Legal systems and performance of microfinance institutions

The paper investigates the impact of institutional environment resulting from the legal systems, on the financial performance of microfinance institutions (MFIs). Broadly categorized into common law and code law, the legal systems are found to significantly influence the efficiency of MFIs. We use an unbalanced panel of 1272 MFIs over a period of 16 years to analyze the effect of legal systems on their financial performance. In contrast to the accepted notion that common law systems are more conducive to effective market systems, our results show that MFIs operating under code law systems exhibit better financial performance than in common law systems.     

浅谈当代中国的法治精神

当前,中国特色社会主义法律体系已基本形成,社会主义法治理念也已初步树立。要突破制约中国法治深入发展的瓶颈,弘扬和培育社会主义法治精神,使中国的法治建设＂形神兼备＂。源自中国传统的和谐价值是当代中国法治精神的核心要素,结合现代法治理念,明确法治精神在立法、执法、司法、守法和法律监督各个环节的作用,并探索其生成的可行途径。     

A New Test of Price Dispersion

In recent years considerable attention has been devoted to differences across countries in the institutional environments in which corporations operate, and the consequences of these institutional differences for corporate performance. In this paper we test for the presence of differences in corporate performance across 38 countries, and in particular whether these differences are related to the types of legal systems existing in each country. To measure corporate performance we estimate returns on investment relative to company costs of capital in each country. We find significant differences in the investment performance of corporations across our sample of countries. Companies in countries with English-origin, common law legal systems perform significantly better on average than do those in civil law systems.     

关于法治建设表层化问题研究

中国法治建设进程中存在着法治建设表层化问题,表现为注重外部形式的法律条文和制度建设,轻视法治理念建设,这阻碍了法治建设的实质进展,笔者从文化、经济、政治三角度分析了法治建设表层化的原因,进而提出了克服法治建设表层化的具体途径。     

Culture,legal heritage and the regulation of labor

According to cross-cultural psychologists, cross-country differences in individualism vs. collectivism constitute an important dimension of cultural variation. Legal-economic theorists argue that legal philosophies such as common law and civil law have developed differently over centuries and have persistent effects. In this paper, we argue that the effects of culture and institutions should not be analyzed in isolation from each other, as this disregards their interactions. We merge the two separate literatures on cultural attributes and legal origin theories, and derive a hypothesis regarding their joint effects on labor market regulations. We hypothesize that the effect of individualism on the political determination of labor regulations should be particularly pronounced in more market-oriented economic systems (as in British common law countries) compared to more rigid and bureaucratic state-centered systems (as in French civil law countries). Market oriented economies give individual effort and ability greater room to flourish, which in individualistic cultures yields weaker labor regulations. The effect of individualism should be smaller in state centered systems. Using data on the average rigidity of labor regulations during the years 1950–2004 in 86 countries, we find that the negative effect of individualism on the rigidity of labor regulations is enhanced by the presence of a common law legal system. In fact, individualism has no effect on the rigidity of labor market regulations in civil law countries. Analogously, the negative effect of common law legal origin on labor market regulations is found to be conditional on the level of individualism. Individualism and common law legal systems are complements in the determination of labor regulations.     

法律环境、金融结构与企业最优破产机制的经济学分析——对我国新企业破产法债务人机制的商榷

我国正在审议中的新破产法中的一个突破就是借鉴美国破产法的规定采取了债务人主导的破产重整方式。已有的经济学研究表明，法律环境与金融结构是密切相关的，在一个博弈模型中，本文认为，由于我国银行主导型金融结构决定的信息结构与英美发达国家的资本主导型金融结构决定的信息结构是不同的，因而最优破产机制的设计应该要考虑到金融结构的差异．银行主导型金融结构宜采取单一债权人机制，而资本市场主导型金融结构宜采取随机双元机制。     

Stock return, risk, and legal environment around the world

This paper investigates how the legal environment in a country influences performance and risk of stock across countries at different developmental stages and of various rules of jurisdiction. Using data of 4916 stocks from 37 countries, our empirical findings confirm that equities in countries with English common law origin have higher risk premiums than those in civil law countries, particularly for countries of the French/Spanish code. The indicators representing high efficiency in law system, low corruption, strong legal protection of investors' rights, and reliable political environment are associated with low risk and high performance. The various elements of legal procedural formalism, however, have differing effects on volatility and return.     

Legal tradition and antitrust effectiveness

This article uses cross-country data to empirically investigate through which channel legal origin can influence antitrust effectiveness. The evidence shows that the adaptability channel (legal flexibility) is more important for explaining antitrust effectiveness than the political channel (authority independence). The evidence also suggests that countries in which a judicial decision is a source of law will provide more legal flexibility and will adapt more easily to changing economic circumstances. They will therefore also have better enforcement of antitrust rules. On the other hand, a legal tradition that takes no formal notice of legal precedent will make the competition environment much less predictable. To the extent that these findings are true, one would expect competition agencies in Common law countries to perform better than those in Civil law countries.     

The Demand for Constitutional Law

A growing concern in transition economies is the gap between the law on the books and the law in practice. The existence of such a gap has long been recognized even in countries with a long legal tradition and where, by and large, the formal law seems to be observed. In transition economies as well as in many emerging markets and developing countries, this gap appears to be especially pronounced. This paper argues that an explanation for this phenomenon can be found in the process of law development in these countries. They have extensively imported law from other countries in an attempt to stage a catch-up in legal development. This was facilitated by foreign legal advisors preaching the existence and transferability of best practice in other parts of the world. The missing link in this equation has been the demand for law. This paper seeks to explain the meaning of the demand for law in the context of evolving Russian constitutional law drawing extensively from research on legal transplants and the lack of demand for law in other areas of the law.     

论反腐倡廉的法治化

党的十七大报告明确指出,必须充分认识反腐败斗争的长期性、复杂性、艰巨性,把反腐倡廉建设放在更加突出的位置。封建＂人治＂观念影响、权力监督制度乏力、惩处不力是权力腐败的法制原因。健全社会主义法制,强化权力监督制约机制,是从源头上遏制和铲除腐败、建设社会主义法治国家的必由之路。     

二元体制下我国军民融合深度发展的法治实施困境与对策

军民融合发展是统筹经济建设与国防建设、实现富国强军与构建一体化国家战略体系和能力的必由之路。我国军民融合从初步融合走向深度融合,涉及多方主体的关系调整与利益重塑,需要在法治轨道上通过法律规范与法律运行两个维度整合各类主体力量、配置各类要素资源。目前,军民融合法治实施受制于“军”“民”二元分离体制结构的现实约束,在法律规范层面处于制度供给不完备状态,在法律运行层次面临主体实践不协调困境。二元体制下破解军民融合深度发展的法治实施困境,宜从静态规范层面和动态运行层面综合调整军民融合行为。一方面,通过适时制定和颁布具有统一效力的军民融合发展法,清理、废止和修订不适应军民融合发展需要的法律法规和政策文件,在规范层面建立健全统一完备的军民融合发展法律法规体系;另一方面,探索建立“委员会统一领导、各小组分工负责”的军民融合法治实施领导体制和统一领导、军地协调、顺畅高效的军地联合法律执行机制,形成诉调对接、诉仲结合的军民融合案件多元化纠纷解决机制暨法律适用机制,在法律运行层面建立协调高效的军民融合发展法律实施体系。     

论生物安全法之宽容原则

宽容的法律化不是一个简单的移植过程,而是在法律的层面上如何赋予宽容的法律含义,并且能够行之有效地指导立法和法律实践的借鉴和修正的过程。以传统主客体语境为特征的法理学,始终将自然、生态置放于权利客体的法律地位,从而难以在人类与自然以及生态安全保护方面取得突破性的进步与拓展。宽容原则在生物安全法中的确立,旨在彰显生物安全立法的安全价值,强调在尊重现代生物技术价值正当性的同时,将生物安全风险程度降到最低,在保障人类基本权益的同时,强调对自然资源、生态系统安全的尊重和保护,突出宽容原则在生物安全法中的人性化表达和生态化变迁,在合理的限度内确立生物安全法律规范体系。     

What firms know

The present paper contributes to the literature on legal origins by showing that the ease with which information on rules and regulations is available to firms is much better in common law compared with civil law countries.     

Predicting FDI inflows: Exploring a nonlinear relationship between peace years,oil wealth,and the rule of law

Despite previous studies investigating the impacts of various factors such as peace years, natural resources, and the rule of law on foreign direct investment (FDI), empirical findings remain inconclusive. Therefore, this study investigates the interplay between these factors in shaping host country conditions that facilitate FDI inflows. Using generalized additive models, we examine the simultaneous effects of peace years, oil wealth, and the rule of law on FDI inflows in a sample of non-OECD countries from 1970 to 2009. Our results reveal that established peace is a critical factor in attracting FDI inflows for both oil-exporting and non-oil-exporting countries. However, the effects of the rule of law vary depending on oil wealth. Oil-exporting countries receive more FDI inflows when they have a weak rather than a strong rule of law, while non-oil-exporting countries tend to receive more foreign investments when they have a moderately strong rule of law. We argue that countries with oil wealth combined with a moderately weak rule of law provide an environment that is conducive to multinational corporations (MNCs) in extractive industries seeking monopoly rents. Conversely, countries without oil wealth should create stable yet efficient environments that protect property rights and promote labor market flexibility to appeal to non-resource-seeking MNCs.     

The Politics of Capital Flight in the Global Economic Crisis

This paper studies the effects of economic governance and political institutions on portfolio investment during the Global Economic Crisis of 2008–2009. Leveraging a unique cross‐national dataset on portfolio flows immediately following the collapse of Lehman Brothers in September 2008, it shows that countries with “better institutions” – those with more (or less) democratic, more (or less) constrained or more accountable political systems – were no less vulnerable to portfolio outflows than countries with “worse institutions.” However, countries with better governance prior to the crisis – those with better regulatory apparatuses, rule of law, property rights, and those considered less politically risky – experienced lower net portfolio capital outflows after Lehman. Governance is in fact the strongest predictor of portfolio capital flows during the global flight to liquidity, while political institutions perform poorly. The findings shed light onto the political factors that mediated how the collapse of Lehman affected national financial markets the world over, and have implications for literatures on the political economy of foreign investment, as well as for broader topics of institutions, governance, and economic performance.     

追溯影响经济法产生的法律思想

经济法是我国法律体系中一个非常年轻的法律部门,经济法的产生是经济法基础理论中一个重大的研究课题。关于经济法产生的理论,学者的分析多集中于经济法产生的经济与社会基础,较少论及其思想基础。然而,法律思想在新的法律部门产生中起着重要的影响,追溯影响经济法产生的法律思想,对加深经济法基础理论研究意义重大。     

网络虚拟物品之法律保护渊源探寻

由于现行法律制度并未对虚拟物品的法律属性做出界定,随着网络交易规模的不断扩大,大量盗窃、不公平交易纠纷、欺诈等围绕网络虚拟物品的权属争议纠纷案件在实践中频发。因此,法律保护虚拟物品的期望是维护虚拟世界和现实世界正常财产秩序的必然要求。本文从法哲学的财产劳动理论、法理学关于财产的界定两方面论证网络虚拟物品财产的属性本质,并通过利益确认的需要、法律价值目的之体现、应有权利之必然的角度分析论证对虚拟物品进行法律保护的必要性。     

Law and credit constraints in transition economies1

Using a survey of over 4,000 firms in 21 transition economies, this paper investigates how legal extensiveness (law on the books) and legal effectiveness (law in practice) affect availability of bank finance. Our findings suggest that both law on the books and law in practice are important, but that they impact firms of different sizes differently. Small firms appear to be the most credit constrained in countries with weak creditor rights and with weak contract enforcement, while large firms are the most credit constrained in countries with weak courts and unclear and inconsistent laws pertaining to firms’ business operations.     

我国竞争法上商业秘密保护制度研究

竞争法上的商业秘密保护问题是商业秘密法律保护中亟待解决的一个关键性问题.许多学者认为必须尽快制定专门的商业秘密保护法,以便整合现有的有关法律规定,建立完善的商业秘密保护制度.作者认为:从我国的法律传统、商业秘密自身的特征、商业秘密侵权行为的特点、我国商业秘密保护的理论研究现状等客观条件来看,继续将商业秘密置于竞争法之中,通过对<反不正当竞争法>和<反垄断法>的修改来完善我国的商业秘密保护法律制度,待条件成熟后再制定单独的商业秘密法应当是比较切合实际的做法.     

论法学意境中的自然资源概念

自然资源的概念是自然资源物权法律制度的核心,也是构建自然资源物权法律制度的基石,更是研究自然资源物权法律制度的起点。如何科学构建法学意义上的自然资源,界定其内涵和外延成为首要解决的问题。在考察资源的原始字义和自然资源词义的演变的基础上,认为,法学意义上的自然资源是指在一定的社会经济条件下,存在于自然界或处于自然状态,可由权利主体直接支配或享有特定法益的、具有相对稀缺性的天然形成或生成之物的总称。