This time is different?—on the use of emergency measures during the corona pandemic

European Journal of Law and Economics - In many areas such as consumer law or competition law, legislators can opt between two alternative forms of sanctions to remedy wrongdoing: they can impose...     

Does the nonprofit form fit the hospital industry?

Nonprofit hospitals currently enjoy favored legal status. In this Article, Professor Clark critically examines the basis for such preferential treatment. He begins by identifying endemic problems in the health care industry and then explores the relationship between nonprofit hospitals and these problems. He finds that the evidence does not persuasively establish that nonprofit hospitals serve as fiduciaries rather than exploiters, and that nonprofits engage in much involuntary cross-subsidization of medical services. He concludes that the legal favoritism for the nonprofit form is based not on sound reasoning and hard data but on intuition. Professor Clari proposes that the legal rules affecting nonprofit hospitals reflect this reality by treating both nonprofits and for-profits neutrally, by controlling cross-subsidization, and by strengthening consumers' information about and control over health care decisionmaking.     

What Is the Will Theory of Rights?

This article helps to clear up some misunderstandings about the Will Theory of rights. Section 2 briefly outlines the Theories of Rights. Section 3 elucidates some salient differences amongst self‐described anti–Interest Theory accounts. Section 4 rebuts Carl Wellman's and Arthur Ripstein's respective arguments about the Will Theory differing from “Choice” or Kantian theories of a right. Section 5 then offers a candidate explanation of why people might subscribe to the Will Theory in the first place.     

Do exchange rate changes have threshold effects on the trade balance? Evidence from Tunisia

Economic Change and Restructuring - The main objective of this paper is to shed new light on the nonlinear relationship between exchange rate changes and trade balance. Different from...     

Will the Supreme Court finally eliminate ERISA preemption?

David Trueman's article reviews the history of ERISA preemption by analyzing seminal Supreme Court cases and predicts the future of ERISA preemption in his analysis of recent federal case law. Traditionally, the ability to hold a managed care entity responsible for its actions has been hampered by a strict interpretation of the preemption clauses of ERISA but as the Supreme Court's jurisprudence has evolved and loosened, several federal courts have allowed suits against managed care companies to go forward. Conflict among the federal circuits has arisen and the Supreme Court has granted certiorari to two cases from Texas in order to clarify ERISA preemption. Mr. Trueman discusses the future of ERISA preemption in light of these decisions.     

Who’s going to leave? An examination of absconding events by forensic inpatients in a psychiatric hospital

Absconding is a potentially risky event that has wide reaching consequences both for the institution and greater community; however, few studies have examined the characteristics of clients who abscond, their motivations, and details about their absconding event, especially within a forensic context. The purpose of this research was to determine if risk factors could be identified that might predict absconding behavior. A retrospective chart review was conducted of all reported absconding events between 1 January 2012 and 31 August 2015 by clients on forensic units in a public psychiatric hospital in Ontario, Canada. In addition, these clients were matched with a comparison group. Categories of motivations for absconding including goal-directed, frustration/boredom, symptomatic/disorganized, and impulsive/opportunistic were identified. The best indicator of a client’s risk for absconding was having experienced a stressful, significant event in the two weeks prior to the absconding event. Additionally, total scores on the HCR-20 and the presence of a co-occurring substance use disorder differentiated the absconders from the comparison group. This research contributes to our knowledge base regarding absconding events by forensic psychiatric patients and highlights specific targets for clinical staff in assessing risk for absconding and managing privileges leading to more effective care planning.     

Correction to: Do exchange rate changes have threshold effects on the trade balance? Evidence from Tunisia

Economic Change and Restructuring - In the original publication of the article, abstract section contains errors.     

The de-medicalisation of assisted dying: is a less medicalised model the way forward?

Although assisted dying has been most commonly presented within a medicalised framework, the notion of de-medicalisation is employed in this paper to suggest that there are emerging models of assisted dying in which some medical aspects assumed to be an integral part of the phenomenon are both challenged and diminished. The paper considers cases where relatives have facilitated a loved one's assisted suicide abroad, cases of assisted death in which the assistor in the actual suicide act is a non-medic, and the growing debate surrounding non-medical grounds for desiring death. In evaluating the potential impact of partial de-medicalisation on the assisted dying debate, the argument presented is that whilst a de-medicalised model could well contribute to a richer understanding of assisted dying and a better death for the person who is assisted, there are cogent reasons to retain some aspects of the medicalised model and that a completely de-medicalised model of assisted dying is unrealistic.     

Ready to leave the ivory tower?: Academic scientists’ appeal to work in the private sector

This study investigates the factors that shape the attitudes of scientists toward starting their own business or working in a private sector firm. The analysis is based on data collected from scientists working in the German Max Planck Society, a research institution devoted to basic science. We find that the scientists’ attractiveness of working in a private sector firm or of starting their own business differ considerably according to their academic discipline and the self-reported commercial potential of their research. The ability to take risks, prior work experience in private firms, and personal experience in cooperating with industry lead to a positive attitude towards switching to private sector employment or entrepreneurship. Strong willingness to freely distribute research findings is related to a low appeal of private sector work.     

Will Listing Rule Reform Deliver Strong Public Markets for the UK?

There is a general consensus that the UK needs strong public equity markets. To help to ensure Britain is well-positioned on this front, the Financial Conduct Authority reformed the London Stock Exchange's listing regime in 2021 to foster initial public offerings (IPOs). This article outlines and evaluates these IPO-related reforms, assessing their potential to resuscitate the UK's public equity markets. The article puts the IPO-related reforms into context by considering whether the fostering of strong equity markets is a sensible policy goal and by assessing what laws governing publicly traded companies can contribute to this endeavour. The article acknowledges that the specific IPO reforms may increase IPO activity but concludes that concerns about strong public markets will continue to exist. This is because the reforms do not address stock market exits or the ‘over’-regulation of public companies which discourages reliance on equity markets.     

Is organ procurement causing the death of patients?

This article offers a philosophical foundation for the Uniform Determination of Death Act as it first examines death per se, and then examines brain death and the non-heart beating donor criteria for determining death. The author suggests that many of the debates over death can be bypassed by changing the terms of the debate: what matters is not whether death is a process or an event, but death as a state. Understanding death as a state allows us to determine death in a functional manner that is compatible with the needs of law and medicine. The second part examines objections that arise from ignoring or rejecting the distinction between killing and letting die and the principle of double effect. By clarifying the lines between life and death, on the one hand, and between intentionally killing and unintentionally hastening death, on the other, the author hopes to restore a sense that the proposals to drop the dead donor rule are radical recommendations to cross lines we have never crossed before.     

Antitrust and hospital mergers: does the nonprofit form affect competitive substance?

Following a string of government losses in cases challenging hospital mergers in federal court, the Federal Trade Commission and the Department of Justice issued their report on competition in health care seeking to set the record straight on a number of issues that underlie the judiciary's resolution of these cases. One such issue is the import of nonprofit status for applying antitrust law. This essay describes antitrust's role in addressing the consolidation in the hospital sector and the subtle influence that the social function of the nonprofit hospital has had in merger litigation. Noting that the political and social context in which these institutions operate is never far from the surface, it takes issue with the proposal to cabin merger doctrine so as to deny the significance of nonprofit status in merger analysis. Given the dynamic change in the regulatory climate and heterogeneity of local health care markets, it advises courts not to accept the FTC's preemptive standard regarding the significance of hospitals' nonprofit status and keep open the possibility of fashioning new presumptive rules tailored to more complete economic accounts of nonprofit firm behavior.     

Pushing the boundaries of lawful assisted dying in The Netherlands? Existential suffering and lay assistance

Two matters that have a significant presence in the contemporary Dutch assisted dying debate, are the nature of the suffering required for an assisted death to be lawful, and the issue of who can lawfully assist. This article explores whether the lawful medical assisted dying model is too restrictive in failing to recognise existential suffering, considering selected case studies involving such suffering and lay assisted death. It addresses the question whether The Netherlands would take a trip down a slippery slope if the lawful model of assisted death were extended to cases where individuals are 'tired of life'.