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on Law and Economics |
| By: | Berceanu, Ionut Bogdan |
| Abstract: | According to the recently adopted Directive (EU) 2019/1973, the whistleblower protection is fragmented across Member States and the consequences of breaches of Union law with a cross-border dimension reported by whistleblowers illustrate how insufficient protection in one Member State negatively impacts the functioning of Union policies not only in that Member State, but also in other Member States and in the Union as a whole. The aim of this paper is to analyze what are the new legal standards imposed by the Directive to the Member States in order to ensure an effective protection for whistleblower in the Member States through national legislation. The case study of the paper will start by identifying and presenting the current legal standards for protecting the whistleblowers in Romania, explaining the mechanism and institutions in charge to do that. By making a comparison with the provision of the Directive, the research will offer some proposals for changing the current national legislation in accordance with the objectives imposed by the Directive. |
| Keywords: | public interest, corruption, integrity, EU law, whistleblower directive, reporting channels |
| JEL: | K22 K4 K42 |
| Date: | 2020–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:112573&r= |
| By: | Berceanu, Ionut Bogdan |
| Abstract: | In recent years, the European Union has insisted that convicts should be deprived of illegally obtained goods as a result of a crime. The asset confiscation resulted from crimes is one of the most effective tools in the fight against organized crime. In order to ensure a common approach to confiscation within the EU, several EU legislative instruments have been adopted in recent years, among which there are the most common secondary EU legislation as decisions, directives and regulations. Thus, confiscation is a strategic priority in the EU's fight against organized crime and, as such, has been reflected in the EU's Internal Action Strategy. The purpose of this paper is to make an analysis on the EU legislation regarding the administration and recovery of assets resulting from crimes. Also, the qualitative research of this work will be conducted in order to underline how Romania, as an EU member state, adapted and change its domestic legation and which authorities and procedures were created in order to fulfill with main EU legislative requirements |
| Keywords: | confiscation, asset recovery, asset management, forfeiture, regulation, decisions |
| JEL: | K4 K41 K42 |
| Date: | 2021–09–22 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:112571&r= |
| By: | Koumenta, Maria; Pagliero, Mario; Rostam-Afschar, Davud |
| Abstract: | We study how licensing, certification and unionisation affect the wages of natives and migrants and their representation among licensed, certified, and unionized workers. We provide evidence of a dual role of labor market institutions, which both screen workers based on unobservable characteristics and also provide them with wage setting power. Labor market institutions confer significant wage premia to native workers (3.9, 1.6, and 2.7 log points for licensing, certification, and unionization respectively), due to screening and wage setting power. Wage premia are significantly larger for licensed and certified migrants (10.2 and 6.6 log points), reflecting a more intense screening of migrant than native workers. The representation of migrants among licensed (but not certified or unionized) workers is 14% lower than that of natives. This implies a more intense screening of migrants by licensing institutions than by certification and unionization. |
| Keywords: | Arbeitsmarkt,Lohn,Zuwanderung,Occupational,regulation,Licensing,Certification,Unionization,Migration,Wages |
| JEL: | J61 J31 J44 J71 J16 |
| Date: | 2022 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:hohdps:022022&r= |
| By: | Fikfak, Veronika; Izvorova, Lora |
| Abstract: | Although the concept of human dignity is absent from the text of the European Convention on Human Rights, it is mentioned in more than 2100 judgments of the European Court of Human Rights. The judges at the Court have used dignity to develop the scope of Convention rights, but also to signal to respondent states just how serious a violation is and to nudge them towards better compliance. However, these strategies reach dead ends when the Court is faced with government submissions that are based on a conception of dignity that is different from the notion of human dignity relied on by the Court. Through empirical analysis and by focusing on Russia, the country against which the term dignity is used most frequently, the paper maps out situations of conceptual contestation and overlap. We reveal how the Court strategically uses mirroring, substitutes dignity for other Convention values, or altogether avoids confrontation. In such situations, the Court's use (and non-use) of dignity becomes less about persuading states to comply with the Convention and more about preserving its authority and managing its relationship with states. |
| Date: | 2022 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:ilewps:60&r= |
| By: | Brendon McConnell |
| Abstract: | Several key actors -- police, prosecutors, judges -- can alter the course of individuals passing through the multi-staged criminal justice system. I use linked arrest-sentencing data for federal courts from 1994-2010 to examine the role that earlier stages play when estimating Black-white sentencing gaps. I find no evidence of sample selection at play, suggesting federal judges are largely responsible for racial sentencing disparities. In contrast, I document substantial sample selection bias in two different state courts systems. Estimates of race and ethnic sentencing gaps that ignore selection underestimate the true disparities by 18% and 13% respectively. |
| Date: | 2022–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:arx:papers:2203.14282&r= |
| By: | Justus Haucap; Christina Heldman; Holger A. Rau |
| Abstract: | Many cartels are formed by individual managers of different firms, but not by firms as collectives. However, most of the literature in industrial economics neglects individuals’ incentives to form cartels. Although oligopoly experiments reveal important insights on individuals acting as firms, they largely ignore individual heterogeneity, such as gender differences. We experimentally analyze gender differences in prisoner’s dilemmas, where collusive behavior harms a passive third party. In a control treatment, no externality exists. To study the influence of social distance, we compare subjects’ collusive behaviour in a within-subjects setting. In the first game, subjects have no information on other players, whereas they are informed about personal characteristics in the second game. Results show that guilt-averse women are significantly less inclined to collude than men when collusion harms a third party. No gender difference can be found in the absence of a negative externality. Interestingly, we find that women are not sensitive to the decision context, i.e., even when social distance is small they hardly behave collusively when collusion harms a third party. |
| Keywords: | collusion, cartels, competition policy, antitrust, gender differences |
| JEL: | C92 D01 D43 J16 K21 L13 L41 |
| Date: | 2022 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ces:ceswps:_9614&r= |
| By: | Ivandic, Ria; Kirchmaier, Thomas; Torres I Blas, Neus |
| Abstract: | We study the role of alcohol and emotions in explaining the dynamics in domestic abuse following major football games. We match confidential and uniquely detailed individual call data from Greater Manchester with the timing of football matches over a period of eight years to estimate the effect on domestic abuse. We first observe a 5% decrease in incidents during the 2-hour duration of the game suggesting a substitution effect of football and domestic abuse. However, following the initial decrease, after the game, domestic abuse starts increasing and peaks about ten hours after the game, leading to a positive cumulative effect. We find that all increases are driven by perpetrators that had consumed alcohol, and when games were played before 7pm. Unexpected game results are not found to have a significant effect. |
| Keywords: | domestic abuse; crime; football; alcohol |
| JEL: | J12 I12 |
| Date: | 2021–07–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ehl:lserod:113923&r= |
| By: | Hassan, Magda; Prabhu, Jaideep; Chandy, Rajesh; Narasimhan, Om |
| Abstract: | Micro-entrepreneurs represent the most common type of business in the world, and marketing is a primary means by which they earn their livelihoods. They are especially numerous in emerging markets, and many live precarious lives characterized by poverty and potentially devastating exogenous shocks. This paper examines the marketing practices of microentrepreneurs by studying grocery retailers in a large slum in Cairo, Egypt. Employing detailed data on the marketing practices of these retailers, the paper examines why some micro-entrepreneurs engage in innovation in their marketing practices (and perform better), while others fail to do so. We highlight the causal effect of an important but rarely studied factor – informal property rights – on innovation in marketing practices among microentrepreneurs. Because few micro-entrepreneurs in the context we study have access to formal property rights, the threat of expropriation looms large in their lives. We show that those micro-entrepreneurs who possess their stores (without actually owning them) are substantially less likely to innovate in their marketing practices than those who lease their stores. We make use of an exogenous shock to property rights laws to assess the causal impact of informal property rights on innovation in marketing practices. |
| Keywords: | micro-entrepreneurs; lease; possession; informal property rights; innovation in marketing practice; performance |
| JEL: | R14 J01 |
| Date: | 2022–01–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ehl:lserod:114293&r= |
| By: | Alan Wm. Wolff (Peterson Institute for International Economics) |
| Abstract: | Binding dispute settlement—the ability to obtain a final judgment of whether a member of the World Trade Organization (WTO) has acted inconsistently with its obligations—was the defining attribute of the WTO as created in 1995. Global commerce thrived on having the certainty provided by its taking place within this system. For well over a decade, the United States had complained that the dispute settlement system was undermining the trade remedies—antidumping, countervailing duties against subsidies, and safeguard actions against injurious imports—that were allowed under the WTO’s rules. When a populist US administration assumed office in 2017, it blocked appointments to the WTO’s Appellate Body. Today, the WTO dispute settlement system has become balkanized. The European Union and a number of other countries have banded together to put into place an alternative mechanism. Outside this system are the other two-thirds of the WTO members, including the United States. For most WTO members, no definitive result can be reached as to whether WTO obligations have been violated, as there is no assurance that WTO dispute settlement will be binding for them. This paper addresses how to reconstruct a system that the United States could join that would be broadly acceptable to others. It sets out a wide range of elements for negotiators to consider to rebuild the WTO dispute settlement system and make WTO agreements enforceable again. |
| Keywords: | international trade, international trade agreements, dispute settlement, enforcement of agreements, United States trade policy, World Trade Organization |
| JEL: | F13 F51 F53 F55 K33 K41 N40 |
| Date: | 2022–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iie:wpaper:wp22-5&r= |
| By: | Tayfun Sonmez; M. Bumin Yenmez |
| Abstract: | India is home to a comprehensive affirmative action program that reserves a fraction of positions at governmental institutions for various disadvantaged groups. While there is a Supreme Court-endorsed mechanism to implement these reservation policies when all positions are identical, courts have refrained from endorsing explicit mechanisms when positions are heterogeneous. This lacunae has resulted in widespread adoption of unconstitutional mechanisms, countless lawsuits, and inconsistent court rulings. Formulating mandates in the landmark Supreme Court judgment Saurav Yadav (2020) as technical axioms, we show that the 2SMH-DA mechanism is uniquely suited to overcome these challenges. |
| Date: | 2022–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:arx:papers:2203.01483&r= |
| By: | Aan Widodo (University of Bhayangkara Jakarta Raya, Jalan Harsono RM, 12140, South Jakarta, Indonesia Author-2-Name: Author-2-Workplace-Name: Author-3-Name: Author-3-Workplace-Name: Author-4-Name: Author-4-Workplace-Name: Author-5-Name: Author-5-Workplace-Name: Author-6-Name: Author-6-Workplace-Name: Author-7-Name: Author-7-Workplace-Name: Author-8-Name: Author-8-Workplace-Name:) |
| Abstract: | "Objective - This study aims to explain is carried out to explain the external communication carried out at the Jakarta District Court and explain the community's perspective on the performance of the District Court. The concepts used are external communication and organizational performance. Methodology/Technique - This research uses a qualitative method with a Case Study approach. The researcher conducted interviews with 3 court officials, 2 court staff and observed the service process and court inquiries carried out. Researchers also conducted interviews with visitors and communication experts. Finding - The results of this study indicate that organizational communication in the District Court in Jakarta is still ineffective so it provides an overview of the organizational performance and aspects that need to be improved. Novelty - Improving services through external communication can improve court organizational performance. Type of Paper - Empirical" |
| Keywords: | External Communication; Organizational Performance; Court of Justice; Communications |
| JEL: | D83 L1 L16 |
| Date: | 2022–03–31 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:gtr:gatrjs:gjbssr610&r= |
| By: | Jean-Christophe Poudou (MRE - Montpellier Recherche en Economie - UM - Université de Montpellier); Wilfried Sand-Zantman (ESSEC Business School and THEMA (UMR 8184) - Economics Department - Essec Business School - THEMA - Théorie économique, modélisation et applications - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique - CY - CY Cergy Paris Université) |
| Abstract: | We address the need to regulate Internet infrastructure usage to take into account environmental externalities. We model the interactions between a monopoly ISP and different types of content providers in settings where the former chooses the network size and the latter influences congestion on the network. We first show that current net neutrality regulation does not provide agents the right incentives to cope with the environmental externality issue. Then, we study several alternatives, including laissez-faire, price-based regulation, and norm-based regulation. We derive conditions under which these alternatives fare better than net neutrality. In particular, the two types of regulations are useful tools to accommodate consumer interest and environmental concerns. |
| Date: | 2022–03–15 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:wpaper:hal-03608708&r= |
| By: | Shrabani Saha; Kunal Sen |
| Abstract: | While the short-term effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on lives and livelihoods are well understood, we know little about the effect of the pandemic for longer-term outcomes such as corruption. We look at the historical data on political and economic crises to assess what we can learn from the long-term effects of past crises on corruption. We hypothesize that strong rule of law institutions may ameliorate the possible adverse effects of political and economic crises on corruption. We test our hypotheses using panel data for over 100 countries during the years 1800-2020. |
| Keywords: | Corruption, Institutions, Crisis, Panel data, Rule of law, Economic crisis, Pandemic |
| Date: | 2022 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:unu:wpaper:wp-2022-37&r= |
| By: | Gian Maria Campedelli |
| Abstract: | Purpose: To explore the potential of Explainable Machine Learning in the prediction and detection of drivers of cleared homicides at the national- and state-levels in the United States. Methods: First, nine algorithmic approaches are compared to assess the best performance in predicting cleared homicides country-wise, using data from the Murder Accountability Project. The most accurate algorithm among all (XGBoost) is then used for predicting clearance outcomes state-wise. Second, SHAP, a framework for Explainable Artificial Intelligence, is employed to capture the most important features in explaining clearance patterns both at the national and state levels. Results: At the national level, XGBoost demonstrates to achieve the best performance overall. Substantial predictive variability is detected state-wise. In terms of explainability, SHAP highlights the relevance of several features in consistently predicting investigation outcomes. These include homicide circumstances, weapons, victims' sex and race, as well as number of involved offenders and victims. Conclusions: Explainable Machine Learning demonstrates to be a helpful framework for predicting homicide clearance. SHAP outcomes suggest a more organic integration of the two theoretical perspectives emerged in the literature. Furthermore, jurisdictional heterogeneity highlights the importance of developing ad hoc state-level strategies to improve police performance in clearing homicides. |
| Date: | 2022–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:arx:papers:2203.04768&r= |