Clustering of Multilateral Environmental Agreements: Potentials and Limitations

The concept of clustering of multilateral environmental agreements (MEAs), i.e. the integration of groups of MEAs or parts thereof, has acquired prominence in recent discussions about reforming international environmental governance. Understood as a continuing process, clustering of MEAs aims at advancing the ongoing process of integrating the elements of this system more systematically and dynamically. This paper proceeds in three steps. First, it demonstrates that a distinction needs to be made between clustering of organisational elements of MEAs and their functions, since the conditions and the effects of their integration differ significantly. Second, it argues that – in contrast to several existing approaches that seek to build clusters starting from similarities in one dimension – any attempt to integrate elements of MEAs needs to be based upon the analysis of a range of factors that influence the prospects of such integration (including overlap of membership and issues, practical feasibility, legal obstacles, and functional requirements). Third, the article contrasts the main potential benefits of a clustering of MEAs, namely efficiency gains and an increase in the coherence of international environmental governance, with the main challenges of international environmental policy, namely reaching agreement, implementing such agreement effectively and preventing/managing inter-institutional conflict. While clustering cannot be expected to make a significant direct contribution to addressing these challenges, it has a potential to economise and enhance the system of international environmental governance with positive indirect effects promoting better international environmental protection in the longer term.     

论银行在公司治理中的作用--兼论在中国建立银行主导型公司治理结构的可行性

在公司治理上,我国是采取英美市场主导型,还是借鉴德日的银行主导型,应取决于我国公司制的国情特色.本文分析了德日银行主导型治理模式产生的原因,指出银行可以在公司治理中发挥积极作用.在现有的股权结构下,建立银行主导型的公司治理结构将是我国努力的方向.     

The Role of the State and International Organizations inReconciling Sustainable Development and Globalization

The concepts of sustainable development and globalization have developed separately, with little recognition that there is significant overlap between them. This article seeks to argue that there is a need to try to reconcile these concepts and that, in particular, it is a fundamental mistake to consider globalization as inevitable whilst seeing sustainable development as an optional policy choice. In seeking to achieve this reconciliation, the role of the State and international organizations in maintaining public governance is reaffirmed.     

Shareholder Primacy and the Distribution of Wealth

In recent years a growing consensus has emerged in favour of the shareholder-oriented model of the corporation. Increasingly, this model is justified not on the basis of shareholder ownership rights but on efficiency grounds: whoever the immediate and direct beneficiaries of shareholder-orientation, it is argued, it ultimately indirectly benefits everyone by ensuring the maximization of aggregate social wealth. The prevalence of this view has caused the distributional dimensions of corporate governance to be neglected. This paper examines the distribution of share ownership and financial wealth in the US and the UK. Although share ownership has become more widely spread, it argues, it remains very heavily concentrated with the result that shareholder primacy is in reality the primacy of a small privileged elite. After an exploration of the contradictions of working class shareholding and the impact of greater shareholder-orientation on the distribution of wealth, the paper concludes by re-evaluating Hansmann and Kraakman's 'end of corporate history' thesis, arguing that recent developments represent a triumph not for efficiency but for the growing power of the shareholder class.     

Why are the United States and the European Union failing to regulate the internet efficiently? Going beyond the bottom-up and top-down alternatives

This paper analyzes the different approaches for Internet regulation. We use the United States and European Union to illustrate the alternative approaches of self-regulation and government intervention. Our research suggests that both systems have serious shortcomings that could be ameliorated by the use of a mixed system for Internet regulation in which both the private and public sector have a role. The case study of privacy rights self regulation in the United States and its failure to effectively provide privacy regulation serves as our empirical evidence. We provide guidelines for both the government and the private sector in defining and enforcing privacy regulation. JEL Classification K33 · K2 · L51 · L86 · O57     

论公司独立人格的内在依据与制度需求

公司独立人格理论是公司制度存在与运行的基础,对于公司制度的立法选择与司法适用都具有重要价值。有必要通过公司独立人格的历史依据的考察,明确公司独立人格产生的实践性基础,并从多元视角剖析公司的本质属性,明确公司独立人格的理论逻辑。并可以基于此为独立公司人格的实现作关键的保障性制度设计:完善公司治理结构与公司内外部法律责任分配机制。     

Intra-household gender inequality: hidden dimensions of poverty among Polish women

This paper challenges recent findings from quantitative studies of poverty in post-communist countries which deny the existence of gender differences in poverty in post 1989 Poland. The author uncovers hidden forms of the feminization of poverty by studying it from the micro-perspective of the family and the household. This perspective highlights gender differences in the division of labor, leisure time, as well as the fact that it is women’s primary responsibility to secure the basic needs of the family. This study presents strong evidence for a variety of ways in which men and women experience and endure poverty differently in an impoverished area in Poland, a fact which is associated with the role of culture, history and tradition in shaping gendered patterns of reaction towards poverty and hardship. The paper is based on the content analysis of in-depth interviews collected during a field research conducted within the project “Old and new forms of poverty in Poland” (1997–1998) and “Poverty, Ethnicity, and Gender inTransitional Societies (1999–2000).¹     

试论科学发展观视野中的善治理念

科学发展观视野下的善治理念,既是对统治理念的辩证否定,又是治理理念的升华。科学发展观赋予善治理念以崭新的时代内涵,实现这种被赋予新内涵的善治目标的途径和方法也被赋予了崭新的内容。     

Takeover Defenses’ Influence on Managerial Incentives

This article examines how takeover defenses influence managerial incentives with respect to long-term investments, excess liquidity and capital structure. The article presents a cross-sectional regression based on a sample of listed Danish firms and deals explicitly with the problem of causation between the variables. Takeover defenses adopted by Danish firms mainly consist of shares with dual class voting rights, which are often combined with foundation ownership. The article finds that protected firms have significantly less debt to equity. However, protected firms are not significantly more oriented towards the long-term and do not have significantly more excess liquidity.     

Law or Finance: Evidence from Finland

Although it is widely acknowledged that the benefits of corporate governance reform could be substantial, systematic evidence on such reforms is scant. We both document and evaluate a contemporary corporate governance reform by constructing 18 measures of shareholder and creditor protection for Finland for the period 1980–2000. The measures reveal that shareholder protection has been strengthened whereas creditor protection has been weakened. We also demonstrate how the reform is consistent with a reorganisation of the Finnish financial market in which a bank-centred financial system shifted from relationship-based debt finance towards increasing dominance by the stock market. We find evidence that the development of shareholder protection has been a driver of the reorganisation, whereas the changes in creditor protection have mirrored market developments.