Copyright (c) 2011 All rights reserved. http://works.bepress.com/vai_lo Recent documents in Vai Io Lo en-us Thu, 20 Jan 2011 17:16:21 PST 3600 http://works.bepress.com/vai_lo/19 http://works.bepress.com/vai_lo/19 Tue, 27 Jul 2010 19:02:38 PDT A concise resource of fundamental concepts of Australian commercial law written in Chinese. Commercial Law in Australia is an exciting new book on commercial law. The book is written in Chinese by a leading academic and is designed specifically to assist Chinese-speakers with gaining an understanding of the fundamental concepts of Australian commercial law. Important Features: · Chinese language text covering the fundamental concepts of commercial law, allowing students to develop a core understanding before moving on to more in-depth study. · Legal terms in Chinese and English, allowing the reader to develop their English language skills. · Glossary of terms allows for a quick and easy reference and understanding of fundamental legal concepts. · Written by a leading academic with a strong history of research and publication in English and Chinese. Vai Io Lo http://works.bepress.com/vai_lo/18 http://works.bepress.com/vai_lo/18 Mon, 26 Jul 2010 22:18:19 PDT Democratic institutions are not equally effective in curbing corruption. Using a criminal behavior model, this study formulates the hypothesis that corruption offenders, being risk-inclined, are deterred more by conviction-reinforcing democratic institutions than by punishment-reinforcing democratic institutions. Evidence based on cross-country regressions strongly supports this hypothesis, indicating that compared with competitive election, free press is a more effective deterrent to corruption. While shedding light on why corruption remains rampant in some electoral democracies - particularly the illiberal democracies - this study identifies a key to corruption control. Xiaowen Tian http://works.bepress.com/vai_lo/17 http://works.bepress.com/vai_lo/17 Mon, 26 Jul 2010 20:10:41 PDT In trying to establish a presence in China, foreign investors have found it imperative to understand the regulatory environment of this potentially huge market. This book provides an up-to-date overview of the legal framework for doing business in China. It covers such topics as state structure; legislative amendments and enactments on direct foreign investment; the court system; the legal profession; business entities; foreign investment enterprises; contracts; intellectual property; labor and employment; consumer protection; taxation; securities; and dispute resolution. Apart from explaining legal principles, the book highlights liberalisation measures that China has undertaken to fulfil its WTO commitments; elucidates complicated legal concepts with examples of court decisions; discusses relevant foreign trade and investment polices; and includes a glossary of Chinese terms. Vai Io Lo http://works.bepress.com/vai_lo/16 http://works.bepress.com/vai_lo/16 Mon, 11 Jan 2010 17:11:38 PST Progress in multilateral negotiations to liberalise trade under the World Trade Organisation (WTO) has become more difficult since newer members are generally developing countries with different interests than the United States, the European Union and other industrialised countries. More than 250 free trade agreements (FTAs) have come into effect since 1948. Partly as a result of the WTO impasse, over 130 FTAs have been ratified just in the past ten years; each agreement has been designed to eliminate trade restrictions and subsidies between the parties involved. Almost all of the WTO Members participate in one or more FTAs (some Members are party to twenty or more). Most books on FTAs are country- or region-specific, while others deal with the subject from a particular perspective. This timely work – produced by some of the world’s leading experts in their respective fields – employs a broader approach exploring FTAs from the interdisciplinary perspectives of international law, political economy, culture and human rights. Ross Buckley http://works.bepress.com/vai_lo/15 http://works.bepress.com/vai_lo/15 Thu, 12 Feb 2009 16:34:36 PST Vai Io Lo http://works.bepress.com/vai_lo/14 http://works.bepress.com/vai_lo/14 Thu, 12 Feb 2009 16:34:36 PST This paper by Vai Io Lo forms a chapter in the book 'Reform, legitimacy, and dilemmas: China’s politics and society'. Some of the questions this book attempts to address include: How has China's post-Deng leadership governed the country? How have the changing social and political environments shifted the bases of political legitimacy? What strategies has Jiang Zemin adopted to cope with new circumstances in order to strengthen his leadership? What are the challenges these new reform measures have generated for the leadership? And how have domestic concerns constrained the leadership's intention in China's foreign relations? Vai Io Lo http://works.bepress.com/vai_lo/13 http://works.bepress.com/vai_lo/13 Thu, 12 Feb 2009 16:34:35 PST Although legislative provisions on employee inventions and works for hire have existed for years, their application in many countries has been relatively limited. Amid waves of informational revolution and rapid technological advances, however, issues relating to employee inventions and works for hire have gained increased significance. In this day and age, it is imperative that employees' inventive and creative works be judiciously handled under an effective legal system. Since Japanese companies have amassed economic successes throughout the world, it would be interesting and instructive to study the Japanese system regarding employee inventions and works for hire.Accordingly, this article attempts to provide an overview of Japan's regulatory system pertaining to employee inventions and works for hire, focusing on industrial practices. Nonetheless, in view of the trend of university-industry alliance in technological research and development, university practices with respect to employees' inventive or creative works are briefly mentioned. In particular, the following issues are examined: What rights does the employer have in the employee's inventive or creative works? What rights does the employee have in his or her inventive or creative works? For which types of inventive or creative works can the employee obtain compensation? If the employee is compensated or rewarded for inventive or creative works, in what form, for how much, and at what time is the compensation given?In seeking answers to these questions, the Japanese experience is studied against the backdrop of the U.S., Chinese, and German systems. Vai Io Lo http://works.bepress.com/vai_lo/11 http://works.bepress.com/vai_lo/11 Thu, 12 Feb 2009 16:34:35 PST Chinese and Japanese trade unions may seem emasculated and weak when compared with their Western counterparts in that they do not stand up to management to protect the interests of workers. The author's careful analysis probes the reasons for this difference, tearing down stereotypical notions about societies with a Confucian heritage, to examine the significant role of law in shaping industrial relations in modern China and Japan. Vai Io Lo http://works.bepress.com/vai_lo/12 http://works.bepress.com/vai_lo/12 Thu, 12 Feb 2009 16:34:35 PST The rise of atypical employment, which refers to work other than regular full-time employment, necessitates an enquiry into the economic and legal environments in which nonregular employees now live. This article is a comparative analysis of atypical employment in Japan and the United States. These two countries have been chosen because each has a significant nonregular work force and is a developed nation representing the East and the West, respectively. The discussion here highlights the legal protections which nonregular employees receive in these countries and the areas of atypical employment requiring greater regulation. Vai Io Lo http://works.bepress.com/vai_lo/10 http://works.bepress.com/vai_lo/10 Thu, 12 Feb 2009 16:34:34 PST This article provides an up-to-date assessment of China's reformed urban healthcare system. It illustrates that, in the Chinese case, economic growth does not automatically bring equitable healthcare protection; policy and system designs are also important. The article finds that the reformed urban healthcare system is financially sustainable, but that individual citizens contribute the largest share of healthcare costs, whilst the state is reducing its financial commitment. It also reports the views of two principal stakeholder groups. The survey findings indicate the endorsement of an old ethos for a strong state in healthcare protection. But a substantial minority view is also unveiled, which supports access to healthcare on the basis of insurance contributions. In sum, affordability remains a critical issue for the Chinese despite the fact that they have a new healthcare system and a strong economy. Chack-Kie Wong http://works.bepress.com/vai_lo/9 http://works.bepress.com/vai_lo/9 Thu, 12 Feb 2009 16:34:34 PST From 1949 to the present, the People's Republic of China (China) has promulgated numerous labor-related statutes, regulations, and decrees to meet changes engendered by shifting economic and social policies. This article attempts to provide a legislative analysis of labor and employment in China, illustrating the labor-management problems China has experienced and the corresponding policies and measures designed to resolve them. In doing so, this article will concretely depict the economic, social, and political environments in which Chinese laborers have lived and to which law as an institution has contributed. To accomplish its objective, this article is divided into two main parts: labor measures in a nonmarket-driven economy and labor legislation in a market-driven economy. The year of 1979 is chosen as the watershed because around that time China began to launch its economic reforms. Specifically, the discussion on labor reforms before 1979 is designed to provide background information for the current labor and employment issues in China. A larger portion of this article, however, concentrates on labor legislation since 1979, because many important labor-related statutes and regulations were passed after China had formally embarked on reforming its economy. In addition, the statutes and regulations selected here are discussed in chronological order, detailing the evolving trend of labor legislation in China. Vai Io Lo http://works.bepress.com/vai_lo/7 http://works.bepress.com/vai_lo/7 Thu, 12 Feb 2009 16:34:33 PST A number of empirical studies have found that private firms did not achieve as much productivity gains as collectives did [in China]. This seems to suggest that privatization did not materialize what the property rights theory had claimed, and that the rapid growth of the Chinese economy in the past twenty years resulted mainly from the productivity gains achieved in the intermediate forms of ownership – the collectives. To counter this challenge, this article argues that the poor performance of the private sector and the successes of the collective sector were attributed to the legal environment that favoured collectives over private firms in the 1980s, not due to the assumed superiority of collectives over private ownership. In a discriminatory legal environment, private property rights progressively developed within, or under the disguise of, collectives in the 1980s, and thereby contributed to the successful performance of the collective sector in that period. Along with the changes in the legal environment to strengthen protection of private property rights, private ownership developed in a more open manner and began to outperform collectives in the 1990s. Accordingly, the Chinese experience cannot pose a challenge to property rights theory, but rather, demonstrates economic gains from progressive, albeit hidden in the beginning, privatization and the importance of legal protection of private property rights. Xiaowen Tian http://works.bepress.com/vai_lo/8 http://works.bepress.com/vai_lo/8 Thu, 12 Feb 2009 16:34:33 PST [extract] Despite the prominent role of mediation in Chinese dispute resolution, the incidence of civil litigation has been rising over the years. Every year for the past two decades, except for 1983, the number of civil cases accepted by the courts of first instance steadily increased, from 300,787 cases in 1978 to 3,375,069 cases in 1998. Accordingly, this article attempts to achieve two objectives. First, against the backdrop of the overall dispute resolution scheme in China, this article aims at ascertaining the circumstances under which Chinese citizens have resorted to litigation to resolve civil disputes. Second, if "legal acculturation" is defined as the extent to which law has penetrated into the populace, another objective of this article is to examine whether Chinese citizens have utilized law, namely, legal institutions, to assert rights or resolve disputes in the past twenty years. Legal institutions, in a broad sense, refer to legal norms, the legal profession, the court system, and various enforcement mechanisms. This line of inquiry is salutary because the convergence or divergence between legal theory and actual practice should not be the only yardstick for measuring the efficacy of China's legal reforms. Vai Io Lo http://works.bepress.com/vai_lo/5 http://works.bepress.com/vai_lo/5 Thu, 12 Feb 2009 16:34:32 PST This study finds that the Chinese experience cannot, as some have claimed, pose a challenge to the property rights theory. The unsatisfactory economic performance of the Chinese private sector in the 1980s is attributed to the discriminatory legal environment within which private property rights developed. Private property rights had to develop under the disguise of collectives. Once the political and legal environments improved in the 1990s, the private sector achieved significantly greater productivity gains and contributed more to economic growth than all other sectors. Accordingly, private property rights are crucial to economic performance; China is no exception. Vai Io Lo http://works.bepress.com/vai_lo/6 http://works.bepress.com/vai_lo/6 Thu, 12 Feb 2009 16:34:32 PST In the spring of 1992, Deng Xiaoping made a historic tour of South China, popularly known as Nanxun or "southern tour". During the tour, Deng made several important speeches, boldly calling for more radical economic reform and the further opening up of China. This tour has since sparked off dynamic economic growth in China and drastically changed the political and social landscape of the country.The book 'The Nanxun legacy and China’s developments in the post-Deng era' is a collection of papers presented to an international conference on "Deng's Nanxun Legacy and China's Development", which was organised by the East Asian Institute (EAI) in Singapore in April 2000. Vai Io Lo http://works.bepress.com/vai_lo/4 http://works.bepress.com/vai_lo/4 Thu, 12 Feb 2009 16:34:31 PST Based upon a production junction with FDI representing updated technology from more developed, market-based economies, this study tests the hypothesis that FDI contributes to the economic growth of less developed, transition economies via technology updating, using data for 30 Chinese provinces from 1985 to 2000. It is found that provinces with a higher FDI ratio experienced faster technology updating and more rapid economic growth. The study suggests that less developed, transition economies should encourage FDI from more developed, market-based economies so as to accelerate technology updating and economic growth. Xiaowen Tian http://works.bepress.com/vai_lo/3 http://works.bepress.com/vai_lo/3 Thu, 12 Feb 2009 16:34:31 PST This paper by Vai Io Lo forms a chapter in the book 'Reform, legitimacy, and dilemmas: China’s politics and society'. Some of the questions this book attempts to address include: How has China's post-Deng leadership governed the country? How have the changing social and political environments shifted the bases of political legitimacy? What strategies has Jiang Zemin adopted to cope with new circumstances in order to strengthen his leadership? What are the challenges these new reform measures have generated for the leadership? And how have domestic concerns constrained the leadership's intention in China's foreign relations? Vai Io Lo http://works.bepress.com/vai_lo/2 http://works.bepress.com/vai_lo/2 Thu, 12 Feb 2009 16:34:30 PST Based on a study of a mid-level city in China, these three scholars provide analysis and offer theory-based recommendations on health care development. Using a comparative policy framework, supported by a legal expert's knowledge of regulatory specifications, China's Urban Health Care Reform argues that a strategy with priority in economic growth, as in the case of China, does not bring forth cost efficiency and equity in health care for the whole nation. The authors strive to offer direction for health care reform that will lead to better health care in China's cities. As a result, this is a work of great significance to anyone involved in public health, social work, public policy, medicine, or law. Chack-Kie Wong http://works.bepress.com/vai_lo/1 http://works.bepress.com/vai_lo/1 Thu, 12 Feb 2009 16:34:30 PST The Chinese market is appealing, but the Chinese legal system is very complicated. A basic understanding of Chinese law is absolutely crucial for companies investing in this fast-growing and potentially huge market. Since China is moving toward a socialist market economy and is increasingly integrated into the world market, some aspects of China's commercial law are different from, while others are moving into line with, those of mature market economies. This book provides an introduction to the Chinese legal system, focusing on laws and regulations on foreign direct investment and highlights recent government policies and measures undertaken to intensify economics reforms so as to meet various challenges arising from China's accession to the World Trade Organization. Vai Io Lo