Hedge Funds, the Deutsche Börse Affair and Predatory Anglo-American Capitalism

Boardroom trouble at Deutsche Börse, the company that operates Germany's main stock market, has recently provoked an important debate about competing capitalist models. Werner Seifert, Deutsche Börse's ousted Chief Executive, was eager to portray himself as the innocent victim of aggressive Anglo-American investors who had bought into his company but failed to understand its traditional operating ethos. In this, he was ably supported by key figures within the ruling Social Democratic Party, who, in order to shore up the party's core support, had increasingly come to blame overseas hedge funds for the development of German corporate governance models which prioritised profits over jobs. I review the SPD's structural reading of the Deutsche Börse affair, whilst comparing it to an alternative interest-based reading. The latter allows me to focus more closely on the issue which, more than any other, led to Seifert's downfall: his refusal to bow to the expressed interests of his own shareholders by pressing ahead, against their wishes, with a hostile bid for the London Stock Exchange. Seifert's eventual removal foreclosed the possibility of an integrated London-Frankfurt stock market and, somewhat ironically given the SPD's response to the affair, as a consequence it also prevented the entry of London's highly capitalised institutional investors into the German market for corporate control. The actions of Deutsche Börse's overseas shareholders might still be seen as evidence of a predatory Anglo-American capitalism. However, their successful removal of Werner Seifert may well have been responsible for temporarily keeping other financial predators at bay.     

平台异化还是因债致罪？——P2P网贷涉非法吸收公众存款罪裁判文本实证研究

文章采用文献研究的方法对83份P2P网贷平台构成非法吸收公众存款罪的裁判文书进行实证分析。通过对平台异化模式的定性分析和平台负债情况的定量分析以及与刑事责任程度的交叉分析,文章认为,平台异化是P2P网贷平台构成非法吸收公众存款罪的基础性因素,负债规模、存款人人数和无法清偿的数额等三个因素都对刑事责任的程度产生影响。而且相比之下,无法清偿的数额对刑事责任影响的程度最为显著。实际上对P2P网贷平台追究非法吸收公众存款罪的刑事责任是因为网贷平台无法清偿举债数额巨大,即因债致罪。这种因债致罪的司法行为逻辑,可以从司法者作为“清场者”的功能定位和对社会秩序的价值追求来解释其合理性,但是从多元价值权衡和刑事民事分离的角度分析,其又是不合理的。     

论“套路贷”犯罪的刑事规制及其完善

“套路贷”犯罪是以非法占有为目的,假借民间借贷之名、行非法侵占他人财物之实的新型犯罪,具有犯罪意图的侵财性、犯罪手段的隐蔽性、犯罪团伙的组织性和犯罪后果的严重性等特征。我国对“套路贷”犯罪的立法规制,总体上契合惩处“套路贷”犯罪的情势与实际需要,但也存在一些问题。当前,对“套路贷”犯罪的司法规制呈现民多刑少的格局,规制的主要罪名是诈骗罪、敲诈勒索罪,规制的核心标准是划清“套路贷”犯罪与高利贷、非法讨债行为的界限。改进“套路贷”犯罪的刑事规制,应确立“重重轻轻,以重为主”的刑事政策,在《刑法》中增设套路贷诈骗罪,健全“套路贷”案件的刑民衔接机制,探索“套路贷”犯罪案件专业化办理机制,积极推行“套路贷”犯罪案例指导制度。     

地方政府借贷监管体系构建的国际经验与启示

政府监管是解决市场失灵的一种有效机制。尽管世界各国的政府监管模式各有不同,构建的背景和内容也有所区别,但都是基于以矫正和解决市场失灵为目的而建立的。当下我国正处于转轨时期,虽然设立了相应的政府监管机构,但不论是理念还是职能上都偏重于传统意义上的监管,与现代意义上的监管还相差甚远。加之当前我国的市场经济体制还不健全,政府的管理理念与发展方式还保留着计划经济时期的传统,法制环境还不完善。因此,如何把我国传统的政府监管转变为现代意义的政府监管就显得尤为重要。这不仅能提高政府的监管能力,建立独立、公开、透明的现代监管体系,同时还是健全和完善市场经济体制,融入经济全球化进程的必然要求。     

掠夺性定价立法问题研究

反掠夺性定价立法的基本目的是保护消费者和促进消费者福利 ,认定掠夺性定价的规则应有利于这个基本目的的实现和更容易操作 ,高于成本的掠夺性定价也应被禁止。在此基础上 ,文章对我国的有关掠夺性定价立法进行了反思并提出了相关建议     

论非法集资的证券化趋势与新调整方案

我国非法集资呈现出与广义证券投资相关的证券化趋势。现有调整非法集资的制度规范有非刑法规范与刑法规范,其中以非法吸收公众存款罪与集资诈骗罪为主的刑法调整存在明显缺陷,非法集资的制度规范需要做证券法角度的改进。解决制度性的非法集资问题,必须确立证券非公开发行融资制度标准,扩张合法融资途径,将公司企业的经营性、证券性投融资行为归于证券法调整。引导证券化民间集资关系转化为民间证券融资关系,通过证券融资的规范调整,调整民间融资的行为,用是否违反证券法作为判断民间融资行为的标准。     

民间借贷的软法治理模式探析

民间借贷作为民间融资的重要形式,在解决金融资源公平、有效配置问题方面发挥着不可替代的作用.目前,硬法治理模式在规范民间借贷时出现了系统性的制度缺位,随着软法治理模式的日渐兴起,民间借贷的软法治理方案成为一种弥补硬法局限的金融治理模式.通过分析不难发现,民间借贷与软法治理在制度供给与制度需求、价值取向和治理方式诸方面有较高的契合度.构建以保障民生为宗旨的民间借贷软法治理模式,将是理顺和规范民间贷关系的一种理性选择.     

On the Duration of Self-Employment: The Impact of Macroeconomic Conditions

The article examines the role of lending rates, imports and growth on the duration of self-employment in Zimbabwe while the country embarked on trade liberalisation. The variables were selected because of their importance as policy variables in reform programmes and also their importance to small entrepreneurs. Previous research has established the importance of an initial endowment and other measures of human capital on entry into self-employment as well as growth of the respective enterprises. We show that such initial conditions do not always give robust results. Instead, duration of self-employment is negatively related to higher lending rates, increased imports and structural change, but responds positively to growth.     

Games borrower governments play: the implementation of economic adjustment programmes in Cyprus and Portugal

Research on the Economic Adjustment Programmes (EAPs) for Eurozone crisis countries has so far acknowledged the role of creditor countries and Troika institutions or has examined the economic effects or structural determinants of domestic implementation processes. The role of borrower governments as strategic actors within the ‘Troika complex’ has been neglected. Taking Cyprus and Portugal as cases in point, the article shows how reform-oriented borrower governments used the interaction with the Troika to overcome veto player opposition to programme implementation. Drawing on the two-level game and on negotiation theory, the study discusses borrower strategies in response to opposition from the court or parliament, and the costs of no agreement. Reform-oriented governments mostly used commitments to the international level or Troika pressure to pursue coercive strategies vis-à-vis domestic opponents. High costs of no agreement seem to be a necessary means to pass on political and market pressure through coercion.     

浅议我国民间借贷的法律规制

民间借贷作为我国正规金融借贷的一种必要补充,有其存在的合理性。由于缺乏相应的法律规范、有效的外部监管和完善的社会信用体系,民间借贷市场还存在诸多风险和不规范之处。必须通过完善立法、加强监管、强化社会信用体系建设等使其规范化、健康化发展。