Legal rules governing the employer-employee relationship are many and varied. Economic analysis has illuminated both the efficiency and the effects on employee welfare of such rules, as described in this chapter. Topics addressed below include workplace safety mandates, compensation systems for...

In this essay, we discuss empirical research on the economic effects of the civil justice system. We discuss research on the effects of three substantive bodies of law--contracts, torts, and property--and research on the effects of the litigation process. We begin with a review of studies of...

This chapter provides a comprehensive overview of the theoretical and empirical literature on the regulation of natural monopolies. It covers alternative definitions of natural monopoly, public interest regulatory goals, alternative regulatory institutions, price regulation with full...

A high degree of de facto judicial Independence (JI) functions as a crucial precondition of governments to credibly commit to legislative decisions, such as respecting private property rights. Thus, de facto JI should improve the allocative efficiency and may therefore contribute positively to...

The EU competition policy in regard to vertical restraints is mainly based upon neoclassical efficiency-oriented reasonings, leading to a neglect of the innovation dimension. This paper analyses to what extent evolutionary theories of competition and innovation economics can be used to derive...

Abstract: Both in US antitrust and EU competition policy a development to a broader appli-cation of rule of reason instead of per se rules can be observed. In the European discussion the attempt to base competition policy on a "more economic approach" is mainly viewed as im-proving the economic...

By using a game theoretical approach and the notion of “forum” or “regime shifting” this paper examines the multiple interfaces of the multinational pharmaceutical corporations (MNPCs) with their major counterparts at home and abroad, including the governments of the North and South, the...

The concept of multiple-discrimination, particularly as found in the labor market, is fast becoming common parlance among policy-making circles. Understanding discrimination is no longer about uncovering simple and dualistic links between two social groups: it is increasingly apparent that the...

The Productivity Commission's final research report, released December 2004, responds to a request by the Australian Government to examine the contribution that national reform of building regulation has made and further reform could make to the performance of the building and construction...