Regulation Of Commerce Research Articles

Regulation and the Casualty Actuary

Regulation and the Casualty Actuary, edited by Sholom Feldblum and Gregory Krohm (National Association of Insurance Commissioners, 1996). Reviewer: Terri M. Vaugham, Iowa Department of Commerce Regulation and the Casualty Actuary is a collection of 20 readings from the Journal of Insurance Regulation. The papers are organized into five groups: Principles and the Politics of Ratemaking; Actuarial Pricing and Insurance Markets; Personal Automobile Ratemaking, Residual Markets, and Fraud; Pricing and Financial Regulation; and Predicting Troubled Insurers. For a work nominally addressed to actuaries, the volume is remarkably free of mathematics and statistics. Even the most critical actuarial issues are explained in everyday language or with simple models. Many of the papers are normative and strive to offer suggestions for improving public policy and regulatory behavior. Throughout Regulation and the Casualty Actuary is an undercurrent of tension between the goals of regulators and the actuarial profession. Regulators seek to protect the insurance buying public from the failure of the marketplace to deliver indemnification as promised and at a fair price. The actuary seeks to rationally guide the insurer through the uncertainty and randomness of risk financing. At their best, each group is motivated by the highest standards of conduct, but their suspicions and misapprehensions of each other run deep. This book goes a long way toward bridging the gap of understanding between the two groups. The greatest policy friction described in the readings involves rate setting. Here titanic political will collides with market and financial imperatives. Rate suppression is reviled among insurers. Its mirror twin-rate gouging-is abhorrent to consumer protectionists. Several of the articles deal with the motives for and fallout from trying to regulate rates. The articles by Orin Kramer, Robert Klein, and Robert Hunter make a particularly interesting point-counterpoint exchange. Anyone long involved in the property-liability insurance industry cannot read these three articles without the impulse to take sides and cheer for his or her partisan point of view. The introductions to these pieces, however, try to defuse the hostility with a reasoned explanation of these points of view. A handful of the selections will be of particular interest to actuaries and financial examiners. Sholom Feldblum's magnum opus on Completing and Using Schedule P is required reading for those completing yellow blanks but unlikely casual reading for the rest of us. …

The common external tariff of a customs union: Alternative approaches

The most prominent exception to the cardinal ‘most favoured nation’ principle of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) of 1947 is in its Article XXIV relating to Customs Unions (CUs) and Free Trade Areas (FTAs). This article required, first, the general incidence of the duties and regulations of commerce imposed by members of the CU with respect to trade with non-members shall not on the whole be higher or more restrictive than those that were applicable prior to the formation of CU or FTA, and, second, that substantially all the trade among members be free. Neither requirement was very operational, because the phrases ‘general incidence’ and ‘substantially all’ being difficult legal concepts to apply. The agreement of 1994 establishing the World Trade Organization (WTO) has made ‘general incidence’ precise by defining it import-weighted average of height of barriers but without offering any rationale for the definition. Now that preferential trading arrangements such as FTAs are proliferating, reform of Article XXIV is of importance. This paper describes alternative approaches to the central question of common external tariffs of a CU. Taking off from the work of Kemp and Wan who showed the existence of a common external tariff of CU that keeps the welfare of non-members unchanged while revising that of the CU as compared to the situation prior to the formation of CU, it characterizes such a tariff structure for two leading benchmark examples as consumption-weighted average of pre-union tariffs and subsidies in the member countries.

Shaping the Eighteenth Amendment: Temperance Reform, Legal Culture, and the Polity, 1880-1920.

Richard Hamm examines prohibitionists' struggle for reform from the late nineteenth century to their great victory in securing passage of the Eighteenth Amendment. Because the prohibition movement was a quintessential reform effort, Hamm uses it as a case study to advance a general theory about the interaction between reformers and the state during the Gilded Age and Progressive Era. Most scholarship on prohibition focuses on its social context, but Hamm explores how the regulation of commerce and the federal tax structure molded the drys' crusade. Federalism gave the drys a restricted setting--individual states--as a proving ground for their proposals. But federal policies precipitated a series of crises in the states that the drys strove to overcome. According to Hamm, interaction with the federal government system helped to reshape prohibitionists' legal culture--that is, their ideas about what law was and how it could be used. Originally published in 1995. A UNC Press Enduring Edition -- UNC Press Enduring Editions use the latest in digital technology to make available again books from our distinguished backlist that were previously out of print. These editions are published unaltered from the original, and are presented in affordable paperback formats, bringing readers both historical and cultural value.

What Made Foshan a Town?: The Evolution of Rural-Urban Identities in Ming-Qing China

��� Cities and towns appear in the current Chinese social and economic history literature in four non-exclusive, but recognizably discreet, contexts. First, as places, they are discussed as nodes in networks through which trade flowed, and the central question in that literature is how open or closed those networks were for the exchange of goods and information.1 Second, as urban centers, they are looked upon as spatial areas that, at least potentially, might give rise to particular lifestyles, and the question raised by this point of view is whether the Chinese city represented a contrast to or a continuum of rural life.2 Third, as foci of merchant activities, they are discussed as points of interaction between the market and the state. The essential question in this context is whether the merchants as a group were capable of standing up to official intervention in the regulation of commerce.3 Fourth, with reference to the rise of a bourgeoisie in the nineteenth and twentieth century, the question has to be asked also why despite a vigorous urban economy in earlier centuries, China did not produce a bourgeoisie of its own prior to the proliferation of Western ideas in its cities, a question that relates to political ideology and the self-image of the urban population.4 This paper deals primarily with the fourth question. It is not disputed here that towns acted as commercial centers, that town dwellers might develop new lifestyles, and that merchants might stand up to the bureaucracy. The question I am concerned with is how members of the town leadership might reflect upon the status of their town and themselves. It is my contention that in the Ming and Qing town, leaders realized that the prosperity of their towns was rooted in the economy, but 'This paper was first presented at the Association of Asian Studies Annual Meeting, Washington D.C, March 17-19, 1989. The author is grateful to Helen Siu, Frederic Wakeman and Rubie Watson for their comments. 1G. William Skinner 1964-65, 1971.

The Supreme Court, the commerce clause, and natural resources

The Supreme Court's interpretation of the commerce clause controls the balance of power between state and federal governments in the United States. An understanding of the relationship between the different government levels is essential for resource managers concerned with resource and environmental issues. This study examines selected Supreme Court decisions between 1976 and 1988 to answer three questions raised by the commerce clause: (1) Is the regulated item an article of commerce? (2) Do state laws burden interstate commerce? (3) Is federal commerce regulation limited? The balance of power among the justices and the commerce clause theories affecting the federal role in resource management are also examined. Since ratification of the Constitution, the Supreme Court has continuously increased federal power, but states have power to act independently as long as contradictory federal laws do not exist and state law does not impermissively affect commerce. If Congress regulates an individual's use of resources, their power is unquestioned. Future Court decisions will not significantly reduce the federal role in resource management even if the Court's membership changes. Even the supporters of states' rights on the Court realize increased federal power is a necessary part of the country's evolution. The purpose of the commerce clause is to create a national economic unit with free location principles. The Court supports this purpose today and will in the future.

United States: Department of Commerce Regulations on Reporting Requirements with Regard to Restrictive Trade Practices or Boycotts

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United States: Department of Commerce Regulations on Restrictive Trade Practices or Boycotts

AGENCY: Industry and Trade Administration (formerly Domestic and Innational Business Administration), reau of Trade Regulation, Dcpartnt of Commerce.The agency is amending the Restrictive Trade Practices or boycotts part of the Export Administion Regulations (Part 369, Tide 15, of Federal Regulations). The mges are being made to implement de II of the Export Administration lendments of 1977 (Pub. L. S5-52). turned into law on June 22, 1977. In leral, these regulations prohibit united States persons from complying each specified foreign boycott requirements, including the furnishing of boycott-related information.

L'expansion occidentale dans le Levant: Les Vénitiens á acre dans la seconde moitié du treiziéme siécle

This case-study is the first attempt to examine a commercial outpost in the Crusader Levant within the context of the commercial and colonial expansion of its mother-city and in direct relation to its particular features. The Venetian quarter in Acre in the second half of the thirteenth century provided the physical setting for the exercise of authority by the state and a solid base for the expansion of its dominion. The Venetian administration there implemented the strict regulation of commerce and shipping enacted in Venice in this period, including several rules stemming from the particular needs of Acre. Various families of settlers from Venice, nobles as well as popolani, can be traced for several generations; the grant of Venetian status to natives of the Latin kingdom of Jerusalem, Latins oriental Christians, and Jews, enlarged the size of the Venetian population in Acre. The fate of the refugees who escaped from the city in 1291 is the last topic to be examined.

Foreign Commerce Regulation Under the Lanham Trademark Act

Foreign Commerce Regulation Under the Lanham Trademark Act

The Arkansas Tap Line Cases: A Study in Commerce Regulation

The Arkansas Tap Line Cases: A Study in Commerce Regulation

Taxation. Power to Tax: Exports. Requirement That Wheat Exporters Buy Marketing Certificates from the Federal Government for Wheat Not Grown under Acreage Allotments Is a Regulation of Commerce, Not a "Tax" on Exports, and Is Therefore Constitutional. Moon v. Freeman, 379 F.2d 382 (9th Cir. 1967)

Taxation. Power to Tax: Exports. Requirement That Wheat Exporters Buy Marketing Certificates from the Federal Government for Wheat Not Grown under Acreage Allotments Is a Regulation of Commerce, Not a "Tax" on Exports, and Is Therefore Constitutional. Moon v. Freeman, 379 F.2d 382 (9th Cir. 1967)

PREEMPTION BY FEDERAL GOVERNMENT IN THE FIELD OF FOOD REGULATION

It frequently happens that the federal government and a state government attempt to regulate the same commercial activity — or what may appear to be the same commercial activity. If the laws or regulations are in agreement, there is no problem. But suppose they are not in agreement. Here, the problems arise. The teaching of the numerous judicial decisions appears to be that even if the state requirement in issue is different from the federal, if it is not in direct conflict with the federal, and does not interfere with the policy or administration of the federal, the two may co-exist and both be enforced. But if the state requirement is in direct conflict with the federal and interferes with the policy or administration of the federal, the federal law or regulation will prevail over the state, and the state law or regulation will be stricken down. In this situation, the federal government with its paramount constitutional power to regulate interstate commerce, is said to have occupied or preempted the particular field of government control and thereby to have excluded regulation by the state. This doctrine, articulated in the foregoing or comparable language, has been applied in numerous cases involving the regulation of commerce in food products. There are cases, for example, involving federal versus state food standards, and these are of particular interest.

Constitutional Law. Executive Agreement Held Void Where It Did Not Comply with Prescribed Manner for President to Execute Act of Congress concerning Regulation of Commerce

Constitutional Law. Executive Agreement Held Void Where It Did Not Comply with Prescribed Manner for President to Execute Act of Congress concerning Regulation of Commerce

An Interpretation of the Act of 1939 (FELA) to Save Some Remedies for Compensation Claimants

In recent years the story of FELA has been told often.' It is not necessary to repeat much of it here except by way of summary. For I906 and I9o8 the Federal Employers' Liability Act was a remedial scheme.2 Understandably in those years lawmen looked skeptically at social legislation. The dead hand of a pre-industrial society was being pulled from the eighteenth century through the Fourteenth Amendment to choke state welfare programs.3 Some lawyers in I908 were prepared to argue that judge-made concepts like fellow-servant, contributory negligence, and fault are comparable to dogmatic truths.4 Nevertheless, when the chips were down, even a tough constitutionalist like Van Devanter was not convinced.5 He remembered Waite's epigram that there is no vested interest in a rule of law.6 It was a unanimous Court, speaking through Van Devanter, that approved the second Federal Employers' Liability Act. The statute was a regulation of commerce within the delegated powers of Congress, the Court said, and the scheme of it was

State Regulation of Commerce: A Functional Test

State Regulation of Commerce: A Functional Test

Umpire to the Federal System

H A AND in hand together, Due Process and the Commerce Clause amble across the pages of the United States Reports. Though one is supposed to provide a balance between the individual and his government and the other between state and nation, they have more or less been interchangeable devices for protecting the status quo against social legislation. A Court which struck down state legislation in the name of the Fourteenth Amendment was usually a Court which also found a negative implication in the Commerce Clause to prevent state regulation of interstate business.' And except for certain traditional types of commerce2 and a few pronouncements of the Taft Court,3 the Commerce Clause hardly seemed a strong affirmative instrument for national regulation. By adept manipulation of these two constitutional provisions the Court steadily erected a no man's land free from any governmental regulation.4 In fact, the primary objective of no-regulation finally became so important that the Court lost its adeptness and in one instance confused the two concepts by saying in effect that the Commerce Clause did not extend to regulation of commerce if the regulation was without due process of law.5 It is hardly surprising, therefore, to find that when the new Court launched its campaign to undo past wrongs, it moved on three fronts at

Constitutional Law. Validity of Federally Enabled State Regulation of Commerce in Convict-Made Goods. Partial Invalidity

Constitutional Law. Validity of Federally Enabled State Regulation of Commerce in Convict-Made Goods. Partial Invalidity

The Legal Aspect of Plant Quarantines

No case dealing with plant quarantine has been carried to the U. S. Supreme Court. Numerous animal quarantines have been taken to the U. S. Supreme Court where decisions have been rendered and inasmuch as plant quarantines are promulgated and enforced on the same principle as animal quarantines, it may be assumed that plant quarantines, if carried to the U. S. Supreme Court for decision as to constitutionality, would be decided on the same precedents and on the same principles as have governed the decisions with respect to animal quarantines. The nearest approach to a final and conclusive decision of the constitutionality of a plant quarantine is the case of the Oregon-Washington Railroad and Navigation Company v. the State of Washington, tried in the State Supreme Court of Washington. Various U. S. Supreme Court decisions point out that the prevention of disease is the essence of the quarantine law. A statute for the regulation of commerce under the guise of an inspection law cannot be upheld but must be condemned. While a state may not legislate for the direct control of interstate commerce, it may exercise any part of the legislative power which is not withdrawn from it by the scheme of government put into operation by the Federal Constitution. A law passed in pursuance of the acknowledged power of the state may have an indirect effect upon interstate commerce. Such a law, though it is essential to its validity that authority be found in governmental power entirely distinct from the power to regulate interstate commerce, may reach and indirectly control that subject. In the application of the principle of supremacy of an Act of Congress in a case where the State Law is but an exercise of the reserve power, the repugnance or conflict should be direct or positive so that the two acts could not be reconciled or stand together.

The Supreme Court's Adjudication of Constitutional Issues in 1921-1922, II. Regulation of Commerce

The Supreme Court's Adjudication of Constitutional Issues in 1921-1922, II. Regulation of Commerce

Constitutional Law: State Regulation of Commerce in Intoxicating Liquors

Constitutional Law: State Regulation of Commerce in Intoxicating Liquors