Performance Indicators for Natural Resource and Environmental Policy: Contributions from American Institutional Law and Economics

Article published in the Duke Environmental Law & Policy Forum

The Jurisprudential Niche Occupied by Law and Economics

This paper describes the jurisprudential niche occupied by the several schools of thought that comprise the field of Law and Economics in present-day legal scholarship. It begins by providing a brief history of law in the U.S.; it highlights the void left in law by the Legal Realists; it then very briefly explores some of the theories that attempted to fill that void including critical legal studies, feminist jurisprudence, and critical race theory. The paper then turns to its main focus - describing the several schools of thought that comprise the field of Law and Economics that has also helped fill the void. These include the Chicago approach to law and economics, public choice theory, institutional law and economics, the new institutional economics, social norms and law and economics, the New Haven school, and Austrian law and economics

Delafloxacin: Place in Therapy and Review of Microbiologic, Clinical and Pharmacologic Properties

Delafloxacin (formerly WQ-3034, ABT492, RX-3341) is a novel fluoroquinolone chemically distinct from currently marketed fluoroquinolones with the absence of a protonatable substituent conferring a weakly acidic character to the molecule. This property results in increased intracellular penetration and enhanced bactericidal activity under acidic conditions that characterize the infectious milieu at a number of sites. The enhanced potency and penetration in low pH environments contrast what has been observed for other zwitterionic fluoroquinolones, which tend to lose antibacterial potency under acidic conditions, and may be particularly advantageous against methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, for which the significance of the intracellular mode of survival is increasingly being recognized. Delafloxacin is also unique in its balanced target enzyme inhibition, a property that likely explains the very low frequencies of spontaneous mutations in vitro. Delafloxacin recently received US Food and Drug Administration approval for the treatment of acute bacterial skin and skin structure infections and is currently being evaluated in a phase 3 trial among patients with community-acquired pneumonia. In the current era of a heightened awareness pertaining to collateral ecologic damage, safety issues and antimicrobial stewardship principles, it is critical to describe the unique properties of delafloxacin and define its potential role in therapy. The purpose of this article is to review available data pertaining to delafloxacin\u27s biochemistry, pharmacokinetic/pharmacodynamics characteristics, in vitro activity and potential for resistance selection as well as current progress in clinical trials to ultimately assist clinicians in selecting patients who will benefit most from the distinctive properties of this agent

The Market: What Lies Beneath

The chapter sets forth a conceptual model of a comparative institutional approach to law and economics that can help make the meaningful alternatives known to society. The driving force behind such an approach is the need to come to grips with the interrelations between legal and economic processes. Consistent with the thrust of old and new institutional economics, institutional structure cannot merely be assumed away or taken as given; rather, institutions must be the subject of study involving a comparison of the effects of institutional alternatives on our environment, natural resources, and use of land. The chapter includes a discussion of the i) constitutional, ii) institutional, and iii) economic-impact stages of choice, focusing on four different means of social control (together with their respective property rights regimes) that serve to allocate societys scarce resources, namely the market sector (private property rights), the public sector (status rights), the communal sector (communal rights), and the openaccess resource sector (no property rights). Environmental, natural resource, and land-use examples are included in the analysis of each stage of choice in exploring the consequences of fashioning remedies within the market sector, the public sector, the communal sector, or leaving resources in the open-access resource sector. It presents a perspective that avoids the rhetorical policy stance of government versus the market by showing that economic performance is driven by i) law, ii) technology and iii) social norms. In this, the state stands as an essential complement to the market sector, the public sector, and the communal sector and not a substitute for them; each exists through the active role of government not by government forbearance.Ce chapitre présente un modèle conceptuel dune approche institutionnelle comparative en analyse économique du droit, aidant à faire connaître dautres alternatives à la société. Cette approche permettra dapprofondir, les interrelations entre les processus économiques et juridiques. Selon les principes de lancienne et de la nouvelle économie institutionnelle, la structure des institutions ne peut pas être supposée donnée ou absente de lanalyse. Plutôt, les institutions doivent être lobjet détude, et lon doit sattacher à comparer les effets des différentes alternatives sur lenvironnement, les ressources naturelles et lutilisation de la terre. Ce chapitre contient une discussion des étapes de choix constitutionnels, institutionnels et des impacts économiques. Il se concentre sur quatre moyens différents de contrôle social (en liaison avec leur régime respectif de droit de propriété), qui servent à allouer des ressources rares de la société, notamment le marché (droit de propriété privé), le secteur public (droit légiféré), le secteur de communautés (droit des communautés), le secteur des ressources daccès libre (absence de droit de propriété). Les exemples environnementaux, ceux des ressources naturelles, et de lutilisation des terres sont considérés dans lanalyse de chacune des étapes de choix, en analysant les conséquences de la confection de remèdes au sein respectivement, du secteur de marché, du secteur public, du secteur des communautés, ou lorsque lon laisse libre les ressources du secteur daccès libre. Il fournit une perspective qui évite les positions rhétoriques de politiques Etat versus marché en montrant que la performance économique est liée au droit, à la technologie et aux normes sociales. Dans cette perspective, lEtat est considéré comme un complément essentiel du marché, du secteur public, du secteur communal et non comme un substitut; chacun de ces secteurs existe à travers le rôle actif de lEtat.