The study develops a framework for improving corporate governance mechanisms in Libya that takes into account its specific environment of weak formal enforcement and its corporate ownership structure, which is based on concentrated state ownership. The central goal of the research is to establish an adequate protection system for minority shareholders that can contribute to the development of an efficient and healthy commercial environment in Libya. To do so, the study examines the current solution for dealing with the conflict of interests between shareholders adopted by Libyan law under art 159 of Libyan Economic Activity Act (LEAA 2010): the minority shareholders’ actions. Using a social and economic analysis and a black letter approach, this study presents a novel analytical framework that formulates an appropriate solution for controlling conflict of interests between shareholders in Libya. To that end, the study addresses the following questions: how effective is the current mechanism for dealing with the conflict of interest between shareholders in Libya? What are the economic and social implications of the different proposed approaches? What elements determine which approach is preferable in Libya? And, finally, what are the challenges that the proposed law reform may face? To answer these questions, firstly, it is necessary to consider the general framework of corporate governance in Libya, examine the country’s current position as an economy in the early stages of transformation and analyse the potential impact of this transformation on corporate governance. Following this, I locate the dimensions of the conflict of interest problem between the minority and majority shareholders in Libya through analysing literature of corporate governance with regard to the minority-majority shareholder problem and applying it to the case of Libya. After that, I examine the efficacy of the current mechanism available in Libyan law (minority shareholders actions) as a solution for dealing with the conflict of interests between the minority shareholders and the majority shareholders in Libyan companies. However, the current approach is not appropriate for Libya for several reasons that relate to either the efficiency of the approach itself or its application and enforcement in Libya. After examining other possible solutions (e.g. a prohibition strategy), I propose the self-enforcing model as the most appropriate solution since it contributes to companies being able raise capital from investors, and it also lowers the number of conflict of interest transactions and makes a company’s transactions more efficient. Finally, the self-enforcing model does away with the need for external monitoring. However, this is not the end of the story; adopting such a model will inevitably lead to some potential risks (such as the risk that the minority shareholders may abuse their rights), which will require the formulation and adoption of new and specific strategies of corporate governance that are appropriate to Libya.

The Fair and Equitable Treatment (FET) standard is the most important and, because of its flexible nature and its status as a ‘catch-all’ provision, most controversial investment protection standard in international investment treaties. The standard imposes the most far-reaching obligation of any aspect of such treaties. This thesis’ core contention is that the current investment tribunals’ interpretation of the FET standard prioritises the interests of foreign investors and neglects the perspectives of host developing countries. Therefore there is a pressing need to reconceptualise the interpretation of the FET standard. In service to depicting the perspectives of host developing countries, this thesis advances an understanding of classifications such as ‘developing’ and ‘developed’ that reflects the issues and challenges that these countries face in the investment dispute context, such as their lack of resources, administrative capacity, technology, and infrastructure, as much as the economic and social level of development international organisations generally emphasise in their classifications. It addresses socio-political circumstances such as political instability, social unrest, conflict and its aftermath, social and political transition, and economic crises and their impact on host developing countries in the investment dispute context. Through a detailed study of the approaches they have taken to such issues in their interpretation of the breach of FET standard in disputes involving host developing countries, it shows that current investment tribunals have taken inconsistent and inadequate approaches to the issues host developing countries face. It argues that a reconceptualised interpretation of the FET standard which acknowledges the developmental issues and challenges this thesis has identified would accommodate the needs of the host developing countries while continuing to give reasonable protections to foreign investors and therefore serve the needs of the system as a whole.

China’s ascent up the echelon of the contemporary interstate system is often debated by reference to its implications for the US designed neoliberal world order. A ‘cauldron of anxiety’ appears to be brewing around what is said to be a potentially contesting force that is at best shallowly integrated and at worse set on institutional reconstitution. US anxiety over the integrity of the order she landscaped and from which she benefits may be understood insofar as insufficient submission signifies the risk of a rising untamed competitor. Yet, against the background of China’s participation in the international financial institutions, membership of the World Trade Organisation and the conclusion of a prolific bilateral investment treaties (BITs) program, in what way can she be said to have remained resistant and untamed? This work seeks to contribute to the debate by looking at it from the perspective of discourse. It examines two interrelated discursive structures:those of paradigm and law. In relation to the former it looks at the US engendered neoliberal worldview more specifically formulated as a Washington Consensus on the one hand and China’s vision of a harmonious world of lasting peace and prosperity on the other. In relation to the latter, juridical institutions furnish legitimising mechanisms and the rules by which paradigms are to be practiced. Since treaties form part of the US designed world order, this work applies BITs as a prism through which the interiors of paradigms may be unpacked. BITs are creatures of the capitalist paradigm in its neoliberal configuration in that they articulate and provide rules for the material realisation of a homogenised world in which the spatial movement of capital is free of impediments and sovereign rights are subjugated to property rights. By contrast they are not creatures of the harmonious world paradigm with its resurrection of indigenous heritage. In the context of China they represent processes of importation and adaptation originally triggered by forcible rupture. Against this construct of two different paradigms that nevertheless share a juridical structure this work concludes that China does aspire to a reformed world order. However, only time will tell whether reformative ambitions can survive own integration and the expansive compulsions of neoliberalism.

El trabajo realizado pretende profundizar en la configuración jurídica de la exención tributaria en el ámbito de los impuestos locales. Para ello se estructura en dos grandes partes, diferentes pero íntimamente relacionadas.En la primera, se analiza la figura con carácter general, tanto en lo que respecta a su régimen jurídico-material como jurídico-formal, destacando aquellas cuestiones que más incidencia tienen en el ámbito tributario local. En la segunda parte, se estudian los diferentes supuestos de exención establecidos en los impuestos locales (IBI, IAE, IVTM, ICIO e IIVTNU), profundizando en la delimitación del contenido de los numerosos conceptos que las normas reguladoras de los beneficios fiscales utilizan para configurar los supuestos de hecho establecidos, dotándolos de un contenido normativo que no siempre se presenta como suficientemente acabado por parte de la doctrina y que la jurisprudencia, más preocupada por el caso concreto, normalmente no se detiene a establecer.Todo ello, vinculando en la mayor medida posible el análisis efectuado en la parte general con el régimen de beneficios fiscales previsto normativamente para los distintos impuestos locales, calibrando así la efectiva sintonía existente entre parte general y parte especial, y estudiando el tratamiento que en el Derecho Comparado se hace de los beneficios fiscales en los impuestos de ámbito infraestatal

La Hacienda Pública tiene un derecho de crédito frente al obligado tributario. Con la función recaudatoria se realiza aquel derecho, pero cuando se producen actuaciones evasivas del deudor, la Administración puede recurrir no sólo a la ejecución forzosa, sino también a otros mecanismos que aseguran la satisfacción del crédito tributario. Este trabajo versa sobre las garantías reales y personales, aquellos derechos o facultades concedidos por el ordenamiento tributario a la Hacienda Pública en virtud de los cuales, en fase recaudatoria, puede actuar sobre un bien concreto o sobre un patrimonio para aumentar las posibilidades de cobro. De los tipos de garantías reales y personales en la tesis sólo se profundiza en aquellos instrumentos cuyo régimen se localiza en el ordenamiento tributario. Finalmente, se abordan las garantías “voluntarias”, que se circunscriben a los procedimientos para solicitar el aplazamiento o fraccionamiento del pago o la suspensión de la ejecución de actos administrativos / Taxpayers must pay their taxes. In case the taxpayer takes evasive actions in order to avoiding this payment, tax authorities may use other mechanisms to enforce the payment of the taxes. This thesis deals strictly with tax warrants that allow tax authorities to take steps to collect the taxpayers’ debt. This thesis focuses on the warrants regulated in Spanish statutory tax laws. Personal tax warrants, as regulated in Spanish tax law, are particularly controversial. Many of the cases in which someone has to pay the tax debts when the taxpayer does not do this are wrongly regulated as personal warrants. As it is maintained in this thesis, some of these cases should be rather regulated as legal tax infringements than as personal warrants. Finally, the thesis addresses "voluntary" warrants, which presentation is mandatory but the taxpayer can freely choose among the different types that the law presents.

Concentrated ownership is perceived as an inefficient form of ownership because it allegedly increases the risk of minority expropriation, which is further exacerbated by the disproportionality of control and cash-flow rights of the controller. This thesis challenges the perception of concentration as a per se inefficient ownership structure. It argues that the 'inefficiency bias' is based on the oversimplified, incorrect assumption that concentration is characterised by the presence of one controlling shareholder and therefore disregards the variety of the forms of concentration. To substantiate this argument, this thesis categorises the forms of concentration based on the identity and number of the controllers and examines their impact on corporate governance. It is shown, that the distinct characteristics of the varieties of shareholders' profiles have an ambivalent impact on corporate governance: Families are strongly committed investors but also prone to extract private benefits of control; the state is inefficient in monitoring but can also be a driver of good corporate governance practices; multiple large shareholders improve internal contestability of control but shareholders' agreements can also be used for minority expropriation. In this context, the effectiveness of the legal framework to mitigate the arising corporate governance problems becomes the key factor which differentiates efficient from inefficient corporate ownership structures. The different corporate governance problems of concentration imply that adapted legal solutions and adequately flexible rules are the prerequisites of effective investor protection. Given the varieties of concentration, legal effectiveness and strong investor protection can therefore only be defined by reference to a given ownership structure. This thesis presents concrete examples of investor protection mechanisms which are adapted to the distinct characteristics of the varieties of concentration: In the case of family and state ownership, effective minority protection takes the form of special minority rights of board-representation; within multiple large blockholdings, shareholders' agreements limit the abuse of the governance rights of majority shareholders. Ultimately, the thesis deals with the implications of this complex interaction between ownership structures and corporate governance which compromise the reliability of indices as a metric of the quality of corporate governance, to the extent that the applied methodology fails to encompass the differences in shareholders' profiles and that a functional approach to the substantive legal analysis preceding the compilation of an index is not adopted.

The protection of multimedia presents a significant challenge for the contemporary legislator. Being one of the greatest technological developments and added-value assets in the Information Society, multimedia prevails as a phenomenon. However, law and practitioners treat multimedia as being many different products and services, rather than as a new 'work', since multimedia per se is not expressly protected under a single regime of protection. This perplexed situation necessitates clarification, as it is unclear what multimedia really is, and how it should be protected. It is therefore necessary to establish a clear picture of what multimedia entails, and identify which elements, factors and attributes distinguish it from other subject matters, and justify its treatment as a new 'work' rather than as an existing one. Through this analysis the proposed definition and scope of multimedia is firm, but flexible enough to accommodate future technological developments. The reasons for protecting multimedia are assessed, and different regimes of protection are compared bearing in mind the interests of authors and users, while ensuring that producers can also benefit from its commercial exploitation. Along these lines, copyright law is found to be more suitable amongst other regimes, calling for a comparison between multimedia and those copyright subject matters akin to its nature (compilations, computer programs, databases, films) that could justify its adequacy and applicability across the European Community, and worldwide. In the absence of a coherent and consistent copyright law solution, the sufficiency of other non-copyright law mechanisms of protection including contracts, technical devices, competition law, and a sui generis right is examined in the context of the Information Society. The lack of a consistent and adequate form of protection of multimedia worldwide, necessitates the introduction of a new scheme for protecting hybrid and creative multimedia works, once the supporting market and regulatory conditions are met. In the meantime, a series of preparatory actions should be taken by policy makers and market leaders in the context of a self-regulatory and user-friendly scheme of protection from which the developing multimedia market can benefit.

Esta tesis estudia la interacción entre el sistema público y el sector privado en la provisión de servicios de salud. Consta de una introducción y tres capítulos. El primero es teórico y utiliza un modelo de diferenciación vertical de producto donde el bien en cuestión es sanidad. Los consumidores difieren en su nivel de renta y la disposición a pagar de los menos ricos no cubre su coste marginal. La provisión mediante un oligopolio mixto con un agente público que maximiza el bienestar. El sector público proporciona servicios de menor calidad pero asequibles a toda la población y el privado cubre la demanda de calidad alta. El segundo capítulo es empírico, utiliza la Encuesta de Presupuestos Familiares 90-91 y analiza si incrementar el gasto público en sanidad provoca una expansión de los recursos globales dedicados a bienes de salud. El resultado es afirmativo. El incremento de gasto público en salud tiene un efecto sustitución pero no suficiente para contrarrestar la expansión del gasto.El tercer capítulo es empírico y estudia la calidad como anexo de unión entre proveedores público y privados. La base de datos utilizada es la Encuesta Nacional de Salud de 1993 y, complementariamente, la de presupuestos Familiares 90-91.

Delegated portfolio managers, such as hedge funds, mutual funds and pension funds, play a crucial role in financial markets. While it is well-known that their incentives are misaligned with those of their clients, the consequences of this misalignment are understudied. This thesis studies the effects of delegated portfolio managers' incentives in the real economy, in corporate governance and in portfolio allocation. In the first paper, 'Do institutional investors improve capital allocation?', I show that delegated portfolio managers' misalignment of incentives - which I model as their career-concerns - has real and positive economic effects. I find that delegated portfolio managers allocate capital more efficiently than other investors who do not face similar incentives; this promotes investment, fosters �firms' growth, and enriches shareholders. In the second paper, 'The Wall Street walk when investors compete for flows"', Amil Dasgupta and I show a negative side of delegated portfolio managers' career concerns. When delegated portfolio managers hold blocks of shares in �firms, the more they care about their careers, the less effectively their exit threats discipline �firm managers. Our result generates testable implications across different classes of funds: only those funds who have relatively high-powered incentives will be effective in using exit as a governance mechanism. Finally, the third paper, 'Investment mandates and the downside of precise credit ratings', co-authored with Jason Roderick Donaldson, studies whether the misalignment of incentives between delegated portfolio managers and their investors are tempered with contracts based on precise credit ratings. Surprisingly, we find that while, at equilibrium, portfolio managers write contracts making reference to credit ratings, this is inefficient; in particular, as the rating's precision increases everyone is worse off.

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