Regulation articles from March 2006

Regulation archives from March 2006

Predatory Pricing and consumer harm.(FOR THE RECORD)
March 22, 2006... In "The Perverse Effects of Predatory Pricing Law" (Winter 2005-2006), Daniel Crane argues that giving standing to predatory pricing cases will cause more harm than good, even if successful predation exists. He gives two reasons. First, such...

Guidance for guidances.(MERCATUS REPORTS)
March 22, 2006... Status: OMB has proposed guidelines for guidance practices In 1946, following the explosive growth of the federal government and its regulatory power during the New Deal and World War II eras, Congress passed the Administrative Procedure...

Spectrum Commons.(telecommunications regulations)
March 22, 2006... Status: FCC examining petitions for reconsideration of final rules In polite society, dogmatism is a sign of an unsophisticated mind. This might explain the eager efforts of many to establish a "third way" in politics, economics, religion,...

The Katrina success story you didn't hear.(MERCATUS REPORTS: COMMENTARY)
March 22, 2006... ALL LEVELS OF GOVERNMENT, MUCH LIKE most of Louisiana, did not emerge from Hurricane Katrina looking very good. However, while the media fixated on the federal government's failures, they ignored the quiet successes achieved by the regulatory...

Drug safety: one step forward, one step ...(pharmaceutical industry)
March 22, 2006... Far too many people suffering from an asthma attack or migraine headache have had their misery increased by the very thing that should bring them relief: the government-approved labeling of their medicine. Drug information labels, found on...

Two invisible hands.(conservatists about human evolution)
March 22, 2006... The conservative movement in the United States is suffering from a deep intellectual inconsistency in its beliefs. Free market conservatives (such as myself) believe that markets can effectively coordinate economic activity with no central...

A collapsing housing bubble?(housing )
March 22, 2006... Anytime there is a consensus about the future, it is probably wise to bet against it. In the past couple of years, predictions about home prices have one from a sober questioning of future price growth to shrill apocalyptic predictions of an...

Remembering the man behind rational expectations: John Muth (1930-2005).(IN MEMORIAM)(Biography)
March 22, 2006... FEW IDEAS HAVE HAD AS MUCH OF AN effect on the science of economics as the concept of rational expectations. The idea is deceivingly simple: Buyers and sellers who need to guess future prices do not merely assume that they will be the same as...

Demand response and advanced metering: California's experiment shows the promise of dynamic pricing.(ENERGY & NATURAL RESOURCES)
March 22, 2006... CONGRESS HAS MADE DEMAND RESPONSE (DR) part of federal energy law. The Energy Policy Act passed last August says, "It is the policy of the United States to encourage States to coordinate, on a regional basis, State energy policies to provide...

When scientists politicize science: instead of claiming there is just one policy response to a given issue, scientists should provide a range of options for policymakers.
March 22, 2006... IN RECENT YEARS AND IN DIFFERENT COUNTRIES, combatants on opposing sides of highly contentious debates related to the environment, medicine, and even national security have frequently asserted that science compels their favored political...

What's old is new: the problem with new source review: grandfathering has become an invitation to rent-seeking.
March 22, 2006... THE U.S. DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE CONTINUES to press on with litigation against those suspected of violating the Clean Air Act's "New Source Review" provisions. New Source Review requires the installation of state-of-the-art pollution-control...

Much Ado about notification: does the rush to pass state-level data security regulations benefit consumers?(TELECOMMUNICATION & TECHNOLOGY)
March 22, 2006... CONGRESS AND THE STATES ARE MOVING rapidly to enact new legislation in the wake of a series of high-profile data security breaches at both private and public institutions. A major objective of all the pending bills is to require that consumers...

A private auction of opportunities: is protectionism a legitimate state interest?(COMMERCE & TRADE)
March 22, 2006... PROTECTIONISM IS PROBABLY AS OLD AS government. In 1621, the great English jurist Sir Edward Coke told Parliament that the private interest groups that lobbied in favor of tariffs and other trade barriers were like a man in a rowboat: "They...

Evaluating the welfare effects of drug advertising: consumer behavior indicates broadcast drug ads have positive health benefits.(direct-to-consumer advertising )
March 22, 2006... IN AUGUST OF 1997, THE FOOD AND DRUG Administration changed the rules for the broadcast of direct-to-consumer advertising (DCA) of prescription drugs. There is a clear divide in public policy circles over the consequence of this change. Many...

The perils of planning.(Sprawl: A Compact History)(Book review)
March 22, 2006... SPRAWL: A Compact History, by Robert Bruegmann 301 pages; Chicago, Ill.: University of Chicago Press, 2005 Urban planners and other sprawl opponents believe that Americans waste land by living in low-density suburbs and that they waste...

Panic meets facts.(Energy and Security: Towards a New Foreign Policy Strategy)(Book review)
March 22, 2006... ENERGY AND SECURITY: Towards a New Foreign Policy Strategy Edited by Jan H. Kalicki and David L. Goldwyn 604 pp.; Washington, D.C.: Woodrow Wilson Center Press, 2005 One of the great challenges in compiling a book of I independent essays...

Time to disembark.(United States. National Railroad Passenger Corp.)
March 22, 2006... END OF THE LINE: The Failure of Amtrak Reform and the Future of America's Passenger Trains By Joseph Vranich 265 pages; AEI Press, 2004 Whenever I think of Amtrak, I am reminded of the old "Peanuts" cartoons where Lucy is holding the...

Deep in the heart of Texas.(Electricity Deregulation: Choices and Challenges)(Book review)
March 22, 2006... ELECTRICITY DEREGULATION: Choices and Challenges Edited by James M. Griffin and Stephen L. Puller 446 pages; Chicago, Ill.: University of Chicago Press, 2005 Over the past several decades, many anthologies on electricity regulation have...

The hobby privilege.(THE FINAL WORD)
March 22, 2006... I'VE RECENTLY RETURNED FROM A VISIT TO Florida, which--friends and family will know--means that I've also recently returned from a visit to a gun range. It's not that I'm a gun nut. Far from it. After my one previous gun adventure, my thumbs...