Competition and Regulation Times. November 2001. Issue 6.

Abstract

• Title: Health contract failure: Who bears the risks? Abstract: A Ministerial Inquiry has found inadequacies in the design of the National Cervical Screening Programme. A new paper by Bronwyn Howell looks at the myriad of nested contracts that make up the NSCP and concludes that the problem may be endemic. Author: Bronwyn Howell
• Title: Regulating Telecoms: Why should New Zealand change now? Abstract: Guest editorial by Bob Crandall, a senior fellow in the Economic Studies Program of the Brookings Institution answers this question. Author: Robert W. Crandall
• Title: The costs of enforcing sobriety and holiness and limits on ducks Abstract: Why do we have a law preventing garden centres from opening on Easter Sunday rather than tax the profits they make that day? Why do we have fishing and duck shooting seasons and not a variable tax on the catch according to the time of year? Judy Kavanagh investigates. Author: Judy Kavanagh
• Title: Expert Witnesses - help or hindrance? Abstract: Terrence Arnold investigates this question in a guest article. Author: Terence Arnold
• Title: Indicators of quality: QCs and laureates Abstract: What's the link between the Nobel Prize for economics and the appointment of QC's in New Zealand? Ronald Pol explains. Author: Ronald Pol
• Title: Liability rules for GMOs Abstract: Productivity gains associated with research and investment in biotechnology may have a very significant positive impact on future economic growth in New Zealand. For the potential to be realised New Zealand must provide regulatory and legal environment with appropriate incentives for the development and use of genetically modified organisms (GMOs). A key component of the legal environment is the liability regime for firms that produce or conduct research on GMOs, writes Neil Quigley. Author: Neil Quigley
• Title: Whistle-blower, n.Inf. a person who informs on someone or puts a stop to something Abstract: Without the actions of Claire Matheson, Witness A, and Colleen Poutsma, the failure to provide adequate health care to thousands of New Zealand women might have gone unnoticed perhaps indefinitely. These three women belong to a special group of people - whistle-blowers, those who choose to disclose confidential and sometimes deeply personal information relating to some danger, fraud or other illegal or unethical conduct. Lisa Marriott investigates the economics of whistle-blowing and why it is important for maintaining quality in the health sector. Author: Lisa Marriott
• Title: Options, hedges and gamma in the electricity business Abstract: In this article Richard Meade discusses the hedging benefit of vertical integration in the electricity sector. Author: Richard Meade