Law and economics
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Ideas of the Marketplace II
What we can learn from thinking about the marketplace of ideas as a market In a very interesting post over at EconLog, Bryan Caplan considers what he describes as the “dogmatic libertarian” claim that all markets work well, as it is applies ― or, rather, doesn’t apply ― to the marketplace of ideas. The marketplace seems Continue reading
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L’Uber et l’argent d’Uber
Une poursuite contre Uber carbure à l’ignorance économique Certaines personnes qui ont eu recours aux service d’Uber la nuit du Nouvel an ont payé cher. Très cher même, dans certains cas. Car, contrairement aux taxis traditionnels dont les prix sont toujours les mêmes, Uber pratique ce que l’entreprise appelle le « prix dynamique » ― un prix Continue reading
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The “Unequal Bargaining Power” Trope
Defenders of trade unions generally, and of constitutional protections for union rights, notably the right to force an unwilling employer into collective bargaining and the right to strike, usually invoke the “unequal bargaining power” of workers and employers in support of their position. The Supreme Court relied on this claim when it constitutionalized the right to collective Continue reading
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Check Their Privilege
In my post criticizing the Supreme Court’s recent decisions in Mounted Police Association of Ontario v. Canada (Attorney General), 2015 SCC 1 and Saskatchewan Federation of Labour v. Saskatchewan, 2015 SCC 4, which constitutionalized rights to collective bargaining and to strike, I suggested, without elaborating, that they are inconsistent with the Supreme Court’s jurisprudence in that they constitutionalize organized labour’s economic rights Continue reading
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Laboured Thoughts
Over the last few weeks, the Supreme Court re-wrote yet another part of the Constitution ― this time, the Charter’s freedom of association provision. Section 2(d) now means that labour unions have a constitutional right to participate in a “meaningful process of collective bargaining,” created in Mounted Police Association of Ontario v. Canada (Attorney General), 2015 SCC Continue reading
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The Economics of Unanimity
It is often thought that judicial unanimity is a valuable commodity. Chief Justices bang heads, twist arms, and break legs in order to get their courts to produce more of it, but they don’t always succeed, and unanimity remains at least somewhat scarce on the U.S. and Canadian Supreme Courts (although more on the former than Continue reading
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R.I.P. Ronald Coase
Not exactly news anymore, but I wanted to note the death of Ronald Coase. Smarter and more knowledgeable people have written and will write about the significance of his work. I will only speak to my own feelings. “The Nature of the Firm” ― a paper Coase mostly wrote as an undergraduate and published at Continue reading
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In Vino Veritas
Un article publié aujourd’hui sur le site de La Presse parle d’un recours collectif intenté contre la SAQ parce que, selon l’avocat du demandeur, « les marges bénéficiaires de la SAQ sont actuellement disproportionnées, déraisonnables et exorbitantes alors qu’elle se trouve en position de monopole ». Bien que la SAQ soit en mesure d’acheter son vin Continue reading
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The Idea of the Marketplace
Apologies for the lack of blogging for the past week. We had this minor disturbance of a hurricane, and then I went to a conference in Chicago to present my paper on federalism and judicial review. My topic today is the highlight of that conference, a keynote address by Robert Post, Dean of the Yale Continue reading
Double Aspect 