Regulation and Policy Books

This is a great book that will make you think hard about how we regulate the pharmaceutical industry. You probably won't agree with everything but Epstein raises critical issues that need to be considered. If you are afraid of having your ideas being challenged (like the first reviewer) then don't order this book.

As with all Congressional Research Service reports, this one is available for free by writing to your senator or representative.

Callon's book provides the sort of insight one would expect from one of the leading experts in Japanese society and finance. Despite its substance it reads with ease of a Harlequin romance.

Minor disclaimer:
Not only did I read this article, I wrote it. And did a fine job of it. If $5 is too much, contact me and I'll fax it to you for $4.99.

Judd

I have read many, many articles and books about managed care, but Betty Leyerle's book is by far the best and most penetrating analysis of the planned and schemed takeover of our health care system by big capital. As she explains and documents, the motives for managed care's rise are both money and ideology: The corporate sector was frightened by Medicare in the late sixties and the spectre of what they saw as "socialized medicine," and managed care was their response. Instead of a health care system based on the medical needs of the population, the managed care system gives us health care based on a system of "choices" stratified by cost factors and controlled by businessmen. Instead of health care delivered by professionals according to the ethics of the hippocratic oath, managed care gives us systems of surveilance and business-style bureaucracy based on principles of cost-effectiveness and accountability. Leyerle's book discusses the rationales, and the history of the strategies and legislative initiatives that business employed to accomplish its goals, as well as exposing its dubious assumptions and self-serving claims. If you read just one book on managed care, this should be it.

Excelent presentation of current debate and experiences of utility deregulation and privatization processes in the world. Mr. Newberry brings together a deep economic knowledge of the network utility industries, including gas, telecommunications and electricity, and a clear description of deregulation in the UK and several path-breaking experiences all over the world.

He puts forward the challenges that still need to be adressed by every privatization effort in a crystal clear and informative way. Although the book can be used as an introduction, it contains material for deep thought and policy evaluation.

I am majoring in medical radiology.I have read this book several times.I think this book can give you some new idea and make you think deeply. It is a good reference book.

Hugh Slotten, a postdoctoral fellow in History at Harvard, has explored the public debates surrounding the adoption of several broadcasting technologies, including AM and FM radio and black-and-white and color television in the U.S. Federal agencies most concerned with their regulation, beginning with the Federal Radio Commission in 1927 and continuing to the Federal Communications Commission of the 1930s to the 1960s. Slotten's book explores the complex relationships between government and industry, the importance of key individuals in the government, and the influence of political ideologies as they related to policy formation at the dawn of broadcasting. Along the way, he reveals much about the creation of the "regulatory state" that that defined the communications industries in the 20th century. The book's chapters are ordered chronologically and treat key episodes in the history of broadcast regulation. Chapter one treats the formative years of the radio industry and the creation of the first federal regulatory agencies, focusing on the role of engineer and future president Herbert Hoover in the process. He then moves on to show how regulation contributed to the stunning commercial success of broadcasting and radio networks, despite the Great Depression. Some readers may be surprised to learn that television was being touted as the "next big thing" even in the 1920s, and Slotten analyzes the way TV regulatory policy emerged well before the technology itself was ready for deployment. The maturation of both the broadcasting industry and the government's regulatory and standards-setting mechanisms is detailed in a chapter on the introduction of FM broadcasting, along with an in-depth analysis of the role of technical knowledge and expertise in the policy process. By the time television re-emerged after being delayed by the Depression and World War II, the FCC had grown aware that the technical expertise needed to make informed regulatory decisions often relied on uncertain, incomplete or highly biased knowledge. This, and the fact that the agency was now less likely than ever to make decisions that would threaten entrenched commercial interests, led them to delay the introduction of UHF television, limiting its success as a competitor to VHF (channels 2-13). By about 1950, the FCC had hired its own technical expertise, and was less likely to rely on the opinions of (presumably biased) industry personnel. This was a key factor in the decision to reverse an early ruling that promoted the color TV system invented at CBS, which used a large, rotating disk fitted with optical filters to create the illusion of color. The FCC now pushed for a color standard that was more in keeping with its new face; a standard that protected entrenched interests in the black-and-white TV field (the new color standard was backward-compatible with black-and-white) while promoting what was seen as the next logical step in TV technology. The resulting color standard, while criticized today as obsolete, nonetheless stood the test of time for half a century. Slotten's work is a well-researched yet brief survey of a complex subject, and it should be closely read by those interested in the ways that federal agencies simultaneously nurture and reign in new communications technologies.

Theodore Keeler is an established professor of economics at the university of California at Berkeley, which has one of the top economics departments in the country. In "Railroads, Freight, and Public Policy : Studies in the Regulation of Economic Activity", Mr. Keeler demonstrates an immense knowledge in the field of transportation economics, combined with an interesting and easy to understand writing style. I would recommend this book to anyone with an interest in trains, or transportation economics.

Anyone interested in national electronic media regulation will find this book an invaluable source of information and analyses on six of the most developed broadcast systems. Although published in 1996, the book is still of great actuality since it includes a detailed discussion on the various developments and future chances of the media in the scope of the work.

Not least with an international opening of the media market and the possibility of unhampered broadcasting of television signals the question arises if the countries concerned have the tendency to regulate in a similar manner or if there are huge differences which would make an international cooperation more difficult. The book, providing a very sophisticated and well-organised comparative analysis, highlights these diverse approaches to many common problems and trends (e.g. how to justify regulation when channels are abundant; the shift from cultural to economic concerns; the vulnerability of regulators to political and industry pressures). From the structural point of view, the study examines first the development and structure of each country's broadcasting system, its organisation, and how it fits into the country's network of political institutions. Specific comparisons are made between Canada, the United States, and Australia, where broadcasting is part of the private sector, and Britain, France, and Germany, where broadcasting is primarily a public service. Examining both current and past programs of supervision in each country and tracing the links between supervisory bodies and larger political, economic systems, the book contributes to a broader sociopolitical understanding of broadcasting regulation in industrial democracies. As such, it serves as a resource for broadcasting and governement professionals, as well as instructors and students with an interest in broadcasting regulation an international communication.