Winner of the Donner Prize for the best book on public policy by a Canadian in 2014.Whenever governments change policies - tax, expenditure, or regulatory policies, among others - there will typically be losers: people or groups who relied upon and invested in physical, financial, or human capital predicated on, or even deliberately induced by the pre-reform set of policies. Theissue of whether and when to mitigate the costs associated with policy changes, either through explicit government compensation, grandfathering, phased or postponed implementation, is ubiquitous across the policy landscape. Much of the existing literature covers government takings, yet compensationfor expropriation comprises merely a tiny part of the universe of such strategies.Dealing with Losers: The Political Economy of Policy Transitions explores both normative and political rationales for transition cost mitigation strategies and explains which strategies might create an aggregate, overall enhancement in societal welfare beyond mere compensation. Professor Michael J.Trebilcock highlights the political rationales for mitigating such costs and the ability of potential losers to mobilize and obstruct socially beneficial changes in the absence of well-crafted transition cost mitigation strategies. This book explores the political economy of transition costmitigation strategies in a wide variety of policy contexts including public pensions, U.S. home mortgage interest deductions, immigration, trade liberalization, agricultural supply management, and climate change, providing tested examples and realistic strategies for genuine policy reform.
Is Free Trade desirable? Does it primarily benefit the wealthy? And what are its impacts on individual autonomy and human dignity? These are some of the fundamental questions that acclaimed trade law expert, Michael Trebilcock, sets out to answer in this pithy and insightful journey through the past, present and future of international trade agreements and trade policy.
In the mid 1980s, there was a crisis in the availability, affordability, and adequacy of liability insurance in the United States and Canada. Mass tort claims such as the asbestos, DES, and Agent Orange litigation generated widespread public attention, and the tort system came to assume a heightened prominence in American life. While some scholars debate whether or not any such crisis still exists, there has been an increasing political, judicial and academic questioning of the goals and future of the tort system. Exploring the Domain of Tort Law reviews the evidence on the efficacy of the tort system and its alternatives. By looking at empirical evidence in five major categories of accidents--automobile, medical malpractice, product-related accidents, environmental injuries, and workplace injuries--the authors evaluate the degree to which the tort system conforms to three normative goals: deterrence, corrective justice, and distributive justice. In each case, the authors review the deterrence and compensatory properties of the tort system, and then review parallel bodies of evidence on regulatory, penal, and compensatory alternatives. Most of the academic literature on the tort system has traditionally been doctrinal or, in recent years, highly theoretical. Very little of this literature provides an in-depth consideration of how the system works, and whether or not there are any feasible alternatives. Exploring the Domain of Tort Law contributes valuable new evidence to the tort law reform debate. It will be of interest to academic lawyers and economists, policy analysts, policy professionals in government and research organizations, and all those affected by tort law reform.
Our legal system is committed to the idea that private markets and the law of contracts that supports them are the primary institutions for allocating goods and services in a modern economy. Yet the market paradigm, this book argues, leaves substantial room for challenge. For example, should people be permitted to buy and sell blood, bodily organs, surrogate babies, or sexual favors? Is it fair to allow people with limited knowledge about a transaction and its consequences to enter into it without guidance from experts?
An internationally renowned scholar of law and economics, Michael J. Trebilcock has spent over fifty years teaching and researching at the intersection between ideas, interests, and institutions. In Public Inquiries, Trebilcock reflects on his extensive experiences and sheds light on the role of scholars in engaging with the Canadian public policy-making process. Drawing on a number of case studies, Public Inquiries gives an informed overview of the role of ideas and interests in shaping the policy-making process. Trebilcock takes readers through his personal experiences and what he has learned throughout his career. He puts forward general lessons about the public policy-making process and reform in areas including consumer protection, competition policy, trade policy, electricity reform, and legal aid. By showing that not all experiences have been triumphant, and that disappointments can be as revealing as successes, Trebilcock draws out personal lessons and insights with a view to improving the structure and effectiveness of public inquiries.
A fantastic introduction to international trade! Trebilcock does an outstanding job in breaking through the myth that international trade is somehow too hard to learn without years of study. The field is in desperate need of an expertly written yet accessible presentation, and now it has one. This should be everyones first book on the subject. - Andrew Guzman, University of California, US Michael Trebilcock is one of the leading scholars in the world on the law and economics of international trade. In this compact volume, he offers a concise and lucid survey of the legal and policy issues associated with this increasingly important body of law. It gives non-specialists an accessible introduction to the major issue areas, and is full of insights that specialists will find useful as well. - Alan O. Sykes, Stanford Law School, US This elegantly written and essential volume fills three important gaps. First, it provides an admirably accessible and precise explanation of international trade law, serving to inform students and neophyte practitioners. Second, it encapsulates Prof. Trebilcocks mastery of the doctrine and economic rationales of trade law, serving to inform scholars and advanced practitioners. Third, it develops a well-informed, nuanced, and wise critique of trade law, pointing the way forward for policy-makers. - Joel P. Trachtman, Tufts University, US Michael Trebilcock is one of the intellectual giants in the law of international trade. This work makes an important contribution to our understanding of trade law and will become a classic in the field. It is masterly. - Jagdish Bhagwati, Columbia University, US This book provides a short, straightforward account of the basic structure and principles of international trade law written by one of the leading authorities in this field. The book covers, in a series of short chapters, all the major issues in international trade law, including dispute settlement; the Most Favoured Nation Principle; preferential trade agreements; the National Treatment Principle; contingent protection laws (anti-dumping, countervailing duties and safeguards); trade and agriculture; trade and services; trade and investment; trade-related intellectual property rights; trade policy and domestic health; safety, environmental and labour regulation; and trade policy and developing countries. Each chapter sets out the basic provisions and relevant GATT/WTO agreements governing the issues in question, the central issues or conflicts that have arisen in the interpretation and application of these provisions, leading GATT/WTO case law generated by the formal dispute settlement processes of the GATT/WTO, and unresolved issues that remain a matter of controversy.
Drawing on a wide variety of classic and contemporary sources, respected authors Trebilcock and Howse here provide a critical analysis of the institutions and agreements that have shaped international trade rules. In light of the growing debate over globalization, they include special sections examinations of topics such as: * agriculture * services and trade-related intellectual property rights * labor rights * the environment * migration. *competition Drawing on previous highly praised editions, this comprehensive text is an invaluable guide to students of economics, law, politics and international relations. Now fully updated, this fourth edition includes full coverage of new developments including the Doha trade round, the proliferation of preferential trade agreements, the debate on trade, climate change and green energy, the response of the trading system to the 2007-2010 financial and economic crisis, the controversy over trade and exchange rate manipulation, and the growing body of WTO dispute resolution case law.
Faced with increased levels of international competition and mounting budget deficits some developed, Western economies have responded by introducing trade restrictions. This book uses a comparative analysis of eight leading industrial nations (including Japan, the United States, West Germany and Britain) to demonstrate that such policies are mistaken. Alternatives to trade restrictions, including subsidies for industries and labour-market policy instruments are also shown to have their drawbacks, and the book emphasises the need for countries to find and exploit policies which fulfil their own political and social needs but which are least injurious to their trading partners.
Rethinking the Welfare State offers a comprehensive and comparative analysis of social welfare policy in an international context, with a particular emphasis on the US and Canada. The authors investigate the claim that a decentralized delivery of government supported goods and services enables policy objectives to be achieved in a more innovative and efficient way, but at a lower cost. Secondly they examine the effectiveness of the voucher system as a solution to problematic welfare concerns. While this system has shown much promise in improving welfare, there have been problems for institutions unable to attract enough voucher-assisted consumers to ensure their survival. In this context, the authors examine major social programmes such as food stamps, primary and secondary education, post-secondary education, labour market training, childcare, healthcare, legal aid, low-income housing, long-term care and pensions.
Occupational licensure, including regulation of the professions, dates back to the medieval period. While the guilds that performed this regulatory function have long since vanished, professional regulation continues to this day. For instance, in the United States, 22 per cent of American workers must hold licenses simply to do their jobs. While long-established professions have more settled regulatory paradigms, the case studies in Paradoxes of Professional Regulation explore other professions, taking note of incompetent services and the serious risks they pose to the physical, mental, or emotional health, financial well-being, or legal status of uninformed consumers. Michael J. Trebilcock examines five case studies of the regulation of diverse professions, including alternative medicine, mental health care provision, financial planning, immigration consulting, and legal services. Noting the widely divergent approaches to the regulation of the same professions across different jurisdictions – paradoxes of professional regulation – the book is an attempt to develop a set of regulatory principles for the future. In its comparative approach, Paradoxes of Professional Regulation gets at the heart of the tensions influencing the regulatory landscape, and works toward practical lessons for bringing greater coherence to the way in which professions are regulated.
øThis book presents an accessible yet nuanced introduction to the basic structure and principles of international trade law. It explores the development of the international trade law regime, principally GATT and WTO law, and through clear and concise
`A coherent and lively tale that traces in considerable detail the evolution of Canadian immigration policy.' Christopher G. Anderson, Journal of Canadian Studies `A thorough account of Canada's immigration policies ... Any reader interested in immigration to Canada now has a one-stop source for its history.' Douglas Fisher, Ottawa Sun `A closely textured, well-conceived narrative ... an ambitious work that is tremendously reader-friendly.' Barbara Lorenzkowski, Social History `Masterful and meticulously documented.' J.D. Blackwell, Choice `A rich resource for scholars of Canadian immigration.' John Harles, Canadian Journal of Political Science
An important read for academics and policy-makers alike, Hard Choices, Soft Law asserts that voluntary standards, or 'soft' law, are an important supplement to international law in a number of areas. This key work firstly outlines the approach taken to combining soft and hard law and trade, environment and labour values in the WTO and NAFTA, and in the prospective Millennium Round. Then, using the forestry sector - a realm where formal international law remains largely absent - the book provides a detailed examination of the role of soft law in action. It demonstrates how soft and hard law can be combined to promote trade, environmental and social cohesion, in ways that also permit sustainable development. The book presents a wealth of knowledge from a range of contributors familiar with the work of the G7/G8, the OECD, the Biodiversity Convention and the Codex Alimentarius.
øElgar Advanced Introductions are stimulating and thoughtful introductions to major fields in the social sciences and law, expertly written by some of the world�s leading scholars. Designed to be accessible yet rigorous, they offer concise and lucid su
The Regulation of International Trade 2nd Edition introduces the rules and institutions that govern international trade. The authors base their analysis on aspects of the subject from classic and contemporary literature on trade and political economy. This new edition has been fully updated to take account of the most recent developments in International Trade. New issues covered include: trade and competition trade and labour rights the Multilateral Agreement on Investment the Basic Telecoms and Financial Services WTO Agreements an analysis of the first three years of WTO dispute rulings, including those of Appelate Body. Drawing on the success of the earlier edition, this comprehensive and up to date text will be an invaluable guide to students of economics, law, politics and international relations.
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