Regulation articles from September 2007

Regulation archives from September 2007

Shareholders vs. managers.(FOR THE RECORD)(Brief article)
September 22, 2007... Professor Rubin believes that the political motivation For regulation of corporate management's compensation is due to envy ("Evolution and Envy," Summer 2007). To the contrary, I rather conclude that the issue is due to greed. Greed, that is,...

Executive Order 13422.(MERCATUS REPORTS)
September 22, 2007... STATUS: In effect, but may be challenged by Congress Concepts like "market failure" and "good guidance practices" might seem uninteresting compared to other Washington political discussions. But changes, involving these concepts, to the...

Regulators' budget.(MERCATUS REPORTS)
September 22, 2007... STATUS: 2007 report now available Regulations impose social costs on individuals and businesses beyond the direct tax dollars expended to write and enforce them. Not only are there costs associated with compliance, but regulations can...

Considering net neutrality.(MERCATUS REPORTS: COMMENTARY)
September 22, 2007... Should economic regulation be adopted only after proponents have empirically demonstrated that a market failure exists? Or is some prophylactic regulation justified to prevent market failures that have not yet occurred but may happen in the...

Should we bring back the draft? Is the all-volunteer force a "mercenary army"?(DEFENSE)
September 22, 2007... For a quarter of a century, 1948-1973, young American men faced a military service obligation. They could be drafted to serve in the enlisted ranks for 24 months if the obligation was not discharged by deferment, exemption, or serving in the...

Antecedents to net neutrality: after the long fight to end the "common carrier," why are we trying to resurrect it?(TELECOMMUNICATIONS & TECHNOLOGY)
September 22, 2007... Apparent ignorance of more than a century of economic and regulatory history now threatens the competitive constitution of the Internet under the guise of "net neutrality." Net neutrality is a slogan that stands for the proposition that the...

Combating global warming: is taxation or cap-and-trade the better strategy for reducing greenhouse emissions?(ENVIRONMENT)
September 22, 2007... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Recent events suggest that it may only be a matter of time before the federal government enacts a nationwide program to reduce emissions of carbon dioxide (C[O.sub.2]) and other greenhouse gases. First, several bills...

Neither renewable nor reliable: increased dependence on ethanol would place the United States at the mercy of a highly volatile energy source.(ENERGY & NATURAL RESOURCES)
September 22, 2007... Until recently, the process of producing ethanol was widely believed to use more energy than it created. But farming and ethanol conversion practices have improved, and ethanol proponents now argue that it is a sustainable and more secure...

Facing mother nature: new laws and policies in the wake of Hurricane Katrina seem intended to scapegoat insurance companies rather than protect the public.(INSURANCE)
September 22, 2007... Changes in insurance markets that followed the flurry of hurricanes in 2004-2005, capped by Hurricane Katrina, have been met by a storm of criticism in Congress and state capitals. Rather than addressing the economic realities of increasing...

Intellectual property and the property rights movement: should intellectual property be accorded the same protections as tangible forms of property?(RESEARCH & DEVELOPMENT)
September 22, 2007... The property rights movement (PRM) has taken active interest in several Supreme Court cases over the past few years. It was hardly surprising to see PRM activists mobilize in support of Susette Kelo, whose home was condemned by the city of New...

'Left behind' after Sarbanes-Oxley: could Sarbanes-Oxley discourage honest corporate officers and entice dishonest ones?(CORPORATE GOVERNANCE)
September 22, 2007... Soon after the enactment of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, William Donaldson, then the chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission, worried that the new law would drain away some of the "risk-taking zeal" of American entrepreneurs. He...

The divergence of U.S. and UK takeover regulation: who writes the rules for hostile takeovers, and why?(CORPORATE GOVERNANCE)
September 22, 2007... Hostile takeovers are commonly thought to play a key role in rendering managers accountable to dispersed shareholders in the "Anglo-American" system of corporate governance. Yet, surprisingly little attention has been paid to the very...

FDR at breakfast.(The Forgotten Man: A New History of the Great Depression)(Book review)
September 22, 2007... THE FORGOTTEN MAN: A New History of the Great Depression By Amity Shlaes 464 pages; New York, N.Y.: HarperCollins, 2007 The Great Depression is a topic that, much like Abraham Lincoln or World War II, raises the question: What can another...

Job half-finished.(The Unsustainable Costs of Partial Deregulation)(Book review)
September 22, 2007... THE UNSUSTAINABLE COSTS OF PARTIAL DEREGULATION By Paul W. MacAvoy 208 pages; New Haven, Conn. Yale University Press, 2007 After the dismantling of regulation of air, truck, and rail transportation and natural gas production, questions...

Fluctuating power.(Competitive Electricity Markets And Sustainability)(Book review)
September 22, 2007... COMPETITIVE ELECTRICITY MARKETS AND SUSTAINABILITY Edited by Francois Leveque 302 pages; Chelenham, UK: Edward Elgar, 2006 While the title Competitive Markets and Sustainability suggests another monograph favoring "renewable" energy, this...

Regulation overview (mostly in Britain).(International Handbook on Economic Regulation)(Book review)
September 22, 2007... INTERNATIONAL HANDBOOK ON ECONOMIC REGULATION Edited by Michael Crew and David Parker 405 pages; Cheltenham, U.K.: Edward Elgar, 2006 Literature surveys are a staple of commercial academic publishers like Edward Elgar. One of Elgar's most...

The drug quagmire.
September 22, 2007... LIES, DAMNED LIES, AND DRUG WAR STATISTICS: A Critical Analysis of Claims Made by the Office of National Drug Control Policy By Matthew Robinson and Renee Scherlen 268 pages; Albany, N.Y.: State University of New York Press, 2007 It's...

Web-surfing the candidates.(THE FINAL WORD)
September 22, 2007... On the "Presidential Field" section of its website, the Washington Post points out that "the 2008 presidential race is expected to be the first in decades that won't include a sitting president or vice president in the field of candidates wing...