Mixed Public-Private Enterprises in Europe: Economic Theory and an Empirical Analysis of Italian Water Utilities. Bruges European Economic Research (BEER) Papers 4/July 2006

Mixed enterprises, which are entities jointly owned by the public and private sector, are spreading all over Europe in local utilities. Well aware that in the vast majority of cases the preference of local authorities towards such governance structure is determined by practical reasons rather than by the ambition to implement new regulatory designs (an alternative to the typical “external” regulation), our purpose is to confer some scientific value to this phenomenon which has not been sufficiently investigated in the economic literature. This paper aims at proposing an economic analysis of mixed enterprises, especially of the specific configuration in which the public partner acts as controller and the private one (or “industrial” partner) as service provider. We suggest that the public service concession to mixed enterprises could embody, under certain conditions, a noteworthy substitute to the traditional public provision and the concession to totally private enterprises, as it can push regulated operators to outperform and limit the risk of private opportunism. The starting point of the entire analysis is that ownership allows the (public) owner to gather more information about the actual management of the firm, according to property rights theory. Following this stream of research, we conclude that under certain conditions mixed enterprises could significantly reduce asymmetric information between regulators and regulated firms by implementing a sort of “internal” regulation. With more information, in effect, the public authority (as owner/controller of the regulated firm, but also as member of the regulatory agency) can stimulate the private operator to be more efficient and can monitor it more effectively with respect to the fulfilment of contractual obligations (i.e., public service obligations, quality standards, etc.). Moreover, concerning the latter function, the board of directors of the mixed enterprise can be the suitable place where public and private representatives (respectively, welfare and profit maximisers) can meet to solve all disputes arising from incomplete contracts, without recourse to third parties. Finally, taking into account that a disproportionate public intervention in the “private” administration (or an ineffective protection of the general interest) would imply too many drawbacks, we draw some policy implications that make an equitable debate on the board of the firm feasible. Some empirical evidence is taken from the Italian water sector.

Fine-tuning the use of bail-in to promote a stronger EU financial system. CEPS Special Report No. 136/April 2016

This paper discusses the application of the new European rules for burden-sharing and bail-in in the banking sector, in view of their ability to accommodate broader policy goals of aggregate financial stability. It finds that the Treaty principles and the new discipline of state aid and the restructuring of banks provide a solid framework for combating moral hazard and removing incentives that encourage excessive risk-taking by bankers. However, the application of the new rules may have become excessively attentive to the case-by-case evaluation of individual institutions, while perhaps losing sight of the aggregate policy needs of the banking system. Indeed, in this first phase of the banking union, while large segments of the EU banking sector still require a substantial restructuring and recapitalisation, the market may not be able to provide all the needed resources in the current environment of depressed profitability and low growth. Thus, a systemic market failure may be making the problem impossible to fix without resorting to temporary public support. But the risk of large write-offs of capital instruments due to burden-sharing and bail-in may represent an insurmountable obstacle to such public support as it may set in motion an investors’ flight. The paper concludes by showing that existing rules do contain the flexibility required to accommodate aggregate policy requirements in the general interest, and outlines a public support scheme for the precautionary recapitalisation of solvent banks that would be compliant with EU law.

The American law journal /

Vol. 4, no. 1, includes "a supplement containing an abridgment of the laws of Maryland for the year 1809 (containing those general laws which are omitted in Maxcy's edition) and the acts of general interest passed in 1810, and the commencement of 1811"

The dynamics of a genetic algorithm under stabilizing selection

A formalism recently introduced by Prugel-Bennett and Shapiro uses the methods of statistical mechanics to model the dynamics of genetic algorithms. To be of more general interest than the test cases they consider. In this paper, the technique is applied to the subset sum problem, which is a combinatorial optimization problem with a strongly non-linear energy (fitness) function and many local minima under single spin flip dynamics. It is a problem which exhibits an interesting dynamics, reminiscent of stabilizing selection in population biology. The dynamics are solved under certain simplifying assumptions and are reduced to a set of difference equations for a small number of relevant quantities. The quantities used are the population's cumulants, which describe its shape, and the mean correlation within the population, which measures the microscopic similarity of population members. Including the mean correlation allows a better description of the population than the cumulants alone would provide and represents a new and important extension of the technique. The formalism includes finite population effects and describes problems of realistic size. The theory is shown to agree closely to simulations of a real genetic algorithm and the mean best energy is accurately predicted.

Herbal medicines:physician's recommendation and clinical evaluation of St.John's Wort for depression

Why some physicians recommend herbal medicines while others do not is not well understood. We undertook a survey designed to identify factors, which predict recommendation of herbal medicines by physicians in Malaysia. About a third (206 out of 626) of the physicians working at the University of Malaya Medical Centre ' were interviewed face-to-face, using a structured questionnaire. Physicians were asked about their personal use of, recommendation of, perceived interest in and, usefulness and safety of herbal medicines. Using logistic regression modelling we identified personal use, general interest, interest in receiving training, race and higher level of medical training as significant predictors of recommendation. St. John's wort is one of the most widely used herbal remedies. It is also probably the most widely evaluated herbal remedy with no fewer than 57 randomised controlled trials. Evidence from the depression trials suggests that St. John's wort is more effective than placebo while its comparative efficacy to conventional antidepressants is not well established. We updated previous meta-analyses of St. John's wort, described the characteristics of the included trials, applied methods of data imputation and transformation for incomplete trial data and examined sources of heterogeneity in the design and results of those trials. Thirty randomised controlled trials, which were heterogeneous in design, were identified. Our meta-analysis showed that St. John's wort was significantly more effective than placebo [pooled RR 1.90 (1.54-2.35)] and [Pooled WMD 4.09 (2.33 to 5.84)]. However, the remedy was similar to conventional antidepressant in its efficacy [Pooled RR I. 0 I (0.93 -1.10)] and [Pooled WMD 0.18 (- 0.66 to 1.02). Subgroup analyses of the placebo-controlled trials suggested that use of different diagnostic classifications at the inclusion stage led to different estimates of effect. Similarly a significant difference in the estimates of efficacy was observed when trials were categorised according to length of follow-up. Confounding between the variables, diagnostic classification and length of trial was shown by loglinear analysis. Despite extensive study, there is still no consensus on how effective St. lohn's wort is in depression. However, most experts would agree that it has some effect. Our meta-analysis highlights the problems associated with the clinical evaluation of herbal medicines when the active ingredients are poorly defined or unknown. The problem is compounded when the target disease (e.g. depression) is also difficult to define and different instruments are available to diagnose and evaluate it.

El movimiento social de 1995 en Francia contra el neoliberalismo

Las movilizaciones de noviembre-diciembre de 1995 en Francia contra el Plan Juppé fueron la primera gran revuelta en un país europeo contra el neoliberalismo. Con los trabajadores del sector público como eje de la protesta el movimiento se desplegó en base a la articulación combinada de huelgas y manifestaciones. Las reivindicaciones sectoriales se articularon en un discurso más general de defensa del servicio público y el interés general. Noviembre-diciembre de 1995 marcó el inicio de un ciclo de movilizaciones contra el neoliberalismo en Francia que testimonió su creciente pérdida de legitimidad.

It’s a Trap! Unravelling Reversible Charge Trapping in Nanocrystals Through Single Particle and Ensemble Studies

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Washington, 2016-08

Progresividad del impuesto de renta en las pyme en el marco del estado social de derecho colombiano

La constitución política en su artículo primero ha establecido el modelo político en el cual se enmarca el Estado Colombiano, precepto que por su prevalencia normativa, se convierte en fundamento de todo actuar y que se expresa así: Colombia es un Estado social de derecho, organizado en forma de República unitaria, descentralizada, con autonomía de sus entidades territoriales, democrática, participativa y pluralista, fundada en el respeto de la dignidad humana, en el trabajo y la solidaridad de las personas que la integran y en la prevalencia del interés general. La introducción de este nuevo modelo político implica un cambio radical en la forma de concebir el Estado, ante la pérdida sacramental del texto legal entendido como emanación de la voluntad popular y la mayor preocupación por la justicia material y por el logro de soluciones que consulten la especificidad de los hechos (M.P. BARÓN, Ciro., 1992), situación que conviene un cambio de pensamiento en la elaboración de las normas y que a partir, de 1991 debe consultar su impacto en la solución de los problemas que aquejan la sociedad. Consecuente con lo anterior, el sistema tributario, no puede ser ajeno a los postulados incluidos en el artículo primero de la constitución política atrás citado, y en tal sentido la Asamblea Constituyente, aunque en su momento no acogió las recomendaciones dadas por el Instituto Colombiano de Derecho Tributario, en el sentido de incluir un artículo que dijera que los tributos debían fundarse en la capacidad económica del sujeto pasivo, si consagró en su artículo 363 que el sistema tributario debía fundarse en los principios de equidad y progresividad, entre otros (BRAVO, 1997). Es aquí donde se centra el presente proyecto de investigación, que busca indagar por el principio de progresividad, que por efecto metodológicos se limitara a las pyme, específicamente en la pequeña empresa, aquella con planta de personal entre once (11) y cincuenta (50) trabajadores y activo total entre quinientos un (501) y menos de cinco mil un (5.001) salarios mínimos legales mensuales vigentes. Estas personas jurídicas, se ven abocadas a una fuerte carga impositiva directa, en el cual el impuesto de renta recobra relevancia, haciéndose necesario analizar su impacto a las luces de la nueva reforma, a efecto de vislumbrar la efectiva materialización del principio de progresividad o por si el contrario los recientes cambios normativos han contradicho el mandato impuesto en la Constitución política en cuanto al respeto que debe contener toda norma en materia tributaria, en cuanto al principio objeto de estudio.

La tutela cautelar en lo contencioso-administrativo. El caso de Cuba

El establecimiento de los medios idóneos para asegurar la eficacia práctica de las decisiones judiciales es una exigencia del buen funcionamiento de la Administración de Justicia. En ello juega un rol esencial la tutela cautelar. Durante los últimos años, tanto la doctrina como varios de los ordenamientos jurídicos de Europa y Latinoamérica han avanzado en la construcción de amplios y sólidos regímenes cautelares en el proceso administrativo, superando la visión tradicional del contencioso que limitaba la tutela cautelar a una única medida posible: la suspensión de la ejecución de los actos administrativos. Sin embargo, ello no ocurre así en Cuba, cuyo derecho procesal continúa descansando en la técnica de suspensión del acto y en la exacerbación del privilegio de autotutela ejecutiva de la Administración. El presente trabajo se propone demostrar la necesidad de creación de un nuevo régimen de tutela cautelar en el contencioso administrativo cubano, que sea capaz de garantizar una justicia administrativa eficaz en su misión de proteger los derechos de los ciudadanos y del interés general frente a cualquier comportamiento de la Administración Pública que los vulnere.

Opinions of the Supreme Court and Court of Appeals of South Carolina advance sheet no. 18

The Clerk of Court’s Office publishes the South Carolina Advance Sheets that contain the published opinions and orders of the Supreme Court and the Court of Appeals, along with notices, rule changes and other documents of general interest

Opinions of the Supreme Court and Court of Appeals of South Carolina advance sheet no. 19

The Clerk of Court’s Office publishes the South Carolina Advance Sheets that contain the published opinions and orders of the Supreme Court and the Court of Appeals, along with notices, rule changes and other documents of general interest

Opinions of the Supreme Court and Court of Appeals of South Carolina advance sheet no. 20

The Clerk of Court’s Office publishes the South Carolina Advance Sheets that contain the published opinions and orders of the Supreme Court and the Court of Appeals, along with notices, rule changes and other documents of general interest

Opinions of the Supreme Court and Court of Appeals of South Carolina advance sheet no. 21

The Clerk of Court’s Office publishes the South Carolina Advance Sheets that contain the published opinions and orders of the Supreme Court and the Court of Appeals, along with notices, rule changes and other documents of general interest

Opinions of the Supreme Court and Court of Appeals of South Carolina advance sheet no. 22

The Clerk of Court’s Office publishes the South Carolina Advance Sheets that contain the published opinions and orders of the Supreme Court and the Court of Appeals, along with notices, rule changes and other documents of general interest

Opinions of the Supreme Court and Court of Appeals of South Carolina advance sheet no. 23

The Clerk of Court’s Office publishes the South Carolina Advance Sheets that contain the published opinions and orders of the Supreme Court and the Court of Appeals, along with notices, rule changes and other documents of general interest