INDIVIDUAL RIGHTS AND SOCIAL EVALUATION: A CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK

We propose a framework for the analysis of social choice andwelfare which uses the informational basis of individual preferenceorderings over the pairs of conventionally defined social alternativesand social decision-making mechanisms. In particular, we considerthe case where the decision-making mechanism is a rights-structuremodelled as game forms. We use this framework to clarify therole for individual preferences in conferring rights, in therealization of the conferred rights, and in describing the formalcontents of rights. We also explore its implications for thecontroversial issue of the consistency of social choice andSen's paradox of Paretian libertarianism.     

INVESTMENT AND GROWTH: PART 1: THE MAIN CONCEPTS AND THEIR IMPLICATIONS

‘Change is not made without inconvenience, even from worseto better.’(Richard Hooker, quoted by Samuel Johnson inthe Preface to the English Dictionary.)     

DUMPING AND "MATERIAL INJURY": A THEORETICAL NOTE

This paper looks at the notion of “material injury” when used as a condition for levying antidumping duties. Using a standard geometric model, we argue that the material injury suffered by import‐substituting industries is only one side of the dumping coin; it is necessary also to consider the possible benefits that other stakeholders, including consumers and other domestic producers, may derive from lower import prices. The decision whether to introduce antidumping duties should ideally be based on the net effect that dumping has on the social welfare of the broader community.     

VILLAGE GOVERNMENT AND RURAL DEVELOPMENT IN INDONESIA: THE NEW DEMOCRATIC FRAMEWORK

The political reforms that began in Indonesia in 1998 have created new opportunities for a revised relationship between state and community, replacing the New Order's centralistic and uniform framework with local-level institutions that are strong and responsive. This paper presents the new legal framework for the democratisation of local-level politics and village institutions. Representative councils have been elected in all Indonesian villages, and the village head is no longer the sole authority in the community. Village governments are provided with far-reaching autonomy and do not need the approval of higher authorities to take decisions and implement policies. However, decentralisation and democratisation are necessary but not sufficient preconditions for developing the countryside and alleviating poverty. An active government and civil society engagement must ensure that regulations are not distorted during implementation, and that ordinary people are included in public policy making and local governance.     

CORPORATE TAX RATES IN THE SADC REGION: DETERMINANTS AND POLICY IMPLICATIONS

Since the 1990s the SADC region has closely followed declining trends that occurred in the industrialised world in terms of corporate tax rates. The main purpose of this paper is to find appropriate explanations behind these trends as experienced in the SADC region. A cross‐section panel, including the so‐called Seemingly Unrelated Regression (SUR), is applied to uncover the main determinants of corporate tax rates in the region. The main findings of the paper acknowledge the vulnerability of corporate tax rates to global influence. The presence‐of‐trade variable relating to openness and international pressure takes precedence in the determination of corporate tax rates. The results indicate that higher trade ratios mean lower statutory corporate rates as international influence intensifies. It also tends to confirm the region's dependency on trade for tax revenues, but also its ability to still attract tax revenues from capital flows. Some evidence exists in terms of an association between the government expenditure‐GDP ratio and the statutory and average corporate tax rates, although this is not definitive. The paper re‐emphasises the importance of international pressure in terms of future tax policy‐making in the SADC region but also opens an avenue for further tax co‐operation efforts.     

OFFICIAL REVISIONS TO SOUTH AFRICAN NATIONAL ACCOUNTS DATA: MAGNITUDES AND IMPLICATIONS

This paper investigates the bias and dispersion in official revisions of eight national accounting growth rates. The growth in GDP, consumption expenditure and personal disposable income by households has been subject to significant upward revisions and bias, especially after 1994. No significant bias was found in the revisions to the other national accounting aggregates. The official revisions are subject to a high degree of dispersion. Based on the 1984‐2003 period, there is a 30 per cent probability that the “final” growth rate in GDE deviates by more than 5 percentage points from the first release growth rate. For most magnitudes, other than exports and imports, the dispersion in South Africa's official revisions is similar to that of a sample of OECD countries. Using two examples, it is shown that the vintage of the data has a profound impact on the magnitude and significance of regression results based on such data.     

AGRARIAN LAND TENANCY IN PREWAR JAPAN: CONTRACT CHOICE AND IMPLICATIONS ON PRODUCTIVITY

We study the tenancy contract choice and its impact on productivity in the prewar Japanese agriculture, where a unique contractual form, the rent-reduction contract, was predominant. Theoretically, this contract is more efficient than share tenancy or fixed-rent contract in terms of provision of incentives and risk-sharing, and thus raises the question of why such an efficient contract was uncommon outside Japan. We argue that transaction costs on the execution of rent reduction were the key element in the adoption of this contract. In prewar Japan, local communities played some role in governing the process of rent reduction and mitigated such costs. Thus the study proposes transaction costs and institutions as additional determinant of tenancy contract choice. We also find that higher prevalence of tenancy was associated with lower average rice yield at the prefectural level and such correlation was stronger in prefectures with a greater proportion of share tenancy.