The Modernization of Legal Lists

Worldwide, fatal traffic injuries and drowning deaths are important problems. The aim of this thesis was to investigate the cirumstances of fatal and non-fatal traffic injuries and drowning deaths in Sweden including analysis of the presence of alcohol and drugs, which are considered to be major risk factors for these events. Data where obtained from the database of National Board of Forensic Medicine. In the first study, we investigated 420 passenger deaths from 372 crashes during 1993-1996. There were 594 drivers involved. In total, 21% of the drivers at fault were alcohol positive compared to 2% of drivers not at fault (p<0.001) (Paper I). During 2004-2007, crashes involving 56 fatally and 144 non-fatally injured drivers were investigated in a prospective study from Northern Sweden (Paper II). The drivers were alcohol positive in 38% and 21%, respectively. Psychoactive drugs were found in 7% and 13%, respectively. Benzodiazepines, opiates and antidepressants were the most frequent drugs found in drivers. Illict drugs were found 9% and 4% respectively, with tetrahydrocannabinol being the most frequent of these drugs (Paper II). We investigated 5,125 drowning deaths in Sweden during 1992-2009 (Paper III). The incidence decreased on average by about 2% each year (p<0.001). Unintentional drowning was most common (50%). Alcohol was found in 44% of unintentional, 24% of intentional, and 45% of undetermined drowning deaths. Psychoactive substances were detected in 40% and benzodiazepines were the most common substance. Illicit drugs were detected in 10%. Of all drowning deaths, a significantly higher proportion females commited suicide compared with males (55% vs. 21%, p<0.001). Suicidal drowning deaths (n=129) in Northern Sweden were studied further in detail (Paper IV). of these, 53% had been hospitalized due to a psychiatric diagnosis within five years prior to the suicide. Affective and psychotic disorders were the most common psychiatric diagnoses. Almost one third had performed a previous suicide attempt. One fourth had committed suicide after less than one week of discharge from hospital. Alochol was found in 16% and psychoactive drugs in 62% of these cases, respectively.  In conclusion, alcohol and psychoactive drugs are commonly detected among injured drivers and drowning victims, and probably play a role in these events. Most of the individuals that tested positive for alcohol and high blood concentrations, indicating alochol dependence or abuse. This association warrants futher attention when planning future prevention.

Securitization and Post-Crisis Financial Regulation

There are few types of securities as internationally traded as those issued in securitization (also spelled securitisation) transactions. The post-financial crisis regulatory responses to securitization in the United States and Europe are, at least in part, political and ad hoc. To achieve a more systematic regulatory framework, this article examines how existing regulation should be supplemented by identifying the market failures that apply distinctively to securitization and analyzing how those market failures could be corrected. Among other things, the article argues that Europe’s regulatory framework for simple, transparent, and standardised (“STS”) securitizations goes a long way towards addressing complexity as a market failure, and that the United States should consider a similar regulatory approach

Capital Ownership, Capital Structure and Capital Markets: Financial Constraints and the Decline of the Lancashire Cotton Textile Industry 1880-1965

The objective of this analysis is to provide a reinterpretation of the decline of the Lancashire cotton textile industry during the twentieth century. Its principal concerns are with the governance structure of the industry, the resultant capital structures of firms and the constraints thereby imposed on the activities of entrepreneurs. Its central thesis is that ownership of the industry, and the redistribution of ownership claims during booms and slumps, imposed pressures and constraints on decision-makers. These financial constraints dominated the strategic questions of re-equipment and modernisation

Foreword: Of Lawyers, Leaders, and Returning Riddles in Sovereign Debt

This volume contains the research and recollections of more than a doze

How Fiscal (Mis)-Management May Impede Trade Reform: Lessons From an Intertemporal, Multi-Sector General Equilibrium Model for Turkey

We utilize a multi-sector general equilibrium model based on intertemporally optimizing agents to study issues of trade liberalization and fiscal adjustments in the context of the Turkish economy. A key feature of the model is its explicit recognition of the distortionary consequences of excessive borrowing requirements of the public sector through increased domestic interest costs. The model results suggest that the postponement of adjustment to growing public debt and fiscal imbalances could be detrimental; and that in the absence of coordinated fiscal reforms, the welfare gains expected from trade liberalization may significantly be negated.International Relations/Trade,

The emergence of the intergovernmental trust in international law

This is a pre-copyedited, author-produced PDF of an article accepted for publication in the British Yearbook of International Law following peer review. The definitive publisher-authenticated version is available online at the link below.Intergovernmental trust funds are vehicles set up mainly to advance developmental objectives. They are composed of capital contributed largely by states. The management of the capital and the objectives of the trust are assigned to a trustee, usually an international organization, such as the UN or the World Bank. The practice of the trusts surveyed in this article unequivocally suggests that the intention of the two principal parties to the trust relationship (i.e. donor and trustee) is to transfer ownership of the trust’s assets to the trustee. The latter’s responsibility is restricted to investing and distributing the trust’s assets to the identified beneficiaries. The understanding is that neither the donors nor the trustee is liable against third parties in respect of any unlawful act committed in connection to the donation or the disbursement of funds. The absolute character of this extra-contractual limitation is dismissed in this article, given that despite the charitable or benevolent nature of the trust’s aims, the disbursement of funds under certain circumstances may be injurious to the interests of states or the international community