Takings, Torts, and Special Interests

Update on special interests and focused practices.

Electoral concerns, special interests and illegal immigration

In 2006 illegal immigrants represented four percent of the total number of US residents, and comparable figures hold also for other advanced destination countries. If governments are not able or willing to stick to their “official” immigration policy, why do they set such policies in the first place? The purpose of this paper is to address this apparent puzzle, by developing a political agency ...

How Special Interests Shape Policy A Survey

This paper surveys recent approaches towards lobbying if interest groups influence the decision of an incumbent government. It describes the two main channels of influence which mainly exist in parallel, namely contribution payments and the transmission of information through lobbying. Recent extensions to the two basic lobbying models are discussed in great detail. Thereafter follows a short o...

Hormesis and toxic torts.

Policy implementation of hormesis has to date focused on regulatory applications. Toxic-tort litigation may provide an alternative policy venue for real-world applications of hormesis. Businesses and government entities, who are sued by individuals claiming to have been injured by exposure to very low levels of toxic substances may defend those cases by deploying hormesis to argue that such exp...

Torts and innovation.

This Essay exposes and analyzes a hitherto overlooked cost of tort law: its adverse effect on innovation. Tort liability for negligence, defective products, and medical malpractice is determined by reference to custom. We demonstrate that courts' reliance on custom and conventional technologies as the benchmark of liability chills innovation and distorts its path. Specifically, recourse to cust...