Liberalism and Lifestyle: Informing Regulatory Governance with Behavioural Research
© Lexxion Verlagsgesellschaft mbH (2/2012)
Behavioural economics is helping illuminate the limits of rational individual choice. At the same time, even as research identifies failures in rationality, policy must inquire about the possibility and legitimacy of government intervention.
© Lexxion Verlagsgesellschaft mbH (2/2012)
Behavioural economics is helping illuminate the limits of rational individual choice. At the same time, even as research identifies failures in rationality, policy must inquire about the possibility and legitimacy of government intervention.
Nudging Smokers - The Behavioural Turn of Tobacco Risk Regulation
© Lexxion Verlagsgesellschaft mbH (2/2012)
At a time when policy makers want to change the behaviour of citizens to tackle a broad range of social problems, such as climate change, excessive drinking, obesity and crime, a promising new policy approach has appeared that seems capable of escaping the liberal reservations typically associated with all forms of regulatory action. After having relied on the assumption that governments can only change people’s behaviour through rules and regulations, policy makers now seem ready to design policies that better reflect how people really behave, not how they are assumed to behave as rational agents.
© Lexxion Verlagsgesellschaft mbH (2/2012)
At a time when policy makers want to change the behaviour of citizens to tackle a broad range of social problems, such as climate change, excessive drinking, obesity and crime, a promising new policy approach has appeared that seems capable of escaping the liberal reservations typically associated with all forms of regulatory action. After having relied on the assumption that governments can only change people’s behaviour through rules and regulations, policy makers now seem ready to design policies that better reflect how people really behave, not how they are assumed to behave as rational agents.
Regulating New Risks: Emergency Contexts, Institutional Reform and the Difficulties of Europeanisation – Case Studies from Portugal
© Lexxion Verlagsgesellschaft mbH (12/2011)
The regulation of risks created or made more acute by contemporary industrial and technological society (including environmental pollution, food contamination, potential environmental or public health impacts of high-voltage electric grids or of genetically modified agriculture and food) has been the focus of significant attention from the social sciences in recent decades. Analyses of risk regulation have fostered greater interest in studying the regulation of economic and social activities. In a broad sense, regulation means the control of a public agency over the activities that are valued by a community.1 More specifically, regulation can be understood to consist of legislative, administrative or conventional measures through which the state determines, controls or shapes the behaviour of economic or social agents, either directly or through delegation, to prevent the harmful effects of such behaviour on socially respected interests or values, and to guide them into directions which are socially desirable.
© Lexxion Verlagsgesellschaft mbH (12/2011)
The regulation of risks created or made more acute by contemporary industrial and technological society (including environmental pollution, food contamination, potential environmental or public health impacts of high-voltage electric grids or of genetically modified agriculture and food) has been the focus of significant attention from the social sciences in recent decades. Analyses of risk regulation have fostered greater interest in studying the regulation of economic and social activities. In a broad sense, regulation means the control of a public agency over the activities that are valued by a community.1 More specifically, regulation can be understood to consist of legislative, administrative or conventional measures through which the state determines, controls or shapes the behaviour of economic or social agents, either directly or through delegation, to prevent the harmful effects of such behaviour on socially respected interests or values, and to guide them into directions which are socially desirable.
Different Actors, Different Factors – Science and Other Legitimate Factors in the EU and National Food Safety Regulation
© Lexxion Verlagsgesellschaft mbH (12/2011)
According to the principle of risk analysis established by Regulation 178/2002, food safety measures in the EU and Member States must be based on scientific risk assessment. Apart from science, however, decision makers should take into account other legitimate factors, such as societal, ethical or traditional concerns. The extent to which risk managers can deviate from scientific evaluations in considering these factors depends on how much discretion is conferred on public authorities. This article compares the discretion at both national and Union levels of food safety regulation in the context of the internal market mechanism by analysing the standard review applied to food safety measures by the European judiciary.
© Lexxion Verlagsgesellschaft mbH (12/2011)
According to the principle of risk analysis established by Regulation 178/2002, food safety measures in the EU and Member States must be based on scientific risk assessment. Apart from science, however, decision makers should take into account other legitimate factors, such as societal, ethical or traditional concerns. The extent to which risk managers can deviate from scientific evaluations in considering these factors depends on how much discretion is conferred on public authorities. This article compares the discretion at both national and Union levels of food safety regulation in the context of the internal market mechanism by analysing the standard review applied to food safety measures by the European judiciary.
The Financial Crisis in the European Union: An Impact Assessment and Response Critique
© Lexxion Verlagsgesellschaft mbH (12/2011)
By the fall of 2008, no economy in the world was safe: the financial crisis was global and pervasive. Even the European Union, regarded as one of the largest and strongest economies in the world, was beginning to experience the severe effects of the financial crisis. At that point, the European legislators determined that some form of response to the crisis must be created. This paper will cover the landscape of the European economy before the financial crisis and the policy stances of the EU during that time, an overview of the complex financial crisis and its effect on the European economy, and a general outline of the policy response to the crisis.
© Lexxion Verlagsgesellschaft mbH (12/2011)
By the fall of 2008, no economy in the world was safe: the financial crisis was global and pervasive. Even the European Union, regarded as one of the largest and strongest economies in the world, was beginning to experience the severe effects of the financial crisis. At that point, the European legislators determined that some form of response to the crisis must be created. This paper will cover the landscape of the European economy before the financial crisis and the policy stances of the EU during that time, an overview of the complex financial crisis and its effect on the European economy, and a general outline of the policy response to the crisis.
Controlling the Most Dangerous Branch from Afar: Multilayered Counter-Terrorist Policies and the European Judiciary
© Lexxion Verlagsgesellschaft mbH (12/2011)
Incrementally but potentially irreversibly, we have become used to exceptional restrictions of fundamental rights intended to contain international terrorism. Many of these restrictions do not originate within the national legal order with its traditional political and legal constraints. Instead, they are at least partially decided outside the traditional state structure – often in multilateral and multilayered decision making processes. It has become a platitude to state that international terrorism cannot be contained in the national context but that it requires an international response. This international response has led to a shift from policy making within states to policy making between states and ultimately to an “externalization” of rulemaking in the area of counter-terrorist policy.
© Lexxion Verlagsgesellschaft mbH (12/2011)
Incrementally but potentially irreversibly, we have become used to exceptional restrictions of fundamental rights intended to contain international terrorism. Many of these restrictions do not originate within the national legal order with its traditional political and legal constraints. Instead, they are at least partially decided outside the traditional state structure – often in multilateral and multilayered decision making processes. It has become a platitude to state that international terrorism cannot be contained in the national context but that it requires an international response. This international response has led to a shift from policy making within states to policy making between states and ultimately to an “externalization” of rulemaking in the area of counter-terrorist policy.
The System of Financial Supervision in Europe – Origin, Developments and Risk of Overruling
© Lexxion Verlagsgesellschaft mbH (12/2011)
The watchdogs in the financial sector are the independent administrative authorities operating at both European and national level. From a theoretical viewpoint, independent authorities operate within a context of progressive change in the notion of sovereignty, in the sense of national sovereignty that, from being a mere privilege of single states, takes on a “transversal” nature. From an economic viewpoint, it seems necessary to appoint independent authorities to supervise the market in order to guarantee an adequate degree of security and transparency, given the complexity of market relations. Economics has to be considered as a realm in which democratic ideals may be fully achieved on the strengths of the basic nature of the market-directed economy, the cradle of free trade and the emergence and consolidation of agreements between the actors operating in it.
© Lexxion Verlagsgesellschaft mbH (12/2011)
The watchdogs in the financial sector are the independent administrative authorities operating at both European and national level. From a theoretical viewpoint, independent authorities operate within a context of progressive change in the notion of sovereignty, in the sense of national sovereignty that, from being a mere privilege of single states, takes on a “transversal” nature. From an economic viewpoint, it seems necessary to appoint independent authorities to supervise the market in order to guarantee an adequate degree of security and transparency, given the complexity of market relations. Economics has to be considered as a realm in which democratic ideals may be fully achieved on the strengths of the basic nature of the market-directed economy, the cradle of free trade and the emergence and consolidation of agreements between the actors operating in it.
Direct or Indirect Regulation of Hedge Funds: A European Dilemma
© Lexxion Verlagsgesellschaft mbH (12/2011)
Hedge funds have been called into question during the financial crisis which burst in 2007/2008 and sometimes hurriedly blamed for having played a relevant role in originating it. This has exacerbated the discussion over the need of regulating them and in the European Union the tones of the debate have been even embittered by the presence of two opposed factions. The United Kingdom, which hosts the greatest majority of European hedge fund managers, pushing for the maintenance of a light-touch approach to hedge fund regulation.
© Lexxion Verlagsgesellschaft mbH (12/2011)
Hedge funds have been called into question during the financial crisis which burst in 2007/2008 and sometimes hurriedly blamed for having played a relevant role in originating it. This has exacerbated the discussion over the need of regulating them and in the European Union the tones of the debate have been even embittered by the presence of two opposed factions. The United Kingdom, which hosts the greatest majority of European hedge fund managers, pushing for the maintenance of a light-touch approach to hedge fund regulation.
Mining the Cities – Infrastructure and Producer Responsibility?
© TU Dresden - Institut fĂĽr Abfall- und Kreislaufwirtschaft (9/2011)
Infrastructure is a frequently used term, but its conceptual meaning is so broad that it needs to be further defined and sharpened for the purposes of this contribution. The German DUDEN – Dictionary of Economy – defines infrastructure as “all public and private facilities that are regarded as essential to ensure sufficient services for the public and facilitate economic development“ [1].
© TU Dresden - Institut fĂĽr Abfall- und Kreislaufwirtschaft (9/2011)
Infrastructure is a frequently used term, but its conceptual meaning is so broad that it needs to be further defined and sharpened for the purposes of this contribution. The German DUDEN – Dictionary of Economy – defines infrastructure as “all public and private facilities that are regarded as essential to ensure sufficient services for the public and facilitate economic development“ [1].
IAA as Teaching and Research Model in Waste Management and Remediation of Contaminated Sites
© TU Dresden - Institut fĂĽr Abfall- und Kreislaufwirtschaft (9/2011)
The Institute of Waste Management and Contaminated Site Treatment (IAA) came into life in 1995 by merging together the Chair of Waste Management and the Chair of Contaminated Sites Treatment. Nowadays, the institute belongs to the Faculty of Forest, Geo and Hydro Sciences of the Technische Universität Dresden (TUD).
© TU Dresden - Institut fĂĽr Abfall- und Kreislaufwirtschaft (9/2011)
The Institute of Waste Management and Contaminated Site Treatment (IAA) came into life in 1995 by merging together the Chair of Waste Management and the Chair of Contaminated Sites Treatment. Nowadays, the institute belongs to the Faculty of Forest, Geo and Hydro Sciences of the Technische Universität Dresden (TUD).
