The Color of Brazil: Law, Ethnic Fragmentation, and Economic Growth

The influence of ethnic fragmentation on economic performance has been the subject of much scholarly inquiry in economics and political economics literature. Studies have shown that ethnic fragmentation has a distinct impact on the prospects for economic growth through its effect on government policies and in particular macroeconomic stabilization strategies. It has also become relevant in legal scholarship, especially with regard to developing antidiscrimination laws to ameliorate incessant conflict in plural societies. Accurate measurements of the scale or degree of ethnic fragmentation are important for determining sustainable economic development policies and legal policies for overall development planning. The multiple, complex, and often intractable variations of ethnic identity are muted in existing measurements of ethnic fragmentation, including the prevailing ELF Index. Using Brazil as a case study, this article illustrates how a newly-derived index of ethnic fragmentation called the Social Diversity Index (SDI) is more robust and does a better job than the prevailing index in illustrating the multiple dimensions of ethnic fragmentation. Further, the analysis explores the link between ethnic fragmentation and economic growth in Brazil and examines legal remedies designed to address racial inequality in Brazil

Navigating Access to Knowledge: Copyright, Fake News, Fair Use, and Libraries

New technologies have profoundly changed the way content is produced, shared, and disseminated. Some commentators argue that the ubiquity of digitized content means that libraries have become superfluous in the digital age. This presentation presents evidence to the contrary. It will discuss challenges for libraries arising from globalized copyright, including issues related to fake news and threats to fair use. The presentation will also highlight the strategic ways libraries are being embedded in the design of copyright law nationally and globally, exploring whether these developments–that are sometimes conflicting–are good for libraries and the public in the long term

WIPO-WTO Relations and the Future of Global Intellectual Property Norms

The intense scholarly debate about the effects of harmonized global intellectual property (IP) rules under the TRIPS Agreement has yet to consider what role an appropriate organizational framework should play in facilitating development of IP norms to address new global challenges. The prevailing assumption has been that the norm-setting role of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) will remain unchanged despite the primacy of the TRIPS Agreement and the explicit mandate of the WTO for global IP regulation. Indeed, with respect to the supply of public goods, only the WTO - not WIPO - has the formal legal mandate to promote global public welfare. In this Article, I argue that the WTO, in a hierarchical division of labor with WIPO, should be promoted as the primary locus of IP norm-setting with respect to those norms that affect the production and supply of global public goods. I advance three primary arguments to support this claim. First, the WIPO-WTO Agreement can reasonably be interpreted as creating a hierarchical relationship between the two Organizations. Second, emerging global challenges such as climate change and food security require coordinated global action and bargained-for linkages to achieve results acceptable to countries at different levels of development. Third, the WTO\u27s organizational design offers multiple points at which norm-setting processes could be more credibly centered on the development concerns of the global South. IP norm-setting in the WTO is not without risks. Nonetheless, an organizational culture in which IP is only one of many tools to accomplish defined welfare goals, rather than the raison d\u27etre of an organization\u27s existence, could force open important institutional space in which future IP norms consistent both with the interests of less developed countries and the ideals of established IP systems, can be meaningfully negotiated. At a minimum, a hierarchical relationship may facilitate inter-institutional competition between the WTO and WIPO, generating additional welfare gains for the international community in the form of greater transparency in the processes of IP norm-setting, improvements in the democratic deficit inherent in international organizations generally, as well as systemic gains from enhanced accountability in the global management of IP. WIPO, WTO, Development, Access to Public Goods, Intellectual Property Right

The regulation of the Nigerian life insurance industry, 1960-1988

This thesis examines the regulation of the Nigerian life insurance industry during the 1960-1988 period. The role and nature of regulatory policy, the extent of industry compliance with regulatory rules, and the degree to which policy formulation is subject to industry influence are examined. The changes in life industry structure, behaviour and performance are also examined in relation to the regulatory developments over the period. In this context, the effects of protectionist and other regulatory policies implemented in the industry are examined within the political economical framework of Nigeria. Three types of analytical methods are employed in the study; the historical method, the descriptive survey method and the empirical method. Chapter one contains an introduction to the thesis and in chapters two and three, the literature on the theory of regulation, the characteristics of developing country insurance markets and the arguments in favour of and against the implementation of protectionist policy in these markets are reviewed. Chapter four places the study in context by briefly examining the political economy of Nigeria. This discussion forms the basis for the analysis of regulation and regulatory developments in chapter five. Chapter six contains the descriptive and empirical analyses of the impact of policy on market structure, behaviour and perrormance. In the last chapter conclusions are made and policy recommendations presented. Although the stated objectives of regulation are a concern with the consumer and national economic interest, the results of the analyses lead to the conclusions that, among other things, (1) the development, implementation and supervision of policy has been impeded by an underresourced and understaffed regulatory agency (2) the implementation of protectionist policies in the Nigerian life market has not been successful in terms of the stated policy objectives (3) the consumer interest is in fact not being adequately protected and (4) the lack of cooperation between life offices has contributed to the industry's inability to influence regulatory policy in it's favour. It is recommended, among other things, that (1) the Government should withdraw from intensive participation in the life market and should channel it's resources towards maintaining an effective regulatory mechanism and (2) the implementation of protectionist policies in the market should be made with respect to the prevailing socio-economic and political conditions for maximum effectiveness