The efficacy of international regulation of uranium mining: Malawi as a case study

This article explores the basis for an international law framework for the adoption of binding minimum standards to govern the exploitation of uranium mining within States. By focusing on international environmental law, the following discourse exposes, a) the inimical impact of State sovereignty over natural resources to effective regulation of uranium mining; and b) the practical ramification of the impreciseness and wooliness of international regulation of uranium mining. This article suggests a need to re‐evaluate the extent to which States may be subject to standards imposed under international law in their exploitation of natural resources.     

The role of private and public regulation in the case study of crypto-assets: The Italian move towards participatory regulation

With the Digital Financial package (MiCA, DLT Pilot, and DORA, later on complemented by the DAC8 proposal) the European Union seeks to establish an appropriate legal framework for crypto-assets showing a financial nature. The package represents a first attempt to regulate a complex and emerging phenomenon, characterised by significant trade-offs. Unsurprisingly, in this early stage of the law-making process several relevant aspects of the crypto environment remain unaddressed, such as pure DeFI models, DAOs, and NFTs. Such regulatory gap is to a large extent attributable to the difficulty of addressing technologically complex issues through command-and-control top-down legislation. The improvements delivered by the Better Regulation Agenda are not enough to solve this conundrum. In this context, the Communication by the Bank of Italy on Decentralised Technology in Finance and Crypto-assets and its first move, the smart-contract MoU, provide an interesting case study to discuss the potential of ‘participatory regulation.’ This experimental form of regulation tries to get the most out of co-regulation, self-regulation, and command-and-control, combining their characters with the view of reconciling the technology neutrality principle with technology-based regulation. Participatory regulation aims to bridge the public and private sector in order to strike a right balance between flexibility and legal certainty, without stifling innovation.     

The cost of regulation in a decentralized context: the case of the Spanish regions

The impact of regulation on productivity is an issue that has attracted increasing interest in recent decades, as some scholars have argued that the proliferation of red tape may be the cause of slower growth rates in some western economies. Regulation (and other public instruments) has significant effects that may be either benign or harmful. Justified and well designed regulation protects consumers from potentially unsafe products, limits pollution, enhances workplace safety and contributes to public health and safety, as well as a more productive and fair society. However, an overabundance of rules or badly designed regulation can cause confusion and delay, impose unreasonable compliance costs in terms of capital investment, labour and official paperwork, retard innovation, lower productivity and, accidentally, distort incentives for private initiative. The objective of this paper is to examine the possible impact of regulatory activity in the Spanish regions over the past decade (1989–2001) on growth and productivity.     

The dimensions of a transnational crime problem: the case of iuu fishing

Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated (IUU) fishing is a significant transnational crime problem that costs developing nations from $2 to $15 billion in economic losses annually. Perpetrators include established organized crime groups and commercial fishers, while the incidence of IUU fishing is often shaped by public corruption. Various economic drivers, such as the exceptionally high value of some species, and the Flag of Convenience (FOC) system of vessel registration contribute to the significance of the problem. Negative environmental impacts involve the depletion of fish stocks, damage to coral reefs, and stress on marine mammals and birds. Social and economic impacts are severe as well, and are most especially prevalent in developing nations. Theoretically, IUU fishing may be viewed as arising and proliferating due to “criminogenic asymmetries,” especially evident in the uneven patchwork of international laws governing the world’s oceans. A broad range of public and private responses have thus far generated limited success in thwarting IUU fishing.     

Simple rules for a complex regulatory world: the case of financial regulation

European Journal of Law and Economics - Twenty-five years ago Richard Epstein published Simple Rules for a Complex World, which would go on to become one of Epstein’s most influential works....     

Competition by regulation in energy markets: the case of Turkey

A fundamental question facing the regulatory and competition authorities is whether to delegate competition policy issues of utilities to regulatory agencies or competition authorities. While, some countries prefer ‘light handed regulation’ by competition authorities, others grant substantial power to independent regulatory agencies. Turkey followed the liberalization wave in electricity with a regulatory reform in 2001. Recently, a slight shift of tide has appeared in previously liberalized markets. Electricity markets are the forefront example of this change of course. A similar trend is apparent in Turkey as well. Increasing pressures on prices and excess demand have created more reasons for active government involvement. As political factors weigh in, economic considerations take a secondary place in electricity markets. In order to show the tension between political and economic preferences, we use the Pareto and Kaldor-Hicks criteria of welfare economics metaphorically. This paper discusses the scope of competition policy in the Turkish electricity industry. We focus on the issue of regulatory governance. The absence of a well established institutional environment reduces the potential role of competition policy in the industry and increase political meddling in all segments of the Turkish electricity market. By looking into changes in prices, market power and new entry closely, we discuss the relative success of the regulatory reform in the electricity industry. We conclude by emphasizing the consequences of a passive competition authority in establishing a competitive electricity market.     

Drug markets in the community: a London borough case study

This paper explores the characteristics of local drugs markets through the examination of a single London borough case study. The picture that emerges in a borough not known for having a ‘drugs problem’ is of an entrenched, thriving and widespread drugs economy. Crucially, it is embedded within the local communities. Most worryingly, crack cocaine is being dealt in 15 out of 16 wards, with the front-line dealing predominantly carried out by youths as young as 15. Indeed, there are signs that the market has reached saturation point, while law enforcement merely scratches the surface. These findings reinforce the view that studies of organised crime must be sensitive to the local impacts of global markets, and that public policy debates about the responses to illegal drugs markets must be renewed and refreshed.     

Responding to the immunoglobulin shortage: a case study

In fall 1997, a shortage of intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIG) developed in the United States because of increased demand for the product, reduced supply, and product recalls. This shortage is a useful model for understanding how our health care system responds to scarcity. Although the U.S. government took steps to inform the medical community of the shortage, with few exceptions, the government did not respond to the shortage in a timely or effective manner. Instead, it took a relatively passive role, leaving IVIG manufacturers and distributors, health care institutions, and clinicians to fend for themselves. The shortage likely had an uneven impact on patients, based on the relative market strength of the health care institutions in which they received care and the individual patient's ability to absorb the increasing out-of-pocket costs of scarce IVIG. Market mechanisms have now largely alleviated the shortage and significantly reduced its detrimental impact on patients. However, future shortages of IVIG or other scarce medical products, such as vaccines and antibiotics, would benefit from more immediate and coordinated efforts not only to make sure that scarce health care resources are distributed in a just manner but also to identify and remedy the sources of health product supply problems.     

Reforming campaign finance in the nineties: a case study of Spain

This paper analyzes the reforms of the Spanish electoral finance regulatory system during the nineties. We present a number of indexes to measure the impact of the reforms on parties and campaign spending. We also suggest a game theoretical model to explain why the two main parties agreed to support the legal changes in the nineties. A principal outcome of the reforms was to establish an effective limit to campaign expenses. In our view this would have not been feasible in the late seventies or eighties. Then the parties were trapped in a prisoner’s dilemma in which each party had to spend more in order to prevent other parties from gaining electoral advantage. But in the nineties the main parties, ridden with problems of soaring electoral debts and disgruntled voters, used the reform of political finance as a coordination device to achieve a Pareto efficient equilibrium.     

论船舶污染防控国际统一立法下的单边主义

国际船舶污染防控体系已从传统的船旗国专属管辖转变为船旗国、沿海国和港口国＂三分＂管辖的局面。然而,重大船舶污染事故中,沿海国和港口国经常突破国际统一立法的框架制订更为严格的单边立法或采取单边措施对船舶污染实施防控。针对这一现象,通过对国外相关案例的梳理,并深入分析其产生原因及理论基础,可以认为船舶污染防控单边主义不断盛行,使船舶污染事故风险向恪守国际统一立法的国家转移,中国作为航运和贸易大国亦将受到不利影响。但船舶污染防控单边主义损害了船舶航行自由,阻碍了国际商品流通,并违背了相关国际公约,中国不应效仿,而应在国际统一立法的框架内采取措施进行应对。