An Economic Analysis of Flexible Permit Trading in the Kyoto Protocol

This paper evaluates the relative gains from augmenting or restricting several of the flexibility mechanisms of the Kyoto Protocol. A nonlinear programming model of international emissions trading is used to assess the net benefits of extending trading across time periods and across countries (Joint Implementation), and including the developing world (Clean Development Mechanism). The effect of limiting permit purchases (supplementarity) is also evaluated. The analysis is intended to help guide further climate negotiations by identifying flexibility mechanisms that contribute the most to enhancing the gains from greenhouse gas mitigation and identifying restrictions that detract the most from these gains.     

The ethical implications of prospective payment and corporate medical practice: A research agenda

The major trends in the growth of prospective payment and the corporatization of medical practice in the United States are examined. In particular, the ethical implications of these changes in the context of the multiple system goals of access, cost containment, and quality are considered. Considerable concern is being expressed that with the dominant emphasis on cost containment, the principles of access and quality might be compromised. This paper formulates a research agenda to address this question, based on a review and synthesis of empirical evidence and hypotheses about the probable or actual impact of these changes on the multiple health system goals. A basic premise is that ethical judgments should be grounded in empirical evidence about what actually is or will be.     

WTO体制下环境与贸易问题的协调

1992年全球环境与发展大会召开和乌拉圭回合结束后,各种环保意识、法律、规章和措施,越来越多地涉及到自然资源、人类和动植物生命及与健康有关的商品国际间流动,甚至扩展到服务贸易、技术贸易等领域,“贸易与环境”问题成为国际社会共同关注的焦点。如何推动环境保护与贸易自由化的相互协调发展,是WTO面临的重要问题。本文考察了环境保护和贸易自由的关系,对WTO的环保贸易条款进行了深入分析,并探讨了协调环境与贸易的途径。     

操纵证券交易价格罪的构成、特点及防治对策

目前我国证券市场中操纵证券交易价格犯罪形势日益严峻,社会危害性越来越大。因此,研究该犯罪的构成特征及防治对策,对于有效地遏制这种犯罪的发生具有特别重要的意义。     

许霆案归责的法经济学分析

法律责任的归责要遵循四个基本的原则,分别是责任法定原则、责任相称原则、责任自负原则、因果关系原则,这些基本原则是有机统一的。这些原则可以运用个人主义、交易成本、公共选择、外部性等经济学原理进行分析。通过这些理论工具的运用,本文认为,许霆案的司法判决违反这四个原则,因此从经济分析的角度来看,许霆案的判决是无效率的。     

The impact of economic theories on the law in market relations

The impact of economic theories on legal development, thinking and practice is undeniable. This is particularly true for neo-classical and institutional economics. Neo-classical economics are based on model assumptions of human behaviour such as pursuit of personal advantage, individualistic goals, complete information and at the same time law obedience which are the foundations of the functioning of the market mechanisms. The assumption leads to an almost mystical belief in the self-regulatory power of the market and a strong disdain and disapproval of the State. The concepts of a minimal State and de-regulation of all social relations follow from there. This article argues that model assumptions are valid scientific tools, as long as they are not taken to reflect the real world which is populated by real people that are not necessarily behaving like homines oeconomici. Preaching de-regulation and the dismissal of the State can prove simplistic and even dangerous and may lead to financial and economic crises like the ones witnessed in recent years. Institutional economics part from these empirical findings. They do not question individualism and the pursuit of egoistic objectives of market-participants, but they insist on inherent risks of this mechanism which stems from opportunistic behaviour, lack of information and transparency and the limits of trust. Property economists deduct from there that sustainable and dynamic economic development is unthinkable without well defined property title, the distinction of property and possession and credit securities. These institutions cannot be self-regulatory but need a clear legal frame, in other words rules established by a State. Transaction costs economists understand the danger of opportunistic behaviour and a corresponding systemic lack of trust in the negotiation, conclusion and execution of contracts. They underline the necessity of institutions which are capable of limiting these dangers and thus reducing transaction costs. Institutions may be customs, informal arrangements and formal law. At the end two examples are presented-real estate transactions and post-patriarchal family relations-to test the utility of these considerations.     

情势变更原则抑或其它——再论“韩国KIKO外汇期权交易合约案”的法律适用

不论是套期保值还是投机套利,金融衍生品交易的对象本质上就是市场上的风险,而这种作为交易对象的市场风险就是当事人赖以订约的“情势”。金融衍生品交易之所以具有射幸性,就是因为这种风险或者“情势”导致交易合同法律效果的不确定,因此,金融衍生品合约的射幸性与“情势变更”具有内在的统一性。既然法律肯定了其射幸性,也就等于认可了交易中的“情势变更”,因此,在金融衍生品交易案件中,应该严格限制情势变更原则的适用。“韩国KIKO外汇期权交易合约案”应在公平、诚信等宏观原则的指导下,多从交易商的适当性义务、信义义务以及注意义务等法律原理入手寻找解决该类案件的法律依据。     

The welfare cost of terrorism

Data from 117 countries over the period 2006 to 2011 are used to estimate a macroeconomic cross-country system of equations that examines the association between terrorism, self-reported life satisfaction, and national income. Results indicate that terrorism is negatively associated with life satisfaction, whereas no such association is found between terrorism and real GDP per worker. Stark contrasts are found, however, between OECD and non-OECD members. In all, our results suggest that the social costs of terrorism are potentially much higher than the economic costs, and measuring only the conventional economic costs of terrorism significantly underestimates the true costs.     

European integration from the agency theory perspective

European integration is a process in which national governments look for higher levels of integration and promote new requests for allocations from the supranational authority while the balance between the benefits and costs of the supranational collective action becomes increasingly favourable. This process may be analyzed as an agency problem where different national governments, acting as principals, try to lead a single agent—the supranational authority—to make a decision on the level of integration. In this paper, decisions on integration of equilibrium are studied as the result of a non co-operative two-stage game, where national governments outline their political support strategies in the first stage and the supranational authority decides the level of integration in the second stage. JEL Classification D72     

被保险人施救义务比较研究

在人寿保险以外的其他类型保险中,被保险人应在事故发生后承担施救义务。被保险人应主动履行施救义务,如果保险人就如何施救给出指示,被保险人应遵照执行。被保险人履行施救义务时发生的必要、合理费用,保险人应予以补偿,但补偿金额原则上不应超过保险金额。如果被保险人违反施救义务,保险人对由此发生或者扩大的损失不负赔付责任。