A fair exchange protocol enable two parties to exchange secrets with fairness, so that neither can gain any information advantage by quitting prematurely or otherwise misbehaving. Therefore a fair exchange is the most important for electronic transactions between untrusted parties. To design new fair exchange, after describing basic concepts, definitions and existing protocols and designing a non-interactive OT protocol using ELGamal's public key system, I will design new protocol to support fair exchange. In my designed new protocol, untrusted parties exchange secrets obliviously and verify that their received secrets are true by using transformed Zero Knowledge Interactive Proof extended to duplex. At this time, concerned two parties can't decrypt the other's ciphertext. After all of the steps, two parties can do it. It is the most important to provide perfect fairness and anonymity to untrusted parties in this protocol.
Prescriptive Jurisdiction over Internet Activity:The Need to Define and Establish the Boundaries of Cyberliberty Samuel F. Miller (bio) Introduction Globalization occurs at the nexus of politics, culture, technology, finance, national security, and ecology.1 "Globalization" refers to the increasingly "complex, dynamic legal and social processes" occurring throughout the world.2 It is the development of a global mindset that challenges the traditional political, social, and economic characteristics of nations and has led to the "deterritorialization and reterritorialization of [vast] policy spaces."3 Many of the changes and challenges attributed to globalization rely on the exchange of information throughout the world, making "the flow of ideas across national borders" a key agent of globalization.4 Due to the increasing availability of personal computers and software, the Internet provides the ideal forum for information transfer.5 The Internet engenders "the notion of distributed power: decentralization, openness, possibility of expansion, no hierarchy, no center, no conditions for authoritarian or monopoly control."6 The Internet has become vital to the [End Page 227] broader dynamics of organizing global society, "both economically and politically."7 One of the vital aspects of organizing global society has been individual liberty. With the introduction of the Internet, traditional notions of liberty are challenged. The global reach of information transfer requires examining liberty in its new form—"cyberliberty." Cyberliberty expands across all borders, affects all nations, and as of yet, has not been defined by any nation. This note recommends a definition of cyberliberty in order to provide a legal foundation for regulating conduct on the Internet. The definition is predicated upon freedom from the control and influence of states through their assertion of prescriptive jurisdiction, a liberty that has always been an essential element of sovereignty.8 Part I briefly describes how traditional international law principles of prescriptive jurisdiction have been applied to activities on the Internet. It then identifies some limits to these methods that arise from the unique characteristics of the Internet. Part II surveys philosophic conceptions of liberty, recognizing the implications of liberty on the Internet, and recommends a definition of cyberliberty that favors expansive liberty and clear expectations for Internet actors. I. Prescriptive Jurisdiction over Internet Activity Despite the unique quality of the Internet as a key agent of globalization, and some scholarly arguments that the Internet should not be regulated under traditional standards,9 jurisdiction over Internet-related activity is still generally tested under international jurisdictional law.10 Jurisdiction exists in three forms: [End Page 228] jurisdiction to prescribe, to adjudicate, and to enforce.11 The primary jurisdictional problem that arises in relation to the Internet as a platform of globalization is one of prescriptive jurisdiction. It is the application of a single state's laws to Internet content that gives rise to complication. For example, may State A prohibit citizens of State B, located in State B, from posting advertisements for purple farm tractors on the Internet simply because State A prohibits the sale of purple farm tractors? Questions of this sort have strong implications for the global character of the Internet. A firm basis for jurisdiction to prescribe is required to justify the infringement of sovereignty that would accompany regulation of Internet content. As stated in the Permanent Court of International Justice's opinion in the Lotus case, "a state . . . may not exercise its power in any form in the territory of another state," and jurisdiction "cannot be exercised by a state outside its territory except by virtue of a permissive rule derived from international custom or from a convention."12 As the Federal District Court for the Southern District of New York has noted, The Internet is a worldwide phenomenon, accessible from every corner of the globe. [A defendant] cannot be prohibited from operating its Internet site merely because the site is accessible from within one country in which its product is banned. To hold otherwise would be tantamount to a declaration that this Court and every other court throughout the world, may assert jurisdiction over all information providers on the global World Wide Web.13 A. Traditional Bases for Prescriptive Jurisdiction International law recognizes five sources of prescriptive jurisdiction: the nationality principle, the subjective territoriality principle, the objective...
This research aim firstly to analyze the size of regional fiscal dependency of Banjarnegara county on central government in terms of the degree of fiscal decentralization. Secondly to analyze the impacts of per capita income, Gross Regional Domestic Product (GRDP) growth of dominant economic sectors (i.e. agriculture, industry, trade, hotel & restaurant, and services), and central government aids on the degree of self-sufficiency regional fiscal.
This study use time series data from 1977 to 2000. The data have been analyzed by Partial Adjustment Model (PAM).
The findings of this research are as follows : the degree of fiscal dependency of Banjarnegara county on central government is large, this has been shown by the fact that the proportion of central government aids to regional total revenues is relatively large, i.e. 74.21%. On the other hand, the financial capacity of local government that is reflected by the degree of fiscal decentralization is low, this is shown by small contribution of both PAD (regional revenues) and BHPBP (tax sharing and non tax) to regional total revenues (TPD), i.e. 16.41% and 9.38% respectively. Based on the above results we can conclude that monetary ability of Banjarnegara county is still less. In addition from the result of regression analysis per capita income have positive influence and significant to DKF with short term elasticity and long tenn elasticity are 0,162 and 0,182 respectively. Growth of agricultural sector have positive effect on DKF significantly, where short term elasticity and long term elasticity are 0,011 and 0,012 respectively. Growth of industrial sector have positive effect on DKF significantly, where short term elasticity and long term' elasticity are 0,0008 and 0,0009 respectively. Growth of trade, hotel and restaurant sector have negative effect on DKF significantly, where short term elasticity and long term elasticity are -0,0038 and -0,0043 respectively. Growth of services sector have positive effect on DKF significantly, where short term elasticity and long term elasticity are 0,011 and 0,012 respectively. Aid central government have negative effect on DKF significantly, where short term elasticity and long term elasticity are -0,183 and -0,206 respectively. Based on the above results we can conclude that all of the variables influence DKF significantly, but we should give more attention to trade, hotel and restaurant sector because their negative effect on DKF.
Based on the reseach findings it can be concluded that economic growth is the important factor for the region to improve its DKF. From the budget point of view it can be concluded that the county goverment have to intensify and extensify in order to increase goverment revenue, to expend the budget efficiently, and to decrease the finance dependency on central government gradually
Penelitian ini bertujuan pertama untuk menganalisis besarnya tingkat ketergantungan fiskal antara Kabupaten Banjamegara dengan pemerintah pusat dilihat dari derajat desentralisasi fiskal daerah. Kedua menganalisis pengaruh pendapatan per kapita, pertumbuhan sektor ekonomi dominan dalam PDRB (pertanian; industri; perdagangan, hotel dan restoran serta jasa-jasa) dan bantuan pemerintah pusat terhadap derajat kemandirian fiskal (DKF).
Penelitian ini menggunakan data sekunder (time series) dari tahim 1977 s/d 2000. Data ini dianalisis dengan metode Partial Adjustment Model (PAM).
Dad basil penelitian ini didapatkan sebagai berikut : bahwa.tingkat ketergantungan fiskal antara Kabupaten Banjamegara dengan pemerintah pusat cukup besar, hal ini ditandai dari proporsi sumbangan dan bantuan (S/B) terhadap total penerimaan daerah (TPD) sebesar 74,21 %. Disisi lain kontribusi pendapatan ash daerah (PAD) maupun bagi hasil pajak dan bukan pajak (BHPBP) terhadap TPD sangat rendah yaitu masing-masing sebesar 16,41 % dan 9,38 %. Berdasarkan hasil diatas dapat disimpulkan bahwa kemampuan keuangan Kabupaten Banjamegara ditinjau dari derajat desentralisasi fiskal temyata masih kurang. Selanjutnya dari hasil regresi diperoleh bahwa pendapatan per kapita mempunyai pengaruh positif dan signifikan terhadap DKF dengan elastisitas jangka pendek dan jangka panjang sebesar 0,162 dan 0,182. Pertumbuhan sektor pertanian berpengaruh positif dan signifikan terhadap DKF dengan elastisitas jangka pendek dan jangka panjang sebesar 0,011 dan 0,012. Pertumbuhan sektor industri mempunyai pengaruh positif dan signifikan terhadap DKF dengan elastisitas jangka pendek dan jangka panjang sebesar 0,0008 dan 0,0009. Pertumbuhan sektor perdagangan, hotel dan restoran berpengaruh negatif dan signifikan terhadap DKF dengan elastisitas jangka pendek dan jangka panjang sebesar -0,0038 dan —0,0043. Pertumbuhan sektor jasa-jasa mempunyai pengaruh positif dan signifikan terhadap DKF dengan elastisitas jangka pendek dan jangka panjang sebesar 0,011 dan 0,012. Bantuan pemerintah pusat berpengaruh negatif dan signifikan terhadap DKF dengan elastisitas jangka pendek dan jangka panjang sebesar -0,183 dan —0,206. Berdasarkan hasil diatas didapat kesimpulan bahwa semua variabel berpengaruh dan signifikan terhadap DKF, namun perlu dicermati pada sektor perdagangan, hotel dan restoran yang berpengaruh negatif.
Berdasarkan temuan penelitian ini dapat disimpulkan bahwa pertumbuhan ekonomi adalah faktor penting untuk meningkatkan DKF. Dan sudut pandang anggaran dapat disimpulkan bahwa pemerintah daerah hams melaksanakan intensifikasi dan ekstensifikasi dalam usaha untuk meningkatkan pendapatan daerah dan menggunakan anggaran secara efisien, serta secara bertahap mengurangi ketergantungan fiskal dari pemerintah pusat.
Abstract. We revisit the definitions of zero-knowledge in the Common Reference String (CRS) model and the Random Oracle (RO) model. We argue that even though these definitions syntactically mimic the standard zero-knowledge definition, they loose some of its spirit. In particular, we show that there exist a specific natural security property that is not captured by these definitions. This is the property of deniability. We formally define the notion of deniable zero-knowledge in these models and investigate the possibility of achieving it. Our results are different for the two models: – Concerning the CRS model, we rule out the possibility of achieving deniable zero-knowledge protocols in “natural ” settings where such protocols cannot already be achieved in plain model. – In the RO model, on the other hand, we construct an efficient 2-round deniable zero-knowledge argument of knowledge, that preserves both the zero-knowledge property and the proof of knowledge property under concurrent executions (concurrent zero-knowledge and concurrent proof-of knowledge). 1
Ma and Chen proposed a new authenticated encryption scheme with public verifiability. This scheme requires less computational costs and communication overheads than the conventional signature-then-encryption approaches. In this letter, we show that the Ma-Chen scheme does not satisfy three security properties: unforgeability, confidentiality and non-repudiation. Introduction: For electronical commercial applications, evidence of possession of documents is especially important. A digital signature is analogous to an ordinary hand-written signature and establishes both of signer authenticity and data integrity assurance. However, it is necessary to keep commercial documents confident to protect the privacy of users in many applications. One simple way to implement such authenticated encryption scheme is to sign and encrypt message separately, first-sign-then-encrypt or first-encrypt-then-sign. This way perhaps results in separation of signature and ciphertext. Other way is to combine signature and encryption together in order to reduce the amount of computational cost and communication overheads. In 1997, Zheng proposed two new combined schemes [1], called signcryption scheme, in which message encryption and digital signature are simultaneously fulfilled in a logically single step. Besides some security shortcomings [2, 3], the Zheng schemes are not efficient as a zero-knowledge proof is required in its non-repudiation protocol. Recently, Ma and Chen proposed a new authenticated encryption scheme with public verifiability [4]. They claimed that their scheme is as efficient as the Zheng signcryption schemes with respect to both computational costs and communication overheads. In addition, their scheme has an efficient non-repudiation procedure without using a zero-knowledge proof protocol. Ma and Chen further claimed that their scheme satisfy three security properties: unforgeability, confidentiality and non-repudiation. In this letter, we would show the Ma-Chen scheme is not only erroneous but also insecure. The honest receiver cannot convince the judge that the valid signature is signed by the true signer, while the dishonest receiver can deceive the judge into believing the forged signature of any message. Moreover, if the scheme is adapted for the case of a long message, it cannot withstand the known plaintext-ciphertext attack. Belief review of the Ma-Chen scheme: Initially, two large primes p and q with q|(p – 1) and an element g ∈ Zp of order q are computed by a trusted third party (TTP for short) and are authenticated to each user. Each user i ∈{A, B} chooses a secret key xi∈ Zqand computes his public key yi = i x g mod p. He publishes yi which is 1 of 4 Tuesday , September 09, 2003
This paper describes how the managers and financers of non-classified roads are at a junction. Behind them a centralized, poorly funded and pot holed past, in front new exciting turnings? From the highly signposted poverty reducing decentralized model of management, to the well worn path of access planning to the dusty signpost that reads 'More opportunities for corrupt local officials'. It is indeed an interesting and exciting time to be a policy maker, roads planner or executor of improvements to non-classified roads. This paper explorers some of these directions based on the experience of the Village Travel and Transport Project (VTTP) in Morogoro Rural District, Tanzania. This SDC funded project is essentially in two parts, firstly empowering communities and secondly facilitating them and their partners to improve infrastructure. The VTTP has in its three years supported and embraced the principles of Tanzania's Poverty Reduction Strategy. This has meant a partnership approach to the project, supporting communities and supplying organizations such as the District Council and Private Companies. The empowerment of communities has focused on a civic education process called UUWAMA. This has given people their rights in the constitution and the Local Government Act, as well as the responsibilities of Village and District Councils. This has been an eye opener for community members and Village Counselors, who did not know what was written in many of these documents. This process has been most valuable to the beneficiaries. The project also has a transport focus and has supported communities in the improvement of infrastructure such as roads and footbridges and means of transport such as donkeys. The majority have been through partners rather than the project. The concept being to ensure these organizations are there for communities in the future. To enable the sustainability of Village Councils the project is currently supporting them to raise revenues they previously through were the jurisdiction of the District Council, until the read the Local Government Act.
Listed companies show an obvious tendentiousness in selecting financing forms from external aids in different period. In the 1980s, this major capital source comes from issuing enterprise bonds, besides loans; in the 1990s, the source shifts to equity securities for these listed companies; since the beginning of this century, it turns from centralization to decentralization. Grasping this rule is important, for both government and market should adjust the changing. This paper holds that government functions in a guiding or controlling position, while security market acts as a referee to judge government behaviors.
The main proposal of this paper is to try to make calculable how politicians are favoring in their discourses, regarding the new General Law of Budgetary Stability approved in December 2001, the process, which is still taking place in Spain. For this goal the research offers a new approach through the construction of a of decentralization. The index of decentralization developed from the matrix goes from 9.69 for the family of arguments A (budgetary and financing autonomy) to only 3.33 for the family of arguments B (income redistribution and spending on social issues). It is remarkable how most of the political parties attacking the law and in opposition of the government reach 10.00 points. In other words, they are really supporting through their discourses. The political party in the government reaches only 3.80 points, but also he is offering decentralized arguments supporting the law.
The Albanian health system has recently experienced organizational and budgetary changes that have given important roles to relatively new agencies. Since 1995 the Health Insurance Institute (HII) has become a major funder of doctors’ salaries and drugs for primary health care (PHC) services. Since 1998 as part of the government’s decentralization initiative the Ministry of Local Government and Decentralization (MoLG&D) has channeled budgets for operating and maintenance costs of PHC facilities (previously funded by the Ministry of Health (MOH) budget) through block grants to local governments which then determine how much is allocated to PHC. The effects of these changes have been to fragment the funding and administration of PHC services in Albania which had previously been the exclusive responsibility of the MOH. While these changes have taken place USAID and others in the donor community have partnered with the government to rehabilitate and reequip many health facilities that had been damaged during the civil unrest earlier in the decade. In this uncertain environment the USAID-funded PHRplus Project is developing model PHC clinics in four sites in one region of Albania in an effort to demonstrate ways to improve systems performance. One element of the project is to assist the Government of Albania to design and implement improved methods for the planning budgeting and financing of these PHC services. A major part of the technical assistance in these areas has been to analyze the complex and disparate sets of data on flows of funding how they have changed and how those changes have affected accountability for PHC systems performance. Using these data this report develops the basis for designing alternative ways to organize and manage the PHC service delivery system taking account of a recent change in government policy that would unify all funding for PHC in one agency—the Health Insurance Institute (HII). After developing and applying criteria for choosing among two options for reorganizing management of PHC assuming the HII would become the single source of financing this paper recommends an alternative that would create regional health offices to supervise and manage PHC in each region with increased levels of autonomy for individual PHC practices. The report also describes the principal elements of a proposal for a pilot project to test in one region the implementation of the recommended reorganization of PHC using the HII as a single source of PHC financing. (authors)
<p>One of the challenge on implementation the UU No.22/1999 about Govermental Autonomy is the health center services management. Data and information showed that the health center is not well responsed in live with the autonomous principles of health center. Such as (1) health center still carried out 18 basic activities and has not separated between compulsory programs and innovative programs, (2) health center still employ the old management style (Perencanaan Tingkat Puskesmas, Lokakarya Mini, and Stratifikasi), and (3) there was no clear-cut separation of financing aspects between public goods and pnvate goods.</p> <p>Thts study is a crosssecltonal study carried out in Kalimantan Timur Provmce. The aim of this study was to develope an autonomous specific health center model in Kutat Kertanegara and Baltkpapan based on mdepth interview and focus group discusston among the health center leaders and the Balikpapan and Kutei Kertanegara health distncts.</p> <p>The result of thts study showed that the criteria of health center autonomous model in Kalimantan Province is able to carry out 'discretion of management' m the way that a health center can determme the types of programs/services, able to compete in health services market by privatisizing private goods (out-patient clinics, laboratory, m-patient climes), able to run an appropriate management effort corresponding to the type of programs/services to be managed.</p> <p> </p> <p>Keywords: autonomous health center, decentralization, management discretion</p><br />
Jung Min Park, Edwin K. P. Chong, Howard Jay Siegel
Fueled by the exponential growth in the number of people with access to the Internet, electronic-commerce (e-commerce) transactions via the Internet have become a major part of our economy. For a wider range of e-commerce applications to take advantage of the untapped business potential of the Internet, some challenging and interesting security problems need to be solved. In this thesis, we study two such problems, and provide efficient solutions for both. In the foreseeable future, some e-commerce vendors will generate revenue by providing digital streaming applications such as information broadcasts (e.g., stock quotes). For the first issue, we investigate the problem of authenticating packet streams in multicast or broadcast networks. Our approach is to encode the hash values and digital signatures with Rabin's Information Dispersal Algorithm (IDA) to construct an authentication scheme that amortizes a single signature operation over multiple packets. This strategy is especially efficient in terms of space overhead because just the essential elements needed for authentication (i.e., one hash per packet and one signature per group of packets) are used in conjunction with an erasure code that is space optimal. We evaluate the performance of our scheme using both analytical and empirical results. Applications such as e-commerce payment protocols using electronic money require that fair exchange be assured. For the second issue, we investigate the problem of constructing fair-exchange protocols. Our approach uses a novel signature paradigm---the gradational signature scheme---to construct protocols that are efficient and scalable. Unlike previous approaches, our scheme does not employ any costly zero-knowledge proof systems in the exchange protocol. Use of zero-knowledge proofs is needed only in the protocol setup phase-this is a one-time cost. The resulting exchange protocol is more efficient than the previous solutions in terms of computation and communication overhead.
This paper proposes a new PKI-based public-key traitor tracing scheme. The length of the public-key and that of each users private-key are independent of the number of users. The scheme is built to be asymmetric so as to protect legal users from being framed . Previous traitor tracing schemes cannot protect against a legal user to divulge his/her private key to others , this scheme is a self-enforcement one, so no legal users will give out their private keys willingly. This scheme verifies a users secret-key with the method of zero-knowledge proof , so no user can get a private-key that does not include his/her secret-key in PKI .
RESUMEN El desarrollo del modelo de descentralización fiscal español ha atravesado desde su inicio por diversas vicisitudes, de las cuales las últimas han ido siempre en la línea de incrementar la corresponsabilidad fiscal de los gobiernos subcentrales, bajo la hipótesis de que este incremento y la consiguiente mejora en la aplicación del principio de equivalencia por parte de los gobiernos tiende a mejorar la eficiencia en la asignación del gasto público. En este artículo se analizan las principales novedades de la reciente reforma del sistema de financiación local haciendo especial hincapié en sus efectos esperados sobre la corresponsabilidad fiscal. Las conclusiones alcanzadas son ambiguas en este sentido, por cuanto la práctica desaparición del IAE para muchos ayuntamientos y los efectos inciertos de la reforma sobre el indicador de esfuerzo fiscal apuntan en la dirección de menor corresponsabilidad fiscal, mientras que la ampliación de los topes máximos de tributación para la mayoría de municipios y la mayor discrecionalidad a la hora de establecer bonificaciones por razones diversas pudieran operar en sentido contrario. En todo caso, se apuntan graves deficiencias técnicas al nuevo modelo y se cuestiona seriamente la equidad y la eficiencia del nuevo modelo de transferencias, cuyo hito principal (la nueva participación en impuestos individualizados para los municipios de mayor dimensión) en modo alguno incrementa la corresponsabilidad fiscal. ABSTRACT The development of Spanish fiscal decentralization model has always aimed to increase the fiscal responsibility of sub-central governments, by hoping that the advances in the principle of equivalence tend to improve the efficiency of public expenditure. In this article the main novelties introduced by the recent reform of local financing system are analyzed, by focusing specially on their expected effects on fiscal responsibility. The conclusions are ambiguous. The eventual suppression of the Business Tax in many councils and the uncertain effects on the fiscal effort index seem to decrease fiscal responsibility. However, the higher availability to allocate reductions in local taxes and the faculty to reach higher rates in those taxes could have the opposite effects. Anyway, important technical deficiencies in the new model are pointed out and equity and efficiency of the new grants system are seriously questioned. Concretely, the main reform by including for the higher municipalities a new share on concrete central taxes (Income Tax, Value Added Tax, ...) does not increase at all fiscal responsibility.
This paper investigates the role of external finance in inducing disagreement between the CEO and the top management in firms. The induced disagreement affects how decision making is structured in firms. I investigate how the control structure of financial claims, such as external equity and debt, affects the design of decision structure, specifically the extent of centralization in top management groups. Managers working with the CEO face a tradeoff between revealing their true views, thereby creating possibilities for costly disagreement, and simply agreeing with the CEO, thereby reporting faulty inputs. The balance of control between external claimants and the CEO alters this tension. The model predicts that firms would be characterized by greater external control and decentralized decision making in high variance environments while dispersed shareholders and centralized decision making would prevail in simpler settings. The roles of management ability, debt, incentive compensation and corporate culture are investigated. Control in the hands of debtholders and shareholders provide contrasting empirical implications. The paper shows that external finance has a critical role to play in ensuring the primary objective of decentralization that of utilizing all available information. External Finance and Internal Decision Making . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
Decentralized control methods are appealing in coordination of multiple vehicles due to their low demand for long-range communication and their robustness to single-point failures. In this paper we explore a decentralized approach to path generation for a group of vehicles in a battlefield scenario. The mission is to maneuver the vehicles to cover a target area while avoiding obstacles and threats during the maneuver. Each vehicle makes its moving decision by minimizing a potential function that encodes information about its neighbours, obstacles, threats and the target. Preliminary analysis of vehicle behaviors is conducted. Simulation has shown that this approach leads to interesting emergent behaviors, and the behaviors can be varied by adjusting the weighting coefficients of different potential function terms.
This article determines the optimal standard of proof in criminal law in a trade-off between three costs: the injustice cost of wrong convictions, the injustice cost of wrong acquittals, and the cost to society of the criminal act itself. The standard of proof affects the level of crime through its impact on deterrence and incapacitation. The article applies the expresssion for the optimal standard to the crime of sexual violation against women. For this crime, the concern for preventing crime has a significant effect on the optimal standard of proof.
This Article presents a comprehensive analysis of the manner in which the trustee of a debtor's estate may satisfy his burden of proof to demonstrate the preferential effect of a prebankruptcy transfer from a debtor to a creditor. The proposed framework, if adhered to by courts, will create a uniformity that gives preference law its proper reach and thereby reinforces its primary goal: equal treatment of similarly situated creditors (the equality principle). After examining the historical developments that have made a trustee's evidentiary burden administratively less complex, the Article discusses the Ninth Circuit's decision in Batlan v. TransAmerica Commercial Finance Corp. (In re Smith's Home Furnishings, Inc.) to illustrate how a court impairs the avoidance of preferential transfers when it creates a rule that improperly construes a trustee's evidentiary burden. The Article rejects the court's rule on the basis that it neither comports with the Bankruptcy Code's test for preferential effect nor with the evolution of the trustee's burden of proof. The Article concludes that, although the ultimate burden of proof rests on the trustee as he presents his prima facie case for preference avoidance, courts must give effect to state law presumptions in favor of the trustee. Failure to do so gives certain creditors procedural advantages, and possibly substantive advantages, to which they would otherwise not be entitled, thus compromising the equality principle.
I study how possible future corporate control activity can influence equity sales between firms. In the model, a target and potential acquirer can trade a block of the target's equity before takeover values are learned. I find that a sale can benefit both firms at the expense of other potential bidders. The cost is that the blockholder extracts inefficient private benefits if no takeover occurs. The results imply that corporate control may motivate an equity sale even when no takeover activity is apparent at the time or occurs ex-post. I derive implications for transaction characteristics, block pricing, and stock returns.
The imperative of the state, irrespective of its organization, is to provide law and order, contract enforcement, and property rights. The government provides the foundation for markets to function and for society to prosper. A common thread in any government is that, for a given society, the state holds a monopoly over most of its services. Although the state may choose not to exploit this market power, the public agents that represent the state within the aggregate production process, necessarily will. The following paper presents a macroeconomic framework that explicitly considers the local monopoly power of public agents. In the context of a representative agent model, I consider a private sector production function versus a public sector production function in which both sectors compete over labor and capital. Estimates are made of the productivity of private versus public capital, of private versus public labor, and of public infrastructure within the private sector production function. The theoretical implications of decentralized public agents are then analyzed within an endogenous growth framework. The results suggest that the elasticity of public infrastructure is significantly lower than previous estimates. They also confirm that the elasticity of private infrastructure is country specific. The theoretical results suggest that decentralization of public agents which, intuitively is greater in less developed countries than industrialized ones, is associated with steeper growth paths that lead to lower steady state capital labor ratios and per capita consumption levels. This implies that shocks to less developed countries have more dramatic effects but shorter life spans than shocks to industrialized countries, or more simply, business cycles in developing countries are shorter but more volatile.
This paper examines capital tax competition in the presence of an interstate transfer policy without federal commitment. Lack of commitment implies that tax policy is chosen prior to federal transfers. The paper's main result is that ex-post federal policy internalizes horizontal fiscal externalities, insulating tax policy from capital mobility. Federal policy, however, introduces a new source of inefficiency unrelated to tax competition. Specifically, ex-post transfer payments prove to be equivalent to an interstate revenue-sharing system which may render federal intervention in the presence of fiscal externalities welfare-deteriorating relative to tax competition.
For the past 100 years or so the historical trend in the law of contracts has been to water down formal interpretive doctrines in favor of a more all-things-considered analysis of what the parties may have meant or what justice might require in the individual case. This trend away from formal and toward substantive interpretation of contracts has been alternately celebrated and criticized for over a century; and in recent years, a number of economically influenced scholars, in translating some of the classic arguments into economic language, have helped to clarify some of the traditional commentators' concerns. While this new economic analysis of formalism has been relatively successful in relating the traditional debates over formalism to specific transactional and institutional problems such as imperfect information and rent-seeking, however, it has fallen short along the dimension of advancing toward practical legal or policy recommendations. This essay, accordingly, proposes a different approach: one that focuses on private rather than public legal decisionmakers as a primary audience. In general, private lawmakers are likelier to be in a better position to make practical use of the economic analysis of contracts, in part because the detailed information that is necessary to implement such analysis intelligently is much likelier to be available at the individual level. Furthermore, there are many opportunities for contracting parties to choose between relatively formal and relatively substantive interpretive regimes. What is needed is a basic taxonomy of economic considerations that can serve as an organizing framework for parties choosing between form and substance when designing contracts; and the later part of the essay attempts to establish such a taxonomy.
In this paper, we address the issue of possible moral hazard that rating agencies might have. We discuss the feasibility of possible incentive contracts that can ameliorate this problem. We find, that incentive payments to the rating agency based on expected returns on debt will do away with the moral hazard problem.