Few issues arouse as many strong emotional reactions as the possibility of permitting cell phone usage on planes. At the Law and Liberty blog, Northwestern University law professor John McGinnis has an excellent post making the case for legalization: Cell phones on airplanes frighten a lot of people and not for safety reasons. Few people […]
Archive | Regulation
Looking at My Vehicle Automation Entries in the Rear-View Mirror
By Bryant Walker Smith, guest-blogging on October 6, 2013 2:52 pm in Automation, Regulation, Robotics, Self-Driving Cars
Thank you for reading my posts this week. If you happen to be Eugene Volokh or Ken Anderson, thank you in particular for making them possible. And if you were one of my thoughtful commenters, thank you for questioning and challenging; I have read your remarks with great interest. My goal in these posts was […]
Planning for the Obsolescence of Technologies Not Yet Invented
By Bryant Walker Smith, guest-blogging on October 4, 2013 6:50 pm in Automation, Drones (UAVs), Privacy, Regulation, Robotics, Self-Driving Cars, Torts
The automated motor vehicles that I have discussed this week are just one example of the remarkable technologies coming to our roads, skies, homes, and even bodies. A decade from now, we’ll marvel at how advanced these new products are. But a decade after that, we’ll marvel at how anachronistic they have become. Rapid technological […]
The Reasonable Self-Driving Car
By Bryant Walker Smith, guest-blogging on October 3, 2013 2:38 am in Automation, Regulation, Robotics, Self-Driving Cars
A common debate in many circles–including the comments on my posts here–is whether legal burdens, technical limitations, or consumer preferences present the greatest immediate obstacle to fully automated motor vehicles. (Fully automated vehicles are capable of driving themselves anywhere a human can. In contrast, the low-speed shuttles from my post on Monday are route-restricted, and […]
The Impact of Automation on Environmental Impact Statements
By Bryant Walker Smith, guest-blogging on October 1, 2013 6:06 pm in Automation, Energy, Environment, Regulation, Robotics, Self-Driving Cars
Since the 1950s, the Long Beach Freeway has linked the massive Ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles to, roughly, the rest of the continental United States. Because much has changed in trade and traffic since then, California’s relevant transportation authorities have decided that perhaps this freeway should change as well. The resulting Draft Environmental […]
Driverless Carts Are Coming Sooner Than Driverless Cars
By Bryant Walker Smith, guest-blogging on September 30, 2013 7:55 pm in Automation, Regulation, Robotics, Self-Driving Cars
I’m delighted to be spending this week committing overt acts in furtherance of the Volokh Conspiracy. Since joining Stanford in 2011, I’ve been studying the increasing automation, connectivity, and capability that promise to dramatically change our lives, institutions, and laws. My posts this week will focus on one key example: self-driving vehicles (or whatever you […]
Bryant Walker Smith Guest-Blogging This Week About Self-Driving Cars, Automation Technologies, and Their Regulation
By Kenneth Anderson on September 29, 2013 4:58 pm in Automation, Regulation, Robotics, Self-Driving Cars, Torts
Automation and robotic technologies have popped up in Volokh Conspiracy posts several times during the last few years – drone aircraft, autonomous or highly automated weapons, nursing and eldercare assistance machines and, of course, self-driving cars. So I’m pleased to announce that Bryant Walker Smith, a leading expert on automation and the law, will be […]
Coase on Externalities
The existence of “externalities” — effects (costs or benefits) of market transactions that are not experienced by those involved in the transaction, but are instead experienced by others, those “external” to the transaction — is routinely proffered as a justification for governmental regulation of private economic activity. Ronald Coase had a different view, however. In […]
Cass Sunstein on Taxi Cab Regulation
Famed Harvard law professor and former Obama Administration official Cass Sunstein is no enemy of regulation in general. But in this recent column, he argues that big cities need to deregulate the taxi market: People can run into two problems when they need to find a taxi. The first is that they don’t know whether […]
2012 Unified Agenda Released Before End of Year
Regulatory policy mavens have been wondering all year when the federal government would release the Unified Agenda of Regulatory and Deregulatory Actions. This report details the various actions planned by federal regulatory agencies. The Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) in the White House Office of Management and Budget is supposed to release the […]
Assessing the REINS Act
Among the regulatory reform proposals passed by the House of Representatives this year was the “REINS Act,” a proposal to require Congressional approval before major regulations could take effect. Supporters and opponents of this bill have presented the REINS Act as a deregulatory tool. The actual effect of the REINS Act is likely to be […]
How Dodd-Frank Benefits the Biggest Banks
Former White House counsel Boyden Gray and Adama White explain how Dodd-Frank effectively subsidizes large financial institutions at the expense of smaller institutions and “Main Street.” Gray and White are also representing some of the plaintiffs who are challenging Dodd-Frank’s constitutionality (see here and here).
Is the Supreme Court “Pro-Business”?
Stephen Richer of Forbes has a good summary of the reasons why claims that the Supreme Court has a “pro-business” bias are misplaced. He also provides numerous links to articles and blog posts on both sides of the issue, including one by co-blogger Jonathan Adler. I summarized my own thoughts on the issue in this […]
Where Is the Unified Agenda?
The federal government is supposed to publish the Unified Agenda of Regulatory and Deregulatory Actions twice a year. This document provides a rundown of all the various regulatory (and deregulatory) actions that are in various stages of the regulatory pipeline. In this way, the agenda provides an overview of the federal government’s regulatory activities, and […]
RegBlog Symposium on “Romney’s Regulatory Plan”
This week RegBlog is publishing an online symposium on Mitt Romney’s regulatory proposals. Participants include Ronald Cass, William Funk, Jack Beermann, Richard Murphy, and yours truly. One piece will be posted each day. Ron Cass’ essay is here. Mine will appear tomorrow. UPDATE: My contribution is now online here.