The Impact of Court Delays on the Prosecutor and the Defendant: An Economic Analysis

One important aspect of the economic theory of criminal court delay is to understand how the prosecutor and the defendant make their decisions, and how these respond to changes in trial delay. If both parties jointly maximise expected utility, trial delay may increase or decrease the number of trials, depending upon the decision makers' attitudes towards risk. The main policy implication is that providing the criminal courts with more resources in the form of additional judges and court capacity may lengthen the trial queue rather than shorten it. This is a counterintuitive result contrary to popular belief.     

Demand Pull Technology Transfer Applied to the Field of Assistive Technology

Technology transfer has generally had little impact on the assistive technology industries serving small, highly fragmented “disability markets.” Persons with disabilities often require specialized, relatively sophisticated technology. Third-party payer reimbursement rates and the low levels of disposable income among disability populations often cap product pricing. Transferring technology to these industry segments therefore poses special challenges. In October 1998, the Rehabilitation Engineering Research Center on Technology Transfer initiated the “Demand-Pull Project on Wheeled Mobility.” Successful transfers resulting from this project demonstrate that a systematic technology transfer process can be successfully applied to industries serving specialized and underserved niche markets.     

The ECJ eases the way for comparative advertisers

The ECJ reiterates its support for the comparative advertiserby indicating that common sense is needed to comply with theMisleading Advertising and Comparative Advertising Directive(Directive 97/55).