Media in the Western Balkans: who controls the past controls the future

ABSTRACT

The contribution assesses the role of the media in respect to democratization and EU accession in the countries of the Western Balkans (WB) and the development of press freedom over the long run. The author closely analyses the legislative framework and its implementation in practice and focuses in particular on the economic and political pressure on the media in the region. The article offers three arguments to explain the bad shape of media freedom in the Balkans: structural factors (state advertisements as the main source of income, economic tycoons close to incumbents as media owners), proximate or external factors (the deteriorating level of media freedom in some EU countries and the whole WB region, with an accent on stability rather than democracy) and political-societal dynamics (defamation and libel as means to punish journalists, verbal and physical assaults on journalists). The media in the WB region do not serve as the watchdog of democracy but are instead used as a means to reinforce illiberal regimes.     

吉林省发行中小企业集合债券的可行性研究

新形势下的经济政策使资本市场融资功能和地方债的发行逐渐恢复,但对于中小企业来说解决资金需求仍是难题。我国企业债券市场发展步入新阶段,中小企业集合债券作为我国债券市场的新品种,已在国内成功发行五家中小企业集合债券。在当前经济形式下吉林省应积极利用国家政策,促进吉林省中小企业的健康发展,发行中小企业集合债券,拓宽融资渠道,促进吉林省经济的发展和产业调整。     

无担保国际融资基本法律问题研究——兼评我国策略选择

无担保国际融资因缺乏担保而具有特殊性。投资者保护、信用控制、风险管理是无担保国际融资法律调整中的重要法律问题,其中对欧洲债券尚有一些误解需要澄清。针对立法明显滞后的现状,我国宜从市场与监管两方面着手,多角度防范风险,充分肯定无担保国际融资积极作用、谨慎而适度地借鉴国外经验以完善法制、提高监管者素质,从而分步骤、有侧重地推进无担保国际融资在我国的健康发展,避免中航油事件等类似情况发生。     

中小企业融资的风险及对策分析

中小企业是推动国民经济发展,构造市场经济主体,促进社会稳定的基础力量。在中小企业经营与发展中,融资问题一直是困扰中小企业发展的关键因素。因此,研究中小企业融资的风险情况,对于管理者来说是不可或缺的。本文将基于中小企业的主要特征和现状,分析中小企业融资过程中面临的主要风险形态,探讨通过提高融资效率来规避融资风险的问题。     

以理财形式受贿司法认定疑难问题

司法机关应当在全面理解最新受贿罪司法解释的基础上作出受贿犯罪的定性判断与数额计算,不能直接排除国家工作人员实际出资获取收益未明显超过应得收益行为的受贿性质。通过对利润真实性质的考察与例外情况排除受贿故意,能够从正反双重层面准确把握“明显高于应得收益”的司法认定。不能将接受具有高度风险性的证券、期货等收益机会认定为受贿。     

On‐Bill Financing Programs to Support Low‐Carbon Energy Technologies: An Agent‐Oriented Assessment

On‐bill financing (OBF) schemes have been welcomed as innovative mechanisms for encouraging the adoption of low‐carbon energy technologies. Yet while the potential effects of these schemes have received growing attention, less is known about their actual performance. Departing from New Institutional Economics and insights from Behavioral Economics, this theory‐driven assessment examines the How$mart^® program in Kansas (United States) and the Green Deal in the United Kingdom. The study identifies the mechanisms designed to trigger behavioral change and technology adoption. We focus on market agents, and related market failures and behavioral anomalies that often prevent energy efficiency improvements. The paper adds to our theoretical and empirical understanding of public and utility‐driven OBF programs applied to the residential sector. Our findings suggest that simple, carefully designed on‐bill programs, where the financing of efficient technologies takes the form of a service rather than a loan, are more effective for the diffusion of low‐carbon energy technology and the reduction of transaction costs. At the same time, on bill‐financing schemes challenge the core business of utilities, and given the complexities and dynamics of energy efficiency markets and energy use, other policy interventions are needed.     

Hezbollah’s Global Tentacles: A Relational Approach to Convergence with Transnational Organized Crime

That terrorists, criminals, and their facilitators exploit the global marketplace is well known. While the global movement of illicit goods is well documented, robust empirical evidence linking terrorism and organized crime remains elusive. This article posits Network Science as a means of making these links more apparent. As a critical case study, Hezbollah is quite possibly the most mature globalized terrorist organization, although it thinks of itself as the “Party of God.” However, the means seem to justify the ends: this article shows that Hezbollah’s holy men have no qualms about resorting to pornography, contraband cigarettes, immigration fraud, and credit card fraud to raise funds. Beyond establishing links, Social Network Analysis reveals other important characteristics, such as the relative autonomy from Hezbollah headquarters that local fundraising networks enjoy. That finding implies a paradigm shift: Hezbollah is no less a terrorist organization than an organized crime syndicate. This is apparent in a network’s structure. Transnational Organized Crime is typically about nodes being connected to many others in the network. Yet, Hezbollah fundraising networks allow such connectivity because of the group’s typically high levels of mutual trust and familial relationships. This creates a vulnerability that can be exploited by law enforcement and intelligence organizations.     

论我国农村资金互助社的融资制度创新及其法律保障

农村资金互助社是我国农村金融实践的产物,是我国农村合作金融的起步形态。由于相关法律制度的缺陷及政策支持的不足,目前农村资金互助社普遍面临着融资困境,主要表现为难以获得金融许可证,处于银监会监管下的正规农村资金互助社发展步履维艰。针对农村资金互助社融资制度中存在的法人财产权属制度模糊和融资方式低效两个缺陷,应赋予农村资金互助社法人财产制度合作金融特征,实质性拓展农村资金互助社的融资方式,并完善农村资金互助社融资制度创新的法律保障。     

关于地方政府融资平台贷款的深层思考

地方政府融资平台在促进地方经济发展,缓解资金紧张中发挥了特殊的作用,但其融资信贷风险等问题也逐步凸显。文章对地方政府融资平台的各种争论进行了比较研究,并对全面评估和有效防范地方政府融资平台风险提出了建议。     

Financing Constraints,Exchange Rate Risk of Host Country and Location Choice of Enterprises’ Foreign Direct Investment——An Empirical Study Based on Micro Enterprises’ Data of Zhejiang Province

Financing constraints and exchange rate risk of host country are domestic and foreign factors which will hinder the stability and sustainable development of China’s enterprises foreign direct investment, so the interaction influence of these two factors on location choice of foreign direct investment is also crucial. Based on this, in this paper we study the foreign direct investment choice of host countries’ exchange rate risk during financing constraints. Through modeling the negative influence of revenue losing and the positive influence of financing cost reducing, our model finds that foreign direct investment enterprises with higher financing constraints tend to go for host countries with higher exchange rate risk in location choice. In empirical study, we match multiple database to construct the micro level data, and use two international data sources to measure exchange rate risks of host countries. Our empirical study finds that foreign direct investment enterprises with higher financing constraints tend to choose higher exchange rate risk countries through binary choice model and sorting model. The result of bivariate binary choice model ensures the robustness of our empirical research. Based on the comprehensive theoretical and empirical research results, we find the existence of financing constrains improves the risk preference in the foreign direct investment location choice.