SEVENTEEN FAMOUS ECONOMISTS WEIGH IN ON COPYRIGHT: THE ROLE OF THEORY, EMPIRICS, AND NETWORK EFFECTS

In 2002, seventeen economists including five Nobel Laureates presented an amicus curiae brief discussing the economics of copyright extension in support of the petitioners in Eldred v. Ashcroft. The economists’ amicus brief was unusual in several respects, not least in that it brought together a group of economists almost as notable for its diversity of opinion (spanning the ideological spectrum from Kenneth Arrow to Milton Friedman) as for its academic distinction. When such a distinguished and broad panel of economists readers would have every reason to believe that the arguments set forth in this document are sound down to the smallest details. Yet this is not the case. Scholars in the fields of law and economics will continue to address the economics of copyright duration in the foreseeable future, so it is important that they understand the imperfections in the economists’ brief. This Article provides a counterweight to the amicus brief, identifying some points the economists ignored, clarifying some discussions they did not quite get right, and providing data that runs counter to some assumptions they made.Eldred, coypright, sonny bono, lessig

Trace element and isotope geochemistry of Cretaceous-Tertiary boundary sediments: identification of extra-terrestrial and volcanic components

Trace element and stable isotope analyses were performed on a series of sediment samples crossing the Cretaceous-Tertiary (K-T) boundary from critical sections at Aumaya and Sopelano, Spain. The aim is to possibly distinguish extraterrestrial vs. volcanic or authigenic concentration of platinum group and other elements in K-T boundary transitional sediments. These sediments also have been shown to contain evidence for step-wise extinction of several groups of marine invertebrates, associated with negative oxygen and carbon isotope excursions occurring during the last million years of the Cretaceous. These isotope excursions have been interpreted to indicate major changes in ocean thermal regime, circulation, and ecosystems that may be related to multiple events during latest Cretaceous time. Results to date on the petrographic and geochemical analyses of the Late Cretaceous and Early Paleocene sediments indicate that diagenesis has obviously affected the trace element geochemistry and stable isotope compositions at Zumaya. Mineralogical and geochemical analysis of K-T boundary sediments at Zumaya suggest that a substantial fraction of anomalous trace elements in the boundary marl are present in specific mineral phases. Platinum and nickel grains perhaps represent the first direct evidence of siderophile-rich minerals at the boundary. The presence of spinels and Ni-rich particles as inclusions in aluminosilicate spherules from Zumaya suggests an original, non-diagenetic origin for the spherules. Similar spherules from southern Spain (Caravaca), show a strong marine authigenic overprint. This research represents a new approach in trying to directly identify the sedimentary mineral components that are responsible for the trace element concentrations associated with the K-T boundary

Is the Endangered Species Act Endangering Species?

We develop theory and present a suite of theoretically consistent empirical measures to explore the extent to which market intervention inadvertently alters resource allocation in a sequentialmove principal/agent game. We showcase our approach empirically by exploring the extent to which the U.S. Endangered Species Act has altered land development patterns. We report evidence indicating significant acceleration of development directly after each of several events deemed likely to raise fears among owners of habitat land. Our preferred estimate suggests an overall acceleration of land development by roughly one year. We also find from complementary hedonic regression models that habitat parcels declined in value when the habitat map was published, which is consistent with our estimates of the degree of preemption. These results have clear implications for policymakers, who continue to discuss alternative regulatory frameworks for species preservation. More generally, our modeling strategies can be widely applied -- from any particular economic environment that has a sequential-move nature to the narrower case of the political economy of regulation.

Curve fits of predicted inviscid stagnation-point radiative heating rates, cooling factors, and shock standoff distances for hyperbolic earth entry

Curve-fit formulas are presented for the stagnation-point radiative heating rate, cooling factor, and shock standoff distance for inviscid flow over blunt bodies at conditions corresponding to high-speed earth entry. The data which were curve fitted were calculated by using a technique which utilizes a one-strip integral method and a detailed nongray radiation model to generate a radiatively coupled flow-field solution for air in chemical and local thermodynamic equilibrium. The range of free-stream parameters considered were altitudes from about 55 to 70 km and velocities from about 11 to 16 km.sec. Spherical bodies with nose radii from 30 to 450 cm and elliptical bodies with major-to-minor axis ratios of 2, 4, and 6 were treated. Powerlaw formulas are proposed and a least-squares logarithmic fit is used to evaluate the constants. It is shown that the data can be described in this manner with an average deviation of about 3 percent (or less) and a maximum deviation of about 10 percent (or less). The curve-fit formulas provide an effective and economic means for making preliminary design studies for situations involving high-speed earth entry

Say Goodbye to the Books: Information Literacy as the New Legal Research Paradigm

Special issue: Articles on legal research and writin

Sea Turtle Conservation Program, Broward County, FL 1997 Report

Since 1978, the Broward County Environmental Protection Department (BCEPD) has provided for the conservation of endangered and threatened sea turtle species within its area of responsibility. Broward County is within the normal nesting areas of three species of sea turtles: the loggerhead sea turtle (Caretta caretta), the green sea turtle (Chelonia mydas) and the leatherback sea turtle (Dermochelys coriacea). The loggerhead is listed as a threatened species, while the green and leatherback are listed as endangered under the U.S. Endangered Species Act, 1973, and Chapter 370, F.S. Since these statutes strictly forbid any disturbance of sea turtles and their nests, conservation activities involving the relocation of nests from hazardous locations (especially necessary along heavily developed coasts) require permitting by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS). In Florida, this permit is issued to the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (FDEP), which subsequently issues permits to individuals. universities and government agencies. This project was administered by the DNRP and conducted by the Nova University Oceanographic Center under Marine Turtle Permit #108, issued to the DNRP by the FDEP Institute of Marine Research, St. Petersburg, Florida. The DNRP is especially concerned with any environmental effects of intermittent beach renourishment projects on shorelines and the offshore reefs. As part of this concern, the DNRP has maintained the sea turtle conservation program in non-renourishment years to provide a continuous data base. Operation of the program is competitively bid and a contract award is issued based on a selection committee review of submitted bids through a weighted point factor procedure. Nova University was awarded the contract to conduct the 1997 program. In addition to fulfilling statutory requirements, the purposes of the project were: to relocate eggs from nests deposited in sites threatened by natural processes or human activities and thus maximize hatchling recruitment, to accurately survey sea turtle nesting patterns to determine any historical trends and assess natural and anthropogenic factors affecting nesting patterns and densities, to assess the success of sea turtle recruitment and of hatchery operations in terms of nesting success, hatching success and total hatchlings released, to dispose of turtle carcasses, respond to strandlngs and other emergencies and maintain a hot-line for reporting of turtle incidents, and to inform and educate the public on sea turtles and their conservation