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.     

The Impact of a Third-Party Assurance Seal in Customer Purchasing Intention

ABSTRACT

Although e-commerce is evolving at an incredible speed, asymmetric information and opportunism have increased online purchasing risks and market inefficiencies. The lack of face-to-face contact and the inability of the customer to touch and feel tangible products necessitate that online business must provide customers with reliable information and convince customers of their trustworthiness. While the research on Third-Party Assurance Seals (TPAS) is not new, the effectiveness of TPAS has not been persuasively addressed by empirical studies. Our study is different from previous efforts in that it is comprehensive because it combines consumer trust, perceived risk, and influences of TPAS in the B2C e-commerce context. The results of the study show that (1) the effects of TPAS on perceived risk are channeled through perceived trustworthiness, thus demonstrating the mediating role of perceived trustworthiness in B2C e-commerce, (2) perceived risk, perceived usefulness of website, and subjective norm appear to be significant predictors of intention to purchase from the website, (3) a third-party assurance seal strongly affects online shoppers' perceived trustworthiness toward online retailers, while the seal appears to have little effect on perceived risk directly; perceived risk is strongly associated with intention to purchase from the website.     

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.     

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。     

酒店内部信任与员工绩效关系研究——以F公司为例

本文主要目的是通过实地调查法分析F公司员工内部信任与绩效的关系,以员工工作满意度,员工离职倾向,员工绩效考核结果三个指标作为员工绩效指标,考量了绩效指标和信任度的关系。并分析得出影响员工信任度的重要因素,并试图通过提高员工内部信任度来激励员工,增加绩效。     

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。     

The value of intellectual property rights to firms and society

Economists view intellectual property rights (IPRs) as policytools for encouraging innovation, but they recognize that theycan also inhibit competition. There are many types of IPRs andinstitutions concerned with their administration. We begin byoutlining how these complex and varied rights are supposed towork and how they interact with other characteristics of firmsand markets. We then survey the available literature on patents,trade marks, and copyright to assess the value of these IPRsto firms and the costs to firms of acquiring and defending theirrights. The paper concludes with suggestions for topics requiringfurther research to inform public policy better.     

住宅房地产税收的功能探析

住宅房地产在购销及保有环节涉及众多的税种,这些税种的税收功能存在突出差异。营业税具有突出的财政收入功能,但在收入调节方面有制度上的缺失;土地增值税具有鲜明的产业调控色彩,但征收办法的缺憾使其不能有效发挥作用;预期征收的房产税具有调节收入的功能,但在税制设计上存在征收制度和利益分配重构等制度困扰。建议针对相关税种的功能特点进行有针对性的制度改良,以促进我国住宅房地产业的健康发展。