Portuguese Economic Journal, 2009, Volume 8, Nº 3
URI permanente para esta coleção:
Navegar
Entradas recentes
- The case for the virtual strikePublication . Nicita, Antonio; Rizzolli, MatteoIn this paper we outline the economic rationale behind the virtual strike, and workers’ incentives to use this bargaining solution rather than resorting to standard strike action. We show that, from a welfare perspective, a well-designed virtual strike always dominates a standard strike and it would be most needed precisely when workers have weaker incentives to adopt it. We then discuss the pros and cons of legally regulating the virtual strike rather than leaving it to self-regulation. Finally, we apply our findings to the analysis of Italy’s draft legislation on virtual strikes.
- Punishment should fit the crime : an assessment of the French reform of minimum mandatory penaltiesPublication . Deffains, Bruno; Galbiati, Roberto; Rouillon, SebastienWe study the eff ects of minimum mandatory sentences when judges are at least minimally averse to error and/or follow some “penalty should fit the crime” heuristic. We apply our analysis to the 2007 reform of the French Penal Code. We show that the introduction of minimum mandatory sentences in this context may backfire inducing more crime in the long run. Judges may prefer to acquit a criminal than convicting him to a sentence reputed too high.
- The English rule with payments upfrontPublication . Garoupa, NunoThis paper extends the economic model of litigation under the English rule for allocation of costs by considering payments upfront. Impli- cations are derived for current legal reforms in Portugal.
- The State in Court : the economic effects of fee-shifting rules in Spain when suing the governmentPublication . Gómez, Fernando; Ginès-Fabrellas, Anna; Marín-García, IgnacioFollowing the recent public debate concerning the situation of the Judicial system in Spain, the paper analyses the special position of the State in Court, essentially with reference to suits brought by individuals against the State before Spanish first instance Courts, although international Courts are touched as well. The analysis focuses on the incentives to litigate and to settle in a dispute with the State, focusing on the State’s special procedural rules and the fee-shifting rules applied in the Spanish Justice system. The asymmetries in favor of the State reduce the incentives to litigate against the State, but also reduce the settlement range in order to achieve out-of-Court settlements.
- From soft to hard paternalism and back : the regulation of surrogate motherhood in GreecePublication . Hatzis, Aristides N.This paper is a critical analysis of the regulation of surrogate motherhood in Greece; I will discuss the way that a consensus reached in the legislative committee among liberal and conservative jurists on the matter of compensation of surrogate mothers was undermined by intra-party populism in the Greek parliament which banned it to avoid commodification; inevitably the law fell into disuse leading to a new law which allowed government-defined compensation, not the one agreed by the parties; the regulation of surrogate motherhood in Greece is a typical example of the deleterious effects of the combination of legal formalism and legal moralism in contemporary Greece.