Suchergebnisse

The issue of super-intelligent artificial intelligence (AI) has begun to attract ever more attention in economics, law, sociology and philosophy studies. A new industrial revolution is being unleashed, and it is vital that lawmakers address the systemic challenges it is bringing while regulating its economic and social consequences. This paper sets out recommendations to ensure informed regulatory intervention covering potential uncontemplated AI-related risks. If AI evolves in ways unintended by its designers, the judgment-proof problem of existing legal persons engaged with AI might undermine the deterrence and insurance goals of classic tort law, which consequently might fail to ensure optimal risk internalisation and precaution. This paper also argues that, due to identified shortcomings, the debate on the different approaches to controlling hazardous activities boils down to a question of efficient ex ante safety regulation. In addition, it is suggested that it is better to place AI in the existing legal categories and not to create a new electronic legal personality.

Abstract
Modern game theory and the economic theory of federalism may offer an alternative view on the Brexit fiasco, in which the British government should not bear exclusive responsibility for current disaster. Moreover, the design of Article 50 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU) contains an intrinsic dysfunctional mechanism that generates irrational strategies. Article 50 is underdeveloped and should be redrafted. The two-year deadline provision should be replaced with a reasonable time period and should provide for a third-party dispute resolution mechanism in instances where free negotiations between the EU and the withdrawing Member State in the reasonable time period fail to achieve a winwin solution. This article also argues that the current sub-optimal institutional framework on the vertical and horizontal division of competences might be an additional generator of Euroscepticism. In order to prevent the decline of public support the EU should do less in current fields and should do much more in fields where it failed to exercise its authority and which cannot be addressed effectively at the local levels. The EU should redesign itself as an institution that mitigates broad potential sources of negative externalities, reinforcing the rule of law, protecting liberal democracy with all related civil liberties, reinforcing its political-global dimension, protecting its common cultural heritage, and combating destructive nationalisms, isolationisms and cultural introspections.

Frustration of purpose remains one of the most ill-defined concepts in the English law of contracts. The same problem has also recently attracted the attention of the French legislature in its modernization of the Code Civil. The French reform entitles courts with broad powers to adjust the contract when unforeseen contingencies have made the bargain unduly costly. This article argues that the introduction of an economically inspired adjustment rule in English contract law should be re-considered to maintain its current superior commercial position. If implemented, then the 'ex ante division of surplus' should be the governing principle in adjusting contract price, because such a remedy will not affect the agreed-upon division of the surplus. Moreover, this paper suggests that the recent French reform is indeed a long-awaited step toward a more effective regulation of the notorious 'unforeseen contingencies' phenomena, but also suggests that further improvements might be needed. Furthermore, it offers a set of arguments suggesting that the English law in its current form might still be the preferred option in the world of international business transactions. The international commercial attractiveness of English contract law, although being challenged by the new French Civil Code, remains undisputed.

Continents are facing an apocalyptic pandemic that is terribly dangerous for millions of their inhabitants. This paper seeks to address the role of intellectual property (IP) law in addressing the problem of the COVID‐19 pandemic. We suggest that the current international IP law regime and the Trade‐Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights Agreement are not insurmountable obstacles for access to a successful COVID‐19 vaccine. The publicly advocated fundamental reform or even abolition of the present IP law regime under serious information asymmetries might be counterproductive and distortive. Via existing compulsory licensing, advance purchase agreements and the employment of patent‐pools, research subsidies, reward mechanisms and reputational sanctions, governments can take the steps needed to effectively overcome any IP‐associated barriers to access to crucial medicines/vaccines, particularly during the COVID‐19 pandemic. Moreover, the current wave of medical research on COVID‐19 suggests the previous vaccine R&D 'failures' were driven by the modest demand for such vaccines and were not due to an inadequate IP‐incentive stream. The paper also suggests today's EU competition law rules on the horizontal exchange of information could be seen as an impediment to innovation and thus be temporary suspended.

AbstractThis paper examines the contribution of administrative and procedural transaction costs to economic growth under common legal system. We show that administrative and procedural costs vary quite a lot even within the institutional environment sharing the common legal system. States with low‐cost business registration, low‐cost access to property rights and greater judicial efficiency tend to have consistently higher growth. The established effects are robust to alternative model specifications, heterogeneity bias, and to a variety of control variables that might confound the effects of administrative and procedural costs on growth. Such differences in costs are far from being trivial as we show that these within‐system differences might be instrumental in influencing economic growth. Lower administrative and procedural costs induce growth by increasing investment rate, lowering unemployment rate, encouraging labor supply and improving total factor productivity. In the counterfactual scenario, the transition from high‐cost to low‐cost regime is associated with substantial growth and development gains over time. By exploiting the variation in the disease environment, ethnic fractionalization and historical urbanization, we show that the negative effect of rising procedural and administrative costs on growth and development appears to be causal.

Abstract
The problem of excuse for non-performance of contracts caused by changed circumstances is, despite its long history in contract law scholarship, far from being resolved. This paper is based on the dialogue between two colleagues from different academic backgrounds and comparatively investigates German, French, Italian and English approaches and current developments in the field. First, the paper questions whether the doctrine of changed circumstances (or imprévision) remains a mere exception, or whether it is possible to argue that, by considering the latest developments, it may represent a model in European contract law. This issue has recently attracted the attention of the French legislature in its modernization of the Code Civil. Second, by examining the many different national doctrines, the paper aims to reconstruct and clarify, through comparative analysis performed, the conceptual framework of such a theory by discussing, in particular, issues of contract interpretation, presupposition, causation, good faith, fairness and solidarity.