Search results for ""Author Paul H. Rubin""

Promises, Promises examines from a libertarian perspective, the differing methods and levels of success of adapting contract law in the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and especially Russia in the wake of political change. The author analyses the roles of government power and policy, opportunism and private regulatory mechanisms within the pattern of change.

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This volume contains a selection of the most important articles on the issue of the evolution of the common law. The notion that evolutionary forces would lead to common law efficiency has been very influential in the study of the economics of law. Even those scholars who do not believe that the law is efficient will find it useful to consider the evolutionary forces identified in this volume.In an even-handed approach, Professor Rubin has selected not only articles which advance the hypothesis of efficient evolution, but also those which claim that the evolutionary process is not efficient. Further articles show that the process is indeed sometimes efficient and sometimes not, and identify those conditions which bring about more of less efficiency in the evolution of law. This authoritative collection will be useful to anyone who is concerned with the sources of efficiency and inefficiency in the law, as well as to scholars pursuing research in this area.

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Some have described the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) as a scientific bureaucracy with police powers. Does a “cult of infallibility” exist within the FDA, leading to decisions that are contrary to the best interests of patients and their physicians? The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is one of the most powerful of federal regulatory agencies, if not the most powerful. It regulates over 25% of all consumer goods sold in the United States. It makes decisions on a daily basis that affect the lives of millions of people. While the FDA was created to protect the public, how well is it fulfilling this mission and whose interests is it actually protecting? In this book, four outstanding scholars examine how the FDA accumulated its enormous power and what effects it has had on the public. It also explores who actually benefits and loses from FDA actions, and whether alternatives exist to safeguard the health of Americans. This book raises serious questions about the wisdom of giving policing power to scientists with little oversight or appeal process, as the FDA currently does. It also argues forcefully that the FDA unnecessarily delays beneficial medicines and medical devices, many of which are routinely available in Europe, from being available to Americans.

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In 1984, the Department of Justice settled its antitrust caseagainst AT&T. The agreement, embedded in the Modification ofFinal Judgment, led to a divestiture of the local telephoneexchanges from AT&T to the Regional Bell Operating Companies(known as the Baby Bells ). This agreement gave unprecedented powerover a major US industry to one man, Judge Harold Greene of the USDistrict Court of the District of Columbia. The Baby Bells couldnot enter any line of business without approval from Judge Greene.With technological change it became increasingly desirable for theBaby Bells to enter different lines of business, but each attemptwas subject to legal challenge and lengthy, costly litigation. In1994, the Baby Bells mounted a major legal challenge to theModification of Final Judgement (MFJ). As part of their strategy,they asked leading scholars in the field to examine the costs andbenefits of the MFJ and provide evidence in the form of affidavitsregarding its effect. Using a cost-benefit framework, theconclusion of the analysis is that the MFJ should be vacated andcompetition should be allowed in the industry. DeregulatingTelecommunications draws together a group of leading practitionersand academics in the fields of regulation, industrial organisationand antitrust to explore: A cost-benefit analysis of the 1984 AT&T antitrust settlement Theoretical and empirical studies that analyse the results of thesettlement from its inception in 1984 to 1994 An explanation for the recent policy decisions to reduce theamount of regulation in telecommunications Analysis vital to predicting the results of any deregulation intelecommunications in the future This book will prove invaluable to economists interested intelecommunications, as well as those interested in antitrust and in regulation.

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This is the first book to examine individual rights from an economic perspective, collecting together leading articles in this emerging area of interest and showing the vibrant and expanding scholarship that relates them. Areas covered include The implications of constitutional protections of individual rights and freedoms, including freedom of speech and of the press, The right to bear arms, The right against unreasonable searches, The right against self-incrimination, The right to trial by jury, The right against cruel and unusual punishment, including capital punishment. The focus of these papers is both theoretical and empirical, examining how economics can illuminate the entire sequence of crime and punishment, from the decision to commit a crime, to police methods for apprehending and arresting criminals, to the rules used in trials to the scope of punishment for the convicted.

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