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The undeserving rich: can they be redeemed? Policy options for curbing illegal wealth
Get PDFPurpose – The purpose of this study is to examine the efficacy of various policy options for curbing the accumulation of illegal wealth and suggest ways to close the increasing wealth inequality gap.Design/methodology/approach – The paper begins with a historical/literary analysis of the place of wealth in American Society and the ambivalent cultural attitudes toward wealth. Different policy approaches that seek to limit wealth inequality and the illegal accumulation of wealth are then examined. Finally, the current policy climate in the USA is reviewed to determine the likelihood of meaningful reform.Findings – In Europe, the BASEL accords show promise for curbing the illegal accumulation of wealth by politically exposed persons. In the USA, tax reform efforts can close the wealth gap, but the current political landscape makes meaningful reform challenging particularly given the increasing use of “dark” money to influence elections.Research limitations/implications – Because financial reform is a moving target in both Europe and the USA, subject to the ebb and flow of political forces, it is difficult to predict what major reforms will be possible.Practical implications – Without meaningful reform, an increase in populist movements can be expected (e.g. Brexit and Trump) with an overall, long-term negative impact on democratic capitalism.Social implications – The wealth gap and the sense that the system is rigged against the common people will result in increasing political turmoil.Originality/value – Combining literary/historical analysis with the analysis of current policy interventions provides a set of tools not usually used in the examination of financial crimes
The Intellectual Property of Vaccines: Takeaways from Recent Infectious Disease Outbreaks
Get PDFThis Essay examines the ways in which intellectual property regimes influence incentives for the development of new vaccines for infectious diseases. Charting the tension between market forces and public health imperatives, the Essay considers an emerging solution to the long-standing problem of insufficient incentives for vaccine research and development: the rise of public-private partnerships in the health space. The Essay provides a short case study on CEPI, a large-scale public-private partnership dedicated exclusively to funding research on vaccines for infectious diseases. In exploring how the interaction between intellectual property rules and practices affect vaccine innovation, the Essay offers illustrations from recent outbreaks of infectious diseases, including the 2019 novel coronavirus, Zika, and Ebola
Expanding Patient Access to Breast Cancer Genetic Testing Through Incentive Regimes
Get PDFIt is estimated that 268,600 women were diagnosed with breast cancer in 2019 alone, and as many as 26,860 of these women could have developed breast cancer due to a genetic disposition.[1] While over one million women have undergone genetic testing to identify variations in the BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes, the test results are often ambiguous due to identified variations for which the breast cancer development risk is unknown.[2] A new technology known as CRISPR has the potential to change this state of uncertainty due to its capability to identify thousands of BRCA1 and 2 gene variations and accurately predict the associated breast cancer development risk.[3] However, access to this innovative technology for the accurate classification of breast cancer predictors has been impeded by the emergence of proprietary rights over breast cancer predictors and the inconsistent regulation of genetic testing by the Food and Drug Administration. This article proposes a single regulatory pathway for all genetic tests that requires clinical validity for approval, allowing the use of technology such as CRISPR to supplement clinical patient data with accurate laboratory data. This proposal provides incentives for companies to enter the genetic testing market, making breast cancer predictors available to the women who need them.
[1]. Breast Cancer Facts & Figures 2019-2020, Am. Cancer Soc’y (2019), https://www.can cer.org/content/dam/cancer-org/research/cancer-facts-and-statistics/breast-cancer-facts-and-fig ures/breast-cancer-facts-and-figures-2019-2020.pdf; Tamsen Valoir, Breast Cancer, Politics, and Patents, 44 AIPLA Q. J. 63, 73 (2016).
[2]. Jay Shendure et al., What CRISPR Genome Editing Means for BRCA Breast Cancer Testing, Inverse (Oct. 1, 2018), https://www.inverse.com/article/49465-what-crispr-genome-edit ing-means-for-breast-cancer-research.
[3]. Sarah Zhang, With CRISPR, Scientists Engineered Nearly 4,000 Mutations of a Breast-Cancer Gene, The Atlantic (Sep. 12, 2018), https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2018 /09/4000-brca1-variants/569827/
All the World’s a Platform?: Some Remarks on \u27Marketplace Platform\u27 Employment Laws
Get PDFThis paper addresses the enactment of marketplace platform laws, which have arisen as a remarkable feature of the gig economy in recent years. A marketplace platform law decides the question of whether an individual worker is an independent contractor or an employee — an ongoing controversy in all employment law, including workers’ compensation law — by emphasizing factors other than those normally considered in traditional legal analyses. As of this writing, seven states appear to have enacted marketplace platform laws.
In short, marketplace platform laws — developed substantially and lobbied aggressively by the company Handy, Inc. — make it much easier to classify a worker as an independent contractor rather than an employee. Essentially, as the paper shows by analyzing one such law, if a company uses online enhancements in the operation of its business it may qualify as a marketplace contractor rather than an employer, whatever the degree of control of working conditions it may exercise de facto in the workplace. The paper shows how, in the case of workers\u27 compensation law, this de-emphasis of the control factor in assignment of responsibility for workplace injury flies in the face of original workers\u27 compensation theory. The development is also at complete odds with the ABC employee test, which not only emphasizes the control factor but places the burden of proof on employers to show absence of control. However one may come down on the employee status issue, there seems no denying that, in light of California\u27s substantial adoption of the ABC test in broad swaths of its employment law, what rights a worker has to legal protection is increasingly dependent on the worker\u27s state of residence or employment
Employee Testing, Tracing, and Disclosure as a Response to the Coronavirus Pandemic
Get PDFAs the COVID-19 pandemic continues to devastate the United States, the federal government has largely failed to implement a national program to prevent and contain the virus. As a result, many employers have undertaken their own workplace coronavirus mitigation efforts. This essay examines, in three parts, the legal framework surrounding employer systems of workplace testing, tracing, and disclosure. It first examines the legal issues surrounding employer-mandated COVID-19 testing and temperature checks, especially issues arising under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and Health Information Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA). Regarding employer contact tracing efforts, the essay next reviews the multitude of new digital tools and applications designed to aid in contact tracing and how these may implicate various state and federal privacy laws. Finally, the essay looks into employer disclosure of employee infections, including legal ramifications under the ADA, HIPAA, and other privacy laws. Our conclusion: employer testing, tracing, and disclosure programs are legally feasible but require careful planning and execution to protect employee privacy interests
Capital, an Elusive Tax Object and Impediment to Sustainable Taxation
Get PDFSustainable taxation requires stability and predictability. Sustainable taxation is a tax or taxes that collect sufficient revenue to support the governmental goods and services the society needs and wants. The taxes must provide for 1) even-handedness -- something akin to horizontal equity, 2) distributional fairness -- a concept emerging from notions of vertical equity, 3) transparency in application so that the populace understands and accepts the tax and the need for it and 4) collection mechanisms that do not favor some societal groups, especially those with resources to secure creative tax advisors, over others who lack the resources. Narrow base taxes – fuel, alcohol, tobacco -- cannot meet these criteria and the broad base taxes currently applicable – value added, payroll and income – also fail to meet one or more of the criteria. While specialized taxes like environmental taxes and sin taxes (alcohol, tobacco) serve useful regulatory functions and may achieve their behavioral objectives in part, they do so primarily by increasing the cost of engaging in the undesirable behavior and pricing some actors out of the activity. Using a pricing rather than a direct regulatory mechanism, the specialized taxes change the conversation from social rejection of the behavior to acceptance as long as the actor is willing and able to pay the high price. Is it all right to pollute if one pays to do so? Direct regulation might prove less regressive and less likely to be viewed as simply a matter of price and more as a matter of societal mainstream and commitment to addressing a problem.
To secure sustainable taxation this article recommends a non-preferential income tax on a comprehensive income tax base. While by no means a new idea, the growing resource disparity between affluent individuals and individuals with limited resources renders the idea of a non-preferential income tax on all income including realized and unrealized gains all the more compelling. The paper outlines a method for transition to the recommended tax base from the current realization-based tax base and suggests that in limited cases a taxpayer might defer payment of tax on some items of income but not defer inclusion of the items in the tax base. As it describes its tax plan, the paper reflects on the objectives and shortcomings of the targeted taxes and purposive tax base modifications that have proliferated during the 20th century. The paper concludes that a non-comprehensive tax base may accomplish narrow objectives successfully but is unlikely to become functionally sustainable to support essential governmental goods and services. Neither are targeted taxes and purposive tax base modifications fully justifiable. They are likely to distribute tax burdens unevenly among taxpayers without any compelling reason for preferring some taxpayers to others. The narrowness of the base of such taxes frequently leads to regressive tax incidence
Space Force: Battle of the Trademarks
Get PDFSinead McGonagle analyzes the implications and potential legal issues of both the U.S. Government and Netflix\u27s use of the term Space Force under current trademark law.https://scholarship.law.slu.edu/lawjournalonline/1044/thumbnail.jp
Filling a Supreme Court Vacancy: The Legality of Confirming Amy Coney Barrett during an Election Year
Get PDFIn light of the recent Supreme Court nomination of Amy Coney Barrett by President Donald Trump, Ryan Krutz discusses the legality of confirming her during a presidential election year.https://scholarship.law.slu.edu/lawjournalonline/1048/thumbnail.jp
Rios v. Bayer: The Illinois Supreme Court Recognizes Bristol-Myers Squibb
Get PDFMadison County, Illinois is a favorite venue among forum shoppers. Jamison Winters discusses how, by recognizing Bristol-Myers Squibb’s narrowing of the relatedness standard in specific personal jurisdiction, the recent Illinois Supreme Court decision in Rios v. Bayer may work to discourage forum shopping in venues like Madison County.https://scholarship.law.slu.edu/lawjournalonline/1052/thumbnail.jp