Long-term contracts and the Unidroit PICC: towards a realistic regulation

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Raul F Zuñiga Peralta

Abstract The 2016 Unidroit Principles of International Commercial Contracts (PICC) were the first instrument that explicitly regulated long-term contracts in international commerce. Its main goal was to actualize uniform contract law for the emerging needs of international commerce. Despite this effort, scholars have briefly researched how uniform contract law instruments address international commerce as an economic reality or whether the PICC’s attempt is adequate. The gap in uniform contract law’s—particularly the PICC’s—literature on long-term contracts is odd compared to the completeness of economic literature on the matter. After revealing the pitfalls of the PICC’s regulation, demonstrating the convenience of a thorough review of the economics of long-term contracts, this article elaborates on the necessary character of the connection between uniform contract law and economics. It further reviews the economic research on the factors that prompt long-term contracting and the mechanisms that economic agents designed to address their needs. The overhaul reveals that two paradigmatic economic structures—competitive and cooperative—generally determine the design of long-term contracts. Finally, the article addresses the consequences of including the paradigmatic economic structures of long-term contracts in the PICC rules on contract interpretation and gap-filling.

Author(s):  
Svetlana L. Sazanova

The article analyses the influence of the philosophy of metamodernism on the institutional economic theory. The author considered the philosophy of metamodernism as a complex of ideas that form the “spirit of the times” – ​the “era of metamodernity”, which is an external environment in relation to institutional economic theory. Having analyzed the key characteristics of modernity and postmodernity, the author proved that metamodernity is not only a synthesis of the philosophical ideas of modernity and postmodernity, but also a new worldview that embraces the entire socio-economic reality. The author formulated the features of the era of metamodernity in the context of economics-society-institutions. The author found that under the influence of the ideas of metamodernity, there have been changes in the motivation of economic agents: from the satisfaction of subjective preferences to the search for new emotional reactions. This, in turn, led to changes in collective (social) economic behavior: rejection of traditional values in favor of values of self-expression, rejection of long-term relationships in favor of long-term ones. According to the author, changes in individual and collective economic behavior occur in parallel with institutional changes at the micro, meso and macro levels: hierarchical institutional structures are being replaced by socio-economic and business ecosystems. Exploring the evolution of economic science in the context of evolution from modern philosophy to postmodern and metamodern philosophy, the author revealed the influence of the ideas of metamodernity on modern economic theory in general and institutional economic theory in particular. The author found that under the influence of the ideas of metamodernity, changes occur in the object and subject of economic research, which requires the improvement of the methodology of institutional economic theory based on an interdisciplinary approach.


2012 ◽  
Vol 163 (10) ◽  
pp. 417-421
Author(s):  
Urs Fischbacher

Experiments and forest economic questions During the last decades experiments have gained great importance in economics. These experiments deal with questions that are of significance for forest economic research, too. Timber production, for example, is characterised by long-term decisions and, in addition, forestry produces important public goods. In this article the experimental method is introduced. Furthermore, experimental findings are presented, e.g., concerning time preferences and externalities, and possible applications for the study of forest product markets and institutions are outlined.


2021 ◽  
pp. 1-3
Author(s):  
Anda David ◽  
Frédéric Docquier

How do weather shocks influence human mobility and poverty, and how will long-term climate change affect future migration over the course of the 21st century? These questions have gained unprecedented attention in public debates as global warming is already having severe impacts around the world, and prospects for the coming decades get worse. Low-latitude countries in general, and their agricultural areas in particular, have contributed the least to climate change but are the most adversely affected. The effect on people's voluntary and forced displacements is of major concern for both developed and developing countries. On 18 October 2019, Agence Française de Développement (AFD) and Luxembourg Institute of Socio-Economic Research (LISER) organized a workshop on Climate Migration with the aim of uncovering the mechanisms through which fast-onset variables (such as weather anomalies, storms, hurricanes, torrential rains, floods, landslides, etc.) and slow-onset variables (such as temperature trends, desertification, rising sea level, coastal erosion, etc.) influence both people's incentives to move and mobility constraints. This special issue gathers five papers prepared for this workshop, which shed light on (or predict) the effect of extreme weather shocks and long-term climate change on human mobility, and stress the implications for the development community.


2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (14) ◽  
pp. 2848
Author(s):  
Hao Sun ◽  
Qian Xu

Obtaining large-scale, long-term, and spatial continuous soil moisture (SM) data is crucial for climate change, hydrology, and water resource management, etc. ESA CCI SM is such a large-scale and long-term SM (longer than 40 years until now). However, there exist data gaps, especially for the area of China, due to the limitations in remote sensing of SM such as complex topography, human-induced radio frequency interference (RFI), and vegetation disturbances, etc. The data gaps make the CCI SM data cannot achieve spatial continuity, which entails the study of gap-filling methods. In order to develop suitable methods to fill the gaps of CCI SM in the whole area of China, we compared typical Machine Learning (ML) methods, including Random Forest method (RF), Feedforward Neural Network method (FNN), and Generalized Linear Model (GLM) with a geostatistical method, i.e., Ordinary Kriging (OK) in this study. More than 30 years of passive–active combined CCI SM from 1982 to 2018 and other biophysical variables such as Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), precipitation, air temperature, Digital Elevation Model (DEM), soil type, and in situ SM from International Soil Moisture Network (ISMN) were utilized in this study. Results indicated that: 1) the data gap of CCI SM is frequent in China, which is found not only in cold seasons and areas but also in warm seasons and areas. The ratio of gap pixel numbers to the whole pixel numbers can be greater than 80%, and its average is around 40%. 2) ML methods can fill the gaps of CCI SM all up. Among the ML methods, RF had the best performance in fitting the relationship between CCI SM and biophysical variables. 3) Over simulated gap areas, RF had a comparable performance with OK, and they outperformed the FNN and GLM methods greatly. 4) Over in situ SM networks, RF achieved better performance than the OK method. 5) We also explored various strategies for gap-filling CCI SM. Results demonstrated that the strategy of constructing a monthly model with one RF for simulating monthly average SM and another RF for simulating monthly SM disturbance achieved the best performance. Such strategy combining with the ML method such as the RF is suggested in this study for filling the gaps of CCI SM in China.


2017 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 95-122 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kassia Watanabe ◽  
Nunziata Stefania Paiva ◽  
Ana Elisa Bressan Smith Lourenzani

Abstract Contract farming is based on agreements settled prior to the farmer deciding about agricultural production, and influence their judgment regarding inputs and production systems. Therefore, they provide means of production coordination and safety for both farmer and agro-industry/distributor. However, contract farming has its gaps since it is written in abscence of complete information, due to the behavioral assumption of bounded rationality of economic agents. A specific law might generate legal certainty for economic agents, insofar as the Judiciary fulfills the contractual gaps. From the other side, private agents may also fulfill the contractual gaps. As an effort to understand the role of institutions in contract farming, this study aims to analyze the Bill 6,459/2013, which intends to rule contract farming and takes private instituctions into account, through the agency of the Monitoring, Development and Reconciliation of Integration Committee (Cadec). This is an applied research with qualitative approach. The research concludes that the approval of bill might lead to effective typical law for contract farming, provided that the creation of Cadec is encouraged.


2009 ◽  
Vol 13 (3) ◽  
pp. 219-228 ◽  
Author(s):  
Antti Tieva ◽  
Juha-Matti Junnonen

Public‐private‐partnership projects are long term, complex and very challenging contractual arrangements and relationships. They bring new roles for public sector and also for private sector in terms of construction and services. This paper will go through some features of the Finnish PPPs. Proactive law focuses in practical views as regards contract law and contractual issues. The main target is to prevent problems instead of confronting them. This paper will clarify what proactive law is about in terms of contract law and contracting especially in PPPs. For instance, 20–40 years’ partnership relation with PPPs brings up also dozens of different risks into the picture. This paper will discuss the risks and risk management in terms of proactive law and after that, focus on PPPs in Finland. Santruka Viešojo ir privataus sektoriu partnerystes (VPP) projektai ‐ tai ilgalaikiai, sude tin gi ir itin daug pastangu reikalaujantys sutartiniai susitarimai ir santykiai. Ne tik viešajame, bet ir privačiajame sektoriuje jie sukuria naujus, su statyba ir paslaugomis susijusius, vaidmenis. Šiame darbe apžvelgiami kai kurie Suomijos VPP bruožai. Iniciatyvi teise glaudžiai susijusi su prak ti nemis pažiūromis, sutarčiu teise ir pan. Pagrindinis tikslas ‐ išvengti problemu užuot jas sprendus. Šiame darbe paaiškinama iniciatyvios teises esme sudarant sutartis, ypač VPP. Pavyzdžiui, kai VPP trunka 20–40 metu, susiduriama su daugybe ivairiu rizikos rūšiu. Todel straipsnyje pirmiausia aptariamos rizikos rūšys ir rizikos valdymo būdai taikant iniciatyvia teise, o po to ‐ Suomijos VPP.


Author(s):  
Martin Vyklický

This article essentially covers in more detail the consequences of the present wording of the Public Contract Law for purchase of scientific appliances in the Czech Republic. The beginning of the article deals with increasing public expenses in research; then, the problem is defined concerning unsuitable wording of certain provisions of the Public Contract Law; while subsequently, the solution for the problem is searched together with the final comments. Investing of public funds into science and research is probably the most efficient in a long-term horizon. However, the flow of funds for acquisition of scientific and research equipment should be supported by appropriate legislation with such wording and form not to prevent purchases of that equipment. Availability of public funds for something which in fact cannot be, due to wrongly set legislation, acquired by a contracting authority is the problem which must be eliminated through timely implementation of the above proposed changes in the Public Contract Law.


2020 ◽  
Vol 2020 (8) ◽  
pp. 103-123
Author(s):  
Anatolii DROBIAZKO ◽  

The financial system as a set of norms and rules of any type of economy is one of the main elements of ensuring a continuous reproduction process and purposeful development of all its industries and social sphere, and therefore a key link in shaping the country's security. In countries with centralized and command management, most of the market components of the financial infrastructure were not involved, the latter was leading only in the control of resource use, while banks played an important role in regulating the money circulation of economic agents. The modern rather extensive and multidisciplinary banking system, which operates at the sovereign as well as at the supranational levels, takes care of the financial flows of all market counterparties. Beings responsible for the mobilization and placement of part of the temporarily free funds, this established institution guarantees each client the right to own its assets, contributes to the positive dynamics of sectoral and general business activity of households, enterprises and the state. Manifestations of imbalances in contract activities lead to the demonetization of the economy, the decline in confidence in the national currency, the outflow of resources into the shadow sector, negatively affecting the development of the country. The article substantiates the directions of improving the theoretical and practical principles of anti-crisis regulation of financial relations in all dimensions of the global and national economic space, which is extremely relevant in the new economic reality.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document