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The Oxford Handbook of Regulation
Regulation is often thought of as an activity that restricts behaviour and prevents the occurrence of certain undesirable activities, but the influence of regulation can also be enabling or facilitative, as when a market could potentially be chaotic if uncontrolled. This Handbook provides a clear and authoritative discussion of the major trends and issues in regulation over the last thirty years, together with an outline of prospective developments. It brings together contributions from leading scholars from a range of disciplines and countries.
Each chapter offers a broad overview of key current issues and provides an analysis of different perspectives on those issues. Experiences in different jurisdictions and insights from various disciplines are drawn upon, and particular attention is paid to the challenges that are encountered when specific approaches are applied in practice. Contributors develop their own distinctive arguments relating to the central issues in regulation and apply scholarly rigour and clear writing to matters of high policy-relevance. The essays are original, accessible, and agenda-setting, and the Handbook will be essential reading both to students and researchers and to with regulatory and regulated professionals.
Each chapter offers a broad overview of key current issues and provides an analysis of different perspectives on those issues. Experiences in different jurisdictions and insights from various disciplines are drawn upon, and particular attention is paid to the challenges that are encountered when specific approaches are applied in practice. Contributors develop their own distinctive arguments relating to the central issues in regulation and apply scholarly rigour and clear writing to matters of high policy-relevance. The essays are original, accessible, and agenda-setting, and the Handbook will be essential reading both to students and researchers and to with regulatory and regulated professionals.
680 pages, Paperback
First published September 9, 2010
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April 15, 2016Through my Master in Law & Economics, or I would say throughout the course of my entire life, I have never experienced a similar act in frustration.
As lawyers, we sometimes tend to rely on long, complex sentences which tend to be experienced as overly complex. On the other hand, they generally know how to structure an argument. Alternatively, economists tend to lack eloquence and persuasion in writing. However, they do cut to the chase. Although preferences may differ, both ways of writing serve their own purpose(s).
I am not going to argue in favour of either styles. I am, however, going to argue that nobody ever should make an economist look like good writer, and nor should anyone consider trying to top a lawyer in terms of sentence complexity. This is, in my opinion, not an unreasonable request.
The Oxford Handbook of Regulation, sadly, does a remarkably good job breaking those two rules. This is my first issue with this Handbook. It consists of 25 contributions by multiple authors on various aspects of regulation, which are written in an overly verbose manner. To illustrate:
Sentences like these are not the exception. Rather, they are the rule.
The second issue with The Oxford Handbook of Regulation is that many contributions are incredibly poorly structured. In law, it common to use the IRAC or 'Introduction, Rules, Application, Conclusion' structure. In practice, people by nature tend to structure their writings this way. For the simple reason that .. it makes sense. Contributions in this book fall short often in this respect, especially those which are more abstract in nature. This is a grave disappointment, as exactly abstract chapters require a clear structure to capture the readers' attention. As a result, I found myself re-reading (sub)sections multiple times to determine what the contributor was trying to convey.
Lastly, I missed context. Whereas the previous points made the Oxford Handbook of Regulation illegible, its lack of contextual information made it outright boring. I have quite a wide array of interests: absent medical background, I recently read a friends' PhD on through-knee amputations. In my free time, I gladly pick up a book about the inner workings of Futures, Options, and other Derivatives, or read papers on Corporate Governance. If you cannot capture my attention with a book that touches upon the very issues which my Master Law & Economics revolves around, it is not me - it's you.
As lawyers, we sometimes tend to rely on long, complex sentences which tend to be experienced as overly complex. On the other hand, they generally know how to structure an argument. Alternatively, economists tend to lack eloquence and persuasion in writing. However, they do cut to the chase. Although preferences may differ, both ways of writing serve their own purpose(s).
I am not going to argue in favour of either styles. I am, however, going to argue that nobody ever should make an economist look like good writer, and nor should anyone consider trying to top a lawyer in terms of sentence complexity. This is, in my opinion, not an unreasonable request.
The Oxford Handbook of Regulation, sadly, does a remarkably good job breaking those two rules. This is my first issue with this Handbook. It consists of 25 contributions by multiple authors on various aspects of regulation, which are written in an overly verbose manner. To illustrate:
‘In the case of the risk-based strand of policy, the undermining of the ‘better regulation’ concept has been exemplified, again, in the UK where it has been argued that during the last decade a ‘better regulation’ emphasis on regulating with reference to risk has turned into has turned into a policy of risk-tolerant deregulation that is at odds with the philosophy of ‘better regulation’
Sentences like these are not the exception. Rather, they are the rule.
The second issue with The Oxford Handbook of Regulation is that many contributions are incredibly poorly structured. In law, it common to use the IRAC or 'Introduction, Rules, Application, Conclusion' structure. In practice, people by nature tend to structure their writings this way. For the simple reason that .. it makes sense. Contributions in this book fall short often in this respect, especially those which are more abstract in nature. This is a grave disappointment, as exactly abstract chapters require a clear structure to capture the readers' attention. As a result, I found myself re-reading (sub)sections multiple times to determine what the contributor was trying to convey.
Lastly, I missed context. Whereas the previous points made the Oxford Handbook of Regulation illegible, its lack of contextual information made it outright boring. I have quite a wide array of interests: absent medical background, I recently read a friends' PhD on through-knee amputations. In my free time, I gladly pick up a book about the inner workings of Futures, Options, and other Derivatives, or read papers on Corporate Governance. If you cannot capture my attention with a book that touches upon the very issues which my Master Law & Economics revolves around, it is not me - it's you.
October 17, 2014
Como todo Oxford Handbook, este libro representa un compendio de los principales tópicos regulatorios en la actualidad. Desde asuntos generales como la auto-regulación y la regulación basada en riesgos, hasta la regulación del ciberespcio y los servicios financieros, cada capítulo presenta el estado del arte de cada asunto, sus evolución reciente y sus perspectivas futuras.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews