Domestic food policy in the United States

In this paper we review the major outlines of domestic food programs, assess their adequacy, and recommend ways to improve the relationship between food programs and hunger relief. In the Food Stamp Program we treat problems of outreach, coverage and the adequacy of benefits, and rationing access through imposition of costs on recipients. For WIC and commodity distribution programs we also discuss problems associated with the fragmentation of authority and dependence on nonprofit distributors.     

American health policy: cracks in the foundation

Much American health policy over the past thirty-five years has focused on reducing the additional health care that is consumed when a person becomes insured, that is, reducing moral hazard. According to conventional theory, all of moral hazard represents a welfare loss to society because its cost exceeds its value. Empirical support for this theory has been provided by the RAND Health Insurance Experiment, which found that moral hazard--even moral hazard in the form of effective and appropriate hospital procedures--could be reduced substantially using cost-sharing policies with little or no measurable effect on health. This article critically analyzes these two cornerstones of American health policy. It holds that a large portion of moral hazard actually represents health care that ill consumers would not otherwise have access to without the income that is transferred to them through insurance. This portion of moral hazard is efficient and generates a welfare gain. Further, it holds that the RAND experiment's finding (that health care could be reduced substantially with little or no effect on health) may actually be caused by the large number of participants who voluntarily dropped out of the cost-sharing arms of the experiment. Indeed, almost all of the reduction in hospital use in the cost-sharing plans could be attributed to this voluntary attrition. If so, the RAND finding that cost sharing could reduce health care utilization, especially utilization in the form of effective and appropriate hospital procedures, with no appreciable effect on health is spurious. The article concludes by observing that the preoccupation with moral hazard is misplaced and has worked to obscure policies that would better reduce health care expenditures. It has also led us away from policies that would extend insurance coverage to the uninsured.     

The ongoing debate over Medicare: understanding the philosophical and policy divides

This Article examines the evolution and status of Medicare, as well as the myriad current efforts to reform this longstanding entitlement. The author analyzes why healthcare financing for the elderly follows an administered pricing, fee-for-service model, while the working population generally obtains its insurance under a competitive market model. As a non-means-tested program modeled after Social Security, Medicare embraces both a universal entitlement philosophy of government-provided basic health services, and a need-based entitlement philosophy of caring for the Medicare-eligible elderly.     

Premature repayment of fixed interest mortgage loans without compensation,a case of misguided consumer protection in the EU

European Journal of Law and Economics - Consumer protection shifts risks from consumers to businesses. This raises marginal costs and equilibrium prices. It is justified when markets are not strong...     

Reshaping informed consent in the biobanking context

In my article, I discuss the role of informed consent in the context of biobanking. I argue that the basic issue in understanding the role of the consent is one of identifying the interests at stake and determining which of these interests we intend to promote. The definition of the informational content represents only a consequential step. For this purpose, I analyse the legal status of human biological materials from three different perspectives: "material", "informational" and "relational". Informed consent produces different effects on each of these perspectives. From the material perspective, consent can influence the allocation of property rights over human tissue; from the informational point of view, consent is the legal instrument that permits control over personal data; while from the "relational" perspective, it is possible through consent to ensure that the person's personal beliefs are respected. The crucial point is that the legal effects that informed consent has on the three perspectives overlap. Therefore, in order to understand the role of informed consent holistically, in this article I analyse how these perspectives relate to each other. This analysis shows that the relationship between the perspectives can vary depending on the interests that we intend to promote. If we intend to promote the freedom of research, then the material dimension can prevail, whilst if we focus our attention on the interests of individuals then the informational and the relational dimensions will prevail. The challenge is to find a good balance between these two extremes.     

食品药品领域检察公益诉讼适用惩罚性赔偿研究

食品药品安全领域案件管辖范围不是一成不变的,食品药品的概念不是确定案件管辖范围的唯一标准.食品药品范围应当理解为广义,可以将与食品药品紧密联系的相关产品的案件纳入可诉范围中,保健品、"药妆"属于食品药品领域范围内.探索推动食品药品领域内惩罚性赔偿的诉讼请求和责任承担方式具有理论和实践上的必要性,应当支持在食品药品领域检...     

The role of symbolic politics in exceptional crime policy debate: a study of the 2014 Swedish general election

Symbolic politics are often considered to be closely linked to an alarmist rhetoric, as well as to punitive crime policy initiatives. This article explores the symbolic dimension of the Swedish crime policy debate. Since Sweden is frequently depicted as an antithesis to punitive Anglophone societies, exploring symbolic politics in this setting might expand our understanding of what symbolic statements may consist of. The article analyses the electoral campaign preceding the Swedish general election of 2014, with the aim of identifying which symbolic statements occupy a central position in the debate through the use of a qualitative content analysis. This analysis reveals an ambiguous political rhetoric, comprising morally and emotionally charged condemnatory statements about getting tough on crime, as well as reformist and restrained references to expert knowledge and long-term solutions. On the one hand, these reformist statements strengthen the image of Swedish crime policy as being based on ideals such as rationality and humanity. On the other, they also serve to legitimize and obscure penal expansion.     

Legal aid services in Spain within the migration industry debate. Public policy,business or social compromise?

ABSTRACT

The objective of this article is to examine the unexplored role of public defenders who provide legal aid services to immigrants within the debate on the migration control and rescue industries. Although these services are provided by bar associations, public organizations that group private professionals, they are paid for with government funds due to regulations guaranteeing the right to legal defence. The main argument and conclusion of this article is that although lawyers working in these services receive public compensation for the legal aid they provide, they generally become public defenders due to personal beliefs, such as a commitment to protecting the rights of foreigners.     

The role of group interest,identity, and stigma in determining mental health policy preferences

Public attitudes toward mental health present an interesting puzzle. While mental health is one aspect of general health and well-being, it receives less support for government spending increases than does health care. One explanation lies with the stigma that is attached to mental illness. This stigma produces more negative attitudes on policy issues related to persons with mental illness such as government spending for mental health. However, group identification, as defined by personal experience or a family member who has experienced a mental illness, may have a strong effect on these attitudes. Using data from the 1996 General Social Survey's module on mental health. I examine this and other hypotheses and find evidence that group identification increases the likelihood of increased support for government spending for mental health. These robust findings exist even in quantitative models, which include politically relevant variables and measure identification with mental illness in two different ways. These findings suggest that mental health is policy for the few because those most supportive of government spending increases are persons who share the common identity of experiencing mental illness.     

Compensation: problems with the concept of disability and the use of American Medical Association Guides

The Western Australia Liberal Government made radical changes to the Workers Compensation and Rehabilitation Act 1981 (WA) in 1993. One of the significant changes was the greater application of the American Medical Association Guides to the assessment of permanent injury. In 1999 further amendments to the same legislation required the application of the Guides to workers who wished to proceed with common law claims for negligence against their employers. Recent cases have shown the difficult in reconciling the language of the law with commonly used medical terms. This article surveys the use of the American Medical Association Guides in compensation legislation in Australia with some specific comments on the Western Australian system. It makes some suggestions for reform of the Western Australian system.     

Congress and criminal justice policy making: The impact of interest groups and symbolic politics

This article explores the congressional criminal justice policy-making process in the United States, using efforts toward federal criminal-code revision and capital punishment as case examples. It examines how interest groups and symbolic politics affect criminal justice policy and thereby attempts to enhance understanding of the political realities of criminal justice policy making. Based on the findings reported here, an approach to criminal justice policy making is recommended. This approach builds on the disjointed incremental model found in the political science literature and should facilitate criminal justice policy makers in becoming more effective participants in the legislative process.     

银行卡盗刷责任分配规则之重塑

现有司法解释为处理银行卡盗刷责任分配,凝聚了共识,提供了解释的文本基础,但仍有调整之余地。在调整范围上,真卡盗刷与伪卡盗刷不应被区分,应统一纳入《电子商务法》第57条第2款的非授权支付责任分配结构内。收单机构、特约商户不应直接对持卡人承担盗刷的赔偿责任。支付机构只应承担约定的“先行赔付”责任,不得承担相应的法定责任。在涉及网络支付功能时,持卡人的授权支付,必须结合格式条款订入的规则加以确定。通过法律续造,电信运营商的责任可获补足,收单行与从事收单业务的支付机构应同等视之。司法解释确立的法定追偿权主要功能在于补足约定追偿权,以及在收单行与发卡行分离时,确立发卡行对特约商户的追偿权。