Vol. 34, No. 1, Spring 2011

Cover Stories

The Problem with Price Gouging Laws Is optimal pricing during an emergency unethical? By Michael Giberson (PDF, 662K)

Alfred Kahn, 1917–2010 Remembering the father of airline deregulation. By Susan E. Dudley (PDF, 566K)

Slim Odds Empirical studies provide little evidence that soda taxes would shrink Americans’ waistlines. By Jonathan Klick and Eric A. Helland (PDF, 566K)

Features

Regulatory Reform

Lessons from New Jersey What are the effects of “administrative procedures” regulatory reform? By Stuart Shapiro and Deborah Borie-Holtz (PDF, 179K)

Credit & Banking

The Dangerous Experiment of the Durbin Amendment Congress’ interchange fee limit is a reckless exercise in price regulation. By Richard A. Epstein (PDF, 692K)

Energy

A Pennsylvania Power Authority? Despite proponents’ claims, it is unlikely that a government-run power authority would benefit consumers. By Andrew N. Kleit (PDF, 817K)

Corporate Governance

The Politics of Executive Pay Ideology, not “social justice,” fuels calls for restraints on executive compensation. By Jerry W. Markham (PDF, 963K)

Consumer Protection

Blooming Nonsense Do claims about the consumer benefit of licensure withstand empirical scrutiny? By Dick M. Carpenter II (PDF, 698K)

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In Review

Antitrust Law and Economics, reviewed by Richard L. Gordon | Zombie Economics: How Dead Ideas Still Walk among Us, reviewed by David R. Henderson | The Climate Fix: What Scientists and Politicians Won’t Tell You about Global Warming, reviewed by Jonathan H. Adler

Working Papers, reviewed by Peter Van Doren

Briefly noted

Happy Birthday EPA?, by Henry I. Miller

For the Record

Realigning Health Care Incentives, by Jack Tawil

Erratum

Final Word

An Injection of Truth by Marni Soupcoff