bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
The Limits of Affection
Authors: Folbre Nancy
Published: October 2023

The American Declaration of Independence came to light the same year as Smith’s Wealth of Nations. It proclaimed men’s right to happiness, as well as life and liberty, describing the pursuit of self-interest as a natural virtue. The colonists pronounced that they had come of age and outgrown the yoke of royal authority. Their English supporters hailed the new revolution as evidence that light and knowledge were gaining ground. The task of constitutional design would focus on the task outlined by Montesquieu—a system of checks and balances that would prevent one group from imposing its will upon another. A good society, like a good clock, would regulate itself. The founding fathers of the new republic preached not just the ideals but also the assumptions of the Enlightenment. Political victory and economic progress would flow from the virtues of Christian love combined with individual initiative.
Monetary Policy
Authors: Bofinger Peter , Reischle Julian , Schӓchter Andrea
Published: October 2023

This book provides an in-depth description and analysis of monetary policy in Europe and the United States. Unusually for a volume in the field, it focuses on actual monetary policy - targets, institutions, strategies, and instruments - but traditional and contemporary theoretical approaches to monetary policy form the basis for each chapter. Concentrating specifically on the European Central Bank, "Monetary Policy" offers one of the first comprehensive guides to understanding the targets, strategy, and instruments of the ECB. In the past, many books have presented mere descriptions of the institutional framework without providing a theoretical framework, while others have dealt mainly with theoretical aspects, thus neglecting the policy implications of their analysis. By combining a theoretical with a policy-oriented approach, Peter Bofinger succeeds in closing this gap in the monetary policy literature. As a result, his book will appeal to a broad readership, including investment bankers and other professional investors, central bankers, and scholars working in the field.
The Ultimate Goal and the Final Targets of Monetary Policy
Authors: Bofinger Peter , Reischle Julian , Schachter Andrea
Published: October 2023

The ultimate goal of monetary policy is social welfare. This chapter discusses how the final goals of monetary policy should be set in order to maximize social welfare. Above all, it considers whether a central bank should be more concerned about a stable price level or a stable nominal income.
Strategies (‘Simple Rules’) for a Stability-Oriented Monetary Policy
Authors: Bofinger Peter , Reischle Julian , Schachter Andrea
Published: October 2023

In the present chapter we are looking at a central bank which by its statute is obliged to pursue price stability as its main goal, but which is left with a sufficient discretion to cope with supply and demand shocks. Using the terminology of Chapter 6, we can say that it is constrained by an exogenous final target rule,1 which by its very nature is not very binding, and can determine intermediate targets, operating targets, and instruments at its own discretion. We also assume that the central bank legislation provides the decision-makers at the central bank with a high degree of goal, instrument, and personal independence (see Chapter 7).
The Instruments of Monetary Policy
Authors: Bofinger Peter , Reischle Julian , Schachter Andrea
Published: October 2023

It is obvious that the monetary policy instruments have to be designed in such a way as to allow an efficient realization above all of the operating targets. If this is done, the operating targets can be set according to the ‘simple rules’ discussed in Chapter 9 or according to the values that have been calculated with elaborate macroeconomic models. We have seen that, with the exception of McCallum’s rule (see Section 8.6.3.2), in all ‘simple rules’ the short-term interest rate is regarded as the only operating target. This also applies to the more sophisticated approach of inflation forecasts which has been proposed by Svensson (1999b).
Completing China’s Move to the Market
Authors: Perkins Dwight
Published: October 2023

China’s economic reform process officially began with the Communist Party Plenum of December 1978. From the outset, China’s reforms differed markedly from those of eastern Europe and the Commonwealth of Independent States. China was exhausted from 20 years of dealing with Mao’s messianic visions, but it was in no sense ready for revolution. There was nothing comparable to eastern Europe’s desire to be like western Europe, the sooner the better. China faced no economic crisis that required immediate and fundamental change, only dissatisfaction with the pace of existing growth, a dissatisfaction fueled in part by increasing awareness of the far better economic performances of China’s immediate neighbours. The Communist Party held all of the important reins of power both in 1978 and 15 years later. Where Deng Xiaoping differed from his predecessors was in the strength of his desire to turn China into a wealthy and powerful state and his lack of interest in Maoist ideas of a new kind of society where such things as material incentives would play little or no role. But Deng and his associates had no economic reform blueprint.
China’s Industrial Growth and Efficiency: a comparison between the state and the TVE sectors
Authors: Huang Yiping , Meng Xin
Published: October 2023

China has experienced two rounds of industrialisation -a Soviet-style, heavy industry-oriented industrialisation in the pre-reform period and an East Asian-type, labour-intensive manufacturing¬ oriented industrialisation during the reform period. As a result, two major industrial sectors¬ the state and the rural township and village enterprises (TVE)-have been successively established over the last four decades.
Challenges of China’s Economic System for Economic Theory
Authors: Chow Gregory C
Published: October 2023

The challenges of the market economy in China for economic theory touch on four topics: private versus public ownership of assets, Western legal systems versus Eastern semiformal legal systems, individualism versus the collective good, and multiparty versus one-party political systems. I came in contact with these issues while advising the government of Taiwan in the 1960s and 1970s, and the government of mainland China in the 1980s and 1990s (see Chow 1994:Ch. 4-5). Others have studied these issues as scholars, including Patrick Bolton (1990), Bolton and Philippe Aghion (1992), Masahiko Aoki and Hyung-Ki Kim (1995), and Oliver Hart (1995).
Tax Incentives for Export Promotion, 1953–1964
Authors: Ishi Hiromitsu
Published: October 2023

Exports have played a vital role in Japan’s economic performance throughout the post-war period. In terms of balance-of-payments, a sharp contrast can be observed between the growth of the Japanese economy during the years leading up to the early 1970s and the years since then. In the latter period, Japan’s exports continued to increase rapidly, leading to huge current-account surpluses and a widening trade imbalance with much of the world. By contrast, for a decade and a half following the early 1950s, Japan suffered chronic trade deficits and a shortage of foreign exchange reserves. Particular attention is paid here to the earlier period, when the balance-of- payments situation was perceived as limiting economic expansion.
The Political Economy of French Decline
Authors: Whatmore Richard
Published: October 2023

Exiled from France after the Bourbon restoration, the aged arch-priest of physiocracy, Pierre-Samuel Dupont de Nemours, spent his journey across the Atlantic analysing the second edition of Jean-Baptiste Say’s Traite d’economie politique (Paris, 1814). From the schooner Fingal, on 22 April 1815, he sent a detailed critique to Say in Paris. It is one of the most candid and revealing documents in the annals of French political economy Dupont began by lamenting the dearth of disciples for what he dubbed Quesnay’s science of political economy, and the vicious ridicule directed at the physiocratic movement, particularly by Say’s ‘satire’ in the Traite. Nevertheless, Dupont retained the hope of converting Say to the old cause, and sought to combat despair by trying to force Say to recognize that he too was an economiste.
Revolution and the Political Economy Of Terror
Authors: Whatmore Richard
Published: October 2023

In a letter to Etienne Dumont of 5 March 1829 Say modestly recalled his work on the Courrier de Provence by means of a contrast with what he considered to be the more meaningful labour of Bentham’s famous translator: “I remember that while you were advising Mirabeau all that I did was to receive subscriptions/1 Although we know little about Say’s role in the production of the Courier, there is evidence to suggest that his subsequent recollection was disingenuous. Successive advertisements in the pages of the journal show that by 1790 Say was responsible for running the office in which it was produced. Furthermore, the founders of La Decade philosophique in 1794 made Say the editor-in-chief of that journal in part because of the breadth of his experience at the Courier. Most important of all, Say’s aim was to make a contribution to the intellectual controversies of the Revolution. His first pamphlet, De la liberte de la presse, appeared in November 1789; in the early 1790s he was working on a translation of Helen-Maria William’s Letters on Switzerland and a French edition of Benjamin Franklin’s The Way to Wealth, or Poor Richard Saunders.
Different Approaches to Bankruptcy
Authors: Hart Oliver
Published: October 2023

In the last fifteen years or so, lawyers working in law and economics and economists with an interest in legal matters have turned their attention to the topic of bankruptcy. A large amount of work has resulted, both theoretical and empirical, some of which has been concerned with the functioning of existing bankruptcy procedures and some with bankruptcy reform. Although researchers in this area have expressed different views, I believe that one can identify a consensus on certain issues-for example, the goals of bankruptcy and some of the characteristics of an efficient bankruptcy procedure. (There is probably less agreement about exactly what the best bankruptcy procedure is or how well existing systems around the world function.) In this paper, I will focus on this consensus because I believe it is useful in guiding countries with poorly developed bankruptcy procedures in efforts to improve them.1 One point I will stress is that it is unlikely that ‘one size fits all’. That is, although some bankruptcy procedures can probably be rejected as being manifestly bad, there is a class of procedures that satisfy the main criteria of efficiency. Which procedure a country chooses or should choose may then depend on other factors-for example, the country’s institutional structure and legal tradition. One can also imagine a country choosing a menu of procedures and allowing firms to select among them.
Cross-Sectional Wage and Employment Rigidities versus Aggregate Employment
Authors: Bertola Giuseppe
Published: October 2023

When studying real-life market outcomes and evaluating policy interventions, economists like to refer to a hypothetical situation where intertemporal and insurance markets are perfect and complete. In reality, of course, laissez-faire economic interactions can hardly supply insurance against the risk of becoming or remaining unemployed, because moral hazard and adverse selection stand in the way of such potential contractual arrangements. Workers would not try as hard to avoid unemployment and find new jobs if they were covered against the negative consequences of the event, by purchasing insurance at a given market price. And workers who know their unemployment risk is particularly high would make the scheme unprofitable for insurance providers and/ or unattractive to workers with average risk. Hence, one can understand why collective action would try and remedy the ex post inequitable or ‘unfair’ labour-market treatment of workers who, lacking insurance, became or remained unemployed despite their best efforts.
Independence and Accountability of Central Banks
Authors: Grauwe Paul De
Published: October 2023

In the post-war period, two models of central banking have evolved. One can be called the Anglo-French model, the other the German model. These two models differ from each other on two counts. One has to do with the objectives a central bank should pursue, the other is related to the institutional design of the central bank. The Objectives of the Central Bank. In the Anglo-French model, the central bank pursues different objectives-for example, price stability, stabilization of the business cycle, the maintenance of high employment, and possibly others too. In this model, price stability is only one of the objectives and does not receive any privileged treatment. This is very different in the German model, where price stability is considered to be the primary objective of the central bank. And, although the central bank can pursue other objectives, this is always conditioned on the requirement that their pursuit does not endanger price stability.
Asymmetric Regionalism in Sub-Saharan Africa: Where Do We Stand?
Authors: Cadot Olivier , Melo, Jaime De , Olarreaga Marcelo
Published: October 2023

The paper reviews the likely economic effects of the Regional Economic Partnership Agreements (REPAs) proposed by the European Union (EU) to the ACP (America, Caribbean, Pacific) countries to succeed to the Lome IV agreements. We argue that, in spite of some likely positive effects because of reciprocity and the North-South partnership, the pronounced asymmetries among the southern partners will lead to strong redistributive and marginalization effects that will require compensations that are likely to be costly to implement. It is also pointed out that efforts at regional cooperation agreements would avoid some of the shortcomings associated with the proposed discriminatory trade preferences that would accompany the proposed REPAs. And, if the REPAs are negotiated, they should be accompanied by compensatory transfers from the European Union (EU) for tax revenues losses attributable to the agreements.
Benefits and Costs of EU Enlargement: Theoretical and Practical Considerations on Trade Policy Issues
Authors: Inotai Andras
Published: October 2023

Any change in a given system generates a redistribution of previously fixed positions. Although, in a strategic framework, decisions on changes are taken deliberately and in the conviction that the new situation will increase the level of general welfare, nevertheless, even the most careful planning is unable to guarantee that all actors involved will immediately gain from the changes. While the exercise is rightly expected to be a positive-sum game, it is more difficult to create, from the very beginning, a clear win-win scenario.
Introduction
Authors: Blomström Magnus , Gangnes Byron , Croix Sumner La
Published: October 2023

By the early 1990s, Japan had emerged as the main challenger to the United States for the position as the world’s leading economy. The Japanese economy had outgrown the US for several decades, and the appreciation of the yen had pushed Japanese per capita income (calculated on an exchange-rate basis) almost 50 per cent above US levels in 1995. Japanese export industries generated massive export surpluses, despite the appreciated currency. The Japanese success was considered nothing less than a miracle.
Historical, Structural, and Macroeconomic Perspectives on the Japanese Economic Crisis
Authors: Weinstein Davide.
Published: October 2023

Paul Krugman once noted that it is not remarkable that people tend to favor structural interpretations for economic problems. Losing one’s job or seeing one’s wealth fall by a factor of two or three is often a tragedy for workers and their families. It is an anathema that this might be the result of some bureaucrat accidentally miscalculating the money supply in one’s own country or, even worse, in some other country.
Comparison of Fertility Estimates from India’s Sample Registration System and the 1992-1993 National Family Health Survey
Authors: Narasimhan R L , Retherford Robert D , Mshra Vinod , Arnold Fred , Roy T K
Published: October 2023

Fertility has certainly been declining in India, but there is some question as to how fast the decline has been. Answering this question is important because accurate estimates of the speed of fertility decline are needed for monitoring the progress of India’s national family planning programme and for formulating India’s five-year development plans, which require population projections.
Family Planning in Pakistan: A Turning Point
Authors: Hakim Abdul , Miller Peter C
Published: October 2023

In the five decades that have elapsed since independence, the population of Pakistan has doubled twice, going from 32.5 million in 1947 to 128 million in 1997 (Table 6.1). The immediate determinants of this growth are well known. Annual rates of natural increase accelerated in the post-independence era, from 2 per cent in 1947 to 3 per cent in the 1960s. The growing rate of natural increase was the direct outcome of reductions in child mortality in the 1950s and 1960s, and of sustained high fertility throughout the post-independence era (Sathar and Casterline 1998).
An Optimal Earnings Schedule
Authors: Anand Sudhir
Published: October 2023

It is easy to analyse the supply of a single man’s work to different opportunities of converting leisure into income that are available to him. It is much harder to establish the response of total labour to alternative earning opportunities when different members of the workforce have differing preferences as between income and leisure. That such differences in preferences should exist is entirely plausible. Many surveys (e.g. Shimmin and de la Mare 1964; Flanders 1964: Appendix E) have reported that establishments which allow regular overtime working as part of their normal workschedules evoke wide differences in response among men in the same occupation. Some authors (see Shimmin and de la Mare) have attributed these differences to differences in family responsibility as measured by the income-tax code number. Others have correlated additional individual and social characteristics, such as age and the availability of leisure activities outside the home. The purpose here is not to examine why some groups of people prefer to work more overtime than others, but rather the consequences which follow from this fact. I will assume that the diversity of preferences can be captured by means of a single parameter.
On the Optimal Location of Capital
Authors: Venables Anthony J
Published: October 2023

In his paper ‘The Optimum Town’, Mirrlees (1972) posed the question, what is the optimal spatial organization of individuals around a town centre in which they work? He characterized the optimal consumption level and residential area to be given to individuals at different distances from the centre and pointed out that, in general, inequality of income distribution was part of the social optimum, even if all individuals are identical.
Systems of Financial Markets
Authors: Eichberger Jürgen , Harper Ian , Pfeil Christian , Scheid Florian
Published: October 2023

This chapter studies asset systems. It focuses on the capacity of asset systems to enable consumers to share risks effectively. The Pareto optimality of consumption allocations depends on the completeness or incompleteness of the financial market system. Exercise 1 considers an economy with partially diversifiable aggregate risk about endowments. Insurance takes place with risk-neutral consumers insuring the risk-averse ones. Compare this exercise with Exercise 1 in Chapter 2, where a similar economy with fully diversifiable risk (no aggregate uncertainty) was studied. Exercise 2 highlights how equilibrium prices in contingent markets depend on preferences and beliefs. For the case of an Edge worth box economy, we show in Exercise 3 that trade in contingent commodities guarantees Pareto optimality of an equilibrium allocation. The indirect utility function over state-contingent wealth allocations is derived in Exercise 4. Finally, Exercise 5 shows how to derive the reduced-form budget constraints for complete and incomplete financial market systems (compare Section 3.6 in the textbook).
Regulation of Banks
Authors: Eichberger Jürgen , Harper Ian , Pfeil Christian , Scheid Florian
Published: October 2023

In this chapter we apply the bank model of Chapter 7 to some questions of bank regulation. In Exercise 1 we consider the case of a deposit insurance scheme where banks have to pay a fee for the insurance guarantee. A diagrammatic analysis is carried out both for the case where banks have to pay the fee in period O and for where they have to pay it in period 1. Exercise 2 uses the diagrammatic approach to study a deposit insurance scheme which guarantees deposits but not the interest promised. Finally, in Exercise 3 we discuss and qualify the claim that deposit insurance is a way to guarantee stability of banks without cost.
Seeing it Through? The Multifaceted Implementation of the Belfast Agreement
Authors: Hadfield Brigid
Published: October 2023

The document, commonly referred to as the Belfast Agreement, actually consists of a novel form of double annexation of two Agreements, the one to the other. There is, first, the multi-party Agreement which, beginning with a Declaration of Support, deals with constitutional issues, specifically the constitutional status of Northern Ireland, the three-stranded political structures, rights, safeguards and equality of opportunity, decommissioning, security, policing and justice, and prisoners. An annex to the multi-party Agreement is the Agreement between the British and Irish Governments, dealing with the elements of the former agree ment which have interstate dimensions.
Constitutional Frameworks and Democratic Consolidation: Parliamentarianism versus Presidentialism (with Cindy Skach)
Authors: Stepan Alfred
Published: October 2023

The struggle to consolidate the new democracies—especially those in Eastern Europe, Latin America, and Asia—has given rise to a wide-ranging debate about the hard choices concerning economic restructuring, economic institutions, and economic markets. A similar debate has focused on democratic political institutions and political markets. This literature has produced provocative hypotheses about the effects of institutions on democracy.
Implied Volatility Functions: Empirical Tests
Authors: Dumas Bernard , Fleming Jeff , Whaley Robert E
Published: October 2023

Expected future volatility plays a central role in finance theory. Consequently, accurately estimating this parameter is crucial to meaningful financial decision making. Finance researchers generally rely on the past behavior of asset prices to develop expectations about volatility, documenting movements in volatility as they relate to prior volatility and/or variables in the investors’ information set. As useful as such investigations have been, they are by nature backward looking, using past behavior to project forward. An alternative approach, albeit less explored in the literature, is to use reported option prices to infer volatility expectations.1 Because option value depends critically on expected future volatility, the volatility expectation of market participants can be recovered by inverting the option valuation formula.
Insider Trading without Normality
Authors: Rochet Jean-Charles , Vila Jean-Luc
Published: October 2023

In his seminal paper, Kyle (1985) shows how a risk-neutral and perfectly informed insider can profit from his private information by trading strategically and by hiding his trade behind the activity of ‘noise traders’. In his model, Kyle makes specific assumptions about the distribution of uncertainty (normality) and restricts himself to a specific class of equilibria, the linear ones.1 The argument that the linear equilibria are more tractable than the non-linear ones is not convincing. The signalling literature (see Laffont and Maskin (1989, 1990) among others) abounds in examples where multiple equilibria are the rule.2 In the context of market trading with asymmetric information, it is important to understand whether the uniqueness of an equilibrium comes from the ad hoc linearity assumption, from the distributional assumption or from the nature of the strategic interaction.
Asset Price Dynamics and Infrequent Feedback Trades
Authors: Balduzzi Pierluigi , Bertola Giuseppe , Foresi Silverio
Published: October 2023

Investors routinely rebalance their portfolios in response to changes in prices. In order to hold portfolio weights constant, for example, investors would buy losers and sell winners, a typical negative-feedback or contrarian strategy.1 Alternatively, investors may implement positive-feedback strategies: buy stocks when their prices rise, and sell them when their prices fall. These strategies include portfolio choice based on extrapolative expectations (trend-chasing), the use of stop-loss orders, and portfolio insurance.
Going Public and the Ownership Structure of the Firm
Authors: Mello Antonio S , Parsons John E
Published: October 2023

That ownership structure is an important determinant of firm value is now well established in the finance literature. Large, active investors often play a monitoring role that raises the value of all shares. The presence of large shareholders also improves the efficiency of the market for corporate control. How does the significance of ownership structure shape the process for issuing equity?
Underpricing and Entrepreneurial Wealth Losses in IPOs: Theory and Evidence
Authors: Habib Michel A , Ljungqvist Alexander P
Published: October 2023

Why are some initial public offerings (IPOs) more underpriced than others? For instance, why do IPOs by companies with dot-com in their names suffer average underpricing that is nearly eight times the U.S. average of 13%? Why are Chinese IPOs underpriced by 42%, whereas Malaysian IPOs are underpriced by 6%? And why has average underpricing in Germany quadrupled since the introduction of the Neuer Markt in March 1997?1
Banking Scope and Financial Innovation
Authors: Boot Arnoud W A , Thakor Anjan V
Published: October 2023

We study the implications of alternative designs of the finaancial system with a view to improving our understanding of the pros and cons of functionally separated banking (the U.S. system, for example) vis-à-vis universal banking (the German system, for example).
Some Causes and Consequences of Fragmentation
Authors: Price Victoria Curzon
Published: October 2023

‘Fragmentation’ refers to the growing complexity of the modern chain of production, which divides and redivides previously integrated systems into ever more specialized and distinguishable units. The components of many objects have not only originated in many different places, but the components themselves have an equally chequered geographic history. The actual molecules making up a pen or a computer will have crossed many frontiers, probably back and forth across the same frontiers several times, changing owners all the time, before reaching their final destination, at which point the physical molecules will have been rearranged into something useful. Arguably, the valueadded in the process is ‘just services’. In other words, the service-content of the goods we buy is very great indeed. Identifying the diverse national ‘origins’ of a modern product is nowadays quite impossible.
Denmark
Authors: Germer Peter
Published: October 2023

On 13 April 1953 Denmark ratified the European Convention on Human Rights and the First Protocol. Subsequently, Protocols Nos. 2-11 have been ratified by Denmark. In ratifying Protocol No. 7 Denmark made a reservation in respect of article 2(1).
Estonia
Authors: Maruste Rait
Published: October 2023

For Estonia, as for the other Baltic States, the restoration of independence and real enjoyment of human rights only became possible after the withdrawal of foreign troops in the beginning of the nineties. Thus, the Estonian experience of practising democracy and international law is not the richest one. Due to the short time period the administrative and judicial practice in applying international law and pertinent scholarly analysis are relatively limited.
Finland
Authors: Rosas* Allan
Published: October 2023

Every member state’s adherence to the European Convention on Human Rights displays some country-specific features. In the case of Finland, two background factors should be emphasized. First, there is the question of Finland’s foreign and treaty policy preceding its membership in the Council of Europe and ratification of the ECHR, which explains why it ratified the ECHR as late as May 1990. Secondly, the Finnish constitutional and legal system offers some distinctive features, which are relevant when considering the status and impact of the ECHR in national law.
Ireland
Authors: O’connell Donncha
Published: October 2023

The ECHR was adopted by the Council of Europe and signed by the Irish Minister for External Affairs on 4 November 1950. It was confirmed and ratified by the Irish Government on 25 February 1953 and laid before Dail Eireann on 29 March 1954. It had entered into force on 3 September 1953.
Italy
Authors: Meriggiola Enzo
Published: October 2023

The European Convention on Human Rights, ratified by Italy by Law No. 848 of 4 August 1955, became a domestic law, an integral part of the Italian legal system, on 26 October of the same year, after the depositing of the instrument of ratification.
Norway
Authors: Møse Erik
Published: October 2023

Together with representatives from eleven other states, the Norwegian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr Halvard Lange, signed the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) in the Palazzo Barberini on 4 November 1950. Norway ratified it on 15 January 1952 as the second of the signatory states, after the United Kingdom (March 1951). The Convention entered into force for Norway on 3 September 1953 when ten instruments of ratification had been deposited, cf Article 66(2).
Spain
Authors: Roca Guillermo Escobar
Published: October 2023

On 24 November 1977, two years after the death of General Franco and at the height of the transition towards democracy (or, more specifically, when the Committee was drawing up the Preliminary Draft of the Constitution) Spain became a signatory to the European Convention on Human Rights. However, it was not until 4 October 1972 that it ratified the Convention, after the Spanish Constitution had been approved.
Sweden
Authors: Cameron Iain
Published: October 2023

It is not possible to analyse the function of the European Convention on Human Rights (hereinafter, the Convention) in the Swedish legal order without some knowledge of the system of constitutional rights in Sweden. Only then can one appreciate the role which it has played, and can play, in filling gaps in rights protection. Accordingly, this short introductory section gives an overview of the constitutional rights context.1 There are three Swedish constitutional documents dealing with rights: the Freedom of the Press Act (Tryckfrihetsforordningen, TF), the Freedom of Expression Act (Yttrande-frihetsgrundlag, YGL), and the Instrument of Government (Regerings-formen, RF). The Freedom of the Press Act (1949:105) and the Freedom of Expression Act (1991:1469) deal, respectively, with the printed and the electronic media. They provide inter alia for a special system of criminal responsibility for crimes committed by means of printed or electronic media (defamation, breaches of the Secrecy Act, etc.) and for the right to trial by jury for those accused of committing such offences. They prohibit censorship and lay down the right to communicate official information, even secret information, to the press for publication, subject to certain narrowly defined exceptions. Swedish protection of freedom of information is probably stronger than in any other European state, and forms an important part of the system of constitutional control.
The State Second Pension Scheme and its Predecessors
Authors: Blake David
Published: October 2023

Second-tier or supplementary state pensions have been provided in the UK since 1961. They are known as the additional state pension and are paid by the Pensions Service of the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP). The state second pension (S2P) scheme was established by the secretary of state for social security (Alistair Darling) in the Welfare Reform and Pensions Act 1999 and the Child Support, Pensions and Social Security Act 2000 (following the 1998 green paper A New Contract for Welfare: Partnership in Pensions), and came into operation on 6 April 2002.
Occupational Pension Schemes
Authors: Blake David
Published: October 2023

Occupational pension schemes (also known as retirement benefit schemes) are pension schemes that are organized or sponsored by the companies or organizations for which people work. The pensions offered by such schemes are generally related to employees’ earnings or salaries at or near retirement and to their service history; such pensions are known as defined benefit (DB) or salary-related or final-salary pensions, since the pension is typically based on some measure of final salary.
Personal and Stakeholder Pension Schemes
Authors: Blake David
Published: October 2023

Personal pension schemes are pension schemes that are organized for employees or groups of employees by financial institutions such as banks and insurance companies rather than by the companies for which these individuals work. The pensions offered by such schemes are generally related to the contributions that are paid into them, and as such are known as defined contribution (DC) pensions. They were introduced in 1988.
Pension-fund Investments
Authors: Blake David
Published: October 2023

In this chapter we look at the investment side of pension funds. We begin with an examination of the regulatory environment that they face. We show that pension funds face few statutory restrictions on their investment behaviour and that selfregulation is the guiding principle; however, we also show that following the Maxwell Affair, the regulatory framework has been tightened substantially and that pension funds now have much shorter periods over which to eliminate deficits and this has led to more conservative investment strategies.
Socrates and his Twins (The Socrates[es] of Plato’s Symposium)
Authors: Kofman Sarah
Published: October 2023

Among al1 of Plato’s Socratic dialogues, why should the Symposium warrant special attention? Is it because this dialogue may have handed down a more faithful portrait than any other? Might it be possible, in this dialogue in particular, to distinguish between the mastds part and the disciple’s? A whole tradition seems in fact to agree that this is the case. Alongside the Phaedo and the Apology, key dialogues for readers interested in the philosopher’s final moments (we shall return to these in connection with Kierkegaard), this tradition views the Symposium as a crucial (document’ for anyone interested in Socrates’ life. Alcibiades’ portrait of him in particular-a portrait produced under the influence of alcohol-seems to have been taken at face value. Does not Alcibiades himself demand such a reading? In vino veritas.
Selections from The Flight to Objectivity1
Authors: Bordo* Susan
Published: October 2023

On November 10, 1619, Descartes had a series of dreams-bizarre, richly imaginal sequences manifestly full of anxiety and dread. He interpreted these dreams-which most readers would surely regard as nightmares-as revealing to him that mathematics is the key to understanding the universe. Descartes’s resolute and disconcertingly positive interpretation has become a standard textbook anecdote, a symbol of the seventeenth-century rationalist project. That project, in the official story told in most philosophy and history texts, describes seventeenth-century culture as Descartes described his dreams: in terms of intellectual beginnings, fresh confidence, and a new belief in the ability of science-armed with the discourses of mathematics and the ‘new philosophy’-to decipher the language of nature.
Princess Elisabeth and Descartes: The Union of Soul and Body and the Practice of Philosophy
Authors: Shapiro* Lisa
Published: October 2023

It is difficult to talk about Elisabeth without subordinating her to her correspondent, Descartes. That is, it is difficult to talk about Princess Elisabeth of Bohemia as a philosopher in her own right.1 This is, of course, largely due to the fact that all we have of her philosophical writing is her correspondence with Descartes. And in this correspon dence, Elisabeth assumes the role of a reader of Descartes: she raises objections to and asks for clarification of Descartes’s claims but does not seems to advance any philosophical program of her own. This is not to say that Elisabeth’s comments do not influence Descartes. On the contrary, it seems to me quite certain that they do. In particular, her challenges move Descartes to think more carefully about the union of the soul and body, and it is at her request that he undertakes to write a work on the passions of the soul. Equally, we might tend to read Elisabeth’s letters in this way-that is, as simply responsive to, and so as interesting only for shedding some light on, Descartes’s philosophy-because she herself seems to take that as her role. In her correspondence she consistently denigrates her own intellectual con tribution to their exchanges, and she looks to Descartes as someone who can help her to remedy the weaknesses of her own mind. Or at least it seems that way at first.
Hume, the Women’s Moral Theorist?
Authors: Baier* Annette C
Published: October 2023

In his brief autobiography, David Hume tells us that ‘as I took particu lar pleasure in the company of modest women, I had no reason to be displeased with the reception I met with from them.’ This double edged remark is typical of Hume’s references to women. Suggesting as it does that what pleased Hume was the women’s pleasure in his pleasure in their company, it both diminishes the significance of their welcome to him, since ‘whoever can find the means either by his services, his beauty, or his flattery to render himself useful or agreeable to us, is sure of our affections: and makes us wonder about the sources of his particular pleasure in their company.
Agency, Attachment, and Difference
Authors: Herman* Barbara
Published: October 2023

It is for no trivial reason that Kant’s ethics is the standard model of an impartial ethical system. Persons have moral standing in virtue of their rationality, and the morally dictated regard we are to have for one another reflects this deep sameness: we are never to fail to treat one another as agents with autonomous rational wills. This yields impartial treatment of persons and impartial judgment across cases. Although these features of Kant’s ethics have traditionally been a source of its appeal, in many recent discussions just this sort of impartiality has come to stand for a kind of vice-mostly a vice of theory.’ To the extent, however, that persons embody the values of impartiality, it is sometimes thought to be in them, if not quite a vice, then a lack or limit or defect of moral sensibility.2
Policies of Industrial Development in Guangdong, 1958
Authors: Chan Alfred L
Published: October 2023

Chapter 4 makes clear the dilemmas faced by the Ministry of Metallurgy in implementing overambitious and often unworkable central policies, and the difficulty in motivating and mobilizing the ministry’s subordinates and the regional authorities to totally reorient themselves. Here, the spotlight is on Guangdong province and the way it responded to the various ‘industrialization’ policies imposed upon it by the centre. As such, this chapter will also be organized chronologically, to explore the decision-making forums and the implementation process. It will demonstrate how the barrage of imperious and capricious demands from the centre had forced industrialization and the iron and steel campaign on agricultural Guangdong, although it did not have the preconditions and resources to do so. The PPC strove to implement all the centre’s initiatives, although they were absurd, unattainable, and often unmindful of the capabilities of the province. Confronted by the impossible goals, the PPC had no choice but to mobilize its only true asset, its organization capability, to the fullest. In time, however, the Leap policies could not be sustained, goal displacement occurred-the PPC turned to concentrate on appearance rather than the substance of plan fulfilment.
Conclusion: Policy-making in a Mao-dominated System
Authors: Chan Alfred L
Published: October 2023

The most striking feature of the policy process in 1958 was a dominant Mao bent on exerting his power and consummating his personal vision. With supreme confidence, he took personal charge of running the economy by bullying all his detractors into submission. Mao was firmly committed to the Leap strategy of an allout effort requiring the mobilization and participation of virtually every Chinese citizen. Since he had invested tremendously of his personal political capital in the Leap campaign, he was anxious to achieve results. Timetables for production increases were constantly advanced, and production tasks multiplied. Numerous policy instruments ranging from exhortation to coercion were approved by Mao and hurled at the general population. All these are classic examples of hyperactivity, over-instrumenting and over-targeting.
The Reconstruction of France, 1789-1791
Authors: McPhee Peter
Published: October 2023

The Constituent or National Assembly of 1789-91 was the largest parliament in French history, with more than 1,200 members of the clergy, nobility and commons who had previously convened for the Estates-General in May 1789. Over the next two years, the deputies threw themselves with extraordinary energy into the task of reworking every dimension of public life. The work of its thirty-one committees was facilitated by the preparedness to co-operate of a large number of nobles, styled ‘patriots’, by abundant harvests in 1789 and 1790, and above all by the deep reservoir of popular goodwill. However, the rostrum and committees of the Assembly were dominated by about one-tenth of the deputies, and it could be suggested that the seeds of later southern misgivings about the Revolution were sown in the domination of the Assembly from the outset by men from the north.
The Water Regulation Regime in England and Wales
Authors: Byatt Ian
Published: October 2023

Privatization arose from the economic and political difficulties of Britain in the 1970s. Solutions had to be found to high inflation, growing microeconomic inflexibility, and ineffective attempts by government to manage the economy. Macroeconomic policy seemed unable to control inflation and to generate employment. Microeconomic intervention was propping up inefficient companies and reducing the ability of the economy to adjust to new challenges.
The Electricity and Telecommunications Sectors in Spain: Rapid Change, Regulators at the Crossroads
Authors: Curien Nicolas , Matheu Michel
Published: October 2023

There is certainly no ‘Latin’ model of industrial organization and regulation of public services and networks. Spain provides proof of this, if proof were needed. It is a country where the postal monopoly is circumvented-in fact, there is no flat postal rate-where the electricity sector has long been very fragmented, where private operators already have a major presence in several sectors, and where, for some years, the government has been very quick to take measures to open up to competition-measures that go well beyond European requirements.
Contrasts in Germany: Decentralization, Self-regulation, and Sector-specific Regulators
Authors: Gassner Katharina
Published: October 2023

This chapter offers an overview of the recent liberalization of three German network utilities and the regulatory framework established in these industries. Legal, structural, and institutional changes that have been implemented in the past few years in telecommunications, electricity, and railway services are surveyed, and the success of introducing competition into these industries is evaluated.
Dynamic Efficiency Wages., Learning., and Innovation
Authors: Antonelli Cristiano
Published: October 2023

Efficiency wages have been defined as wages paid in excess of labour productivity levels and a variety of implications have been detected in a static context of analysis, mainly in terms of information asymmetries and labour market failures. Dynamic efficiency wages are but equilibrium wages for learning firms that are able to elaborate proper incentives for employees to actually learn and participate in the effort to generate new localized technological change and hence introduce new technologies. The equilibrium conditions for ‘dynamic efficiency wages’ can be detailed when technological change is considered endogenous to learning firms and local innovation systems.
Collective Knowledge and the Dynamics of Technological Clusters: The Case of Communication Technologies
Authors: Antonelli Cristiano
Published: October 2023

Considerable empirical evidence and important theoretical analyses in the economics of innovation have recently provided new support for the Schumpeterian notion of gales of innovation (Schumpeter, 1934: technological innovations appear in gales and cannot be analysed in isolation). A systemic approach seems necessary.
Lender of Last Resort: A Review of the Literature
Authors: Freixas Xavier , Giannini Curzio , Hoggarth Glenn , Soussa Farouk
Published: October 2023

The concept of lender of last resort (LOLR) originated at the beginning of the nine teenth century when Henry Thornton (1802) spelt out the basic elements of sound central bank practice with respect to distress lending. Walter Bagehot (1873), who is most often credited with establishing modern LOLR theory, expanded on Thornton’s work (although without referring to him by name).
Financial Deregulation, Monetary Policy, and Central Banking (excerpts)
Authors: Goodfriend Marvin , King Robert G
Published: October 2023

Financial deregulation is widely understood to have important economic benefits for microeconomic reasons. Since Adam Smith, economists have provided argu ments and evidence that unfettered private markets yield outcomes that are supe rior to public sector alternatives. But fmancial regulations—specific rules and overall structures—are sometimes justified on macroeconomic grounds. This paper analyzes the need for fmancial regulations in the implementation of central bank policy. Dividing the actions of the Federal Reserve into monetary and banking pol icy, we fmd that fmancial regulations cannot readily be rationalized on the basis of macroeconomic benefits.
Bank Runs, Deposit Insurance, And Liquidity
Authors: Dimont Douglas W , Dybvig Philip H
Published: October 2023

Bank runs are a common feature of the extreme crises that have played a prominent role in monetary history. During a bank run, depositors rush to withdraw their deposits because they expect the bank to fail. In fact, the sudden withdrawals can force the bank to liquidate many of its assets at a loss and to fail. In a panic with many bank failures, there is a disruption of the monetary system and a reduction in production.
Conceptual Responses to Forum Shopping and Concurrent Jurisdiction
Authors: Bell Andrew S
Published: October 2023

The previous chapter sought to demonstrate that differences in the procedural, internal and conflicts laws of different countries may produce significant incentives for forum shopping. It was seen in Chapter 1 that the sinequanonfor such activity was the existence of jurisdiction in more than one forum, whether by reason of the fact that a defendant is present in several forums (either simultaneously, in the case of corporations, or sequentially, in the case of individuals or ships) or because of so-called exorbitant or assumed jurisdiction. The combination of concurrent jurisdiction and the various advantages offered by one ‘competent’ forum over another in any given case creates the environment for vigorous battles over the issue of venue in transnational litigation.