Economics - Research Publications
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ItemNo Preview AvailableThe Doha agenda and development prospects for intellectual property rights reform(Asian Development Bank, 2002)At the World Trade Organization Ministerial Conference in Doha, a number of key declarations were made that will directly impact the operation of the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS). These declarations perform a multidimensional function: clarifying and reiterating existing rights and obligations, as well as setting out a negotiating agenda. By providing clarity on a number of critical issues, the Doha Ministerial Conference attempted to clear the way for future work on TRIPS. Overall, the Doha Declarations with respect to the TRIPS Agreement are seen as a major step for developing (and particularly the least developed) countries towards securing flexibility in the use of intellectual property rights (IPRs), especially with respect to public health issues. Specifically, the Declaration on the TRIPS Agreement and Public Health helps to ensure that in situations where a national emergency has to be dealt with, the set of options is not limited by the architecture of international IPRs. More generally, it reiterates the ability of countries to interpret the TRIPS Agreement in a way that is beneficial to them or reflective of their needs. The right to exercise flexibility over IPRs has historically been available to countries during their industrializing phase. While the TRIPS Agreement does limit the flexibility a country has, much work has attempted to emphasize the scope for discretion a country has in the design of its IPR system. The results of the Doha Ministerial Conference can be seen as an attempt to further stress the flexibility within the TRIPS Agreement.
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ItemIndonesian Islamic banking in historical and legal context(The Federation Press, 1999)Since its emergence in the 1960s, Islamic banking has emerged as a new trend in the field of international finance. Despite its popularity throughout the Muslim world, many are still unsure as to what exactly Islamic banking involves. This article from the book Law and Society in Indonesia explores critical questions such as who the Muslim thinkers and movements are that have influenced the development of Islamic banking as we know it today, with its strong emphasis on interest-free banking; when Islamic banks first started to appear in the modern era; and how it was that the Islamic concept of riba (usury) came to be understood as interest, thus providing the raison d’être for much of today’s Islamic banking industry. It also explores the theory of profit and loss sharing as the basis of Islamic banking, and the aspects of this theory which are put into practice in the day-to-day reality of Islamic commercial banking. Using the case study of Bank Muamalat Indonesia (BMI), Indonesia's first major Islamic bank, this article also examines the rise of Islamic banking in Indonesia. In particular, it discusses BMI’s rise and establishment as a competitive player in Indonesia's commercial sector. The case of BMI is explored in the light of earlier discussions of the broader historical and legal context of Islamic thinking and the rise of modern theories of ‘Islamic banking’.
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ItemRethinking citizenship rights of non-Muslims in an Islamic state: Rashid al-Ghannushi's contribution to the evolving debate( 1999)Of interest to Islamists of the twentieth century has been the question of minority rights in an Islamic state and of how non-Muslim minorities should be treated: in particular, should they enjoy equal citizenship rights and responsibilities with Muslims? Traditional Islamic law did not accord equal rights to non-Muslim protected minorities (ahl al-dhimma), placing Muslims above them in several key areas. Notwithstanding the law, however, early Muslim rulers exercised some pragmatic discretion according to the imperatives of their day. With the Islamic revival of the twentieth century, the traditional view has been adopted by several Muslim thinkers and leaders, though the traditional view is at odds with the concept of the nation-state. The nation-state is built on a secular premise, with no single religious group favoured over another. Within this context, a number of Muslim thinkers have attempted to reinterpret the traditionally held view of ‘citizenship rights’. This article will focus on the contribution of one such thinker, the Tunisian Islamist Rashid al-Ghannushi, who espouses somewhat ‘liberal’ views on the issue and argues for rethinking on a number of related aspects. Commencing with some background to the problem, the article explores the issue of citizenship rights as espoused by Ghannushi and notes the key importance of the concept of justice as their basis, in his view. Specific rights examined are: freedom of belief, including for Muslims who wish to change their religion; the holding of public office by non-Muslims; equal treatment for Muslims and non-Muslims in terms of fiscal duties and benefits. Throughout his arguments, Ghannushi emphasizes justice as central to the issue, and as the basis of interpreting and developing related rules and laws. Although Ghannushi’s views are not entirely new, he goes well beyond what has been acceptable in Islamic law, and his contribution should be considered important in the efforts at rethinking Islamic law in this area.
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ItemHeidegger and the transition to postmodernity(Department of Philosophy, University of Poona, 2002)This is an investigation into Heidegger’s influence on the development of some ideas of the post-modern thought. It explores the meaning and implications of Heidegger’s concepts of authenticity and difference and his existential analysis of the human existence and the way these concepts left a significant impact on the development of the post modern ideas.
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ItemHeidegger and the enigma of defining human essence(Department of Philosophy, University of Poona, 2000)This paper analyses Heidegger’s departure from the Cartesian metaphysical tradition. It explores the existential analysis of Dasein as a social being whose existence relies on the world and being-with rather than a self-dependent and a trans-historical self-substance.
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ItemMaster-slave relationship in Hegel’s philosophy(Department of Philosophy, University of Poona, 1998)This paper deals with Hegel’s dialectic interpretation of the conflictual relationship between the self and the other for recognition; the domination of the other by the self, which results in creating two unequal kinds of human being in history. It is argued that the recognition and freedom of the self by the other at the end of the conflict is doomed to failure as the other is reduced to a ‘thing’ and enslaved.
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ItemBounded rationality: static versus dynamic approach( 2002-12)Two kinds of theories of the boundedly rational behavior are possible. Static theories focus on stationary behavior and do not include any explicit mechanism for temporal change. Dynamic theories, on the other hand, explicitly model the fine-grain adjustments made by the subjects in response to their recent experiences. The main contribution of this paper is to argue that the restrictions usually imposed on the distribution of choices in the static approach are generically not supported by an explicit adjustment mechanism
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ItemA partial characterization of the solution of the multidimensional screening problem with nonlinear preferences( 2002-11)In this paper I apply the Hamiltonian method to solve the relaxed multidimensional screening problem. I also illustrate by some examples that the Hamiltonian technique coupled with implementability criterion developed by Carlier [2002] sometimes allows us to arrive at a complete solution of a screening problem.
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ItemRat races and glass ceilings: career paths in organizations(Department of Economics, The University of Melbourne, 2001)