Red Tape,Rule Burden,and Legitimate Performance Trade-Offs: Results from a Vignette Experiment

Abstract

Goals in the public sector are complex and managers can face situations in which pursuing one legitimate goal necessitates performance trade-offs in other areas. This study tests how knowledge of legitimate performance trade-offs shapes the perception of red tape. Using a vignette experimental design and a sample of university students, between group t-tests and regression analyses suggest that, when evaluating increased rule burden, individuals that are provided with information about how objectively burdensome rules serve alternative values such as equity and effectiveness associate them with lower levels of red tape. A series of Monte Carlo simulations suggest that this effect is substantial.     

论科学发展观视野中的地方政府绩效评价体系的优化

科学发展观的提出受到各界的普遍关注并得到了高度的评价。为确保科学发展观的贯彻落实,地方政府绩效评价体系的优化显得尤其重要。首先,要按照科学发展观的要求,构建科学的评价指标体系;其次,要完善评价主体结构;再次,要开发利用科学的评价技术与方法;最后,必须制定完善的法律法规,规范地方政府绩效评价活动。     

信息语境下的侦查路径分析

社会分工条件下侦查主体面临着信息成本无限扩张与侦查能力相对有限之间的矛盾,社会变迁及科技发展为侦查主体加强对个体信息的渗透提供了无限可能,但这种可能性受到私权的严格限制。信息交易为侦查主体提供了一种新的低代价的信息获取渠道。     

死者生前债务法律处置初探

我国实行限定继承的继承制度,又采取的是直接继承的方式,在缺乏对继承人有效监督的情况下,对债权人的保护极为不利,有必要对继承人予以限制。死者生前和死后都可能达成债务承担协议,实现债务全部或部分转移。由此,极可能引发纠纷。这些问题又恰恰是法律所未规定或规定不全面而为司法实践所常见者。因此从解决实际问题出发,本文对此略作探讨。     

High performance liquid chromatographic determination of alcohols with reference to body distribution of methanol

A method has been developed on reverse phase high performance liquid chromatography for simultaneous determination of methyl, ethyl and isopropyl alcohols under refractive index detection using pure water as the mobile phase. A good separation has been achieved between these alcohols. Detector response was linear with a detection limit of 5 mg/100 ml. Recovery studies were performed by adding known amounts of methyl and ethyl alcohols to blood, lung and liver within the range 80–90%. The reproducibility of the results was always >90%. The quantitative distribution of methyl alcohol in postmortem body tissues and fluids has been reported in three cases of poisoning.     

The European airline industry: law and economics of low cost carriers

This article offers an analysis of the European airline industry in order to understand the new dynamics of the competitive field. The liberalization process did not lead the entrance of competitors similar to incumbents, but a new organizational model has been developed, the one of low cost carriers. The incumbents’ reaction to the liberalization process coupled with the entrance of low cost companies into the sector are hence considered. Two theories are analysed: the contestable markets theory, to understand the theoretical vision that has influenced the liberalization process, and the core theory, a modern approach to the concept of destructive competition that, according to some authors, is a recurring problem in the sector. While numerous barriers to entry still exist, the paper examines how the organizational model of low cost companies has helped new entrants to overtake these obstacles. By the same token, the application of the core theory does not seem to justify strategic alliances taking place in these years. The competitive framework is definitely clearer if we analyse sector changes in a different way, from the point of view of low cost companies considered as new market actors.     

The effect of board size and composition on European bank performance

Banks are “special” financial institutions generating distinct corporate governance challenges. The present paper examines the relationship between two of the most pertinent corporate governance factors—that is, the size of the Board of Directors and the proportion of non-executive directors—and firm performance on a sample of 58 large European banks over the period 2002–2004. The empirical analysis embraces a number of bank-specific variables. Our results reveal that bank profitability is negatively related to the size of the Board of Directors, while the impact of Board composition, although positive in all models, is, in most cases, insignificant. The results are robust after controlling for firm-specific variables.      

Acidic and neutral drugs screen in blood with quantitation using microbore high-performance liquid chromatography–diode array detection and capillary gas chromatography–flame ionization detection

Blood previously acidified with aqueous saturated ammonium chloride solution was extracted with ethyl acetate. The dried extract was subjected to acetonitrile–hexane partition. The acetonitrile portion was analysed for the presence of acidic and neutral drugs by HPLC–DAD (200 mm×2.1 mm I.D. microbore ODS-Hypersil column) and GC–FID (25 m narrow-bore×0.25 mm I.D. HP-5 column with 0.33 μm film thickness). The protocol was found to be suitable for both clinical toxicology (including emergency toxicology) and postmortem toxicology. At least 66 drugs of interest were unequivocally identified by RRTs (HPLC) and UV spectra (DAD) match while another 12 were unequivocally identified by double RRTs match (HPLC and GC). Quantitation was facilitated by incorporating calibration blood standards in each assay batch. The five drugs most commonly encountered in clinical blood specimens (1150 cases) were: paracetamol (47.4% of the cases); chlormezanone (6.6%), theophylline (1.74%), naproxen (1.65%) and mefenamic acid (1.56%). The following drugs were detected in toxicologically significant quantities in postmortem blood specimens (245 cases): phenobarbitone (1.22% of the cases), naproxen (0.82%), chlormezanone (0.82%), theophylline (0.82%), carbamazepine (0.41%) and paracetamol (0.41%).     

稳压电源性能测试仪研制

针对线性稳压电源的性能指标测试过程繁琐、测量结果不理想等问题，我们采用单片机技术实现了全自动测量，将测量中所需的自耦调压器、滑线变阻器、各种测量仪表（交流电压表、精密直流电压表、精密电流表、交流毫伏表）分别设计成智能仪表，自动输出和测量稳压电源需要的工频信号和输出的电压、电流信号，同时进行指标的计算，实时显示稳压电源的性能指标，根据需要可由微型打印机输出测量结果。     

中外政府绩效管理的行政生态学比较

无论在理念上还是在实践中,要完善我国政府绩效管理,提升政府绩效以满足公众需要,改善政府形象,必须从行政生态学角度出发,基于自身特定的环境背景,建立我国政府绩效管理的内部系统。必须完善政府绩效管理的内部生态,强调内外生态间的相互作用与影响,才能促进我国政府绩效管理取得成功。