An Analysis of Settlement Risk Contagion in Alternative Securities Settlement Architecture

This paper compares the so-called gross and net architectures for securities settlement. It studies the settlement risk arising from exogenous operational delays and compares the importance of settlement failures under the two architectures, as a function of the length of the settlement cycle and of different market conditions. Under both architectures, settlement failures are non-monotonically related to the length of settlement cycle. There is no evidence that continuous time settlement provides always higher stability. Gross systems appear to be more stable than net systems

Judicialization in International Security

Many claim a process of judicialization of international dispute settlement procedures is taking place. In order to capture this ongoing process we introduce an analytical framework to assess the degree of judicialization of international dispute settlement procedures. We then proceed to present preliminary results of applying this framework to the procedure and practice of dispute settlement in the United Nations Security Council. In our concept, judicialization means that international dispute settlement procedures increasingly incorporate the normative principle of impartiality, i.e. the principle of a comparable treatment of comparable breaches of law. We use a graded scale ranging from purely diplomatic to predominantly judicial procedures to assess the degree of judicialization of any given dispute settlement procedure. From our institutionalist point of view, it is entirely an empirical question whether – and if so when – judicialized dispute settlement procedures lead to a corresponding practice of judicialized dispute settlement. For this reason we analyze in a second step the corresponding practice of dispute settlement. The degree of judicialization of the dispute settlement procedure within the framework of the United Nations Security Council remains low. Nonetheless, our comparison of the periods 1974-1983 and 1990-1999 suggests so far an increasing judicialization of the dispute settlement practice within the Security Council

Enduring Advantage of Settlement Houses

Examines the distinctive practice the settlement house model has generated and illustrates how this practice creates a settlement house advantage that is worthy of attention. The first part of this report describes the principles that frame settlement house practice and the second part illustrates the value of this practice in settlement house programs for disconnected youth and immigrant families

Economies of scale and technological development in securities depository and settlement systems

The paper investigates the existence and extent of economies of scale in depository and settlement systems. Evidence from 16 settlement institutions across different regions for the years 1993–2000 indicates the existence of significant economies of scale. The degree of such economies, however, differs by size of settlement institution and region. While smaller settlement service providers reveal high potential of economies of scale, larger institutions show an increasing trend of cost effectiveness. Clearing and settlement systems in countries in Europe and Asia report substantially larger economies of scale than those of the US system. European cross-border settlement seems to be more cost intensive than that on a domestic level, reflecting chiefly complexities of EU international securities settlement and differences in the scope of international settlement services providers. The evidence also reveals that investments in implementing new systems and upgrades of settlement technology continuously improved cost effectiveness over the sample period.securities settlement; economies of scale; technological progress

Revisiting Antitrust Limits to Probabilistic Patent Disputes: Strategic Entry and Asymmetric Information

We consider separately strategic entry and asymmetric information in the design of the settlement policy governing patent disputes, with a focus on Shapiro (2003)’s consumer protection rule. We show that, when a potential entrant strategically incurs an entry cost before engaging in a patent dispute, a more stringent settlement policy of deterring costly entry is preferable to the patent-holder and may lead to higher static efficiency. Concerning asymmetric information, when the disputants, but not the court, learn the patent validity, we derive an “expectation test,” which requires that a laxer settlement policy be coupled with higher expected patent validity under settlement

Arab Countries’ (Under) Participation In The WTO Dispute Settlement Mechanism

The purpose of the present article is two-fold. First, the article examines the reasons as to why Arab countries do not actively participate in WTO dispute settlement proceedings.17 Trade volume, lack of technical expertise, financial strains, political relations, enforcement, and language problems eachplay a role in Arab countries under-participation and are discussed herein. Second, the article provides possible avenues through which Arab countries can enhance their presence in the WTO dispute settlement process. In the process of examining these issues, the article highlights the case(s) in which Arab countries participated in the WTO dispute settlement system. However, before addressing these issues, the article will briefly discuss the development of the WTO dispute settlement mechanism

Settlement process of Afghan immigrant women based on cultural perspective in Finland

The study examined the settlement issues of Afghan immigrant women from a cultural perspective in Finland. The study explores the process of Afghan women settlement and focus on the cultural causes, aspects and the issues which make the settlement challenging and difficult for them. It also considers how these women face with these challenges during their settlement. The theoretical frameworks of this study are Frames for understanding settlement process and immigrant settlement experiences. The immigrant’s settlement experiences explain immigrant’s cultural challenges and the coping strategies which they use to deal with the cultural challenges. It also studies the services which immigrants receive during the process of their settlement such as social work services and migrations services during their settlement process which can make the process easier for immigrant women. This study is qualitative research where data was analyzed using content and thematic analysis. The data was collected from interview with six respondents. Participants in the study included six adult Afghans immigrant women who have resided in Finland more than 3 years .They were interviewed separately with open –ended in-depth interviews. The thesis explains the main cultural aspects which bring issues for Afghan women settlement (religion, language, discrimination, family…) and the cultural aspects which immigrants use in order to overcome their challenges (Religion, individual attributes, social support). The analysis of the interviews resulted in three core themes (1) cultural challenges (2) Personal coping strategies (3) Satisfaction level from receiving social services. The central argument of this study is about immigrants who face different challenges as soon as they left their countries. Beside self-awareness and having positive attitudes, immigrants need different kind of support in order to overcome these challenges and reach to a balance in their new lives. There is lack of knowledge about immigrants in between the people of countries which immigrants migrate and even between the service providers. There is a need for more comprehensive and multicultural knowledge about immigrants. People and service providers need to be more educated about immigrants in order to ease the process of their settlement after migration

Remarks

The limits of international trade must be understood within the context of the institutional framework of the WTO, in particular, the decision-making and dispute settlement processes. The WTO dispute settlement rules are contained in the Dispute Settlement Understanding (DSU), which is Annex 2 to the WTO agreement. The DSU includes some comments on the philosophy, the direction and the purposes of the dispute settlement procedures. Article 3.2 of the DSU has some very interesting phrases. One of those phrases (roughly paraphrased) says, \u27\u27None of the reports of the dispute settlement procedure should result in a change, addition, or subtraction from the rights and obligations of the members. Some have pointed to that clause as a warning against judicial activism. The panelists and Appellate Body members should not be changing the direction of the system in terms of its basic goals. Any changes to the direction of the system are to be left in the hands of the sovereign states, the nation states, and the members. I interpret Article 3.2 to mean: Be careful

Economies of scale and technological development in securities depository and settlement systems

The paper investigates the existence and extent of economies of scale in depository and settlement systems. Evidence from 16 settlement institutions across different regions for the years 1993–2000 indicates the existence of significant economies of scale. The degree of such economies, however, differs by size of settlement institution and region. While smaller settlement service providers reveal high potential of economies of scale, larger institutions show an increasing trend of cost effectiveness. Clearing and settlement systems in countries in Europe and Asia report substantially larger economies of scale than those of the US system. European cross-border settlement seems to be more cost intensive than that on a domestic level, reflecting chiefly complexities of EU international securities settlement and differences in the scope of international settlement services providers. The evidence also reveals that investments in implementing new systems and upgrades of settlement technology continuously improved cost effectiveness over the sample period.securities settlement, economies of scale, technological progress

Pricing of settlement link services and mergers of central securities depositories

This paper tries to contribute to the discussion on the role of securities settlement infrastructures for financial integration in Europe. It presents a model that can explain a well-known stylized fact of securities settlement, the surprisingly high fees charged by central securities depositories (CSDs) for settlement through links between CSDs. As the model turns out to provide a robust explanation for this stylized fact, it is then used to analyzes an important policy question, the welfare effects of mergers of CSDs. JEL Classification: G21, G15, L13central securities depositories, link settlement fees, Securities settlement