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TOTM Every voluntary transaction between a buyer and seller involves the creation of surplus—the difference between the subjective value a buyer attaches to the thing and . . .
Every voluntary transaction between a buyer and seller involves the creation of surplus—the difference between the subjective value a buyer attaches to the thing and the seller’s cost of producing and selling the item. Price and other contract terms determine how that surplus is split between the buyer and seller.
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TOTM The International Center for Law & Economics (ICLE) filed an amicus brief on behalf of itself and 26 distinguished law & economics scholars with the 9th U.S. Circuit . . .
The International Center for Law & Economics (ICLE) filed an amicus brief on behalf of itself and 26 distinguished law & economics scholars with the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in the hotly anticipated and intensely important Epic Games v Apple case.
Scholarship Abstract Legal rights impose concomitant legal burdens. This paper considers the valuation and disposition of legal rights, and legal burdens, when courts cannot be relied . . .
Legal rights impose concomitant legal burdens. This paper considers the valuation and disposition of legal rights, and legal burdens, when courts cannot be relied upon to perfectly enforce rights. Because courts do not perfectly enforce rights, victims suffer some loss in the value of their rights depending on the degree of underenforcement. The welfare implications of trading away and abandoning rights are examined. Victims do not necessarily trade away rights when and only when such trade is socially desirable. Relatively pessimistic victims (who believe their rights are weaker than injurers do) trade away rights too cheaply. Extremely pessimistic victims abandon their rights. Implications for the enforceability of waivers, discrimination in courts, and legal ethics are discussed.
Presentations & Interviews ICLE Director of Law & Economics Programs Gus Hurwitz joined the Cardinal Institute’s podcast Forgotten America to discuss the logistical, political, and philosophical questions surrounding . . .
ICLE Director of Law & Economics Programs Gus Hurwitz joined the Cardinal Institute’s podcast Forgotten America to discuss the logistical, political, and philosophical questions surrounding broadband in rural America. The full episode can be found here.
TOTM The Biden administration finally has taken a public position on parallel House (H.R. 3816) and Senate (S. 2992) bills that would impose new welfare-reducing regulatory . . .
The Biden administration finally has taken a public position on parallel House (H.R. 3816) and Senate (S. 2992) bills that would impose new welfare-reducing regulatory constraints on the ability of large digital platforms to engage in innovative business practices that benefit consumers and the economy.
Scholarship Abstract Medical devices are increasingly connected, both to cyber networks and to sensors collecting data from physical stimuli. These cyber-physical systems pose a new host . . .
Medical devices are increasingly connected, both to cyber networks and to sensors collecting data from physical stimuli. These cyber-physical systems pose a new host of deadly security risks that traditional notions of cybersecurity struggle to take into account. Previously, we could predict how algorithms would function as they drew on defined inputs. But cyber-physical systems draw on unbounded inputs from the real world. Moreover, with wide networks of cyber-physical medical devices, a single cybersecurity breach could pose lethal dangers to masses of patients.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is tasked with regulating medical devices to ensure safety and effectiveness, but its regulatory approach—designed decades ago to regulate traditional medical hardware—is ill-suited to the unique problems of cybersecurity. Because perfect cybersecurity is impossible and every cybersecurity improvement entails costs to affordability and health, designers need standards that balance costs and benefits to inform the optimal level of risk. FDA, however, conducts limited cost-benefit analyses, believing that its authorizing statute forbids consideration of economic costs.
We draw on statutory text and case law to show that this belief is mistaken and that FDA can and should conduct cost-benefit analyses to ensure safety and effectiveness, especially in the context of cybersecurity. We describe three approaches FDA could take to implement this analysis as a practical matter. Of these three, we recommend an approach modeled after the Federal Trade Commission’s cost-benefit test. Regardless of the specific approach FDA chooses, however, the critical point is that the agency must weigh costs and benefits to ensure the right level of cybersecurity. Until then, medical device designers will face continued uncertainty as cybersecurity threats become increasingly dangerous.
Written Testimonies & Filings DOT should be focusing its efforts on bringing the automotive industry’s new cellular vehicle-to-everything (“C-V2X”) technology to vehicles. Instead, we are concerned that DOT will attempt to use a study that is both procedurally and technically flawed to pressure the FCC to roll back its bipartisan decision on the 5.9 GHz band.
Dear Members of Congress,
Following years of careful study, in 2020 the FCC took bipartisan action to allow both unlicensed broadband and automotive use of the 5.9 GHz band, clearing the way for billions of dollars in economic value and innovation.
The Department of Transportation’s (“DOT”) recently announced study appears to be designed to undermine the FCC’s decision, spurred by interests’ intent on re-asserting a claim that the automotive industry should control the entire band. DOT is conducting this action without seeking public comment and appears to be relying on improper technical assumptions and methodologies.
Accordingly, the undersigned organizations urge you to stop this misguided effort. DOT should be focusing its efforts on bringing the automotive industry’s new cellular vehicle-to-everything (“C-V2X”) technology to vehicles. Instead, we are concerned that DOT will attempt to use a study that is both procedurally and technically flawed to pressure the FCC to roll back its bipartisan decision on the 5.9 GHz band. This would be another instance of government agency dysfunction run amok.
Congress designated the FCC as the nation’s arbiter of commercial spectrum. The FCC’s 5.9 GHz decision is based on sound science and engineering and will best serve both the broadband and automotive safety needs of the country. The FCC’s approach:
The FCC undertook a lengthy, full, and fair public rulemaking that expressly considered the views of all stakeholders, from consumer advocates and technology companies to the DOT, state transportation agencies and vehicle manufacturers. The result was a bipartisan and unanimous decision that adopted careful technical rules to protect neighboring automotive services.
The FCC’s decision is also critical for American jobs, as unlicensed technologies add hundreds of billions of dollars to the U.S. economy every year and economists calculate that enabling access to part of the 5.9 GHz band will add more than $28 billion by 2025. In fact, this spectrum has been used for the past two years to provide consumers with additional bandwidth to meet increased demand during the pandemic.
C-V2X advocates repeatedly told the FCC that 30 megahertz of spectrum would be sufficient for C-V2X to deliver time-critical safety messages and applications. Rather than relitigate the FCC’s bipartisan decision on a spectrum matter that is squarely in its jurisdiction, DOT should focus on helping the automotive industry deliver on those vehicle-safety promises.
Spectrum is a finite asset, and after a twenty-year grant of exclusive use of the band, the FCC was right to not allow these critical mid-band frequencies to lay fallow any longer. Given the importance of the 5.9 GHz band to the country, the federal government must speak with a unified voice on spectrum. Congress should direct the DOT to drop this post-Order testing immediately.
Respectfully submitted,
American Library Association Benton Institute for Broadband & Society Center for Rural Strategies Council for Citizens Against Government Waste Digital Progress Institute International Center for Law & Economics Next Century Cities Open Technology Institute at New America Public Knowledge R Street Institute Wireless Internet Service Providers Association (WISPA)
Presentations & Interviews ICLE Executive Director Ian Adams joined the Regulatory Transparency Project’s Fourth Branch Podcast to discuss proposed rules that would require mandatory switching on U.S. railroads. . . .
ICLE Executive Director Ian Adams joined the Regulatory Transparency Project’s Fourth Branch Podcast to discuss proposed rules that would require mandatory switching on U.S. railroads. The full episode is embedded below.
TOTM Though details remain scant (and thus, any final judgment would be premature), initial word on the new Trans-Atlantic Data Privacy Framework agreed to, in principle, by the . . .
Though details remain scant (and thus, any final judgment would be premature), initial word on the new Trans-Atlantic Data Privacy Framework agreed to, in principle, by the White House and the European Commission suggests that it could be a workable successor to the Privacy Shield agreement that was invalidated by the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) in 2020.
