Regulatory Assessment of Investments by Telephone and Electric Utilities*

A utility's investments are included in the rate base if the expenditures can pass the “prudent” or “used and useful” tests. Regulators have a difficult time applying these tests to telephone companies because little is known about the demand for new services. Under current regulatory procedures, telephone companies face an incentive system which rewards the firm for successful entry into new markets, but because of the lack of information about the demand for new services, the cost of failures is absorbed by customers of existing services. We propose a rate-making standard that would insure that existing subscribers of telecommunications services will not subsidize the new services that are being introduced by local exchange telephone companies.     

Mapping Difficult Terrain: "Legal Culture,""Legal Consciousness," and Other Hazards for the Intrepid Explorer

By this time Gertrude Stein was in a sad state of indecision and worry. I sat next to her and she said to me early in the afternoon, what is the answer? I was silent. In that case, she said, what is the question? Then the whole afternoon was troubled, confused and very uncertain. … (Toklas, 1963: 173)     

DEMEANOR OR CRIME? WHY “HOSTILE” CITIZENS ARE MORE LIKELY TO BE ARRESTED*

It is a criminological axiom that displays of hostility by citizens towards police officers directly increase the odds of arrest in police-citizen encounters. This axiom rests on nearly three decades of observational research of interactions between police officers and citizens. Two features of this work, however, raise questions about the validity of findings that citizen demeanor independently affects police arrest decisions. First, although demeanor is conceptually defined as legally permissible behavior, measures of demeanor often include criminal conduct. Second, criminal conduct is not controlled adequately when the effects of demeanor on arrest are estimated. In an analysis employing a demeanor measure that does not confound crime and that controls for crime more comprehensively, it is found that displays of hostility which violate no laws do not increase the likelihood of arrest in and of themselves. The implications of this finding are discussed.     

CONSULTATIVE PROCESSES IN HEALTH POLICY IN THE UNITED KINGDOM: A VIEW FROM THE CENTRE

Health policy at national level is the product of a series of continuous and complex interactions between interest groups operating both inside and outside government. It is generally thought that these consultative processes are closed, elitist and dominated by the prestigious medical specialties. Yet there has been a rapid growth in the number of groups representing various interests, professions and care groups. Drawing on recent examples from the national health service, the paper explores the extent to which consultative processes in health policy have remained closed or have been opened up to new influences. The analysis suggests that consultation within the health department is more pluralistic than is usually appreciated. Also, while the closed, elitist mode of consultation with external interests has been eroded marginally, it remains more or less intact. Nevertheless, the ability of powerful medical interests to get their own way to the exclusion of other interests depends on the resources and sanctions available to other groups and on the particular policy issue. It can no longer just be assumed.