Regulation articles from June 2006

Regulation archives from June 2006

Regulatory restraint?(MERCATUS REPORTS)
June 22, 2006... STATUS: 28th annual Regulators' Budget report available at www.mercatus.org and wc.wustl.edu. Seventy years ago, on March 10, 1936, the federal government published the first issue of the Federal Register, a daily newspaper designed to...

Lead paint.(MERCATUS REPORTS)
June 22, 2006... STATUS: EPA comment period closed May 25. Lead has traditionally been one of the most useful of elements. Over the years it has adorned Americans' roofs, windows, plumbing, and "silverware." In the eighteenth century, our threadbare...

Stale CAFE.(BRIEFLY NOTED)(corporate average fuel economy )
June 22, 2006... Gas prices are rising--round up the usual suspects. Price-fixing investigations, check; taxing oil company profits, check; tougher fuel economy standards, check. As the saying goes: same circus, different clowns. Before anybody goes...

Fidelity bond foolishness.(BRIEFLY NOTED)
June 22, 2006... From the beginning of time, financial institutions have been challenged by the problem of embezzlement and employee dishonesty. One reasonable response to this problem is to insure against it. By statute, the Federal Deposit Insurance Company...

Oil prices and 'folk economics'.
June 22, 2006... As prices for gasoline increase and motorist-voters grow more angry, government is implementing or considering numerous counterproductive policies. The Wall Street Journal and other sources that understand fundamental economics have published...

The value of building codes: do homebuyers value stricter construction requirements in disaster-prone areas?(REAL ESTATE)
June 22, 2006... The record-setting 2004 and 2005 hurricane seasons have highlighted the U.S. coastal regions' susceptibility to unpredictable, natural perils. Preliminary estimates of insured losses are $4 billion from Hurricane Rita, $5 billion from Hurricane...

An uncertain prescription: are tax exemptions for nonprofit hospitals an efficient way to fund indigent care?(HEALTH & MEDICINE)
June 22, 2006... As health care expenditures increase faster than inflation and as federal and state legislatures and executive branches face competing claims on their budgets, policymakers have been reassessing the effectiveness of financing mechanisms that...

Cartagena: protocol: a new trade barrier? International agreement to control modified organisms could add large new costs to world agricultural commodity trade.(TRADE)
June 22, 2006... On September 11, 2003, a new international agreement affecting world trade--the Biosafety Protocol (BSP)--entered into force. The BSP's stated objective is to contribute to the safe transfer, handling, and use of all living modified organisms...

Paying tomorrow's military: non-cash benefits may not be the best way to attract and retain service members.(DEFENSE)(Cover story)
June 22, 2006... The U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) is the largest employer in the United States, with some 1.4 million active-duty service members, 880,000 paid members of the Guard and Reserve, and 650,000 civilian workers. Since conscription ended in 1973,...

Paternalism and psychology: if individuals' ability to make rational decisions is limited, wouldn't their ability to make political decisions also be limited?(ECONOMIC THEORY)
June 22, 2006... An increasingly large body of evidence on bounded rationality has led many scholars to question economics' traditional hostility toward paternalism. After all, if individuals have so many cognitive difficulties, then it is surely possible that...

Politics and regulatory policy analysis: what role does cost-benefit analysis really play in policymaking?(ECONOMIC THEORY)
June 22, 2006... The question of what role cost-benefit analysis (CBA) should play in regulatory decision-making is now over 35 years old. Proponents laud its potential to bring rationality to government decision-making. Opponents argue that it is inherently...

The end of securities fraud class action? Diversified investors lose more than they gain from securities class actions.(SECURITIES & INVESTMENTS)
June 22, 2006... Over the last 10 years, nearly 2,400 securities fraud class actions (SFCAS) have been filed against publicly traded companies in the United States. Those actions have resulted in settlements of about $27 billion and attorney fees of about $7...

The value of knowing: did mandatory disclosure requirements enhance stock prices?(SECURITIES & INVESTMENTS)
June 22, 2006... Since the passage of the Securities Act of 1933 and the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, the federal government has actively regulated U.S. equity markets. The centerpiece of those efforts is the mandated disclosure of financial information....

Tweaking, instead of an overhaul.(book review)(Book review)
June 22, 2006... THE ANTITRUST ENTERPRISE: Principle and Execution By Herbert Hovenkamp 376 pages; Cambridge Mass.: Harvard University Press, 2006 In The Antitrust Enterprise, University of Iowa law professor Herbert Hovenkamp undertakes an overview of...

The twilight's last screeching.(THE FINAL WORD)
June 22, 2006... Like many other cynical pragmatists, I don't like singing. Singing around the campfire, singing in the shower, singing on stage--it all seems like a waste. Why expend valuable energy trilling about how the fire's burning (of course it's...