Jedidiah J Kroncke on Law and Development (New Book Chapter)

"Law and Development"
Jedidiah J Kroncke
in Elgar Encyclopedia of Comparative Law 
Edward Elgar Publishing, pp.391–399
Published online: December 2023

I. Introduction

Studies that self-identify as within the field of ‘law and development’ posit that legal institutions and practices can be reformed to promote social development, traditionally through efforts funded by ‘developed’ countries in ‘developing’ countries. Yet, beyond this seemingly broad concern, perhaps the one defining feature of the term ‘law and development’ is the perpetually unresolved nature of any more decisive self-definition (Prado [2010]). Some of this definitional struggle admittedly echoes the traditional problematic of defining law (Nader [1965]). Is law restricted to the work of explicitly self-identified legal matter such as legislation, case decisions, treaties and the similarly explicitly self-identified actors who produce them such as lawyers, legislations and judges? Or is law a much broader array of social institutions, norms and practices that exist in and outside such formal categories? Of more recent vintage, parallel debates exist over the meaning of ‘development’, in particular, how ‘development’ is measured to gauge ‘progress’ and by whom (Gudynas [2016]). The once dominant association of development with aggregate national economic growth has given way to quite diverse and divergent views on the positive indicia of human life (Stanton [2007]). As such, the myriad actors who produce work under the rubric of ‘law and development’ invariably are prompted to triangulate a definition that makes some assumption about, or overt claim to focus on, the intersection of particular understandings of both ‘law’ and ‘development’ (Trebilcock and Prado [2021]). A simple review of the types of reforms pursued as part of ‘law and development’ work reveals its wide-ranging ambit. Some reforms emphasize technical aspects...

Shane Chalmers on The Rule of Law and International Development (OUP book chapter)

"The Rule of Law and International Development"
Shane Chalmers
in Ruth Buchanan (ed.), Luis Eslava (ed.), Sundhya Pahuja (ed.), The Oxford Handbook of International Law and Development (Oxford University Press 2023) Chapter 5
Published online: December 2023

Abstract: The aim of this chapter is twofold: to provide an overview of the international development project’s ‘rule of law’ agenda, and to do so in a way that shows its mythological character. In 1992 Peter Fitzpatrick published The Mythology of Modern Law, a work that exposed the constitutive relation between Europe’s racialised imperialism and its conception of modern law. In the three decades since, a renewed field of law and development has grown, this time in the name of ‘the rule of law’. This chapter shows how the mythology of modern law endures in this field of rule-of-law development. The analysis shows how the mythology of modern law, in its racialised imperial form, is integral to the work of international rule-of-law promotion. One consequence is the denial of ‘local’ law by a rule of law that obtains its authority by purporting to be responsive to legal pluralism.

HKU Law Welcomes Professor Sida Liu, Professor of Sociology of Law

Welcome to Professor Sida Liu who joined the Faculty of Law as a Professor of Law! Professor Sida Liu 劉思達, LLB, Peking University Law School, 2002, PhD, The University of Chicago, 2009, also holds a courtesy appointment in the Department of Sociology. Professor Liu’s research interests include sociology of law, Chinese law and society, criminal justice and human rights, law and globalization, and sociolegal theory. He has conducted extensive empirical research on various aspects of China’s legal reform and legal professions. In addition to his empirical work, Professor Liu also writes on theories of law, professions, and social spaces.

     Professor Liu is the author of three books in Chinese and English, including The Lost Polis: Transformation of the Legal Profession in Contemporary China (Peking University Press, 2008), The Logic of Fragmentation: An Ecological Analysis of the Chinese Legal Services Market (Shanghai Joint Publishing Co., 2011), and Criminal Defense in China: The Politics of Lawyers at Work (with Terence C. Halliday, Cambridge University Press, 2016). He has also published many articles in leading law and social science journals, including Law & Society Review, Law & Social Inquiry, Law & Policy, Asian Journal of Law and Society, Wisconsin Law Review, Fordham Law Review, Yale Journal of International Law, Journal of Legal Education, Annual Review of Law and Social Science, American Journal of Sociology, Sociological Theory, European Journal of Social Theory, China Quarterly, etc. Most recently, Professor Liu has co-edited The Asian Law and Society Reader (with Lynette J. Chua and David M. Engel, Cambridge University Press, 2023).
     Professor Liu holds external courtesy appointments as Faculty Fellow at the American Bar Foundation, Affiliated Scholar of the U.S.-Asia Law Institute at New York University School of Law, Faculty Affiliate of the Center on the Legal Profession at Harvard Law School, and Vice President of the China Institute for Socio-Legal Studies at Shanghai Jiao Tong University. He has served as Chair of the Section on Sociology of Law at the American Sociological Association and Board Member of the Law & Society Association, the Asian Law & Society Association, the Canadian Law & Society Association, and the Consortium of Undergraduate Law and Justice Programs. Before joining the HKU faculty, Professor Liu taught at the University of Toronto and the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He received his LLB from Peking University Law School and his PhD in sociology from the University of Chicago. In 2016-2017, he was a Member of the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton. His research areas include:

• Sociology of Law
• Chinese Law and Society
• Human Rights
• Law and Globalization

Guanghua Yu on The Rise of Germany in the 19th and 20th Centuries and Sustaining Democracy (Law and Development Review)

"The Rise of Germany in the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries and Sustaining Democracy" 

Guanghua Yu
Law and Development Review
Published in August 2021 online

Abstract: This article examines the rise of Germany from the nineteenth century to explain that it is open access in the economic sphere, as well as institutional building related to the protection of property rights, contract enforcement, financial markets, rule of law, and human resource accumulation that determine economic and human development. The case of Germany is not very consistent with the logic of the open access orders of North et al. or the theory of extractive political institutions of Acemoglu and Robinson along the line of contestation and inclusiveness. The case of Germany is, however, able to support the research of Przeworski and Limongi that economic development is more likely to sustain democracy. Germany is certainly not the only case in explaining that stable democracy is not the cause but rather the consequence or outcome of lengthy economic development. The historical evidence from South Korea and Taiwan similarly supports the position that democracy is the outcome of economic and political development. This article, however, does not examine whether western values of human equality and human freedom are essential in economic and human development. They are very likely to be so as human equality is the precondition of open access in the economic sphere and human freedom is closely integrated with the interconnected institutions examined in this article. Future research may investigate the roles of these values in different political systems regardless of whether a political system is under the rule of one party, by a dominant party, or through the utilization of a multiparty system.

Amanda Whitfort on Hong Kong’s Leading Role in the Global Extinction Crisis, as Hub of Illegal Wildlife Trade, and the Legal Amendment that could Change that (SCMP)

"Hong Kong’s leading role in the global extinction crisis, as hub of illegal wildlife trade, and the legal amendment that could change that"

SCMP Lifestyle

23 April 2021

• The scales and carcasses of tens of thousands of pangolins are shipped illegally through Hong Kong every year
• Existing laws do little to stem this trade, but a proposed law change to treat wildlife smuggling as organised crime could make a big difference

Pangolins have clever defence mechanisms. When threatened they curl up into a tight ball – the name pangolin is derived from the Malay word pengguling, meaning “one who rolls up” – the hard scales covering their bodies overlap to create an “armour”. Like skunks, pangolins can spray a noxious fluid from glands near their anuses to keep predators at bay.

      Sadly these protective tools can’t deter humans, who have poached the anteater-like creatures to near-extinction, the trade fuelled by false claims in traditional Chinese medicine that pangolin scales relieve ailments from asthma to poor kidney function, and can improve lactation. On top of that, in China and Vietnam pangolin meat is considered a delicacy. 

...

     The legislative reform, says Amanda Whitfort, associate professor of law at the University of Hong Kong, would facilitate the use of powers by enforcement authorities to tackle wildlife crime that are currently reserved for serious crimes such as drug and arms trafficking.

      It would allow the investigation of persons or materials with connections to organised crime as well as the confiscation of proceeds of crimes, she says, and could serve as a powerful disincentive to wildlife criminals, preventing the reinvestment of profits to fund further criminal activities.

... Click here to read the full text. 

New Book: Competition Law in Developing Countries (Thomas Cheng)

Competition Law in Developing Countries

Thomas Cheng

Oxford University Press

Published in May 2020

608 pp.

Synopsis: This book brings together perspectives of development economics and law to tackle the relationship between competition law enforcement and economic development. It addresses the question of whether, and how, competition law enforcement helps to promote economic growth and development. This question is highly pertinent for developing countries largely because many developing countries have only adopted competition law in recent years: about thirty jurisdictions had in place a competition law in the early 1980s, and there are now more than 130 competition law regimes across the world, of which many are developing countries.

     The book proposes a customized approach to competition law enforcement for developing countries, set against the background of the academic and policy debate concerning convergence of competition law. The implicit premise of convergence is that there may exist one, or a few, correct approaches to competition law enforcement, which in most cases emanate from developed jurisdictions, that are applicable to all. This book rejects this assumption and argues that developing countries ought to tailor competition law enforcement to their own economic and political circumstances. In particular, it suggests how competition law enforcement can better incorporate development concerns without causing undue dilution of its traditional focus on protecting consumer welfare. It proposes ways in which approaches to competition law enforcement need to be adjusted to reflect the special economic characteristics of developing country economies and the more limited enforcement capacity of developing country competition authorities. Finally, it also addresses the long-running debate concerning the desirability and viability of industrial policy for developing countries. 

"This book is a must-read. It is the first comprehensive multidisciplinary discussion of the contribution of competition law to economic development. Building on an extensive analysis of the relationship between economic competition, growth, innovation, and development, the author explores how the competition law instrument should be adapted to the specificities, limitations, and goals of developing countries. Thanks to his deep knowledge of competition law, profound understanding of the challenges faced by developing countries, and pragmatic approach to competition, Thomas Cheng's unconventional call for a contextualized application of competition law in developing countries is compelling." - Professor Frédéric Jenny, Chairman OECD Competition Committee

"This is a compelling and ground-breaking book that will be important to the competition/antitrust community, to the law and development community, and to all those interested generally in law, economics, and poverty alleviation. Cheng systematically links economic growth, economic development, and competition policy for developing countries, and he suggests answers to the question, 'How should developing countries adjust their competition policy to address their needs for development and growth?" - Professor Eleanor M. Fox, Walter J. Derenberg Professor of Trade Regulation, New York University School of Law

Welcome to HKU Law's Inaugural Global Academic Fellows

Welcome to Dr Yu-Jie Chen, Dr Anna Dziedzic, and Dr Alexander Ezenagu, our first batch of Global Academic Fellows.  The fellows were selected following a global competition of accomplished postdoctoral law applicants. The inaugural group will further enrich the Faculty of Law's research areas of strength in human rights law, constitutional law, and financial law.

Dr Yu-Jie Chen

   Prior to joining HKU, Dr Yu-Jie Chen was a Postdoctoral Research Associate at the Institutum Iurisprudentiae of Academia Sinica in Taiwan. Dr Chen received her JSD and LLM degrees from New York University School of Law. She also holds an LLM and LLB from National Chengchi University in Taiwan. She has had extensive experience as a research scholar at the US-Asia Law Institute, NYU School of Law. Prior to that, she served as a researcher and advocate for the non-governmental organization Human Rights in China. She earlier practiced in the Taipei-based international law firm Lee and Li. Dr Chen's research focuses on human rights issues in China, Taiwan and cross-strait relations.

   Dr Chen's recent scholarship includes “China’s Challenge to the International Human Rights Regime,” “Human Rights in the Chinese Administration of Justice,” “Localizing Human Rights Treaty Monitoring: Case Study of Taiwan as a Non-UN Member State,” “Isolated but Not Oblivious: Taiwan’s Acceptance of the Two Major Human Rights Covenants,” “China-Taiwan Relations Re-examined: the ‘1992 Consensus’ and Cross-strait Agreements” (with Jerome A. Cohen), “China-Taiwan Repatriation of Criminal Suspects: Room for Human Rights?” (with Jerome A. Cohen), “Freedom from Arbitrary Detention in Asia: Lessons from China, Taiwan and Hong Kong” (with Jerome A. Cohen), “‘Rule of Trust’: Powers and Perils of China’s Social Credit Megaproject” (with Ching-fu Lin & Han-wei Liu), “Beyond State v Loomis: Artificial Intelligence, Government Algorithmization and Accountability” (with Han-wei Liu & Ching-fu Lin), and “Transitional Justice in Taiwan: Changes and Challenges” (with Nien-chung Chang Liao).

Dr Anna Dziedzic

    Dr Anna Dziedzic researches in the field of comparative constitutional law, with a particular focus on judges and judiciaries and constitutional change. She completed her PhD at Melbourne Law School in 2019, with a doctoral thesis examining the use of foreign judges on courts of constitutional jurisdiction in Pacific island states. She will use the Global Academic Fellowship at HKU Faculty of Law to undertake broader comparative research into foreign judges and the significance of nationality to judicial office.

     Dr Dziedzic was awarded an MA in Human Rights from University College London in 2011, and first class honours degrees in Arts and Law and the University Medal in English Literature from the Australian National University in 2004. Prior to undertaking post-graduate study, Dr Dziedzic  worked at the Australian Law Reform Commission, the Australian Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet, as an Associate to a Justice of the Federal Court of Australia and a volunteer legal analyst at the Samoa Law Reform Commission.

     Dr Dziedzic’s academic publications include work on constitutional law and constitution making in Pacific island states, Australian constitutional law, Indigenous constitutions, federalism, parliamentary sovereignty, and judges and judiciaries. She has also undertaken consultancies on various issues including constitutional implementation, gender and constitutions, and citizenship.  She is a co-convenor of the Constitution Transformation Network at Melbourne Law School, a network that brings scholars and practitioners together to explore the dynamics and challenges of change in constitutional law, theory and practice across the globe. 

Dr. Alexander Ezenagu

     Dr Alexander Ezenagu researches on the intersections of trade, investment, tax and development. He is also designing a taught course on the governance of development from a developing country perspective. 

     Dr Ezenagu obtained his doctorate degree from McGill University, Canada, in International Tax Law. His doctorate dissertation studied the alternatives to the arm’s length principle of income allocation among related entities and the adoption and application of unitary taxation approach for allocating income among entities within a multinational group. Dr Ezenagu is a graduate of the University of Cambridge, United Kingdom, where he obtained a Master of Law degree (LLM) in Commercial Law. 

      Dr Ezenagu’s current research focuses on the relationship between taxation and economic development, as well as the role of government and non-government institutions and actors in the creation of tax policies and rules. He writes on the right to tax by countries and how such taxing rights should be allocated. He also researches and writes on illicit financial flows out of developing countries and ways to curb them. 

    The HKU Faculty of Law launched the Global Academic Fellows Programme in 2018 under the directorship of Dr Jed Kroncke, assisted by Ms Ivy Lai.  The aim of this postdoctoral law programme is to provide a highly stimulating research environment for the most promising legal academics to continue and develop their internationally excellent research.

Hualing Fu on Touching the Proverbial Elephant: The Multiple Shades of Chinese Law (China Perspectives)

"Editorial: Touching the Proverbial Elephant: The Multiple Shades of Chinese Law"

Hualing Fu

China Perspective
2019, Issue, pp 3-9

In a powerful speech to celebrate the 40th anniversary of China’s reform and opening-up policy, Xi Jinping declared: “We must resolutely reform what should and can be changed, and we must resolutely not reform what shouldn’t and can’t be changed” (gai gai de, neng gai de, women jianjue gai; bu gai gai de, bu neng gai de, jianjue bu gai 该改的, 能改的, 我们坚决改; 不该改的, 不能改的, 坚决不改).

     Xi’s speech captures and explains the dilemma in which, on one hand, China has initiated the most repressive campaign against political dissidents, real or perceived, as show-cased in the continuous crackdown on lawyers, journalists, religious believers, and civil society activists, among others; and, on the other, has jump-started the most systematic and structural legal reform, unprecedented since Chinese reform started 40 years ago. Xi’s speech also reflects the duality of Chinese reform: sustaining and strengthening the political system with the leadership of the CCP at the core and liberalising the economic and social system... Click here to read the full editorial.

Xianchu Zhang on Integration of CCP Leadership with Corporate Governance (China Perspectives)

"Integration of CCP Leadership with Corporate Governance: Leading Role or Dismemberment?"

Xianchu Zhang

China Perspectives

2019, Issue 1, pp 55-63

Abstract: Since 2018, a political campaign to integrate leadership by the Communist Party as the core force in corporate governance in China has reversed the course of market reform in the past 40 years, which was predicated on separation of the Party’s political functions from company business operations. This article critically reviews the trend of developments from a historical perspective and analyses the impact of the political campaign on China’s socialist market economy and rule of law conditions. Some institutional implications are also examined in the comparative context with reference to the OECD Corporate Principles. The major argument of this article is that enhancing the Party’s leadership in companies will negatively affect development of the market economy and rule of law as well as China’s attempt to create an innovative society for its economic upgrading.

Guanghua Yu on Open Access Order and Interconnected Institutions in Brazil (Law & Development Rev)

"Open Access Order and Interconnected Institutions in Brazil: A Challenge"
Guanghua Yu
Law and Development Review
Published Online: 2018-05-10
Abstract:

This article examines the evolution of democratic practice in Brazil. The article begins with a discussion on the country’s performance in terms of social equality, violence, and weak economy after the consolidation of democracy in 1985. Based on historical evidence, the article offers explanations concerning the weak performance in Brazil. The case of Brazil provides a challenge to the theory of open access order of North and his colleagues in the sense that open access to political organizations and activities does not necessarily lead to either better political representation or better economic performance. The case of Brazil also shows that open access to economic organizations and activities in the absence of the necessary institutions in the areas of property rights protection and contract enforcement, the financial market, the rule of law, and human resources accumulation does not lead to long-term economic growth.

New Book: Transparency Challenges Facing China (Palmer, Zhang & Fu)

Transparency Challenges Facing China
Editors: Michael Palmer, Xianchu Zhang, Hualing Fu
Wildy, Simmonds and Hill Publishing
January 2019

Description: The concept of transparency has grown exponentially in importance around the world as a principle of good governance over the past two decades.

     Openness in the manner in which governments, social institutions and business corporations conduct themselves, and their willingness to disclose important information about themselves or about other actors in which they have an interest, are important features of this growth. However, greater commitment to transparency may present difficulties for an authoritarian system’s political leadership.

     Such reform is likely to lead also to demands for political and governance change and similarly radical ideas that foster stability problems for an authoritarian political and legal system, as they enable civil society to scrutinize better the conduct of that authoritarian leadership and its institutions. On the other hand, when transparency is only partial, the government might use it as an instrument of propaganda, shaping public opinion and forestalling structural reform.

     The chapters in this book address the situation in mainland China where economic reform policies and a drive to gain a stronger place in the global economy have encouraged a complex and sometimes ambiguous approach to transparency. The essays explore the manner in which, and the degree to which, greater transparency in governance has emerged in the PRC.

     They also assess the impact of greater transparency in terms of accountability, decision-making processes, and responsiveness in the Chinese governance system. The papers in this volume have their origins in a 2016 conference on transparency issues in China held at the University of Hong Kong’s Faculty of Law under the guidance of the editors, and bringing together scholars with interests in the emergence of transparency in some of the most important areas of Chinese governance.

Guanghua Yu on Open Access in the Economic Sphere or the Political Sphere: Evidence from Japan (Law and Development Review)

"Open Access in the Economic Sphere or the Political Sphere: Evidence from Japan"
Guanghua Yu
Law and Development Review
2018, Volume 11, Issue 1

Abstract: The article uses the case of Japan to argue that the theory of open access order advocated by North and his colleagues goes beyond what is necessary. Although their theory of open access order explains the West relatively well, it does not always apply to contemporary non-Western countries. Similar to the case of India examined elsewhere, the case of Japan reveals that what is more important to economic and human development is the open access in the economic sphere and the interconnected institutions in the areas of property rights protection and contract enforcement, financial market, rule of law, and human resource accumulation. In other words, countries without open access in the political sphere may also be able to achieve a great deal of success in terms of economic and human development if they ensure open access in the economic sphere and devote adequate resources to establishing the necessary interconnected institutions examined in this article. Further research elsewhere on Singapore and China will shed more light on this debate.

Inna Amesheva on Environmental Degradation and Economic Development in China (Law & Development Review)

"Environmental Degradation and Economic Development in China: An Interrelated Governance Challenge"

Inna Amesheva (PhD Candidate)
Law and Development Review
July 2017, published online ahead of print

Abstract: The author argues that the deterioration of the natural environment in China provides a persuasive reason to reorient China’s economic growth towards a more sustainable path. Reconciling the development and environment imperatives needs to become an urgent priority for the Chinese government in order to avert the cascading implications that will arise in terms of social unrest, loss of further development opportunities as well as deepening income inequality. This paper thus examines the inter-relationship between the current ecological challenge in China and the need for economic sustainability. It evaluates the extent of environmental damage in China and focuses on the environmental impact on development and social inequality. The paper then examines the recent legislative measures that have been taken by the Chinese government to address the problem of inefficient environmental monitoring. The author suggests that further reform is needed to achieve an economically and ecologically just pathway for China’s future. The paper therefore demonstrates that the environment–development challenge in China is mainly a challenge of governance. Resolving it will contribute to better environmental justice and development.

Guanghua Yu on Open Access Order and Institutional Development in India (Austr J Asian L)

"Open Access Order and Interconnected Institutions: The Case of India"

Guanghua Yu
Australian Journal of Asian Law
2016, Vol. 17, No. 2, article 11

Abstract: This article uses the case of India to suggest that the explanations of North and his colleagues of open access orders do not fit well with contemporary developing countries. The political system of India after independence was mainly based on the British model, with influences from the US and French models. Despite India’s practice of Western style of democracy, its economic and human development record remained poor, until at least the late 1970s. In the 1980s, however, India started to liberalise the economy. Focusing on open access to economic organisations and activities has led to better institution building. While India still has a long way to go in terms of institutional development, it has now devoted more resources to the development of institutions in the areas of property rights protection and contract enforcement, the financial market, the rule of law, and human resource accumulation. This study of India argues that if a developing country has difficulty in achieving open access to both political organisations and activities and economic organisations and activities, prioritising open access to economic organisations and activities is likely to produce better economic and human development consequences.  Click here to read the full article.

Statement of Public Interest Principles for Copyright Protection under the Regional Comprehensive Partnership (LTC)

The University of Hong Kong's Law and Technology Centre (LTC) is spearheading a global signature campaign to express concern with the copyright protection standards proposed in the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), a major trading agreement involving Australia, China, India, Japan, New Zealand, South Korea and ASEAN states.  So far more than 60 scholars around the world have signed the Statement of Public Interest Principles for Copyright Protection under the RCEP, a statement drafted by LTC Director Dr Haochen Sun, Associate Professor in the Faculty of Law, The University of Hong Kong.  The Introduction to the Statement is excerpted below.

Introduction 

The Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) aims to conclude a comprehensive agreement that promotes free trade and investment among Australia, China, India, Japan, New Zealand, South Korea and member states of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). As a hallmark of this proposed agreement, the RCEP Intellectual Property (IP) Chapter will set out a host of minimum standards for IP protection in the sixteen participating countries. 
     We are deeply concerned about the copyright protection standards proposed for the RCEP IP Chapter. They may cause unintended effects of stifling creativity, free speech, and economic growth. We urge that the new rounds of RCEP negotiations reconsider those standards by applying the following three principles:

1. Integrate the public interest as a core value for copyright negotiations. 
2. Increase transparency of negotiations for the public interest. 
3. Institute changes in copyright provisions for the public interest. 

Guided by these three principles, RCEP negotiations would produce the largest mega-regional free trade agreement to procedurally and substantially protect the public interest in copyrighted works. The RCEP copyright provisions, therefore, stand to benefit nearly 50% of the world’s population, who live in the sixteen RCEP participating countries.

To view the full Statement and the names of those who have signed it, click here.  To sign the Statement, click here.

New Scholarship from Bryane Michael (AIIFL Fellow)

1. The Optimal Design of the Qianhai Special Economic Zone

This paper discusses changes to Qianhai's and Hong Kong's regulations necessary to make Qianhai a pre-eminent financial centre. We conduct econometric analyses which show that regulatory reform could increase innovative companies' profits by a factor of 10 over the long-term.

https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers2.cfm?abstract_id=2907608

2. Hong Kong's Corporate Governance Rules, Lessons from the Panama Papers and Hong Kong's effect on Changing China's Corporate Governance

This paper describes the changes to Hong Kong's law needed to improve profitable corporate governance reform at home and on the Mainland. We show that the adoption of these standards could increase market valuations by 7%. https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2914865

3. The Problems and Prospects for an IGAD Development Bank

The IGAD region, covering most of East Africa, represents a challenging area for investment in the best of times. The paper argues for a new design for multi-lateral development financial institutions -- one which focuses on securitisation and less sovereign involvement.

https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2790661

4. A Theory of Compliance Regulation

This paper looks at the way financial institutions should organise their compliance functions. We create a database of legal complexity of banking regulations around the world and show that increased regulation may promote banking productivity.

https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers2.cfm?abstract_id=2563981

5. Regulations Determine an M&A Centre's Success

Legal complexity can actually help a financial centre attract more M&A business from places like China. This paper shows the extent to which international law firms and financial advisors have benefited (or not) from their jurisdictions' legal rules.

https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers2.cfm?abstract_id=2607348

6. SCMP's Letter of the Law

Abstract legal theory can be used in the real world. Roughly each month, I look at the deep legal principles driving law enforcement and business in Hong Kong.

http://www.scmp.com/author/bryane-michael

7. Law and Economics Video Series

Are you too lazy to read academic papers? This YouTube Channel presents the main ideas from legal theory and practice in Hong Kong -- in a graphic and common language way.

https://www.youtube.com/user/lawandeconomics1

8. The Law and Economics Podcast

Too busy to watch a video? Why not subscribe to the podcast version? As new videos about legal theory and practice appear, this podcast makes the content available to anyone with a iPod.

https://soundcloud.com/infographicinstant

Farzana Aslam on Balancing Global Concerns with Local Issues (SCMP)

"Don't blame globalisation for all society's ills, in Hong Kong or elsewhere"

Farzana Aslam

South China Morning Post

19 September 2016

With six “localists” among winners of the Legislative Council election in Hong Kong, following on the heels of Brexit, the nomination of Donald Trump as the Republican candidate for US president, and the rise of populist politics across Europe, it is tempting to think that the era of globalisation is coming to an end, or is at least facing an alarming backlash.

     Hong Kong “localists” are outspoken over the question of autonomy, but the political platform upon which they have garnered support is a protest against the establishment and its failure to address the pressing social issues that affect Hong Kong as a community – namely, rising inequality, the lack of affordable housing and the public’s perception that government is serving the interests of big business at the expense of the increasing ranks of the poor. It is a common thread that runs through all political shifts occurring around the globe.

      Outside of Hong Kong, the rhetoric has been squarely directed against globalisation, specifically international trade and open borders allowing the free flow of capital and people. This, however, is to equate the forces of globalisation with the forces that drive inequality, the stagnation of real incomes, the erosion of job security and of welfare services provided by the state.

      Politicians worldwide have been too ready to invoke globalisation as the cause of their domestic woes, when the reality is that the decline in the prosperity and social well-being of the average citizen of these nations has been the result of deliberate domestic policies promoted under the banner of globalisation... Click here to read the full article.

Asia-America Institute in Transnational Law 2016 (HKU-Duke)

Every summer 50-60 law students from around the world study transnational law at the Faculty of Law, University of Hong Kong (HKU) in a summer institute established in 1995 between Duke University and HKU.  From June 26 to July 26, 2016, students will have the opportunity to study courses on (i) comparative election law, (ii) cultural heritage and environmental law, (iii) entrepreneurship and the law, (iv) FinTech: legal issues and the new paradigm in financial services; (v) introduction to American law; and (vi) introduction to law and development, taught by distinguished local and international scholars.  Applications are now being accepted for the 2016 programme.  For more information about the programme, click here.  The HKU Co-Directors of the Asia-America Institute in Transnational Law are Douglas Arner and Simon Young.