Regulation articles from March 2007

Regulation archives from March 2007

Cigarettes and the courts.(FOR THE RECORD)
March 22, 2007... As an attorney who for more than a quarter of a century has advocated for the adoption of smoke-free laws and policies, I was struck by what Thomas A. Lambert omitted from his article "The Case Against Smoking Bans" (Winter 2006-2007). ...

From little roads to 'roadless'.(FOR THE RECORD)
March 22, 2007... There is a large body of law concerning "roadless areas" that was not discussed by Joseph Rotondi's "The Forest Fight" (Winter 2006-2007). The most important limitation on expansion of federal "roadless areas" is not the construction of new...

Reagan and the wonks.(BRIEFLY NOTED)(Column)
March 22, 2007... I recently testified before the U.S. Senate on the issue of capital punishment, a topic on which I have done some empirical research. In addition to myself, there was another social scientist who had also done research on the topic, and two...

The Wright stuff: when is aviation reform not really reform?(ANTITRUST)
March 22, 2007... Path dependence is one of the most powerful notions in modern economic theory. Its initial sense was quite literal: the paved road follows the earlier deer path. Unfortunately, some paths that worked for the deer may not do so well for people...

Stoking the rigged terror of secondhand smoke: the "science" behind the surgeon general's latest report on secondhand smoke does not support officials' claims.(RISK)
March 22, 2007... While there is agreement that smoking cigarettes, like most pleasures, is risky, the zealous people who wish to abolish smoking could not have mounted the current antismoking crusade without playing up the risks of so-called "secondhand...

Banking regulation's illusive quest: far from requiring greater government oversight, U.S. banking's woes have been the product of regulation.(BANKING & FINANCE)
March 22, 2007... Deregulation has met with such success in trucking, airlines, telecommunications, securities brokerage, and many other economic sectors--that it is now hard to find defenders of continued or increased regulation. That is why Jonathan Macey's...

The SBA's justification IOU: does small business need government loan guarantees?(BANKING & FINANCE)(Small Business Administration)
March 22, 2007... The promotion of small business is a cornerstone of U.S. economic policy. There are about 25 million small firms in the United States, employing almost 50 percent of all workers. Given their share of employment and the influence that many small...

The challenge of hedge fund regulation: as other nations expand access to hedge funds, should the U.S. adopt tighter regulation?(SECURITIES & INVESTMENT)
March 22, 2007... A "hedge fund" is a private investment vehicle that is less regulated than traditional investment companies. The name comes from the funds' traditional role as "hedges against downturns in more conventional investments. Hedge funds have...

The mythical benefits of shareholder control: given the evidence that board governance benefits investors, why is there call for increased shareholder control of corporations?(SECURITIES & INVESTMENT)
March 22, 2007... In a forthcoming Virginia Law Review article, Professor Lucian Bebchuk argues that the notion that shareholders in public corporations have the power to remove directors is a myth. This is perhaps an overstatement, but Bebchuk is correct to...

A new law for the bond rating industry: will recent reform increase competition?(SECURITIES & INVESTMENT)
March 22, 2007... The Securities and Exchange Commission continues to struggle with mutual fund and corporate governance issues and with disputes as to whether the Sarbanes-Oxley Act went too far or not far enough. There is another important domain of the SEC,...

Don't politicize science (unless you're on my side).(The Republican War on Science)(Book review)
March 22, 2007... THE REPUBLICAN WAR ON SCIENCE Revised and Updated. by Chris Mooney 357 pp; New York, N.Y.: Basic Books, 2006 It is hard to explain what George Deutsch was doing at the public affairs office of the National Aeronautics and Space...

The free market remedy.(THE CURE: How Capitalism Can Save American Health Care)(Book review)
March 22, 2007... THE CURE: How Capitalism Can Save American Health Care by David Gratzer 325 pp: New York, N.Y.: Encounter Books, 2006 "Saul on the road to Damascus" political conversions are rare, but they do happen. One such convert is Dr. David...

Give me a home where the subsidies roam.(THE FINAL WORD)(Tiger Aircraft L.L.C.)(Column)
March 22, 2007... I don't know if it made the crawl on CNBC, but Tiger Aircraft declared for bankruptcy earlier this year. You know Tiger, don't you? It built an aircraft assembly plant in that hotbed of aviation, Martinsburg, W.-Va., lured there by a...