NETWORK REGULATION: THE MANY FACES OF ACCESS

Telecommunications regulation has experienced a fundamentalshift from rate regulation to increased reliance on compelledaccess, perhaps best exemplified by the Telecommunications Actof 1996's imposition of no fewer than four new access requirements.Unfortunately, each access requirement is governed by a separateset of rules for determining both the scope and the price ofaccess. The resulting ad hoc regime has created difficult definitionalproblems and opportunities for regulatory arbitrage. In thisarticle we propose a system inspired by the discipline of mathematicsknown as graph theory that integrates all of the different formsof access into a single analytical framework. This system separatesdifferent access regimes into five categories: (1) retail access,(2) wholesale access, (3) interconnection access, (4) platformaccess, and (5) unbundled access. It also provides insightsinto how each type of access complicates the already difficultproblems of network configuration and management and introducesinefficient biases into decisions about network capacity anddesign. The approach we propose also provides insights intothe transaction cost implications of the different types ofaccess. Drawing on the Coasean theory of the firm, our approachexamines the tradeoffs between internal governance costs andthe external transaction costs of providing access to offera theory of network boundaries. This framework shows how accessregulation distorts networks' natural boundaries and providesa basis for evaluating whether private ordering through marketswould lead to more efficient network design.     

DOES ECONOMICS PROVIDE A RELIABLE GUIDE TO REGULATING COMMODITY BUNDLING BY FIRMS? A SURVEY OF THE ECONOMIC LITERATURE

This article surveys the voluminous economic literature on commoditybundling. While bundling has been widely studied, the vast majorityof the literature has focused on theoretical treatments of bundlingthat demonstrate a wide range of reasons why firms might engagein bundling. These papers generally contain restrictive assumptions,including assumptions regarding the existence of monopoly insome markets, and the nature of rivalry in others. The modelscontained in these papers also generally suppress the more obviousand ubiquitous reasons firms may use bundling. Moreover, thesemodels have not been subject to robustness checks, nor havetheir assumptions been tested empirically. This review of theeconomic literature generally confirms the US Solicitor General'sview in 3M v. LePage's regarding the underdeveloped state ofthe economics literature and its position that the US SupremeCourt should defer promulgation of antitrust standards for bundling.While the literature has demonstrated the possibility that bundlingcan generate anticompetitive harm, it does not provide a reliableway to gauge whether the potential for harm would outweigh anydemonstrable benefits from the practice. As a result, the widespreadapplication of the antitrust laws to bundling by firms can generatesignificant error costs by erroneously condemning or deterringefficient business practices. In the future, economists shouldseek to expand their understanding of both the anticompetitiveand procompetitive reasons firms engage in bundling. This willentail studying the reasons why bundling is adopted by firmswithout market power, relaxing the assumption of monopoly intheoretical models, and generating testable hypotheses and thedata to test them.     

Proficiency testing (external quality assessment) of drug detection in oral fluid

Eighteen external quality assessment (proficiency testing) samples were prepared from client specimens collected with the Intercept^® oral fluid collection device and by spiking drug-free oral fluid. Samples were circulated in pairs at quarterly intervals to 13 UK and USA based laboratories for analysis by a panel of OraSure micro-plate Intercept^® enzyme immunoassay kits and hyphenated mass spectrophotometric techniques. During the survey, there was a single case of non-specificity in a false report for methadone. The major errors were of lack of sensitivity relative to the concentration thresholds specified for the immunoassays. The sensitivity for overall ‘present’/‘not found’ reports calculated as true positives/(true positives + false negatives) were for the amfetamine specific assay 50%, methyl-amfetamines 93%, barbiturates 64%, cannabinoids 73%, cocaine and metabolites 100%, benzodiazepines 69%, methadone 95%, opiates 79% (opiates excluding oxycodone 93%), phencyclidine 93% and human gamma-globulin 97%. A small number of the sensitivity errors were attributable to errors in chromatographic confirmation techniques.     

鉴定人资格管理制度：疏理、评析与设想——兼解读《关于司法鉴定管理问题的决定》

建立鉴定人资格管理制度是司法鉴定体制改革进程中不可或缺的重要环节.只有建立并完善鉴定人资格管理制度,使得鉴定人资格能够在司法鉴定的各项具体制度中发挥基础性作用,才能建立起科学合理的司法鉴定管理体制,从而保障司法公正的最终实现.<关于司法鉴定管理问题的决定>肯定了鉴定人资格管理制度的基础性作用,对确立并完善鉴定人资格管理制度有着深远影响.本文将对我国鉴定人资格管理现状加以疏理与评析,结合<决定>就如何完善我国鉴定人资格管理制度提出设想.     

互助与利他之“善”——浅议济贫扶贫的伦理学依据

善,就是源于人性所驱动的、以实现整体普遍利益和个体福利为目标的一种社会性的和谐状态。实现“善”的最佳途径就是“互助与利他”。社会中的贫富分化是极端利己主义所引致的竞争结果;而社会中的济贫扶贫则是互助与利他驱动的平衡倾向,其目的就是实现社会的善。济贫扶贫的伦理基础是互助与利他之“善”所广涵的众多伦理学次生概念。     

国家之光 人类之瑞——马相伯教育救国思想及实践

作为中国近代史的同龄人与见证人,马相伯在经历了长期的教会生活和从政生涯之后,于桑榆之年毁家兴学,意在“教育救国”。马相伯教育救国思想及实践有如下特点:学术自由,不谈教理;提倡西学,重视国学;自然科学与人文科学并重;学生自治,民主管理;循循善诱,开示门径。     

中职生生存质量状况的调查与对策

中职生与普高生相比是一个比较特殊的群体,正处在成质量调查,了解中职生的生存现状,探索提高中职生生存质量的有效途径.     

有独立请求权的第三人制度中被告之探析

有独立请求权的第三人制度作为第三人制度的一种,其主要功能就是扩大诉讼解决纠纷的能力,实现诉讼经济.以两造对立的诉讼结构为基础,以诉讼合并理论为视角,对有独立请求权的第三人提起主参加诉讼之被告予以分析可以看出:主参加之诉的被告的确立,是以本诉的双方当事人为共同被告,还是以本诉的一方当事人为被告,取决于是否有利于实现查明案件事实,实现纠纷的一次性解决.