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In considering market developments and policy responses to some of the most heated net-neutrality debates in Europe and the United States, Net Neutrality is the first, fully comprehensive overview of the subject. This book is also unique in providing readers with a supplementary outline of recommended policy prescriptives

This article focuses on misaligned incentives in the lending process caused by the shift from the traditional relationship banking model to a more transaction-oriented 'originateto-distribute' model of bank finance as one of the major factors contributing to the financial crisis of the years 2007–2009. Based on a theoretical analysis of banks as financial intermediaries and the agency costs involved if banks distribute assets they have created to other parties in the financial system, empirical studies are reviewed which demonstrate that market mechanisms apparently contain these agency costs in loan syndications and loan sales, but failed to do so in securitisations during the years before the onset of the financial crisis. The EU has already reacted to this breakdown of market mechanisms by an amendment to the Capital Requirements Directive with the purpose of aligning incentives in securitisation transactions by getting more securitiser 'skin in the game'. Similar legislation has been adopted in the US. This article places the EU and US response to perceived shortcomings in securitisations in the context of the theoretical and empirical literature and discusses alternative regulatory solutions.

Abstract

The debate on genetically modified (GM) foods has been led on multiple levels in Europe, including such diverse frames of reference as economic policy and international trade, environmental risk, bioethics, consumer protection and food safety. The shifting frames of reference are traced over the past three decades, focusing on events leading up to the five‐year quasi‐moratorium on GM foods and its final lifting in 2004. While regulatory problems have been resolved, commercial actors in the food chain have done little to prepare themselves for the actual marketing of GM foods to European consumers. Relevant consumer research is reviewed, and a potential way forward for commercial actors is outlined. It is concluded that the conceptualization of GM foods should be turned back on its feet, understanding them as foods and not just as embodiments of technology.


Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Identifies preferences for each of three water management strategies: voluntary conservation, mandatory regulation, and water importation; based on a survey of water experts in New Mexico. The Ogallala aquifer is located in eight Great Plains states.

The security of our informational infra­structure is still relatively poor. Huge investments have been made and even the regulators have taken information security seriously. Majority of current efforts both at the operational and the regulatory level, however, address only symptoms of an underlying problem: the insecurity of the software products - the salient components of most information and software systems. Secure software development has gained momentum during the past couple of years and improvements have been made. By analysing the incentives for secure software development, it is argued in this study that without appropriate regulatory intervention the level of security will not improve to meet the needs of the network society as a whole. Beside information security in general, secure software development has to be raised as an important public policy if we wish to achieve a more secure network society and to maintain trust for information products and systems in commerce. Efficacious regulatory measures are desperately needed to change the current practices. This study analyses two of the most attractive alternatives, software product liability and disclosure of vulnerability information, and makes suggestions for their improvement.

En EE UU, el problema de interferencia en las comunicaciones inalámbricas se resuelve mediante un sistema de planificación central, creado hace casi ocho décadas. Este mismo sistema es aplicado en la mayoría de países que permiten inversión privada en el sector telecomunicaciones. Un análisis breve de cómo este sistema surgió en EE UU y cómo opera, revela su enorme ineficiencia. Los casos de Guatemala y El Salvador, países que adoptaron derechos de propiedad en el espectro radioeléctrico, ilustran los beneficios de adoptar esta alternativa. Entre 1997 y 2001, el tráfico en telefonía móvil en estos dos países creció a una tasa anual mayor al doble que el promedio latinoamericano y más de doce veces la del Perú. Los latinoamericanos harían bien en dejar el viejo sistema de planificación cent