L'atenció a la víctima després de les últimes reformes processals

En els darrers temps, tan a nivell doctrinal com legislatiu, han augmentat progressivament els esforços encaminats a dotar de la deguda protecció processal la víctima d'un delicte. Sens dubte, la situació ha millorat notòriament d'uns anys ençà. No obstant, la proliferació de textos legals relatius a la matèria potser acabi provocant l'efecte contrari al que inicialment es tenia en ment. En altres paraules, el desconcert que pot causar a una víctima que les seves possibilitats d'intervenció siguin variables d'un procés a un altre no afavoreix gens ni mica el dret que té a una tutela judicial efectiva. En aquest treball es posa de relleu la situació prenent com a punt de referència dues de les reformes processals més recents que han incidit en matèria d'atenció a la víctima: les Lleis 8/2002 i 38/2002 sobre judicis ràpids i de modificació del procediment abreujat i la Llei 5/2000, reguladora dels processos de menors. Aparentment, els judicis de menors tenen poc a veure amb els d'adults, però, precisament per aquesta distància entre ells, resulta significatiu l'acostament que es podria produir en l'àmbit de la protecció de la víctima. Un dels objectius d'aquest treball és justament demostrar els aspectes en els quals es podrien unificar les normes referents a la matèria. Un cop aconseguit en aquests processos, no sembla que hi hagi cap obstacle que impedeixi postular la unificació pretesa en aquesta investigació de forma general. Una qüestió diferent és que en alguns punts no sigui possible dur a terme la unitat esmentada de forma immediata i resulti necessària una reforma legal. Ara bé, tan sols atenent a la legislació vigent, existeix l'opció de fer un gran pas en la direcció apuntada. Només cal canviar la manera com s'està practicant l'acte d'oferiment d'accions en l'actualitat. Això vol dir que no es limiti a la simple comunicació d'un escrit de difícil comprensió per algú no expert en dret, que la víctima firma sense entendre’n la transcendència. La importància d'aquest acte en relació a la tutela efectiva del perjudicat per un delicte, permet desenvolupar el contingut previst a la legislació processal per adequar-lo a les necessitats del seu destinatari. És aquí on s'obre un ampli ventall de possibilitats, que poden arribar a l'extrem de convertir l'acte de l'oferiment d'accions gairebé en una informació completa de totes les oportunitats d'actuació que tindrà una víctima en un procés i el que implica cadascuna d'elles. L'Administració Autonòmica hi pot jugar un paper important. Tenint en compte que les recents reformes processals han previst fer recaure en l'actuació de la Policia Judicial bona part de la pretesa major atenció a la víctima, ja que s'imposa de forma preceptiva que sigui aquesta autoritat la que ofereixi sempre en primer terme les accions a la víctima, seria molt oportú que la Policia Autonòmica fes ús d'un formulari d'oferiment d'accions adaptat a les necessitats de la víctima d'acord amb el que s'apunta en aquesta obra. De fet, a fi efecte que sigui d'utilitat, l'objectiu últim d'aquest treball és establir les bases que serveixin per a l'elaboració del model de formulari postulat.

El temps en la justícia de menors

La recerca es proposa conèixer el temps objectiu que triga el sistema penal juvenil a donar resposta a les conductes presumptament delictives dels joves que hi arriben. L’interès per comptabilitzar i analitzar aquest temps de resposta del sistema penal juvenil es basa en dos motius: el primer és conèixer la incidència que té el temps en l’eficiència del sistema, eficiència que se sol associar al fet que es resolguin els assumptes amb agilitat. El segon motiu té a veure amb l’eficàcia de la pena o de la resposta que l’infractor pugui rebre. Des de l’àmbit penal i criminològic diversos autors, citats en la recerca, assenyalen que una resposta més ràpida fa la pena més eficaç. La recerca ha estudiat 8.059 procediments oberts a Catalunya l’any 2008 a joves infractors i en dona dades de la durada segons algunes variables (referides a les característiques dels joves, als fets delictius, al tipus de resolució, al territori que l’ha gestionat, als casos en els que s’ha fet mediació i reparació de menors, etc.). En els casos que ha estat possible, també s’ha fet una comparació entre l’any d’estudi (2008) i un any de control (2005) per saber quines han estat les diferències. Aquesta és la primera recerca que es publica a Catalunya sobre el total de temps que triga la justícia penal a donar resposta a una infracció presumptament comesa per un menor.

Should I go to court?: an assessment of the role of the Judiciary in disputes between cattle raisers and meatpackers in Brazil

The main objective of this perspective paper is to analyze the role of the judiciary in resolving conflicts between cattle raisers and meatpacking firms in Brazil. Looking at the transaction for the acquisition of cattle for slaughter in the state of Mato Grosso do Sul (the central-western region of Brazil), the analysis encompasses three steps. First, the authors describe the transaction pattern between cattle raisers and meatpacking firms, identifying a guarantee vacuum within the supply chain. Secondly, the authors present evidence that the guarantee vacuum may give rise to legal conflicts of non-payment, which are indeed prevalent in disputes that reach the courts. Finally, the role of the judiciary in resolving these conflicts is investigated. Results suggest that, on average, producers have little confidence in the legal system, indicating the potential function that informal mechanisms may play in the supply chain. The paper concludes by suggesting some implications for public and private strategies.

Por que ocorre? Como lidar? A percepção de professores de graduação em Administração sobre o assédio moral

Tem-se observado em muitas pesquisas que o assédio moral do aluno para com o professor tem sido incrementado com o processo de mercantilização do ensino superior. Tal processo insere-se num cenário de desvalorização da figura do professor e de exaltação da concepção do aluno-cliente. Nesse sentido, abre-se espaço para práticas de assédio moral na relação aluno-professor. O propósito neste artigo é compreender por que acontece o assédio moral no vetor aluno-professor e o que pode ser feito para que esse comportamento seja evitado. Para cumprir o objetivo da investigação, foram coletados e analisados, pelo método do discurso do sujeito coletivo (DSC) de caráter qualiquantitativo, os depoimentos provenientes de 51 questionários respondidos por professores universitários. A análise das respostas dos professores universitários às questões de pesquisa oferece uma percepção do por quê da ocorrência do assédio moral aluno-professor na visão dos pesquisados, os quais identificam motivos que vão desde valores sociais não apreendidos até a mercantilização do ensino. A partir das respostas, verificam-se possibilidades de ação que apontam prioritariamente a discussão institucional como meio de suporte à vítima e como alicerce para ações preventivas, dentre outras atitudes individuais que influenciam positivamente esse tipo de assédio, e mesmo a disputa judicial como última instância para a solução do problema.

Sudden death: ethical and legal problems of post-mortem forensic genetic testing for hereditary cardiac diseases.

Hereditary non-structural diseases such as catecholaminergic polymorphic ventricular tachycardia (CPVT), long QT, and the Brugada syndrome as well as structural disease such as hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) and arrhythmogenic right ventricular cardiomyopathy (ARVC) cause a significant percentage of sudden cardiac deaths in the young. In these cases, genetic testing can be useful and does not require proxy consent if it is carried out at the request of judicial authorities as part of a forensic death investigation. Mutations in several genes are implicated in arrhythmic syndromes, including SCN5A, KCNQ1, KCNH2, RyR2, and genes causing HCM. If the victim's test is positive, this information is important for relatives who might be themselves at risk of carrying the disease-causing mutation. There is no consensus about how professionals should proceed in this context. This article discusses the ethical and legal arguments in favour of and against three options: genetic testing of the deceased victim only; counselling of relatives before testing the victim; counselling restricted to relatives of victims who tested positive for mutations of serious and preventable diseases. Legal cases are mentioned that pertain to the duty of geneticists and other physicians to warn relatives. Although the claim for a legal duty is tenuous, recent publications and guidelines suggest that geneticists and others involved in the multidisciplinary approach of sudden death (SD) cases may, nevertheless, have an ethical duty to inform relatives of SD victims. Several practical problems remain pertaining to the costs of testing, the counselling and to the need to obtain permission of judicial authorities.

The prosecution service function within the spanish criminal justice system

The Spanish judicial system is independent and headed by the Supreme Court. Spain has a civil law system. The criminal procedure is governed by the legality principle--by opposition to the opportunity or expediency principle--which implies that prosecution must take place in all cases in which sufficient evidence exists of guilt. Traditionally, the role of the PPS in Spain has been very limited during the investigative stage of the process. That stage is under the responsibility of the Examining Magistrate (EM). Since the end of the 1980s, a series of modifications has been introduced in order to extend the functions of the PPS. In 1988, the PPS received extended competences which allow them to receive reports of offenses. Upon knowing of an offense (reported or known to have been committed), the PPS can initiate the criminal proceeding. The PPS is also allowed to lead a sort of plea bargain under a series of restrictive conditions and only for some offenses. At the same time, the PPS received extended competences in the juvenile justice criminal proceeding in 2000. With all this said, the role of the PPS has not changed radically and, during the investigative stage of the process, their main role remains the presentation of the accusation, playing a more active role during the trial stage of the proceeding. In this article the national criminal justice system of Spain is described. Special attention is paid to the function of the PPS within this framework and its relationship to police and courts. The article refers to legal provisions and the factual handling of criminal cases.

El tiempo en la justicia de menores

Este estudio aporta datos sobre el tiempo objetivo que tarda el sistema penal juvenil en dar respuesta a las conductas presuntamente delictivas de los jóvenes que llegan al sistema. El interés por contar y analizar este tiempo de respuesta del sistema penal juvenil se basa en dos justificaciones: la primera es conocer la incidencia que tiene el paso del tiempo en la eficiencia del sistema, eficiencia que se suele asociar al hecho que se resuelvan los casos con rapidez. El segundo motivo tiene que ver con la eficacia de la pena o de la respuesta que el infractor pueda recibir. Desde el ámbito penal y criminológico diversos autores, citados en la investigación, señalan que una respuesta más rápida hace la pena más eficaz. La investigación ha estudiado 8.059 procedimientos abiertos en Catalunya el año 2008 a jóvenes infractores y da datos respecto la duración según algunas variables (referidas a las características de los jóvenes, los hechos delictivos, el tipo de resolución, el territorio que la ha gestionado, los casos en los que se ha realizado una mediación y reparación de menores, etc.). En los casos que ha sido posible, también se ha realizado una comparación entre el año de estudio (2008) y un año de control (2005), para conocer cuales han sido estas diferencias. Es la primera investigación que se publica en Catalunya sobre el total de tiempo que tarda la justicia penal en dar respuesta a una infracción presuntamente cometida por un menor.

Social freezing in Switzerland and worldwide--a blessing for women today?

This is a critical review of the medical, ethical, judicial and financial aspects of the so called "social freezing", the cryopreservation of a woman's oocytes for non-medical purposes. The possibility of storing the eggs of fertile women in order to prevent age-related fertility decline is being widely promoted by fertility centres and the lay press throughout the world. Research data has shown that social freezing should ideally be performed on women around 25 years of age in order to increase their chances of a future pregnancy. In reality, it is mostly performed after the age of 35. Unfortunately, social freezing is in general not a solution for the underlying societal problems to fit in with professionally active women and having children. It only delays the existing problems. Furthermore, it creates a lot of potential new problems. A great deal more should be undertaken to offer real solutions to the underlying societal problems which are in part: pre-school education, care in the event of childhood illness, and the many weeks of school holidays, acceptance of professionally active women having children, and more job offers with a workload <100%.). Furthermore, society should be informed about the decreasing chances of pregnancy with increasing maternal (and paternal) age as well as the increasing risks of miscarriage and obstetric/neonatal complications. Detailed information for woman considering social freezing is crucial. Every doctor, proposing social freezing to his patients, should be up to date with all these details. Follow-up studies on the outcome of these children are needed.

Paga o cobra : estudi de la morositat en el món empresarial

El tema del nostre treball és la morositat, centrant‐nos en el estudi d’un cas real en la relació entre dues empreses, un client i un proveïdor, en el què el client va presentar signes de morositat, encara que en cap moment va deixar de pagar cap factura al client. En primer lloc, volem analitzar dades sobre la morositat, per saber com és desenvolupa un cas real d’una empresa amb problemes de morositat i quines son les conseqüències de la morositat, centrant‐nos en dues possibles vies: la via judicial, amb una denúncia a l’Administració Concursal, i la que passa per acudir a certes empreses que, en el límit de la llei, fan servir mètodes persuasius, cal dir que Aquest és un dels objectius fonamentals del treball, és a dir, intentar trobar algunes de les possibles solucions a la morositat, així com intentar detectar aquesta i veure si es pot identificar un morós tipus, cosa que trobaríem d’extrema importància.D’altra banda, com es lògic, volem aplicar els coneixements adquirits en aquests últims anys pel que fa al àmbit de la economia, tant en l’anàlisi de les dades com en els altres apartats del treball.

La Reinserción laboral : luces y sombras

La idea de este trabajo nace de los interrogantes que se le crean a uno ante la pasividad social que existe entorno al mundo de la cárcel ¿Quién sabe que hacen ahí? Dicen que trabajan, pero ¿cómo? ¿En qué condiciones? ¿Tienen los mismos derechos laborales que una persona que trabaja en el exterior? ¿Se les paga? ¿Cuánto? ¿Cómo? E incluso hay gente que se pregunta ¿Y por qué se les paga? Estas y muchas preguntas más son las que podría cuestionarse cualquier persona.Desde aquí vamos a intentar desvelar cómo es la vida laboral de una persona que ha sido privada de libertad por sentencia firme.Analizaremos el asunto únicamente en Cataluña, por centrar el trabajo y es que, además, es la única Comunidad Autónoma en todo el Estado que tiene transferidas lascompetencias en materia penitenciaria desde el año 1984, de tal forma que se autogestiona y tiene sus propios organismos para desarrollar las competencias transferidas. (en la ejecución, no en legislación)Recordemos que el organismo que gestiona el trabajo penitenciario en Cataluña es el CIRE, Centre d’Iniciatives per la Reinserció, se trata de una empresa pública del Departament de Justícia de la Generalitat de Cataluña, que tal y como se presentan en su web “tiene como misión fundamental la inserción sociolaboral de las personas bajo medida judicial, ofreciéndoles una formación adecuada – formación profesional - y unos hábitos laborales a través del trabajo en los talleres productivos ubicados dentro o fuera de los centros penitenciarios – trabajo productivo -.”Así pues, encontramos que va a ser el CIRE un protagonista indudable de esta investigación, ya que al ser quien gestiona el tema de ésta, vamos a intentar conocerlo lo más a fondo posible, pues sólo así conoceremos realmente cómo funciona el trabajo de las personas privadas de libertad.Podemos decir, entonces, que el objetivo de este estudio consiste en reafirmar laspalabras del CIRE, apoyando sus argumentos acerca de sus objetivos como empresa pública de reinsertar a estas personas, y darles un trabajo remunerado, o por el contrario, desvelar datos o informaciones que pongan en entredicho lo anterior. Esto último encuentra su fundamento en voces que cuentan que el CIRE mueve toneladas de dinero, que no es transparente en su gestión, algunos se atreven a hablar de “explotación”, hay, pues, personas que dudan acerca de esa misión fundamental que proclaman “la reinserción sociolaboral de las personas bajo medida judicial”.Con estas dos posiciones comenzamos nuestro trabajo, en cuyo desarrollo tratará de inclinarse hacia una u otra de las posiciones anteriores, es decir, que al final de esta investigación, llegado a su fin este trabajo, daremos una visión de lo que creemos que es el trabajo penitenciario en Cataluña, si realmente es una oportunidad para reinsertar a los penados, o por el contrario, se trata de un negocio “público” que tiene unos objetivos distintos.El material que vamos a utilizar, en primer lugar será información acerca del CIRE, como se compone, su historia y sus logros, luego nos hemos movido para poder conseguir varias entrevistas a personas de distintos ámbitos pero que todas ellas tienen alguna relación con el mundo penitenciario, son colaboradores, jueces, empresarios… Ellos nos darán su visión personal del asunto, que nos ayudarán a formar una opinión objetiva del tema. Debemos destacar que hemos mantenido correspondencia postal con Amadeu Casellas, el preso más longevo en años de cárcel de Cataluña, pero que no a sido incluido en el trabajo final, puesto que su opinión se veía claramente motivada por ideales anarquistas, y sus quejas partían de la base de que las cárceles no deberían existir, por lo que consideramos poco objetivo e inútil incluir sus opiniones. Por otro lado, tampoco hemos publicado los correos electrónicos intercambiados con el profesor titular de Derecho Penitenciario de la UB, Iñaki Rivera Beiras debido a que su función a sido más bien un acompañamiento a lo largo de los últimos meses del trabajo y al que agradecemos su dedicación y su libro, que nos ha ayudado a entender las leyes ylagunas jurídicas existentes.Por último, nos gustaría remarcar un hecho que ha condicionado en gran parte el desarrollo de esta investigación, se trata de la opacidad que caracteriza al sistemapenitenciario, no es fácil acceder a la información, y es que estudiar la cárcel, escomplicado. Las entrevistas que se han hecho no muestran quizás todo lo que deberían,y es que sin la grabadora quizás otras informaciones podrían haberse dado. Nosreferimos a datos, hechos o presunciones que nadie ha querido mencionar mientras se legrababa la conversación.Comencemos, pues, este inquietante análisis, del que estamos seguros sacaremos una información muy interesante.

The Law of Impersonal Transactions: Meaning and Difficulties

Most economic interactions happen in a context of sequential exchange in which innocent third parties suffer information asymmetry with respect to previous "originative" contracts. The law reduces transaction costs by protecting these third parties but preserves some element of consent by property right holders to avoid damaging property enforcement-e.g., it is they as principals who authorize agents in originative contracts. Judicial verifiability of these originative contracts is obtained either as an automatic byproduct of transactions or, when these would have remained private, by requiring them to be made public. Protecting third parties produces a sort of legal commodity which is easy to trade impersonally, improving the allocation and specialization of resources. Historical delay in generalizing this legal commoditization paradigm is attributed to path dependency-the law first developed for personal trade-and an unbalance in vested interests, as luddite legal professionals face weak public bureaucracies.

Financial Markets and Real Ecinomy: Four Essays in International Trade

Financial markets play an important role in an economy performing various functions like mobilizing and pooling savings, producing information about investment opportunities, screening and monitoring investments, implementation of corporate governance, diversification and management of risk. These functions influence saving rates, investment decisions, technological innovation and, therefore, have important implications for welfare. In my PhD dissertation I examine the interplay of financial and product markets by looking at different channels through which financial markets may influence an economy.My dissertation consists of four chapters. The first chapter is a co-authored work with Martin Strieborny, a PhD student from the University of Lausanne. The second chapter is a co-authored work with Melise Jaud, a PhD student from the Paris School of Economics. The third chapter is co-authored with both Melise Jaud and Martin Strieborny. The last chapter of my PhD dissertation is a single author paper.Chapter 1 of my PhD thesis analyzes the effect of financial development on growth of contract intensive industries. These industries intensively use intermediate inputs that neither can be sold on organized exchange, nor are reference-priced (Levchenko, 2007; Nunn, 2007). A typical example of a contract intensive industry would be an industry where an upstream supplier has to make investments in order to customize a product for needs of a downstream buyer. After the investment is made and the product is adjusted, the buyer may refuse to meet a commitment and trigger ex post renegotiation. Since the product is customized to the buyer's needs, the supplier cannot sell the product to a different buyer at the original price. This is referred in the literature as the holdup problem. As a consequence, the individually rational suppliers will underinvest into relationship-specific assets, hurting the downstream firms with negative consequences for aggregate growth. The standard way to mitigate the hold up problem is to write a binding contract and to rely on the legal enforcement by the state. However, even the most effective contract enforcement might fail to protect the supplier in tough times when the buyer lacks a reliable source of external financing. This suggests the potential role of financial intermediaries, banks in particular, in mitigating the incomplete contract problem. First, financial products like letters of credit and letters of guarantee can substantially decrease a risk and transaction costs of parties. Second, a bank loan can serve as a signal about a buyer's true financial situation, an upstream firm will be more willing undertake relationship-specific investment knowing that the business partner is creditworthy and will abstain from myopic behavior (Fama, 1985; von Thadden, 1995). Therefore, a well-developed financial (especially banking) system should disproportionately benefit contract intensive industries.The empirical test confirms this hypothesis. Indeed, contract intensive industries seem to grow faster in countries with a well developed financial system. Furthermore, this effect comes from a more developed banking sector rather than from a deeper stock market. These results are reaffirmed examining the effect of US bank deregulation on the growth of contract intensive industries in different states. Beyond an overall pro-growth effect, the bank deregulation seems to disproportionately benefit the industries requiring relationship-specific investments from their suppliers.Chapter 2 of my PhD focuses on the role of the financial sector in promoting exports of developing countries. In particular, it investigates how credit constraints affect the ability of firms operating in agri-food sectors of developing countries to keep exporting to foreign markets.Trade in high-value agri-food products from developing countries has expanded enormously over the last two decades offering opportunities for development. However, trade in agri-food is governed by a growing array of standards. Sanitary and Phytosanitary standards (SPS) and technical regulations impose additional sunk, fixed and operating costs along the firms' export life. Such costs may be detrimental to firms' survival, "pricing out" producers that cannot comply. The existence of these costs suggests a potential role of credit constraints in shaping the duration of trade relationships on foreign markets. A well-developed financial system provides the funds to exporters necessary to adjust production processes in order to meet quality and quantity requirements in foreign markets and to maintain long-standing trade relationships. The products with higher needs for financing should benefit the most from a well functioning financial system. This differential effect calls for a difference-in-difference approach initially proposed by Rajan and Zingales (1998). As a proxy for demand for financing of agri-food products, the sanitary risk index developed by Jaud et al. (2009) is used. The empirical literature on standards and norms show high costs of compliance, both variable and fixed, for high-value food products (Garcia-Martinez and Poole, 2004; Maskus et al., 2005). The sanitary risk index reflects the propensity of products to fail health and safety controls on the European Union (EU) market. Given the high costs of compliance, the sanitary risk index captures the demand for external financing to comply with such regulations.The prediction is empirically tested examining the export survival of different agri-food products from firms operating in Ghana, Mali, Malawi, Senegal and Tanzania. The results suggest that agri-food products that require more financing to keep up with food safety regulation of the destination market, indeed sustain longer in foreign market, when they are exported from countries with better developed financial markets.Chapter 3 analyzes the link between financial markets and efficiency of resource allocation in an economy. Producing and exporting products inconsistent with a country's factor endowments constitutes a serious misallocation of funds, which undermines competitiveness of the economy and inhibits its long term growth. In this chapter, inefficient exporting patterns are analyzed through the lens of the agency theories from the corporate finance literature. Managers may pursue projects with negative net present values because their perquisites or even their job might depend on them. Exporting activities are particularly prone to this problem. Business related to foreign markets involves both high levels of additional spending and strong incentives for managers to overinvest. Rational managers might have incentives to push for exports that use country's scarce factors which is suboptimal from a social point of view. Export subsidies might further skew the incentives towards inefficient exporting. Management can divert the export subsidies into investments promoting inefficient exporting.Corporate finance literature stresses the disciplining role of outside debt in counteracting the internal pressures to divert such "free cash flow" into unprofitable investments. Managers can lose both their reputation and the control of "their" firm if the unpaid external debt triggers a bankruptcy procedure. The threat of possible failure to satisfy debt service payments pushes the managers toward an efficient use of available resources (Jensen, 1986; Stulz, 1990; Hart and Moore, 1995). The main sources of debt financing in the most countries are banks. The disciplining role of banks might be especially important in the countries suffering from insufficient judicial quality. Banks, in pursuing their rights, rely on comparatively simple legal interventions that can be implemented even by mediocre courts. In addition to their disciplining role, banks can promote efficient exporting patterns in a more direct way by relaxing credit constraints of producers, through screening, identifying and investing in the most profitable investment projects. Therefore, a well-developed domestic financial system, and particular banking system, would help to push a country's exports towards products congruent with its comparative advantage.This prediction is tested looking at the survival of different product categories exported to US market. Products are identified according to the Euclidian distance between their revealed factor intensity and the country's factor endowments. The results suggest that products suffering from a comparative disadvantage (labour-intensive products from capital-abundant countries) survive less on the competitive US market. This pattern is stronger if the exporting country has a well-developed banking system. Thus, a strong banking sector promotes exports consistent with a country comparative advantage.Chapter 4 of my PhD thesis further examines the role of financial markets in fostering efficient resource allocation in an economy. In particular, the allocative efficiency hypothesis is investigated in the context of equity market liberalization.Many empirical studies document a positive and significant effect of financial liberalization on growth (Levchenko et al. 2009; Quinn and Toyoda 2009; Bekaert et al., 2005). However, the decrease in the cost of capital and the associated growth in investment appears rather modest in comparison to the large GDP growth effect (Bekaert and Harvey, 2005; Henry, 2000, 2003). Therefore, financial liberalization may have a positive impact on growth through its effect on the allocation of funds across firms and sectors.Free access to international capital markets allows the largest and most profitable domestic firms to borrow funds in foreign markets (Rajan and Zingales, 2003). As domestic banks loose some of their best clients, they reoptimize their lending practices seeking new clients among small and younger industrial firms. These firms are likely to be more risky than large and established companies. Screening of customers becomes prevalent as the return to screening rises. Banks, ceteris paribus, tend to focus on firms operating in comparative-advantage sectors because they are better risks. Firms in comparative-disadvantage sectors finding it harder to finance their entry into or survival in export markets either exit or refrain from entering export markets. On aggregate, one should therefore expect to see less entry, more exit, and shorter survival on export markets in those sectors after financial liberalization.The paper investigates the effect of financial liberalization on a country's export pattern by comparing the dynamics of entry and exit of different products in a country export portfolio before and after financial liberalization.The results suggest that products that lie far from the country's comparative advantage set tend to disappear relatively faster from the country's export portfolio following the liberalization of financial markets. In other words, financial liberalization tends to rebalance the composition of a country's export portfolio towards the products that intensively use the economy's abundant factors.

Catholic Confession of Sins as Third-Party Moral Enforcement

Catholicism has built up a legalistic religion based on two pillars: salvation by works and 'auricular' confession of sins to a priest with judicial functions. Since the Reformation, many consider auricular confession inferior to less institutional and more individual conceptions of faith. This article analyzes how all these historical solutions trade off specialization advantages against exchange costs to produce moral enforcement. After showing the behavioral foundations of confession and the adaptiveness of its historical evolution, it tests hypotheses on its efficacy, exploitation and opportunity cost. Econometric evidence supports the efficacy but not the exploitative character of Catholic confession. It also explains its secular decline as a consequence of two factors. First, the rise in education, which makes moral self-enforcement less costly. Second, the productivity gap suffered by confession, given its necessarily interpersonal nature.

Protect Yourself from Domestic Violence

This booklet is a general summary of domestic abuse law and procedures in Iowa.

Lost in translation : euro-compatibility, legal security, and the autonomous implementation of EU law in Switzerland

This article presents the legislative and judicial practice relating to the "autonomous implementation" of EU law in Switzerland. Given that "euro-compatibility" is the central consideration behind this legislative policy, one would expect Swiss authorities to have devised legislative and hermeneutical techniques guaranteeing high fidelity to EU "mother law". That is not the case, however, and as this article shows much is lost in the translation from EU to Swiss Law