Law and Finance

This paper examines legal rules covering protection of corporate shareholders and creditors, the origin of these rules, and the quality of their enforcement in 49 countries. The results show that common law countries generally have the best, and French civil law countries the worst, legal protections of investors, with German and Scandinavian civil law countries located in the middle. We also find that concentration of ownership of shares in the largest public companies is negatively related to investor protections, consistent with the hypothesis that small, diversified shareholders are unlikely to be important in countries that fail to protect their rights.

Customs and trade security policy

The aim of research is to identify the most significant and the most risky areas of the business activities’ assessment and to create a new model of the customs audit. In the article the role of customs seeking to facilitate legitimate trade has been revealed. The influence of customs on the public interests‘ protection and social as well as economic development was analysed. After analysing the customs activities monitoring and managing the international flow of goods, customs contribution ensuring the increased security of goods supply network was revealed. The concepts of the business activities’ assessment have been examined, a comparative analysis of the business activities assessment’s models has been conducted, the areas of business enterprises activities’ assessment suitable for the customs audit’s model have been identified. After studying the business enterprises activities assessment’s models and the customs audit’s models of various countries – pointing out the key areas of business activities’ assessment – a theoretically reasoned and empirically based customs audit’s model which complemented the existing customs audit’s theoretical and methodological basis has been introduced. The importance of AEO (Authorised Economic Operator) customs model – being a tool of enterprises activities’ assessment – was investigated

Fiscal and Migration Competition

It is often argued that tax competition may lead to a ‘race to the bottom’. This result may indeed hold in the case of factor mobility (such as capital). However, in this paper we emphasize the unique feature of labor migration, that may nullify the’race to the bottom’ hypothesis. Labor migration is governed not only by net-of-tax factor rewards, but rather importantly also by the benefits that the welfare state provides. The paper analyzes fiscal competition with and without migration in a two-country, political-economy, model with labor of different skills. The paper assigns an active fiscal role for both the host and the source countries. It models the host country stylistically as a core EU welfare state, with tax financed benefits and migration policies, and the migration source country as an accession country (following the EU enlargement to 27 states), with its own welfare (tax-benefit) policy. We let these two asymmetric countries (in terms of their productivity) engage in fiscal competition. Using numerical simulations we examine how the migration and tax policies are shaped, and how they are affected by whether the skilled or the unskilled are in power. As the driving force behind migration is a productivity gap, we also analyze the implications of the productivity gap for the design of migration and tax policies.

LOCAL GOVERNMENT ROLE IN THE CONTEXT OF TOURISM DEVELOPMENT AND MANAGEMENT

This paper examines the challenging role of the local government in tourism development and management. In examining the role of the local government, a certain tourism activity and development in a certain municipality in the Philippines was made the center of discussion as it brings issues and concerns that ripened into a case which is the subject of this study. In situating this study within the context of local government role in tourism management, this paper discovers the tensions at play between local government, other government agencies and the stakeholders. The significance of this study is that it allows a clearer understanding of the role of the local governtment and how to regulate tourism activities and development in a certain tourism place without compromising the same. Case analysis method is use in this sudy in examining the events, concerns and issues surrounding the tourism activities and development

Electronic security - risk mitigation in financial transactions : public policy issues

This paper builds on a previous series of papers (see Claessens, Glaessner, and Klingebiel, 2001, 2002) that identified electronic security as a key component to the delivery of electronic finance benefits. This paper and its technical annexes (available separately at http://www1.worldbank.org/finance/) identify and discuss seven key pillars necessary to fostering a secure electronic environment. Hence, it is intended for those formulating broad policies in the area of electronic security and those working with financial services providers (for example, executives and management). The detailed annexes of this paper are especially relevant for chief information and security officers responsible for establishing layered security. First, this paper provides definitions of electronic finance and electronic security and explains why these issues deserve attention. Next, it presents a picture of the burgeoning global electronic security industry. Then it develops a risk-management framework for understanding the risks and tradeoffs inherent in the electronic security infrastructure. It also provides examples of tradeoffs that may arise with respect to technological innovation, privacy, quality of service, and security in designing an electronic security policy framework. Finally, it outlines issues in seven interrelated areas that often need attention in building an adequate electronic security infrastructure. These are: 1) The legal framework and enforcement. 2) Electronic security of payment systems. 3) Supervision and prevention challenges. 4) The role of private insurance as an essential monitoring mechanism. 5) Certification, standards, and the role of the public and private sectors. 6) Improving the accuracy of information on electronic security incidents and creating better arrangements for sharing this information. 7) Improving overall education on these issues as a key to enhancing prevention.Knowledge Economy,Labor Policies,International Terrorism&Counterterrorism,Payment Systems&Infrastructure,Banks&Banking Reform,Education for the Knowledge Economy,Knowledge Economy,Banks&Banking Reform,International Terrorism&Counterterrorism,Governance Indicators

Lone-Actor Terrorism. Toolkit Paper 1: Practical Guidance for Mental Health Practitioners and Social Workers

The aim of this paper is to draw out practical implications for mental health practitioners and social workers in dealing with Lone-Actor Terrorism. It is not intended to provide a profile of lone-actor terrorists, but rather to offer guidance that may be of use to practitioners in Europe (and beyond), supporting the development of strategies to detect and deal with potential lone-actor terrorists and to understand the possible risk posed by persons of interest. This paper presents three sets of recommendations offering guidance for mental health practitioners and social workers to prevent lone actor terrorism by sharing information, fostering engagement, awareness and a multi-agency approach.Security and Global Affair