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on Law and Economics |
| By: | Asian Development Bank (ADB); (Office of the General Counsel, ADB); ; |
| Abstract: | The Government of Pakistan has adopted laws to combat adverse environmental impacts of unsustainable development, but there are several issues that make effective implementation of these laws and adjudication of environmental disputes difficult. This report examines the state of environmental law, adjudication, and implementation in Pakistan, focusing on the provincial environmental protection acts of Pakistan and the institutional design, principles, and procedures provided under the law. It further examines the actual implementation of the law and the case law developed in this area with focus on the court’s interpretation and enforcement of the laws. The report also reviews the curriculum of law schools and judicial academies and suggests the future inclusion of environmental laws in their respective programs. |
| Keywords: | pakistan, punjab, balochistan, environmental law, environmental protection, law schools, environmental prosecution, environmental protection agency, environmental tribunals, green benches, green justice, adjudication, environmental disputes |
| Date: | 2013–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:asd:wpaper:rpt135573&r=law |
| By: | Asongu Simplice (Yaoundé/Cameroun); Andrés Antonio (Madrid/Spain) |
| Abstract: | In this paper, we examine global trajectories, dynamics, and tendencies of software piracy to ease the benchmarking of current efforts towards harmonizing the standards and enforcements of Intellectual Property Rights (henceforth IPRs) protection worldwide. Our empirical exercise is based on 15 different panel regressions, which together consists of 99 countries. The richness of the dataset allows us to disaggregate countries into fundamental characteristics of business software piracy based on income-levels (high-income, lower-middle-income, upper-middle-income and low-income), legal-origins (English common-law, French civil-law, German civil-law and, Scandinavian civil-law) and, regional proximity (South Asia, Europe & Central Asia, East Asia & the Pacific, Middle East & North Africa, Latin America & the Caribbean and, Sub-Saharan Africa). Our main finding suggest that, a genuine timeframe for standardizing IPRs laws in the fight against software piracy is most feasible within a horizon of 4.3 to 10.4 years. In other words, full (100%) convergence within the specified timeframe will mean the enforcements of IPRs regimes without distinction of nationality or locality within identified fundamental characteristics of software piracy. The absence of convergence (in absolute and conditional terms) for the World panel indicates that, blanket policies may not be effective unless they are contingent on the prevailing trajectories, dynamics and tendencies of software piracy. Policy implications and caveats are also discussed. |
| Keywords: | Piracy; Business Software; Software piracy; Intellectual Property Rights; Panel data; Convergence |
| JEL: | F42 K42 O34 O38 O57 |
| Date: | 2014–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:agd:wpaper:14/011&r=law |
| By: | Sue H. Mialon |
| Abstract: | This paper examines how moral rules form in the process of social learning in order to analyze the relationship between legal rules and moral rules. Members of society learn morality from the observed behavior of other members. Their incentive to act morally is influenced by their expectation of other members' moral behavior. The moral standards of a society are built on the outcomes of such interactions over time. We show that moral standards can quickly deteriorate even if the majority of the members have a strong moral sense individually. When insufficient moral sanctions for wrongful actions are observed, the members form a belief that the society's moral standards are lower than what they had expected. Such a belief encourages more wrongful actions and results in less incentive for the members to act morally. As the moral standards decline, moral rules may not be able to regulate behavior. Legal sanctions can prevent such a decline as they offer an objective and time-invariant level of expectation for the enforcement of rules. Hence, morality is less likely to degenerate in the presence of legal rules. We discuss how strong morality can enhance the effectiveness of law enforcement, in turn. |
| Date: | 2014–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:emo:wp2003:1410&r=law |
| By: | Deolinda APARÍCIO MEIRA (Law Department of the Polytechnic Institute of Oporto/ISCAP/CECEJ, CIRIEC-Portugal, Portugal) |
| Abstract: | This study is a reflection on the Portuguese Framework Law on Social Economy, highlighting, from a critical point-of-view, its contribution to the explicit institutional and legal recognition of the social economy sector. It does so by defining the concept of social economy and listing the entities engaged in this sector, by defining its guiding principles and the mechanisms for its promotion and encouragement, and also by describing the creation of a tax and competition regime which will take into account its specificities. The setting up of this foundation of the social economy was based on the constitutional principle of protection of the social and co-operative sector, which substantiates the adoption of differentiating solutions in view of the positive discrimination of this sector. |
| Keywords: | social economy, framework law, guiding principles, social economy entities, legal regulation |
| JEL: | K29 K40 |
| Date: | 2014–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:crc:wpaper:1412&r=law |
| By: | Kartik Athreya (Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond) |
| Abstract: | In 2005, bankruptcy laws were reformed significantly, making personal bankruptcy substantially more costly to file than before. Shortly after, the US began to experience its most severe recession in seventy years. While personal bankruptcy rates rose, they rose only modestly given the severity of the rise in unemployment, perhaps as a consequence of the reform. Moreover, in the subsequent recovery, households have been widely viewed as "develeraging" (Mian and Sufi (2011), Krugman and Eggertson (2012)), an interpretation consistent with the largest reduction in the volume of unsecured debt in the past three decades. In this paper, we aim to measure the role jointly played by recent bankruptcy reforms and labor market risks during the Great Recession in accounting for the use of consumer credit and debt default. We use a setting that features high-frequency life-cycle consumption-savings decisions, defaultable debt, search frictions, and aggregate risk. Our results suggest that the 2005 bankruptcy reform likely prevented a substantial increase in bankruptcy filings, but had only limited effect on the observed path of delinquencies. Thus, the reform appears to have ´worked.¡ We also find that fluctuations in the job separation rate observed over the Great Recession did not significantly affect the dynamics of default; all of the work is done, instead, by the large decline in the job-finding rate. |
| Date: | 2014 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:red:sed014:273&r=law |
| By: | Asongu Simplice (Yaoundé/Cameroun); Jellal Mohamed (Al Makrîzi Institut d\\\'Economie, Rabat, M) |
| Abstract: | Purpose – In this paper, we introduce firm heterogeneity in the context of a model of non-compliance with minimum wage legislation. Design/methodology/approach – Theoretical modeling under government compliance policy and wages & employment under non compliance. Findings – The introduction of heterogeneity in the ease with which firms can be monitored for non compliance allows us to show that non-compliance will persist in sectors which are relatively difficult to monitor, despite the government implementing non stochastic monitoring. Moreover, we show that the incentive not to comply is an increasing function of the level of the minimum wage and increasing function of the gap between the minimum wage and the competitive wage rate. Originality/value – We have shown why non compliance persists in certain sectors of activity despite frequent inspection by government agencies. |
| Keywords: | H26, O17 |
| Date: | 2014–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:agd:wpaper:14/008&r=law |
| By: | Daniel Oto Peralías; Diego Romero-Ávila; Carlos Usabiaga |
| Abstract: | The current economic crisis has led several rich countries to experience severe fiscal deficits. Among other factors responsible for the situation, corruption is considered harmful to public finances and appears closely related to fiscal deficits. This paper opens a new avenue in addressing the effects of corruption on public deficits through fiscal decentralization. Focusing on a sample of 31 OECD countries over the period 1986-2010, we find that fiscal decentralization contributes to mitigating the perverse effects of corruption in public deficits. In addition, our findings indicate heterogeneity in the effect of fiscal decentralization, since it appears related to lower deficits in countries with higher levels of corruption, but not in less corrupt countries. Therefore, the results suggest that bringing the government closer to the people in relatively corrupt countries may lead to a more responsible fiscal management See above See above |
| Keywords: | Spain, Public finance, Public finance |
| Date: | 2013–06–21 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ekd:004912:5690&r=law |
| By: | Asian Development Bank (ADB); (Regional and Sustainable Development Department, ADB); ; |
| Abstract: | Increasing job opportunities and decent work for women are essential for advancing economic and social development in countries, because many women continue to experience gender inequalities at work. An analysis of strategies to counter gender discrimination and promote equality between men and women shows how a combination of good practices in law and in social and economic policy can improve equitable employment opportunities, remuneration,and treatment for women and men at work. This report provides some examples of good global legal practices to reverse unequal labor market outcomes for women and realize their economic potential to the full. It is part of a series consisting of: •Good Global Economic and Social Practices to Promote Gender Equality in the Labor Market •Good Global Legal Practices to Promote Gender Equality in the Labor Market •Gender Equality and the Labor Market: Cambodia, Kazakhstan, and the Philippines •Gender Equality in the Labor Market in Cambodia •Gender Equality in the Labor Market in the Philippines. |
| Keywords: | gender, women, labor market, global practices, legal, gender equality, asian development bank, adb, international labour organization, ilo, gad, gender and development, technical assistance, gender mainstreaming, discrimination, legislation, access to work, working women, recruitment, employment, international standards, minimum wage, equal remuneration, sexual harassment, labor clauses, public contracts, security, formal employment, informal employment, part-time work, short-term contracts, home workers, domestic workers, rural workers, entrepreneurs, cooperatives, social protection, maternity care, family leave, child care, association, collective bargaining, freedom of association, social dialogue |
| Date: | 2013–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:asd:wpaper:rpt136183-3&r=law |
| By: | Bruhn, Miriam; Loeprick, Jan |
| Abstract: | Using a panel of administrative data and regression discontinuity analysis, this paper examines how the introduction of preferential tax regimes for Georgian micro and small businesses in 2010 affects formal firm creation and tax compliance. The results show that the new tax regime for micro businesses increased the number of newly registered formal firms by 18-30 percent below the eligibility threshold during the first year of the reform, but not in subsequent years. The analysis does not find an effect of the new tax regime for small businesses on formal firm creation in any year. Policy makers are often concerned about abuse risks stemming from differentiated tax treatment of micro and small businesses. The analysis in this paper reveals reduced tax compliance in 2010 around the micro business eligibility threshold, but does not find significant evidence of reduced compliance by Georgian firms in later years. The results also do not show any significant evidence of strategic sorting around the regime eligibility thresholds. |
| Keywords: | Debt Markets,Taxation&Subsidies,Microfinance,Emerging Markets,Access to Finance |
| Date: | 2014–08–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:7010&r=law |
| By: | Alessandra Voena (University of Chicago) |
| Abstract: | This paper examines prenuptial contracts that allow couples in Italy to choose, at virtually no cost, how their assets will be divided in case of divorce. Unique administrative data on marriages and divorces from 1995 to 2011 indicate that the majority of newlyweds (67% in 2011) choose to forgo the default community property regime and to maintain separate property, which in other countries would require signing a costly prenuptial contract. In addition, the data suggest that couples choose community property to provide insurance to wives who forgo labor market opportunities and undertake household-specific investments. We estimate a dynamic model of marriage, female labor supply, savings and divorce to match the patterns of regime choice and outcomes observed in the administrative data. The estimates suggest that, as the rate of female labor participation increases and the gender wage gap decreases, there are increasing gains from separate property. Hence, lower costs of prenuptial contracting, as occurs in Italy and other civil law countries, might lead to substantial welfare gains for both husbands and wives, greater rates of female labor participation, lower probability of divorce and higher rates of household savings. |
| Date: | 2014 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:red:sed014:319&r=law |