Water Pollution Taxes: A Good Idea Doomed to Failure?

Water pollution taxes, or effluent fees, have long been advocated by environmental economists as a regulatory approach to cost effectively achieve water quality improvements. The article reviews the arguments in favor of taxes and traces the history of the idea in U.S. policy debates. Particular attention is given to the institutional challenges presented by a tax system and its application in watershed contexts where transport phenomena are important. The article also addresses the question of why effluent taxes are so rarely seen in practice.water quality, effluent fees, market-based incentives

Pricing of settlement link services and mergers of central securities depositories

This paper tries to contribute to the discussion on the role of securities settlement infrastructures for financial integration in Europe. It presents a model that can explain a well-known stylized fact of securities settlement, the surprisingly high fees charged by central securities depositories (CSDs) for settlement through links between CSDs. As the model turns out to provide a robust explanation for this stylized fact, it is then used to analyzes an important policy question, the welfare effects of mergers of CSDs. JEL Classification: G21, G15, L13central securities depositories, link settlement fees, Securities settlement

Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department v. The Center for Investigative Reporting, Inc., a California Nonprofit Organization, 136 Nev. Adv. Opn. No. 15 (2020)

Pursuant to NRS 239.010, the Nevada Public Records Act (NPRA), governmental entities are required to make available to the public, nonconfidential public records that the governmental entity has in its legal custody or control. If a governmental entity denies a request for public records, the person requesting such records may seek a court order to compel production. NRS 239.011(1). If the party requesting such records prevails, that party is entitled to receive attorney fees and costs. NRS 239.011(2). This case asks whether the requesting party is entitled to receive attorney fees and costs when the parties reach an agreement that gives the requesting party access to the requested records before the court enters a judgment on the merits of the case. In response to this question, the Court adopts the catalyst theory, which provides that, “attorney fees may be awarded even when litigation does not result in a judicial resolution if the defendant changes its behavior substantially because of, and in the manner sought by, the litigation.” Accordingly, the Court affirms the district court’s decision that the Respondent, The Center for Investigative Reporting, Inc., is entitled to receive attorney fees and costs in a reasonable amount, pursuant to the NPRA under NRS 239.011(2)

Funding in Higher Education and Economic Growth in France and the United Kingdom, 1921-2003

The 2004 Higher Education Act generated important debates about the relationships between higher education (HE), economic growth and social progress. The range of positions expressed in relation to the increase of annual tuition fees raises crucial questions about the public and private funding of HE and its individual and social economic benefits. The analysis of new historical data from the 1920s onwards shows that the expansion in university resources was not linear and may be related to long economic cycles. Moreover, private funding periodically increased in order to replace diminishing public funding, rather than taking the form of additional resources. In consequence, private funds did not provide an overall rise in the universities’ income. The considerable fluctuations of funding, combined with a more consistent growth of enrolment, led to a recurrent mismatch between resources for and access to HE, explaining the wide fluctuations of resources per student over the period. Such historical trends question whether, in the future, increased fees will be a substitute for public spending. Or will variable fees rather combine with even greater increases in public funding as part of a national project to support HE students from all social backgrounds and to boost expenditure per student

Remuneration of the Arbitrators in International Commercial Arbitration: Arbitrators’Authority in Setting their Fees and the Oversight Role of the Judiciary

This article examines the nature and the enforceability of arbitrators’ authority in setting their fees. It seeks to identify the different methods, factors, determinants of calculating fees, and the guarantees that entitle them to meet these fees. The fundamental question is: Could the arbitrators force the parties to pay their fees by issuing an award against them? The Article will also examine the role of the national courts in setting or controlling the fees of the arbitrators and the advance payment of arbitration costs. Keywords: International Commercial Arbitration, Arbitrators, Remuneration of the Arbitrators, Cost-control, Advance payment on Cost, Jordanian Arbitration Law and Comparative Law

THEORETICAL ASPECTS OF FINANCING HIGHER EDUCATION

This article deals with theoretical aspects of financing higher education, to which primarily belongs the issue of the character of education as a good, but also particular reasons for the state intervention to the education and a question about student’s financial participation on the costs allied to their education.higher education, public good, intervention, externality, benefit, student’s financial participation, tuition fees.

Conflit d'intérêt économique entre avocats et clients : la questions des honoraires

In the line of the agency question, the lawyer/client relationship cannot escape the risk of conflict of interests. This text broadly redefines the nature of this conflict, and links it to an important source of tension, i.e. fees. We study three types of billing : contingency fees, hourly, and alternative billing. Besides billing structures, we examine their influence on this latent conflict, and propose a few ways of managing and preventing tensions.Agency question; Principal/agent tension; Lawyer; Conflict of interests; Tension management; Billing structure; Contingency fees; Hourly billing; Alternative billing

Impact Fees in Pennsylvania

This article focuses on impact fees as authorized by Pennsylvania law. It examines legislatively authorized impact fees under the municipalities planning code and, through examination of Pennsylvania case law, addresses the question of whether impact fees may be impliedly authorized pursuant to the police power or other planning and zoning powers of the municipality. Finally, the article analyzes the standard a municipality must meet in order to justify the charging of transportation impact fees under the recently-enacted transportation impact fee legislation, and compares the standard to a more rigorous one employed by a handful of other states

Murky Water: What Really is Taxed as Court Costs in North Carolina?

What is taxed as court costs? A question so seemingly simple would rightfully lead one to believe it held an answer just as basic. Black\u27s Law Dictionary defines the term as [tihe charges or fees taxed by the court, such as filing fees, jury fees, courthouse fees, and reporter fees, a definition which does nothing to resolve the uncertainty surrounding the topic, especially in the State of North Carolina. The statutes involved appear straightforward, and the use of common principles of statutory interpretation indicate that the answer is clear as well-one which would not only clarify the law but also allow for consistent application in the majority of cases that implicate the issue. Unfortunately, case law in North Carolina has only muddled the problem, as the North Carolina Court of Appeals, and various trial courts in the state, have taken two divergent options interpreting various cases dealing with costs, rarely attempting to provide any coherent framework for consistency or clarification. What constitutes \u27costs\u27? is a question that is in dire need of conclusive resolution by the supreme court, especially in light of recent case law and legislative amendments to controlling statutes

Pecunia non olet: dirty money as legal fees

It is axiomatic that lawyers have to be paid for their services. Regrettably, lawyers who represent money launderers may be offered dirty money, that is, proceeds of crime as fee payments by their clients. This essay explores the question of such tainted legal fees in South Africa through an analysis of its anti-money laundering (AML) legislation. It then compares the South African position to the approaches taken in the USA and Canada. South African AML legislation criminalises tainted fees. The USA amended its AML legislation to decriminalise tainted fees. And tainted fees never have been criminalised in Canada. The South African approach threatens both the right of accused persons to legal representation and the right of lawyers to practise their profession. It is recommended that the South African AML statutes be amended to decriminalise tainted legal fees