Welfare Implications of Costly Litigation under Strict Liability

This article examines a model of strict liability with costlylitigation and presents conditions under which (1) potentialinjurers take optimal precautions, (2) increasing the cost oflitigation enhances precaution and social welfare, (3) the optimallevel of liability exceeds the compensatory level, and (4) increasingthe rate of settlement enhances social welfare. The resultshave implications for controversies surrounding fee shifting,optimal damage awards (e.g., punitive damages), and the socialdesirability of settlement. The most striking implication isthat fee shifting in favor of prevailing plaintiffs is sociallydesirable in low-transaction-cost settings.     

Overcoming Challenges to Using Evidence-Based Interventions in Schools

The Center for School Mental Health Assistance at the University of Maryland recently completed a review of evidence-based prevention and treatment programs that can be used by school mental health clinicians. Based on the review, a school-based program operating in 22 Baltimore City schools has purchased and trained clinicians in a number of protocols for evidence-based interventions. We present findings from this review and make pragmatic recommendations for school mental health programs to overcome the challenges associated with the use of evidence-based interventions.She received her doctorate in childclinical psychology from the University of Missouri-Columbia. Her research interests are in the area of the development, prevention, and treatment of juvenile delinquency and youth externalizing disorders.who does research in the area of childrens mental health services and the implementation of wraparound services in real-world settings.University of Maryland School of Medicine. His research is in the area of testing the effectiveness of School Mental Health Programs and the effects of community violence on youth mental health.involved in research related to school mental health, school-based health centers, and prevention of risky behavior among adolescents.Postdoctoral fellow at the time of the study.Postdoctoral fellow at the time of the study.     

Human Trafficking and Smuggling in China

This article studies human trafficking and smuggling in China. For more than a decade, Sinologists and observers have already recognized the ever-growing phenomena of human trafficking and smuggling in China. Firstly, this article examines the causes, nature, and impact of human trafficking and smuggling. Secondly, this article pays special attention to the human trade in the two most seriously affected Chinese provinces, namely Fujian and Yunnan. Thirdly, this article discusses the efforts by both the Chinese authorities and NGOs to tackle human trafficking and smuggling. Nevertheless, it concludes that there is still a very long way to go before China can manage these issues. This article is significant because human trafficking involves prolonged exploitation of men, women, and children, which is going to haunt the Chinese for a very long time. While Chinese societies have appeared to become modernized, human trafficking has constituted a ‘contemporary form of slavery’.     

Injunctive and reverse settlements in competition-blocking litigation

We distinguish standard settlements, in which the status quo is preserved, and injunctive settlements, which prohibit the defendant’s activity. The reverse (payment) settlement is a special type of injunctive settlement. We examine the divergence between private and social incentives to settle and policies that would minimize socially undesirable injunctive and reverse settlements (e.g., banning reverse settlements). The results are applied to competition-blocking litigation, such as patent infringement and antidumping.