Legal gaps under deregulatory broadband policies and the resurgent rise of corporate power

This paper considers the likely combinatorial effects of U.S. deregulatory broadband policies and the evolution of law as applied to corporations as a general matter. It explains how legal developments in both areas have dismantled bodies of law or doctrines that had developed to address corporate power in both commercial and political spheres and to protect consumers from vulnerability in commercial activities. Moreover, the coexistence of these developments enables an unprecedented transfer of corporate power between economic and policymaking institutions. With the decline in regulatory constraints, as well as the rise in constitutional rights to block attempts to impose regulatory constraints, there is a resurgent rise of corporate power. The result may be a phase transition undermining the rule of law so critical to sustainable democracies. --Antitrust,broadband,common carriers,constitutional rights,consumer protection,corporations,telecommunications

Research-Practice-Policy Partnerships for Implementation of Evidence-Based Practices in Child Welfare and Child Mental Health

Partnerships between researchers, practitioners, and policymakers represent a promising avenue for improving outcomes for young people and families.In a new report, Lawrence Palinkas, Cherry Short, and Marleen Wong of the University of Southern California's School of Social Work suggest that research-practice-policy partnerships may help narrow the gap between the development of evidence-based services for young people in the child welfare and mental health systems and the routine delivery of these services.Describing the structure and operations of partnerships, and the potential challenges to making them work, Palinkas and colleagues present three models of successful partnerships in the child welfare and mental health systems. Case studies for each model provide rich examples of the common elements and central themes that characterize the value of partnerships as a strategy for delivering high quality services in high demand settings

Examining the Role of Fairness in High Stakes Allocation Decisions

Recent experimental evidence has led to a debate about the nature of utility functions in which people are concerned about the amount others earn, and what factors heighten or diminish social preference. We explore fairness by examining behavior across three variants of the dictator game. Using data from nearly 200 dictators allocating as much as $100 each, we observe that fairness considerations are very powerful—when subjects could reasonably believe that disproportionately low offers are “fair”, only 8-12 percent of dictators make positive offers. Examining the comparative static results from these allocation decisions, we find that recent theoretical models of inequality do a respectable job of explaining the data patterns.

Exploring (Social) Class in the Classroom: The Case of Lucy, Lady Duff-Gordon

(Excerpt) Wood v. Lucy, Lady Duff-Gordon (the Lucy Case ) presents a rich teaching vehicle for the first year of contracts for multiple reasons. Another participant in this symposium has discussed the Lucy Case to laud its value in teaching fact analysis or issue spotting. Others have commented upon the case for its doctrinal utility in explaining the concepts of illusory contracts, exclusive dealing and best efforts. The historical background, the opinions of Benjamin Cardozo and the opportunity to introduce feminist jurisprudence and law and economics concepts into the first year course are also fertile ground for discussion. Knowing that others would focus on these themes, however, I chose to examine the role of social class in the Lucy Case, the contracts course and in the classroom more generally. Other scholars have discussed the topic of social class in law schools, most typically concentrating on diversity issues, or how socioeconomic class interacts with race, gender and other factors to impact a law student\u27s learning experience. In this essay, I intend to use the Lucy Case to situate social class discussions around the contracts course. Professor Jeffrey Harrison engendered this type of inquiry when he examined contracts through a socioeconomics lens—socioeconomics being a separate discipline that draws from insights in economics, biology, sociology and other areas. My goal in examining social class issues in the contracts class is twofold: first, to open more inquiry and discussion among first year law students into the distributional nature of contract law, and second, for the students to think about issues of economic stratification more critically. These issues are becoming increasingly more important as, according to recently published studies, the divide in incomes within the United States is at its highest point since the 1920s

Legal gaps under deregulatory broadband policies and the resurgent rise of corporate power

This paper considers the likely combinatorial effects of U.S. deregulatory broadband policies and the evolution of law as applied to corporations as a general matter. It explains how legal developments in both areas have dismantled bodies of law or doctrines that had developed to address corporate power in both commercial and political spheres and to protect consumers from vulnerability in commercial activities. Moreover, the coexistence of these developments enables an unprecedented transfer of corporate power between economic and policymaking institutions. With the decline in regulatory constraints, as well as the rise in constitutional rights to block attempts to impose regulatory constraints, there is a resurgent rise of corporate power. The result may be a phase transition undermining the rule of law so critical to sustainable democracies