Can Ownership Justify Shareholding Primacy?

Sin rechazar totalmente la posibilidad de que la empresa/sociedad pueda tener un propietario, y que este propietario pueda eventualmente ser el accionista, defendemos un argumento doble. Demostramos, de un lado, que la idea de propiedad de la empresa no puede servir para justificar la primacía accionarial. De otro lado, una idea de propiedad cuyo objeto fuese más elemental —la propiedad de las acciones—, tampoco está en capacidad de tener un papel significativo en la justificación de la primacía accionarial.This paper focuses on the connection between the idea of ownership and the one of shareholder primacy. While rejecting neither the meaningfulness of assigning an owner to a firm, nor the possibility that it may – as a matter of fact – be the shareholder, I defend a twofold argument. First, I show that the idea of ownership cannot be used to justify, to ground shareholder primacy as it is at best a description of what shareholder primacy entails. Second, if we consider ownership with a narrower scope, i.e. ownership of shares as opposed to the ownership of the firm, I show that this isn’t able to justify shareholder primacy either

Population Policy through Tradable Procreation Entitlements

Tradable permits are now widely used to control pollution. We investigate the implications of setting up such a system in another area – population control –, either domestically or at the global level. We first generalize the framework with both tradable procreation allowances and tradable procreation exemptions, in order to tackle both over- and under-population problems. The implications of procreation rights for income inequality and education are contrasted. We decompose the scheme’s impact on redistribution into three effects, one of them, the tradability effect, entails the following: with procreation exemptions or expensive enough procreation allowances, redistribution benefits the poor. In contrast, cheap procreation allowances redistribute resources to the rich. As far as human capital is concerned, natalist policy worsens the average education level of the next generation, while population control enhances it. If procreation rights are granted to countries in proportion to existing fertility levels (grandfathering) instead of being allocated equally, population control can be made even more redistributive. Our exploratory analysis suggests that procreation entitlements offer a promising tool to control population without necessarily leading to problematic distributive impact, especially at the global level.Tradable permits, Population control, Pronatalist policy, Income inequality, Differential fertility, Grandfathering.

Procreation, migration and tradable quotas

First, we briefly discuss the very idea of tradable quotas, looking at a set of cases in which it has been proposed (but not implemented)outside the realm of pollution control of natural resources management. Next we study a proposal of tradable procreation quotas. We generalize Boulding’s 1964 idea and discuss a full scheme able to deal both with under and over procreation. We then look more specifically at three effets of the scheme on income inequalities : differential productivity effect, differential fertility effect and tradability effect. Finally, we consider the migration dimension and discuss two possible schemes : (1) a domestic scheme of tradable emigration quotas among skilled people, serving as a possible alternative to a Baghwati tax (with different properties); (2) a regional or global scheme of tradable immigration quotas of unskilled workers in rich countries, serving as a “burden sharing” mechanism. Special attention is given to some conjectures regarding the impact on education and average income back in the (poor) countries of origin.Bhagwati tax, Emission permits, Distributive effect, Overpopulation, Brain drain, Boulding

Population Policy through Tradable Procreation Entitlements

Tradable permits are now widely used to control pollution. We investigate the implications of setting up such a system in another area - population control -, either domestically or at the global level. We first generalize the framework with both tradable procreation allowances and tradable procreation exemptions, in order to tackle both over- and under-population problems. The implications of procreation rights for income inequality and education are contrasted. We decompose the scheme’s impact on redistribution into three effects, one of them, the tradability effect, entails the following : with procreation exemptions or expensive enough procreation allowances redistribute resources to the rich. As far as human capital is concerned, natalist policy worsens the average education level of the next generation, while population control enhances it. If procreation rights are granted to countries in proportion to exissting fertility levels (grandfathering) instead of being allocated equally, population control can be made even more redistributive. Our exploratory analysis suggests that procreation entitlements offer a promising tool to control population without necessarily leading to problematic distributive impact, especially at the global level.Tradable permits, Population control, Pronatalist policy, Income inequality, Differential fertility, Grandfathering

La eutanasia de menores : ¿por qué un criterio etáreo?

El debate reciente sobre la eutanasia de menores se mueve sobre dos tendencias. Por una parte, la evolución de la mentalidad ligada a una reflexión sobre la práctica de la eutanasia, que ha sido despenalizada en Bélgica y en los Países Bajos. Por otra parte, una toma de conciencia gradual sobre el carácter potencialmente problemático de los criterios etáreos que llenan nuestra legislación, a través de una preocupación por las discriminaciones. Esta conjunción invita a reflexionar sobre la función del criterio etáreo, especialmente en situaciones tales como la eutanasia, donde un examen individualizado y profundo es en todo caso imperativo. Subrayamos la especificidad de la edad con respecto a otros criterios de tratamiento diferenciado tales como el género o el origen étnico. Exploramos enseguida en qué medida, incluso en una configuración donde el examen individualizado es obligatorio, podría ser justificada, a pesar de todo, la conservación de un criterio etáreo. Insistimos finalmente sobre la necesidad de conceder al criterio etáreo en eutanasia un peso limitado, reduciendo tanto como sea posible el ámbito de las presunciones de derecho o presunciones irrefutables y reduciendo al máximo las diferencias entre los regímenes de eutanasia resultantes

Our Intergenerational Obligations

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Pourquoi des marchés de permis de polluer ? Les enjeux économiques et éthiques de Kyoto

Dans le cadre du Protocole de Kyoto, la Belgique s’est engagée à réduire ses émissions de gaz à effet de serre de 7,5 % par rapport à leur niveau de 1990. Afin de rencontrer leurs obligations, les autorités belges sont susceptibles de recourir aux marchés internationaux des permis d’émission. Ce numéro de Regards a pour objectif d’expliquer de manière simple le fonctionnement de tels marchés et d’indiquer la mesure dans laquelle il est justifié d’y recourir.

Plaidoyer universitaire pour le rail

[Chapeau] Le réseau ferré en Wallonie s’apparentera bientôt à un train touristique reliant deux gares Calatrava plutôt que d’assurer à chacun le droit à sa mobilité

Cómo tomar decisiones justas en el camino hacia la cobertura universal de salud

La cobertura universal de salud está en el centro de la acción actual para fortalecer los sistemas de salud y mejorar el nivel y la distribución de la salud y los servicios de salud. Este documento es el informe fi nal del Grupo Consultivo de la OMS sobre la Equidad y Cobertura Universal de Salud. Aquí se abordan los temas clave de la justicia (fairness) y la equidad que surgen en el camino hacia la cobertura universal de salud. Por lo tanto, el informe es pertinente para cada agente que infl uye en ese camino y en particular para los gobiernos, ya que se encargan de supervisar y guiar el progreso hacia la cobertura universal de salud