Headlong into the Polanyian Dilemma: The Impact of Middle-Class Moral Panic on the British Government's Response to the Sub-prime Crisis

This article focuses on the discursive construction in Britain of a middle-class moral panic occasioned by the distress caused to self-styled 'responsible mortgage borrowers' by falling house prices. In the context of the move towards asset-based welfare the sub-prime crisis manifested itself most obviously in the popular consciousness as a threat to housing market wealth. The Labour government used the political space opened up by the narrative of middle-class moral panic in order to protect banks' balance sheets from the consequences of their own failed investments in mortgage-backed securities. The ensuing arrangements immunised banks from the implications of market self-regulation in the first-phase response to the sub-prime crisis while simultaneously allowing them to continue to impose the experience of market self-regulation on their customers. An increasingly asymmetric approach to banking regulation has arisen analogous to that which Karl Polanyi associated with the contradictory co-existence of market and non-market forms.     

Freedom of information in local government: rhetoric or reality?

The aim of this paper is to analyse the level of implementation by Spanish local authorities of the Transparency Act (19/2013), and their voluntary information disclosure in areas where such disclosure is obligatory in other EU countries. We identify the main factors that may influence the implementation of this Act and the self-regulation policies adopted. Our analysis highlights the existence of delays among some local authorities, with notable differences between municipalities with larger and smaller populations, in implementing the Act, and also the fact that many municipalities are committed to achieving transparency, often going beyond minimum legal requirements. Factors such as population size, the political ideology of the governing party and the education level and economic capacity of the population are related to the level of implementation of transparency and self-regulatory policies in this respect by local authorities. We acknowledge that the 2013 Act was still being implemented during the period analysed.     

Trends in Governance in Further Education

Abstract

The governance of further education colleges has two main phases since the passing of the Education Act 1944 – the period when further education colleges were under local authority control and the period from ‘vesting day’ on 1 April 1993 when colleges became incorporated and further education corporations were formed as charities. This review is primarily concerned with the landscape of college governance since 1 April 1993 and draws upon some of the very limited number of research studies into the practice of further education governance. The experience and contribution of the key governance players – chair of the corporation, governors, the principal, the senior staff, the clerk to the corporation – are discussed. Throughout the period since 1993, college governance has operated within a policy framework provided by government and, to a greater or lesser extent, the implementation of those policies by agencies of government. In simple terms, the pattern may seem to be creativity (in the early years), compliance (following some high profile college governance collapses), micro-management (through the Learning and Skills Council years) and now the most open, imaginative phase as the current government encourages the strong colleges to play a bigger part in local education provision. Perhaps now is the time when the experience of college governance to date is able to draw upon its considerable strengths and show what the accumulation of governance capital can achieve.     

自律：新时期推进我国廉政建设的必然视角

离开了公共权力主体的运用和操作,公共权力便不会发挥任何作用,再完善的体制也实现不了。在新时期我国廉政建设的推进过程中,公共权力主体的自律能力提升就显得尤为迫切。我们从公职人员自律的角度出发,认为实现自律具有可行性,并可以通过主体积极主动以及他律两种方式来实现自律。     

行政评价制度与法律激励功能

行政评价制度通过对评价原则和具体指标、程序的设置,对评价结果进行诊断,并伴随奖惩措施的强化,能有效地约束行政主体在合法、合理以及可操作的范围内行使行政职权,以激励和推动行政主体发挥自身的积极性、主动性和创造性,提高行政行为的质量和水准,从而达到自我规范,实现和谐社会的善治目标。     

论新闻自律与构建和谐社会的关系

目前我国经济处于转型期,一些新闻从业人员的各种欲望和追求无限膨胀,导致道德底线被冲垮。新闻工作本身的性质及新闻从业人员的社会角色,决定了加强新闻自律对构建和谐社会的作用至关重要。加强新闻从业人员的新闻自律,必须从新闻从业人员的自身建设和各种监督机制的建设两方面入手。     

Profiling the mobile customer – Is industry self-regulation adequate to protect consumer privacy when behavioural advertisers target mobile phones? – Part II

Mobile customers are increasingly being tracked and profiled by behavioural advertisers to enhance delivery of personalized advertising. This type of profiling relies on automated processes that mine databases containing personally-identifying or anonymous consumer data, and it raises a host of significant concerns about privacy and data protection. This second article in a two part series on “Profiling the Mobile Customer” explores how to best protect consumers’ privacy and personal data through available mechanisms that include industry self-regulation, privacy-enhancing technologies and legislative reform.¹ It discusses how well privacy and personal data concerns related to consumer profiling are addressed by two leading industry self-regulatory codes from the UK and the U.S. that aim to establish fair information practices for behavioural advertising by their member companies. It also discusses the current limitations of using technology to protect consumers from privacy abuses related to profiling. Concluding that industry self-regulation and available privacy-enhancing technologies will not be adequate to close important privacy gaps related to consumer profiling without legislative reform, it offers suggestions for EU and U.S. regulators about how to do this.²     

A Selection of Empirical Socio-Economic Research with Respect to the Functioning of Legal Rules and Institutions in Belgium and the Netherlands

In this paper some studies with respect to empirical socio-economic research which has been undertaken in Belgium and the Netherlands concerning the functioning of legal rules and institutions are discussed. The paper focuses on the domains of criminal law, civil procedure, liability and insurance. The paper argues that contrary to the overwhelming economic literature on liability and insurance, the empirical results in that domain are poor. More research is undertaken in the area of criminal law and apparently it is overwhelming in the area of civil procedure. The latter studies are, however, mainly undertaken by socio-legal scholars and less by economists. The general conclusion of the empirical studies discussed seems to be that while the empirical literature on the effect of changes in the decision making environment on rational actions in the legal system is rich and provocative, there is much less empirical testing of the effects of legal rules as such on allocational outcomes. The paper argues that much more effort should be devoted to the latter issue.     

Competition@eCommerce.eu: An Appropriate European Approach to the Anticompetitive Implications in the Online World

The economic landscape of Europe has undoubtedly been revolutionised over the last few years with the introduction of new technology into business practices. But along with the inevitable benefits a series of antitrust issues have surfaced, which have often disrupted the application of European Competition Law. This article will analyse and discuss the existing legal framework and recent case law with respect to its capacity to pave the way for enterprises to embrace innovation, and argue that – although the current legal system might be satisfactory to a certain extent – the European Commission should make adjustments and promote the idea of self-regulation, if the EU is to be at the forefront of the online world. This revised version was published online in August 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

论美英证券监管体制之新发展

2005年10月27日,证券法修正案三读通过,新证券法将于2006年施行.证券法对于证券监管有更多的规范和要求.以美国和英国证券监管体制为例,比较和分析当今证券监管体制中的典型代表,即政府主导型和自律主导型之间的差异;并且分析两国证券监管体制进入新世纪的改革与发展.最后得出结论,完善的证券监管体制应当是建立在政府集中统一监管下加强自律的证券监管体制;以期对我国的证券监管体制改革有所借鉴.