Der Deutsche Juristentag und die Reform des Konsumentenkreditrechtes

Zusammenfassung Der Beitrag berichtet über Verfahren und Ergebnisse der zivilrechtlichen Abteilung des 53. Deutschen Juristentages in Berlin zum Thema »Reform des Konsumentenkreditrechts«. Der DJT hat sich neueren Anliegen des Verbraucherschutzes weitgehend verschlossen. Das — zersplitterte, unklare — Recht soll nur wenig modifiziert werden. Dies wird an einzelnen Sachfragen unter kurzem Blick auf die in- und ausländische Diskussion dargestellt (Anwendungsbereich, Vertragsschluß, Wucher, Verzug). Der Autor stellt grundsätzlich den Reformauftrag des DJT in Frage.

---

German lawyers and the reform of consumer credit legislation

The German Lawyers and Law Teachers Association (Deutscher Juristentag) held its 53rd biannual conference in Berlin. One of the working committees discussed proposals for the reform of consumer credit. The author describes and criticizes the proceedings and results of the working committee. The Juristentag provided no answer to the pressing legal and social problems of consumer credit, e. g., the idea of contracting as a process, defining the sphere of application of credit law, extortionate dealings, the consequences of default. The Juristentag did not consider the reform movement abroad, the initiative of the EC-Commission, or the (still rather tentative) results of social science research. The author suggests that the German legislator should not follow the recommendations of the Juristentag.

---

---

Norbert Reich ist Professor für Zivilrecht an der Universität Hamburg, Fachbereich Rechtswissenschaft II (Einstufige Juristenausbildung), Edmund-Siemers-Allee 1, D-2000 Hamburg 13.     

Introductory Remarks

Journal of Consumer Policy -     

DOES CONSUMPTION ENTAIL INCOME? IMPLICATIONS OF THE DUAL CLASSIFICATION OF CONSUMPTION EXPENDITURE FOR THE INCOME SIDE OF THE HOUSEHOLD SECTOR IN THE NATIONAL ACCOUNTS*

In the future revision of the SNA the dual classification of flows in the national accounts will gain some importance with respect to consumption expenditures. It is likely that outlays of different institutions for consumption are added to form a new aggregate “individual consumption.” The question is whether this development requires an adjustment on the income side of the household accounts. In order to find an answer it is first necessary to scrutinize the concept of disposable income in its standard form, and in its different variations. The result is a distinction between “disposable income in the strict sense” and “income after distribution,” where the standard definition actually realizes the latter concept. It is then shown that the dual structure of the accounts does not permit the adding of individual consumption to saving of households so that the concept of enlarged income defeats its purpose.     

Makroprudenzielle Politik

The aim of macroprudential policy is to oversee financial stability and to safeguard the stability of the financial system. Systemic risk arises if distressed financial institutions put the stability of the entire financial system at risk, thus impairing its functioning and the provisioning of services to the real economy, with negative implications for economic growth. Macroprudential policy aims at increasing the overall resilience of the financial system by monitoring the allocation of risk in the financial system and by preventing the build-up of excessive risks. In the aftermath of the crisis, new institutions were established and macroprudential instruments were created. Responsibility for macroprudential policy is located mostly at the national level. Due to its international dimension it is embedded into a network of international institutions     

Entangled (In)Securities: Sketching the Scope of Geosocial Approaches for Understanding “Webs of (In)Security”1

This paper makes the case for a broadening of conceptual vocabularies in security studies by extending the sub-discipline’s predominantly geopolitical focus to the ‘geosocial’. Based on a review of work on human security and of feminist and anthropological research on (in)security and violence, we argue that there remains a need for further conceptual development to which geosocial approaches can make a significant contribution. They move us beyond compartmentalisation towards understanding social relations as a key medium through which connections between different forms of (in)security are forged. This prompts the mapping of a wider kaleidoscope of intersecting security issues, experiences, practices, subjects and topographies that include, but are not exhaustively explained by, geopolitical and geoeconomic processes. Drawing on findings from a participatory research project conducted with marginalised young people in Leipzig (Germany) between 2014 and 2015, we argue for greater attention to four issues that are rarely thematised in security studies and which geosocial approaches bring more squarely into focus: 1) social relations as a key connective tissue through which different dimensions of (in)security are entangled and through which these entanglements are given shape; 2) social relations as sources of security and insecurity; 3) security practices as including the emotional and practical labour invested in sustaining, moulding or dealing with the breakdown of social relations; and 4) the topographic stretching and hybridisation of social relations that furnishes not just cultures of fear but can also generate greater senses of security.