The Law and Economics of Law-Making

 

Prof. Fabrizio CAFAGGI, Prof. Alessandra ARCURI and Prof. Andrea RENDA

Thursday, 17.15-19.15, Sala Triaria

Administrative Assistant: Marlies Becker 

Starts on 13 October 2011

6 credits

 

Seminar description

Module 1. An introduction to the law and economics of lawmaking

Introduction to the course; basic concepts: regulatory governance; market failures, regulatory failures, modes of intervention, alternative modes of regulation, public v. private regulation.

 

Module 2. Regulatory Impact Analysis: basic features and main approaches in the United States and in the international debate on regulatory reform

The birth of administrative law and economics; forms of Impact Assessment; cost-benefit analysis and regulatory oversight in the US

 

Module 3. Impact assessment in the EU

The road towards Impact Assessment in the EU; EU impact assessment guidelines; governance of ex ante impact assessment in the EU; the Communication on Smart Regulation; the EU Standard Cost Model.

 

Module 4. Cost-benefit analysis: prospects and challenges

Review of methodologies and discussion of academic literature questioning this methodology; “knowing the price of everything and the value of nothing”; distributional issues.

 

Module 5. Impact assessment: an interactive case study

The case study implies an illustration of the basic policy problem, the distribution of an original IA document of the European Commission, a breakout session in which two groups of students have to analyze the IA, and finally an interactive discussion in class.

 

Module 6. Invited Lecture 1: International public law making

An invited speaker will teach this module. 

 

Module 7. Trans-national private regulation

This module explores the rise of trans-national private regulation and its intricate relationship with international law in a number of economic sectors, including corporate social responsibility, environmental law, financial services, advertising, and the Internet.

 

Module 8. The effectiveness of private regulation: looking at the interface between public and private regulation

This module discusses the problem of aligning the incentives between private regulators and social welfare, looking at recent experiences such as the ISEAL alliance, and proposing a theoretical framework for the evaluation of the effectiveness of private regulation in RIA procedures.

 

Module 9. Judicial law making and legislation

An invited speaker will teach this module. 

Module 10. Concluding session