Michael Giberson The Martha’s Vineyard Times: A panel of judges sitting in the federal First Circuit Court of Appeals has upheld a lower court ruling that gasoline prices on Martha’s Vineyard have not been illegally inflated by a conspiracy among retailers, according to a report by “The Docket,” the news blog of Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly. …
Michael Giberson “By the Justice Department’s calculations, Keyspan’s anti-competitive actions resulted in it receiving almost $49 million. The settlement submitted by the Justice Department would let Keyspan keep $37 million from its anti-competitive actions. Netting $37 million for anti-competitive conduct is not a penalty, it is not a deterrent, it is a reward.” “Anything short …
Another Comment on United States V. Keyspan Corporation Read More »
Michael Giberson Looking for a thorough examination of the law with respect to fracking? This article, “American Law and Jurisprudence on Fracing,” appearing in the Rocky Mountain Mineral Law Foundation Journal looks pretty good. (Abstract of the article here; PDF of full article here.) From the conclusion: Given the size of the potential reserves made …
Michael Giberson Last summer, Harold Demsetz spoke at the Property and Environment Research Center on Ronald Coase’s big mistake in “The Problem of Social Cost.” PERC has just posted the video. The article he is presenting is, “Fallacies in the Economic Doctrine of Externalities,” but I bet in the written article he doesn’t say, “what …
Demsetz Discusses Coase’s Mistake on Pigou and Social Costs Read More »
Michael Giberson Two recent papers by George Mason University economists* appear to conflict on the question of whether competition in the legal arena should be expected to yield more efficient laws. I say “appear to conflict” because I have only just glanced through both papers and they both appear rich, dense, and worthy of careful …
Gmu Economists Conflict on Hayek and the Discovery of Efficient Laws, I Think Read More »
Michael Giberson A new legislative session in Connecticut brings with it another bill proposing to ban zone pricing of gasoline in the state. But the simplicity of the proposed bill makes it look like they’re not really trying. Here is the body of the bill (all of it): AN ACT BANNING GASOLINE ZONE PRICING. Be …
An Act Purporting to Ban Gasoline Zone Pricing in Connecticut Read More »
Michael Giberson Learning from randomized controlled experiments: apparently free legal representation provided by the Harvard Legal Aide Bureau tended to delay (by about two weeks on average) receipt of unemployment benefits among a group of claimants appealing an initial disallowance of their unemployment claims. Representation had no effect on the likelihood of a claimant succeeding …
Michael Giberson In New York Mercantile Exchange Inc. v. IntercontinentalExchange Inc., the U.S. Court of Appeals, Second Circuit denied NYMEX copyright protection for its settlement prices. The decision turned on application of the merger doctrine in copyright law, which governs cases in which the expression of an idea is so completely linked to the idea itself …
Michael Giberson Via the Agricultural Law Resource and Reference Center at Pennsylvania State University, a presentation on “The rule of capture in Pennsylvania oil and gas law” (see also this summary). Among other things, the presentation clears up my question (in yesterday’s post on oil production in the state) about the current relevance of the …
The Rule of Capture in Pennsylvania Oil and Gas Law Read More »
Michael Giberson Arizona is re-thinking its open range law. Dan Cole, blogging at Law, Economics & Cycling, is reminded of Ronald Coase (and specifically Robert Ellickson’s law review article “Of Coase and Catttle“). Cole summarizes the situation: Arizona is an “open range” state, which means that cattle can roam at will. Ranchers do not have …
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