Constitutional coordination in unstable party systems: the Brazilian constitution of 1988

Constitutional assemblies are a common feature of many democratic transitions. However, the goal of coordinating constitutional choice would seem nearly impossible when assemblies are comprised of highly fragmented and volatile political parties. Building on Knight’s bargaining model, this article argues that the main challenge to coordination in unstable party systems is the procedural disequilibrium that results from incomplete information over breakdown payoffs. The likelihood of compromise in such circumstances is a function of the ideologies that frame constitutional choice and inform coalition-building. Thus, unstable party systems are not chaotic, although they may be deeply conflict-laden. These issues are illustrated empirically via the Brazilian Constitution of 1988, which demonstrates the possibilities for a stable constitutional order emerging from a fragmented and volatile party system.

Who votes for public environmental goods in California?: Evidence from a spatial analysis of voting for environmental ballot measures

Voting referenda provide direct evidence of the demand for public goods. A number of previous studies have used referenda to analyze the support for public environmental goods. These studies have used aggregate data from large jurisdictional units (usually counties) and summary income measures such as the mean or median, and have usually found that higher income areas offer greater support for environmental propositions. We examine environmental referenda voting in California using census block group data, spatial dependence controls, and detailed income distribution data. We find that household income has a negative marginal effect on environmental referenda voting for most of the income range when using census block data. In addition, controls for spatial dependence significantly reduce the magnitude of most coefficients. This suggests that OLS estimates of referenda determinants are biased. We also show that county level data may be subject to severe aggregation bias and might not be appropriate for referenda studies.     

Unraveling public support for casino gaming: The case of a casino referendum in Penghu

By integrating the social exchange theory (SET) and the theory of planned behavior (TPB), this study unravels the factors associated with residents’ intention to support casino gaming development in Penghu in future referenda. Residents’ attitudes toward casino gaming development in their community were examined in the SET framework while their intention to support such development was investigated in the TPB framework. Despite that partisan difference did not have a significant interaction with TPB variables, past behavior exerted moderating effects determining residents’ intention to support casino gaming development through two TPB variables: subjective norm and perceived behavioral control. Implications are provided.

Abbreviations: ATTU: attitude; DPP: Democratic Progress Party; ECOI: perceived economic impact; ENVI: perceived environmental impact; INT: intention to support casino gaming development in future referenda; KMT: Kuomingtang; PBC: perceived behavioral control; PPB: perceived personal benefit; SET: social exchange theory; SN: subjective norms; SOCI: perceived social impact; TPB: theory of planned behavior     

论违法发放贷款罪的司法认定

刑法设立违法发放贷款罪的目的,在于避免人情贷款、以贷谋私等危及贷款安全的行为,保证银行信贷资产的完整。但由于立法上的疏漏,司法实践中对本罪构成要件存在严重的认识上的分歧,导致法律适用不统一,出罪、入罪均带有一定的随意性,不仅没有实现本罪的立法目的,还对商业银行的经营产生了一定的负面影响,因此,有必要对本罪的构成要件进行研究。     

Political Stock Markets and Unreliable Polls

A political stock market (PSM) clearly beat the polls in predicting the outcome of a Swedish referendum on whether or not Sweden should join the European Union. In fact, polls were unable to make such predictions since the number of undecided respondents always far exceeded the observed YES/NO margin. However, an obstacle to PSMs serving as a superior forecasting instrument is that they can be sensitive to price distortions - by interest groups that may wish to effectuate, and pay for, such distortions - or forecast competitions tied to PSM trade gains, the latter of which was tested here.     

新企业所得税法的立法精神制度创新和实施问题

《中华人民共和国企业所得税法》(以下简称“新企业所得税法”)按照科学发展观和建立现代法人税制的要求,以统一法律、公平税负、完善税制、促进发展为立法精神和指导思想,在纳税主体制度、税率制度、税基制度、税收优惠制度、反避税制度、征收管理制度等方面进行了多项制度创新。其颁布实施必将为各类企业的发展提供统一、公平、规范的税收法治环境,促进我国市场经济体制走向成熟,推动中国经济又好又快发展。     

我国新药试验数据专有权保护制度优化研究

新药试验数据专有权保护制度旨在通过对公开的新药试验数据授予额外期限专有权保护,延长新药研发人的权利期限,达到消除因新药研发成本巨大而带来的不利影响。运用法理分析和比较借鉴方法,通过对我国新药试验数据保护制度现状进行分析,指出该制度存在立法定位、保护对象、保护客体、例外适用范围4个亟待解决的问题。阐述了构建我国新药试验数据专有权保护制度的必要性及理论基础,在借鉴国外先进经验的基础上,提出应从5个方面构建和完善我国新药试验数据专有权保护制度的立法建议。     

Application of LADM for the integration of land and housing information in China: The legal dimension

The integration of land and housing registration is a key opportunity for China: improved land governance is the intended outcome. Prior to the design of any integrated information system, the legal requirements the system must satisfy need to be identified. This paper identifies and reviews the legal requirements for the integration of land and housing information in China. Specifically, the existing legislative framework relating to land, consisting of seven levels of legislation, is interrogated. A collection of legal requirements emerges: these are categorized into themes including registration, maintenance, mortgage, transfer of real estate rights, relevant materials and archives, and preliminary notice. In order to be more applicable for the next design of the Land Administration Domain Model (LADM) country profile for China, these legal requirement are further converted into packages, classes and attributes by referring to the ISO 19152 standard. The existing databases of the Chongqing Municipality are used to support the modelling process. The paper concludes that the legal requirements can be used as a foundation for an integrated system in China.     

意义、困境与向路:我国地方人大立法协商研究

立法协商是地方人大实现科学立法、民主立法和依法立法的有效途径和重要举措。随着我国立法实践的发展,虽地方立法协商工作取得了卓著成效,但也存在着诸多待解难题,如立法协商主体角色定位不清、实现过程有待明确、意见收集渠道缺失等。鉴于此,地方人大立法应充分体现地方人大主导地位、实现立法协商制度化规范化、紧紧依靠人民群众开展立法协商,进而以协商民主的方式为地方立法工作凝聚共识、汇集民智。     

适当下放地方税立法权完善税收立法体制

当前中央和地方税收立法权划分中存在一些问题和矛盾。要化解这些矛盾、解决这些问题,需要在借鉴历史和国外经验的基础上,区别不同的地方税税种,分层次、有限度、可控制地下放部分税收立法权,完善税收立法体制,健全分税制财政管理体制以至整个财税体制。