Is Africa integrating? Evidence from product markets

This paper presents a price-based assessment of product market integration in Africa using disaggregated retail prices for 91 products and 12 African cities from 1991 to 2008. We find evidence of substantial deviations from the law of one price ? product price differences between the cities averaged 76% over the period – a result that is consistent with the presence of large barriers to trade in the continent. Mean price differences across cities fell by close to a quarter over the period, but the decline was concentrated in the early 1990s with little progress subsequently, despite the regional trade policies implemented by the countries. Gravity-style estimates reveal that reductions in external tariffs and global trends towards price convergence in the early 1990s are the key contributors to the trend in price integration amongst the African cities.     

How did investor‐state dispute settlement get a bad rap? Blame it on NAFTA,of course

In the short history of the US bilateral investment treaty (BIT) programme, there have been no instances of dispute settlement cases initiated against the United States by firms from BIT countries. The NAFTA experience changed that. Where other studies have only hinted at the reasons for NAFTA controversies, this paper makes clear three causal factors: (i) changing patterns and intensity of FDI, (ii) the application of those rules to developed countries amid those changing FDI patterns and (iii) ambiguities in ISDS rules themselves. The paper explores these and traces the ways in which lessons of the NAFTA have been instrumental in changing the pursuit of investment protection agreements. BITs used to be uncontroversial, but the NAFTA focused attention on reforms to ISDS that maintain the utility of BITs in the governance of FDI, without creating a legal structure for simply challenging the state.     

深入学习贯彻党的十八届四中全会精神依法推进高职教育事业健康快速发展

党的十八届四中全会通过的《中共中央关于全面推进依法治国若干重大问题的决定》为全面推进依法治国作出重大部署.我们不仅要从历史和全局的高度学习贯彻十八届四中全会精神和《决定》内涵,以实事求是的精神全面推进依法治国,同时又要以依法治国方针为指导,全面推进高职教育事业健康快速发展.     

论我国税收强制执行制度之完善

税收强制执行是税收征管程序中最为严厉的程序,是税收强制性特征最突出的表现,是保证税收得以实现的最后的但是又行之有效的措施,在各国的税收征收法律制度中均有明确的规定。然而税收强制执行直接关系到纳税人的利益,因此在对进行的税收强制执行规定中应当充分考虑国家利益与纳税人利益。我国《税收征管法》中虽然也建立了税收强制执行制度,但是在实践中该制度存在许多困惑,本文试图通过比较研究,探讨税收强制执行制度的进一步完善。     

突出《债权法》教学的特色,提高法学专业本科人才的法律应用能力

通过阐述《债权法》课程性质、目的与任务,提出《债权法》课程在法学专业本科人才培养过程中的地位、作用,以及债权法的教学内容与基本要求,突出课程的教学特色和教学方法的创新,以达到提高学生知识应用能力的目标,提高法学专业本科人才的法律应用能力。     

LEGAL KNOWLEDGE AND AGILITY IN PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION

To address agility in public administration, we have developed a knowledge acquisition infrastructure for legal knowledge, based on an implementation‐oriented conceptualization of the legal system. Our objective is to reframe legal knowledge as a knowledge source in a design‐oriented task ontology, building on insights from the CommonKADS methodology for intelligent system design. The main result is to make case law and legal expert knowledge of critical incidents in organizations, two diagnostic knowledge sources underutilized in modern management and engineering, more accessible as a resource for design of agile organizational structures and intelligent systems. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The synchronization club: classification of global economic groups by inequality

We find that, from 1970 to 2006, the GDPs of 181 countries are described by a log-normal with a power law tail before 1992, but by a kinked power law distribution after 1992. In the 15 years from 1992 to 2006, there are two obvious scale-free zones for annual GDPs, ranked from the largest to smallest. If the countries in each scaling region are regarded as a group, the world is divided into two groups, each with a roughly stable number of members. The power exponents of the two groups are different and hence lead to different inequalities. Therefore, the basis for classification is the macro-consistent inequality within each group. The wealth grows in a synchronous nonlinear manner within groups that have a stable wealth distribution and rank structure. If each group is considered as a club, we name it a ‘synchronization club’.     

我国招标投标行业规范化的探讨

《中华人民共和国招标投标法实施条例》的实施,有力地推动了我国招标投标市场朝着规范化方向发展。文章介绍了我国招标投标实践历程,探讨了《招标投标法》与《政府采购法》的区别,以及《中华人民共和国招标投标法实施条例》中对招标投标行业规范的新规定。     

公益性社会组织公信力研究

公益性社会组织公信力是公益性社会组织获得利益相关者和社会公众信任的能力,体现组织与利益相关者和社会公众的互动关系,是公益性社会组织生存和发展的生命线。我国公益性社会组织公信力缺失的原因在于法律和政策管理错位,公益性社会组织欠缺合法性和自主性,内部治理和发展能力不足,缺乏公开性和透明度,外部监督和评估机制不完善,活动偏离公益使命。为此,急需改善公益性社会组织管理的法律和政策环境,强化其信息披露和内部治理,健全社会监督和问责机制。     

Privatizing Poland's Economy

No abstract available for this article.