政府成本过高的现状出发,以新制度经济学的视角,对政府成本重新界定,从制度内部来探讨政府成本的控制方法,对降低我国政府成本具有重大的现实意义。     

Towards formulating effective research and development national strategies in Arab countries

Extremely weak R&D has a negative impact on growth and development in Arab countries. Developing a better R&D strategy could enhance capacity and effectiveness of R&D. The failure of the previously developed strategies in Arab countries was due to lack of vision, incorrect identification of R&D priorities, and disregard consulting stakeholders. This article discusses the challenges of developing R&D national strategies in Arab countries including identifying R&D priorities, managing stakeholders, assessing the current situation of R&D, and defining objectives of the strategies.     

Adaptation vs. development: basic services for building resilience

In a transect along Indus River after the 2010 floods in Pakistan, this article explores the relationship between the use and duration of use of basic services, among those who recovered well and those who did not, using non-parametric statistical testing in a quasi-experimental design. The research shows a clear and strong correlation between access and duration of usage of certain services before the disaster, and the rate of recovery in each location. This analysis demonstrates a relatively robust and cost-effective methodology to identify and prioritise development interventions that build resilience against climatic shocks that are not undertaken at the cost of poverty reduction.     

Resurrecting the Dodo: Positive control DNA for species identification

Positive controls are necessary standards for inclusion in forensic tests. When working as expected they demonstrate that methods have been applied correctly, and therefore results can be interpreted with confidence. However, the requirement for positive controls can also introduce problems. For species identification in wildlife DNA forensic testing, it is possible that the DNA sequence of the case sample will be a 100% match to the positive control. Whilst clear results for negative controls will indicate that cross-contamination is unlikely, it would be preferable to have a positive control that will not appear in casework. In addition, for many endangered species, obtaining positive control DNA for species-specific testing can be problematic. Here we present a simple method to use artificially generated positive control DNA from the extinct Dodo, Raphus cucullatus, for four species-identification tests run routinely in UK wildlife forensic casework.     

Reaching for profit in the welfare state: Patrimonial economic voting in Denmark

Economic voting has been well-studied in a number of advanced industrial democracies, including Denmark. However, that work has been almost entirely on the valence dimension, i.e., rewarding or punishing government according to whether the overall economy prospers. Recent work has looked at other economic voting dimensions, including patrimony, i.e., the impact of property ownership on the vote. A patrimonial effect has been found in the UK, the US, and France. However, it seems to differ somewhat depending on the welfare-character of the state, with the US at one end and France at the other. Here we examine patrimonial economic voting in a still more extreme welfare state - Denmark. In our analysis of voting in the 2011 parliamentary election, we establish two new findings: 1. patrimonial economic voting exists in Denmark and, 2. its effect is stronger than that for other countries studied thus far.