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Complexity And Simplicity In Law: A Review Essay (Cass R. Sunstein, Simpler: The Future Of Government (2003)), David M. Driesen
Complexity And Simplicity In Law: A Review Essay (Cass R. Sunstein, Simpler: The Future Of Government (2003)), David M. Driesen
David M Driesen
This essay discusses Cass Sunstein’s book, Simpler: The Future of Government, in order to advance our understanding of the concepts of complex and simple law. Many writers identify complexity with uncertainty and high cost. This essay argues that complexity bears no fixed relationship to costs or benefits. It also shows that complexity’s relationship to uncertainty is so ambiguous that it is profitable to treat complexity and uncertainty as separate concepts. It develops useful separate concepts of legal and compliance complexity that will aid efforts to simplify law, like the one Sunstein claims to have embarked upon. It also argues that …
Complexity And Simplicity In Law: A Review Essay (Cass R. Sunstein, Simpler 2013)), David M. Driesen
Complexity And Simplicity In Law: A Review Essay (Cass R. Sunstein, Simpler 2013)), David M. Driesen
David M Driesen
This essay discusses Cass Sunstein’s book, Simpler, in order to advance our understanding of the concepts of complex and simple law. Many writers identify complexity with uncertainty and high cost. This essay argues that complexity bears no fixed relationship to costs or benefits. It also shows that complexity’s relationship to uncertainty is so ambiguous that it is profitable to treat complexity and uncertainty as separate concepts. It develops useful separate concepts of legal and compliance complexity that will aid efforts to simplify law, like the one Sunstein claims to have embarked upon. It also argues that complexity is a hallmark …
Putting A Price On Carbon: The Metaphor, David M. Driesen
Putting A Price On Carbon: The Metaphor, David M. Driesen
David M Driesen
This Essay analyzes the characterization of both pollution taxes and so-called cap-and-trade programs addressing greenhouse gas emissions as policies that “put a price on carbon,” a characterization that has come to dominate both policy discussion and much modern scholarship on environmental instrument choice. It shows that the rationale for characterizing cap-and-trade— a quantitative rather than a pricing mechanism— as putting a price on carbon suggests that analysts should likewise treat traditional regulation as a mechanism putting a price on carbon. Treating “market-based mechanisms” as uniquely putting a price on carbon reflects and perpetuates a tendency to see markets and government …