Squatting as a transition problem in South Africa

This paper applies principles of transition to land tenure and squatting in South Africa. Political transition in South Africa reassigned political property rights, which produced contestable, and rent‐seeking incentives for squatting as a means to privatize land and redistribute wealth. Government failure to establish and protect private property rights in a squatter camp resulted in common‐pool problems that resisted private and public resolution with consequent rent dissipation and social loss. In response to this retreat from duty, informal agents emerged to claim their own share of the prize. Without enforceable rules of capture, the growth of squatter camps in South Africa will continue. JEL classification: D7, H8, K1, K4, R1, R4.     

Patents,Copyrights, and Trademarks in the Early Twenty-First Century: The New Relevance of Some Old Concepts of Intellectual Property Rights

SUMMARY

After laying an historical foundation of the concept of “promonopoly” legislation in the face of a U. S. public policy devoted, since 1890, to a generally antimonopoly position, this paper examines the relevance of recent changes in the three types of domestic promonopoly law: patent law, copyright law, and trademark law. During the last thirty years of the twentieth century, and especially during the last decade of that period, all three aspects of American promonopoly legislation were strengthened. The term of copyright was extended from a maximum of fifty-six years to the lifetime of the last-living author of a work plus seventy years and coverage was broadened to extend to recordings-by a number of means-of performances; patents were lengthened in duration from seventeen years to twenty; and the law of trademarks was modified to include protection for trademark holders against “dilution,” or loss of value of trademarks due to the acts of noncompetitors. The implications and rationales of these changes are examined in the context of their effect on business life at the beginning of the third millennium. While it is too soon since the majority of these changes in law went into effect to draw definitive conclusions concerning their ultimate consequences, it does appear that, in general, their thrust is to increase the value of intellectual property to its proprietors.     

Inequality and Income Distribution in Global Value Chains

Global value chains (GVCs), led by transnational corporations (TNCs), have reshaped the world division of labor over the past two decades. GVCs are pervasive in low technology manufacturing, such as textile and apparel, as well as in more advanced industries like automobiles, electronics, and machines. This hierarchical division of labor generates wild competition at the lower value-added stages of production, where low wages and low profit margins prevail for workers and contract manufacturers in developing countries. At the top of the hierarchy another kind of competition prevails, centered on the ability to monitor and control intellectual property rights related to innovation, finance, and marketing. We argue that GVCs have had crucial effects on income inequality and the appropriation of rents in modern capitalism.     

交叉上市对现金持有与现金持有价值的影响——来自我国上市公司的经验证据

以2005～2009年我国上市公司为研究样本,借鉴Fama-French(1998)和Fresard-Salva(2010)的企业价值回归模型,考察了交叉上市对于企业现金持有及现金持有价值的影响。结果表明,在公司实现A+H股交叉上市后,由于投资者保护水平的提升以及融资成本的下降,企业的现金持有水平显著降低;而在A+B股交叉上市公司中,现金持有水平并没有显著降低。同时,由于交叉上市公司比非交叉上市公司的发展机会更好、融资成本更低,投资者更希望企业减持现金,适度加大投资,以进一步提升企业价值。     

征信体系中个人信息法律保护制度建设的个案研究——以上海为例

随着经济的发展和我国个人征信体系的建立,人们对个人信用信息保护的需求日益强烈。我国征信体系的建立经历了先试点、后在全国铺开的过程。上海是征信试点城市之一,在个人信用信息法律保护方面积累了一些经验。通过实证研究,分析上海个人信用信息法律保护的特点和经验,对我国征信立法和个人信用信息保护立法有重要的启示。     

蒲鲁东经济哲学思想研究

蒲鲁东经济哲学思想的中心视阈是对所有权和古典政治经济学的批判。他以所有权为批判对象,切中了批判资本主义的关键性维度,在社会主义思想史上具有重要的意义;将哲学与经济学相结合研究社会问题的思路,包含着政治经济学发展与变革的因素与可能。但是,蒲鲁东经济哲学思想的哲学基础仍然是唯心主义历史观,他的系列辩证法是对黑格尔辩证法的庸俗化。研究蒲鲁东的经济哲学思想,对于把握马克思的思想发展和变革具有重要意义。     

物质生产力与精神生产力：一种批评性辨析

物质生产和生产力同精神生产和生产力具有本质的区别。在社会分工的意义上,文学、艺术、道德、宗教和哲学等精神生产和生产力受物质生产和生产力的决定;在物质生产内部分工的意义上,物质生产和生产力包含了某些精神过程和精神特征,即与体力劳动相对的脑力劳动。不能把物质生产等同于体力劳动,把精神生产等同于脑力劳动。一方面要充分肯定精神生产和脑力劳动对社会历史愈益重要的作用,另一方面又必须确认物质生产和生产力对社会历史的决定作用,这二者并不矛盾。因为这是两个不同层面的问题,后者作为一种“总的趋势”处于社会历史本质和规律的层面,前者则作为一些“个别”存在形式和发展方式处于社会历史的现象具体的层面。     

论商业秘密的知识产权保护

随着我国市场经济的快速发展及后WTO时代国际经济商事交往的密切,我国既有法律体系的缺陷与商业秘密法律保护之间的矛盾日益凸显。本文从比较法的视觉指出,当前我国商业秘密的法律保护应充分适应并借鉴TRIPs协议等相关国际条约的规定,明确商业秘密的知识产权性质,以切实有效地保护我国各类民事主体的商业秘密权利,促进社会经济发展。     

Social protection and regional convergence in a European Monetary Union

This paper addresses convergence in social protection and GDP in a European Economic and Monetary Union. We evaluate the impact of recently proposed EC social minimum requirements on regional convergence within the EC. Subsequently, we analyze a system of differentiated social norms as a means of raising social protection in countries with lower social standards.