Housing Prices and Maturing Real Estate Markets: Evidence from Uganda

Uganda, a less developed but rapidly growing East African nation, continues to correct the economic mismanagement of past governments. One important legacy of this mismanagement is the Land Decree of 1975, issued by then President Idi Amin Dada. This decree nationalized all land and made illegal all private real estate market transactions. This paper uses a rich, but little known, dataset to show that real estate markets appear to have continued operating reasonably efficiently in spite of the 1975 Decree. The Land Act of 1998 repealed the 1975 Decree. Our results suggest the recent Act has a high likelihood of success because its primary goal is to codify guarantees of security, transparency, and enforceable property rights in private real estate markets that appear to already exist.     

The role of antitrust in a small open economy: The Commerce Act in New Zealand

This paper reviews the New Zealand antitrust regime represented by the Commerce Act 1986. The context is a rapidly liberalising, small open economy with light-handed regulation. New Zealand antitrust draws on recent US microeconomics for its underlying economic principles, but more on the Australian Trade Practices Act for its legal framework. The influences of these and other countries on the operation of New Zealand antitrust are traced through precedent and an analysis of major cases. Increasingly interpretations have differed from those in Australia, with more weight being put on the promotion of efficiency and less on traditional competition objectives.I acknowledge the assistance of G. Connors, J. Feil, D. Round, G. Sellens and M. Malan. The views expressed are those of the author, and not the institutions with which he is associated.     

The JOBS Act and the Costs of Going Public

We examine the effects of Title I of the Jumpstart Our Business Startups Act for a sample of 312 emerging growth companies (EGCs) that filed for an initial public offering (IPO) from April 5, 2012 through April 30, 2015. We find no reduction in the direct costs of issuance, accounting, legal, or underwriting fees for EGC IPOs. Underpricing, an indirect cost of issuance that increases an issuer's cost of capital, is significantly higher for EGCs compared to other IPOs. More importantly, greater underpricing is present only for larger firms that are newly eligible for scaled disclosure under the Act. Overall, we find little evidence that the Act in its first three years has reduced the measurable costs of going public. Although there are benefits of the Act that issuers appear to value, they should be balanced against the higher costs of capital that can occur after its enactment.     

木材可追溯性、林产品市场准入标准与中国林产品贸易

首先界定了木材可追溯性的概念和内容,然后从政府、环保组织和企业三方面总结了国际社会各界的反应,最后分析了木材可追溯性的发展趋势及其对中国的启示。研究结果表明:发达国家以环境贸易立法的形式提出的木材可追溯性的强制性要求越来越明确和具体,沿着林产品供应链向纵深方向发展,已成为林产品国际市场准入的一个新标准;木材可追溯性得到了国际社会各界的纷纷响应,正从世界主要林产品消费国向木材供应国发展,全球范围的木材可追溯体系即将形成。中国作为一个长期的林产品贸易大国,在世界林产品贸易格局中处在中间加工国的位置,必须客观分析木材可追溯性标准的影响,建立和完善中国的木材可追溯体系。     

Public Management In North America

Although recent public management reforms in Canada. Mexico and the USA are characterized by similar themes and vocabularies - privatization, customer service, devolution - the nature and extent of actual change reflects the national politics and administrative histories of the three countries. In brief, Canadian public management has been heavily influenced by the need for fiscal retrenchment at both, national and provincial levels, Mexican public management has been influenced by the transition from oligarchic to democratic governance at federal, state and local levels, and USA public management has been preocuppied at the federal level with implementation of the Government Performance and Results Act and with the miscellaneous initiatives organized under the ‘Reinventing Government’ theme as it has been popularized by the Clinton administration.     

Shifting economic regimes for retail in the Philippines: external impetus amidst the workings of domestic politics

In the prevailing globalized world order, economic regime shift is principally understood via the overriding-external-impetus lens where international demand holds sway over domestic policymaking. Considering the complexity of the process and the possibility of varying outcomes, the perspective evidently limits the function of domestic politics in changing regimes. In elucidating how the dynamics of domestic politics respond to external impetuses and play out in relation to regime shifts, this paper looks into the two cases of regime shifts in retail in the Philippines: Republic Act (RA) 1180, a protectionist regime enacted in 1954 and RA 8762, a liberalized regime legislated in 2000. The study examines the interface and convergence of three salient factors – external–internal impetus, presidential intervention, and the changing dynamics in the retail sector – that were pivotal in both regime shifts. Specifically, the external–internal impetus helped set off the move for regime shift; the sitting President played a crucial role in the success of the legislation in Congress, and the retail sector exemplified varying dynamics (e.g., consolidation in RA 1180 and fragmentation in RA 8762) which facilitated the enactment of the laws. The study also underscores two key points: (1) while the initiative to adopt or change economic regimes for a government will continue to have external impetus, the success of regime shift as well as the substance of its specific policy will be essentially determined by the workings of domestic politics and (2) the legislative experience characterizes the contemporary link between global influence and domestic dynamics in policy making. The paper closes with a note on the case study's implications for retail globalization in Southeast Asia.     

The effect of internal control deficiencies on the usefulness of earnings in executive compensation

Since SOX 404 disclosures are informative about earnings, and due to the widespread practice of using earnings-based measures in executive compensation, this study examines whether reports of internal control material weaknesses (ICMW) under SOX 404 influence firms' reliance on earnings in tying executive pay to performance. Using 391 (366) firm-year observations with reported ICMW and 3648 (3138) firm-year observations for CEOs (CFOs) reporting NOMW under SOX 404, we find a decreased strength in the association between earnings and executives' (CEO and CFO) compensation when the firm reports an ICMW, and as the number of reported ICMW increases. In addition, we find this decreased weight on earnings for the more severe Company-Level than Account- Specific material weaknesses. Our study suggests that the ICMW report under SOX 404 provides incremental information for executive compensation beyond that contained in reported earnings.     

萨班斯法案的经济后果分析

二十一世纪初美国爆发了一系列上市公司的财务丑闻,美国随后通过了萨班斯法案,以加强对上市公司的监管。萨班斯法案对美国乃至世界资本市场造成了一系列深远的影响,本文从多个层面分析萨班斯法案的经济后果以及我国内部控制现状,提出完善我国上市公司内部控制规范实施的政策建议。     

The value of waivers from the affordable care act

The Affordable Care Act requires health insurance plans to offer coverage without annual limits. This requirement began to be enforced in September of 2010, but some employers received special waivers that delayed the start of enforcement for them. Using data from the Center for Research in Security Prices (CRSP), we conduct an event study of the stock prices of these companies as their waivers were announced. We find that waivers do not lead to a statistically significant increase in the stock prices of waiver recipients.     

Sustainable rural communities? A legal perspective on the community right to buy

Sustainable development is the underlying policy behind the community right to buy land in rural Scotland enshrined in the Land Reform (Scotland) Act 2003, Part 2. The Act explicitly requires communities wishing to exercise the right to buy to have sustainable development at the heart of their community body and all their plans for the land. This paper examines the role and interpretation of sustainable development in the CRB. Since the Act was passed three administrations have headed up the Scottish government and sustainable development issues and strategies for Scotland have been aired in four important and distinctive policy documents showing that it is still very much an evolving concept in Scottish politics. The current administration has adopted the most econocentric approach yet seen in the UK, focusing on sustainable economic growth. Meanwhile, the community right to buy has developed its own sustainable development agenda. This review of decisions taken under the legislation illustrates that a diverse range of community ownership plans have been deemed consistent with sustainable development, from creation of sports facilities to preservation of castles, lighthouses and village greens. A range of economic, social and environmental objectives have been approved. On the other hand, communities that fail to adopt the ‘right’ approach to the principle will not be successful in using the legislation.