Hans Dieter Schaal--Stage Designs: Introduction by Gottfried Knapp; interview with Schaal by Frank Werner

Book Description

Hans Dieter Schaal worked on almost all important opera houses including those in Berlin, Brussels, Paris, Vienna, and Zurich. These projects served as vehicles for his extraordinarily expressive artistic powers, which he used to captivate the public.

Book Description

Impressing and incising have been used as methods of decoration by potters throughout history. Today, these same techniques continue to be used by potters and ceramic artists worldwide, in creative and innovative ways. In this book, Coll Minogue describes the working methods of several of these ceramicists. The range of international work illustrated - including contemporary, historic and pre historic pieces - is indicative of the verstility of impressing and incising and demonstrates the scope for personal expression which is possible using these techniques.

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John Hedgecoe's Photographer's Workbook
John Hedgecoe
Manufacturer: Olympic Marketing Corp
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: 0671508067

Book Description

The "oligopoly problem"--the question of how prices are formed when the market contains only a few competitors--is one of the more persistent problems in the history of economic thought. In this book Xavier Vives applies a modern game-theoretic approach to develop a theory of oligopoly pricing.

Vives begins by relating classic contributions to the field--including those of Cournot, Bertrand, Edgeworth, Chamberlin, and Robinson--to modern game theory. In his discussion of basic game-theoretic tools and equilibrium, he pays particular attention to recent developments in the theory of supermodular games. The middle section of the book, an in-depth treatment of classic static models, provides specialized existence results, characterizations of equilibria, extensions to large markets, and an analysis of comparative statics with a view toward applied work. The final chapters examine commitment issues, entry, information transmission, and collusion using a variety of tools: two-stage games, the modeling of competition under asymmetric information and mechanism design theory, and the theory of repeated and dynamic games, including Markov perfect equilibrium and differential games.

Customer Reviews:

Advanced Level.......2005-08-03

Make sure your maths is good and you already know abit about oligopoly pricing. It is thorough, detailed, and pushes the boundaries, but takes some concentration to follow.

Post graduate level I believe.

good 'un.......2002-09-12

i liked this book but some bits were hard to understand.

Deep... not Vast.......2001-11-16

This book is quite impressive in theoretical concept. This is appropriate for (really) very advanced undergrates, graduates with IO major (theoretical and analytical aspects) and researchers in IO. This book is absolutely not for introductory IO. The topics focus mainly on Quantity, Price, Spatial competition and Asymmetric Information. Tools used in the book are quite advanced. The good point of the book is strength in precise consideration of price discovery in oligopoly market. (how the price is formed, uniqueness and existence of the solution.) Other topics, e.g. advertising and entry, are not good stated here.

Book Description

These contributions discuss a number of important developments over the past decade in a newly established and important field of economics that have led to notable changes in views on governmental competition policies. They focus on the nature and role of competition and other determinants of market structures, such as numbers of firms and barriers to entry; other factors which determine the effective degree of competition in the market; the influence of major firms (especially when these pursue objectives other than profit maximization); and decentralization and coordination under control relationships other than markets and hierarchies.

The contributors are Joseph E. Stiglitz, G. C. Archibald, B. C. Eaton, R. G. Lipsey, David Enaoua, Paul Geroski, Alexis Jacquemin, Richard J. Gilbert, Reinhard Selten, Oliver E. Williamson, Jerry R. Green, G. Frank Mathewson, R. A. Winter, C. d'Aspremont, J. Jaskold Gabszewicz, Steven Salop, Branko Horvat, Z. Roman, W. J. Baumol, J. C. Panzar, R. D. Willig, Richard Schmalensee, Richard Nelson, Michael Scence, and Partha Dasgupta.

Joseph E. Stiglitz is Professor of Economics at Princeton University. G. Frank Mathewson is Professor of Economics at the University of Toronto.

Dynamic Models of Oligopoly: Harwood Fundamentals of Applied Economics

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Dynamic Models of Oligopoly: Harwood Fundamentals of Applied Economics
T. Fudenberg
Manufacturer: Routledge
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0415771234

American Sugar Kingdom: The Plantation Economy of the Spanish Caribbean, 1898-1934

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American Sugar Kingdom: The Plantation Economy of the Spanish Caribbean, 1898-1934
C?sar J. Ayala
Manufacturer: The University of North Carolina Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0807847887
Release Date: 1999-11-10

Book Description

Engaging conventional arguments that the persistence of plantations is the cause of economic underdevelopment in the Caribbean, this book focuses on the discontinuities in the development of plantation economies in Cuba, Puerto Rico, and the Dominican Republic in the early twentieth century. CŽsar Ayala analyzes and compares the explosive growth of sugar production in the three nations following the War of 1898—when the U.S. acquired Cuba and Puerto Rico—to show how closely the development of the Spanish Caribbean's modern economic and social class systems is linked to the history of the U.S. sugar industry during its greatest period of expansion and consolidation.

Ayala examines patterns of investment and principal groups of investors, interactions between U.S. capitalists and native planters, contrasts between new and old regions of sugar monoculture, the historical formation of the working class on sugar plantations, and patterns of labor migration. In contrast to most studies of the Spanish Caribbean, which focus on only one country, his account places the history of U.S. colonialism in the region, and the history of plantation agriculture across the region, in comparative perspective.

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Market Domination!: The Impact of Industry Consolidation on Competition, Innovation, and Consumer Choice
Stephen G. Hannaford
Manufacturer: Praeger Publishers
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0275994716

Book Description

An oligopoloy (from the Greek, "few sellers") is a market that is dominated by a few large and powerful players. As Steve Hannaford documents with numerous examples, virtually every industry today--from medical equipment to airlines, toy retailing to oil--is trending in this direction, in the greatest movement toward industry consolidation and concentration since the turn of the 20th century. Everyone who reads the newspapers is aware of the dizzying pace of mergers, acquisitions, buyouts, and alliances, between big companies and small companies in every industry. Such deals, along with the growing social and political clout of the biggest companies, are critical issues for the economy and for our future as consumers. Charting the course of this trend around the world, Hannaford examines the motivations behind consolidation into corporate empires, how companies exert political pressure to their advantage, and how the actions of the most dominant players, such as Coca-Cola, Wal-Mart, Viacom, Dell, ExxonMobil, Citigroup, and others, affect the choices we have at the supermarket, the drugs we are prescribed, and the movies we watch. Considering the implications of industry concentration on competition, technological innovation, business management, strategy, consumer behavior, and politics, Hannaford paints a provocative, but ultimately balanced, picture of big business and its impact on society.

Achieving coordination in public utility industries: a critique of troublesome options.: An article from: Journal of Economic Issues

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Achieving coordination in public utility industries: a critique of troublesome options.: An article from: Journal of Economic Issues
Harry M. Trebing
Manufacturer: Association for Evolutionary Economics
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Digital

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Book Description

This digital document is an article from Journal of Economic Issues, published by Association for Evolutionary Economics on June 1, 1996. The length of the article is 4309 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

From the supplier: Structural separations and cost-based regulations are more effective ways of achieving cooperation within the oligopolistic public utility industry. Regulation of network economies and divestment of service marketing would wrestle control of different markets from the hands of a single group. Use of the Glaeser model would bar uneconomic bypass and Bellwether pricing could start rate tests. Finally, transparency of network administration and tight supervision of performance and quality of service must be provided.

Citation Details
Title: Achieving coordination in public utility industries: a critique of troublesome options.
Author: Harry M. Trebing
Publication: Journal of Economic Issues (Refereed)
Date: June 1, 1996
Publisher: Association for Evolutionary Economics
Volume: v30 Issue: n2 Page: p561(10)

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Advertising, competition, and market conduct in oligopoly over time: An econometric investigation in Western European countries (Contributions to economic analysis)

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Advertising, competition, and market conduct in oligopoly over time: An econometric investigation in Western European countries (Contributions to economic analysis)
Jean-Jacques Lambin
Manufacturer: American Elsevier Pub. Co
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding

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AEI reprint
Paul Winston McCracken
Manufacturer: American Enterprise Institute
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding

Strategy & Competition | Management & Leadership | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

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ASIN: B0006W1REK

Air cargo alliances and competition in passenger markets [An article from: Transportation Research Part E]

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Air cargo alliances and competition in passenger markets [An article from: Transportation Research Part E]
A. Zhang , Y.V. Hui , and L. Leung
Manufacturer: Elsevier
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Digital

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ASIN: B000RR1J2Y

Book Description

This digital document is a journal article from Transportation Research Part E, published by Elsevier in 2004. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Media Library immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Description:
This paper develops an oligopoly model to investigate the effect of an air cargo alliance on competition in passenger markets. We consider a model in which the partners, while continuing to offer their respective passenger services, jointly offer a new integrated cargo service by utilizing their passenger aircraft and routes. We find that such an alliance will likely increase the partners' own outputs, while simultaneously decreasing its rivals' outputs, in not only the cargo market but also the secondary passenger market. Furthermore, the alliance is likely to reduce passenger prices and increase total surplus.

Antitrust enforcement in electronic B2B marketplaces: an application of oligopoly theory and modern evidence law.(business-to-business): An article from: Rutgers Computer & Technology Law Journal

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Antitrust enforcement in electronic B2B marketplaces: an application of oligopoly theory and modern evidence law.(business-to-business): An article from: Rutgers Computer & Technology Law Journal
Gabriel Hertzberg
Manufacturer: Rutgers University
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Digital

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Book Description

This digital document is an article from Rutgers Computer & Technology Law Journal, published by Rutgers University on June 22, 2002. The length of the article is 7922 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: Antitrust enforcement in electronic B2B marketplaces: an application of oligopoly theory and modern evidence law.(business-to-business)
Author: Gabriel Hertzberg
Publication: Rutgers Computer & Technology Law Journal (Magazine/Journal)
Date: June 22, 2002
Publisher: Rutgers University
Volume: 28 Issue: 2 Page: 463(22)

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One Nation Under Goods a Durable Good

The Value of Values in Shopping

LIstened to the Minnesota Public Radio Interview

One Nation under Goods: Malls and the Seductions of American Shopping
Farrell Jj
Manufacturer: Smithsonian
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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Point of Purchase: How Shopping Changed American Culture

Call of the Mall : The Geography of Shopping by the Author of Why We Buy

Mall Maker: Victor Gruen, Architect of an American Dream

Shopping Malls and Other Sacred Spaces: Putting God in Place

The Consumer Trap: Big Business Marketing in American Life (History of Communication)

ASIN: 1588341526

Book Description

A revealing examination of shopping, consumerism, and mall design in America.

Loved and hated, visited and avoided, seemingly everywhere yet endlessly the same, malls occupy a special place in American life. What, then, is this invention that evokes such strong and contradictory emotions in Americans? In many ways malls represent the apotheosis of American consumerism, and this synthetic and wide-ranging investigation is an eye-popping tour of American culture's values and beliefs. Like your favorite mall, One Nation under Goods is a browser's paradise; and in order to understand America's culture of consumption you need to make a trip to the mall with Farrell. This lively, fast-paced history of the hidden secrets of the shopping mall explains how retail designers make shopping and goods "irresistible." Architects, chain stores, and mall owners relax and beguile us into shopping through water fountains, ficus trees, mirrors, and covert security cameras. From food courts and fountains to Santa and security, Farrell explains how malls control their patrons and convince us that shopping is always an enjoyable activity. And most importantly, One Nation under Goods shows why the mall's ultimate promise of happiness through consumption is largely an illusion. It's all here—for one low price, of course. 32 b/w photographs.

Customer Reviews:

One Nation Under Goods a Durable Good.......2004-05-17

In One Nation Under Goods, Jim Farrell takes readers on a tour of American malls to discover the cultural patterns they display. As Farrell steers readers up escalators, he calls attention to the ways that shopping center executives plan the spaces of consumerism. As he parades them in front of dressing-room mirrors, he illustrates ways that consumer goods contribute to construction of identity. As he points out malls' potted plants, he reveals the processes through which shopping centers alter their ecological surroundings. Farrell notes in his introduction that American malls are variety stores-they sell a wide variety of goods to a vast diversity of people that make multiple meanings from those objects. One Nation Under Goods similarly provides a cornucopia of good ideas on American culture; it's a kind-of sales rack of ideas from which readers can pick and choose. It's even replete with intellectual display cases (tables, photos, and cartoons), that help provide opportunities to browse quickly for the most value-able concepts and lessons to be learned.

Farrell's book, like the best mall merchandise, is neither out-of-date nor too faddish for scholars to take note. One Nation Under Goods provides an original and important perspective on the aesthetics, economics, ethics, and politics of American shopping malls.

Three elements of the book that seem particularly successful and that, in combination, distinguish the book from others in its field: its emphasis on spatial analysis; its ability to communicate playfully difficult concepts in concrete terms; its challenge to create an ethical framework for American consumerism.

First, I like the way that Farrell draws attention to the physical spaces of American malls. Malls take place-and Farrell asks readers to consider both the indoor and outdoor places transformed by shopping centers. Part of Farrell's success in illuminating indoor spaces comes from his close reading of documents overlooked by many mall scholars-the retail design manuals and marketing magazines that shopping center executives use to create retail spaces. Farrell also considers the environmental impacts of malls on water quality and indigenous vegetation and contemplates the ways in which mall-goers experiences shape the ways in which they conceptualize their spaces. As he notes, "It's interesting that the endangered species and ecosystems that are featured in the mall are not generally the ones we live in." The Mall of America in Bloomington, has a Rainforest Café, but he notes that it "doesn't have a Prairie Café, or a Corn-and-Soybeans Cabaret or a suburban Back-Yard Bistro." (238-239) By engaging in cultural and physical geography, Farrell's study recognizes how American values are embodied and sited in place.

Secondly, Farrell skillfully uses concrete objects and instances to illustrate complex theories. You could say that Jim Farrell writes about Rainforest Café in One Nation Under Goods, and it's true, but only partly right. What he's really doing by writing about Rainforest Café is playing with big ideas: primitivism, exoticism, cosmopolitanism, and authenticity. You could hand a student a stack of densely-written classics from Jean Jacques Rousseau to Edward Said to David Hollinger to address these big ideas; but until the students become graduate students, I think they'd find Farrell's chapter titled "The World in a Shopping Mall" equally provocative. One Nation Under Goods playful-ness grants us access to these ideas in a fresh way.

Finally, I like the way that Farrell reveals the ethical and political decisions that take place in shopping centers. He notes that "The mall, explicitly about aesthetics and economics, is also implicitly about ethics and politics." (xxi) My favorite part of the book, Part IV, makes explicit the ethics and politics of economic and aesthetic interactions that we take for granted. Jim Farrell's consideration of the ethics of shopping comes through parables, not prescriptions. He argues that "ethics is a way of telling stories about the goodness of the good life" and suggests that Americans could demand better stories for our money. Rather than telling just-so stories of economic exclusion and environmental degradation, he asks readers to try to tell different stories from their products-stories of sustainable society, social justice, and political responsibility. He provides readers with practical tools: like a shopping list for considering purchasing decisions that includes questions like "what good is this thing? Could I borrow one? Who lives well as a result of this purchase? Who lives poorly?" But most of all, he provides practical tools by pointing out the impracticalities of American life as it currently works at the mall.

One Nation Under Goods is not academic planned obsolescence. It's a durable good. One that I highly recommend you try on for size.

The Value of Values in Shopping.......2003-12-18

With good wit and numerous plays on words, Farrell reveals the implicit value statements of shopping and buying, exposing the price we pay (above the sticker) in consumer society. The book isn't anti-consumer, but points to the hidden costs of various purchases, such as the implicit acceptance of sweatshop labor in buying many brands of shoe or the acceptance of environmental degradation for buying paper. He's also effective at illustrating how, despite the American affinity for shopping, a doubling of our material possessions in the past 50 years has not made us any happier. A thoughtful and insightful look at the meaning of malls in the making of the American Dream.

LIstened to the Minnesota Public Radio Interview.......2003-12-01

I have not ordered the book yet. But I must say, I found the presentation and the interview by this author and professor to be one of the most balanced and insightful programs I have heard. The author introduced many ideas that I had not considered before in my life - like "How did you learn how to shop?"

This author moves far beyond simplistic analysis of whether the phenomenon of the mall is good or bad for us. He provokes thinking and insights that reveal the core of what we value. He sums up his view of shopping and malls as being "about stories." According to the interview, we all want to ba a part of a story. The author calls for reflection and choices about the kinds of stories we want to be a part of and how to make choices to elevate our stories to benefit community and the planet.

Book Description

This digital document is an article from Canadian Journal of Urban Research, published by Thomson Gale on December 22, 2005. The length of the article is 795 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: Farrell, James, J. One Nation Under Goods: Malls and the Seductions of American Shopping.(Book review)
Author: Brian J. Lorch
Publication: Canadian Journal of Urban Research (Magazine/Journal)
Date: December 22, 2005
Publisher: Thomson Gale
Volume: 14 Issue: 2 Page: 392(3)

Article Type: Book review

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One Nation under Goods: Malls and the Seductions of American Shopping.(Book Review): An article from: OnEarth

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One Nation under Goods: Malls and the Seductions of American Shopping.(Book Review): An article from: OnEarth
Jason Best
Manufacturer: Natural Resources Defense Council, Inc.
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Digital
ASIN: B00082BUJA
Release Date: 2005-07-31

Book Description

This digital document is an article from OnEarth, published by Natural Resources Defense Council, Inc. on March 22, 2004. The length of the article is 525 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: One Nation under Goods: Malls and the Seductions of American Shopping.(Book Review)
Author: Jason Best
Publication: OnEarth (Magazine/Journal)
Date: March 22, 2004
Publisher: Natural Resources Defense Council, Inc.
Volume: 26 Issue: 1 Page: 40(2)

Article Type: Book Review

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Good Public Policy Book!

Interesting To Say The Least

Provoking Look at Public Policy and the Tobacco Industry

Fascinating Image of American Politics

Don't buy this book

Up In Smoke: From Legislation To Litigation In Tobacco Politics
Martha A. Derthick
Manufacturer: CQ Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Catastrophic Politics: The Rise and Fall of the Medicare Catastrophic Coverage Act of 1988

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ASIN: 1568028954

Book Description

In a landmark report by the U.S. Surgeon General in 1964, the government warned its citizens of the adverse effects of smoking on their health and took a series of steps to discourage smoking. These steps stemmed from "ordinary politics" -that is, actions taken or authorized by legislatures. 1994 heralded a new era in tobacco politics: of "adversarial legalism," wherein state attorneys general sued leading cigarette manufacturers for the harm they had done to public health. These law-suits culminated in the Master Settlement Agreement (MSA) that directed an estimated $250 billion to state governments over the next 25 years and imposed new marketing and advertising restrictions.

In her second edition, Martha Derthick introduces new evidence from 5 years of experience under the MSA to show that the states were more interested in raising revenue than in improving tobacco control, that the enrichment of wealthy tort lawyers violated the legal profession's ethics, and that the agreement, ironically, spawned the rise of small, upstart cigarette manufacturers able to undersell the major companies. In this clearly written, fast-paced case study, Derthick concludes that the tobacco lawsuits not only produced flawed public policy that flouted the American system of checks and balances, but has done little to improve or better safeguard public health.

Customer Reviews:

Good Public Policy Book!.......2007-10-10

This book was one of two books that were required readings in my Public Policy course at Rutgers University. It is a great book to read to understand how public policy has changed through time from Legislation to Litigation. Check it out if you are interested in learning about Public Policy.

Interesting To Say The Least.......2003-11-20

I am a college student and was forced to read this book for one of my Political Science classes. I must give Ms. Derthick credit. She wrote a piece that was very informative and gave you an inside look at what politics is really about. It takes you from the careful court systems, to protective government agencies, to individuals begging for compensation. It was a thick read, very slow for most of my classmates to get through. I believe she was flawed in her view of litigation over legislation. She made it clear that we should pursue legislation over litigation, though when it came to legislation, it seemed like she had a "How dare they do that" attitude. All I have to say is that if you are a student that is required to read this book, hold on because you are in for a ride. I also hope you have a lot of free time because it will take you a little while to read and digest all the information this book has to offer.

Provoking Look at Public Policy and the Tobacco Industry.......2003-09-05

"In "Up in Smoke," Martha A. Derthick, former professor of government at the University of Virginia and author or coauthor of several studies of the U.S. policy process, describes and analyzes the events leading to the historic 1998 tobacco settlement with the states. She concludes that these developments continue an unfortunate movement away from representative democratic negotiation toward a process of "adversarial legalism" that relegates democratic politics to the sidelines of public policy."

"For those readers sincerely interested in reducing smoking and its attendant health risks, "Up in Smoke" presents a decidedly mixed bag. Although smoking continues to decline among Americans, the states now have a large vested interest in seeing that the sale of cigarettes continues unabated. If such continuation occurs, they can count on substantial payments from the industry for at least the next two decades. Also, many states are now increasing dramatically their excise taxes on cigarettes. The revenue stream from this unhealthy habit has become important to state finances. Obviously, the states will be reluctant to ban smoking entirely."

"Thus, those aspiring to a smoke-free society are now considerably more limited in their alternatives for achieving their goal. Local governments may continue to enact highly restrictive legislation, and there is the slim possibility that national government litigation may result in heavier penalties on smoking. Lawsuits by private plaintiffs also remain a viable, though limited, option. The most serious problem posed by the MSA (master settlement agreement of 1997) for antismoking activists, however, is that it has created a powerful political constituency that reaps substantial rewards from the tobacco industry. There is little reason to believe that state legislatures will stand idly by and allow either their courts or their local governments to threaten their revenue."
-From "The Independent Review," Winter 2003

Fascinating Image of American Politics.......2002-03-06

Derthick's story of the tobacco wars is the real deal of American politics, not the civics you learned in high school. Unlike some writers, Derthick doesn't moralize about tobacco. Some looking for fevered preaching may be put off by her detachment and even skepticism about the anti-tobacco movement. Careful readers, however, will find all the creepy details about tobacco companies they have come to expect. Derthick is objective, and the tobacco executives are, objectively, creepy. The best part about this book, though, is that Derthick has a deep understanding about American politics, and the reader will take away sharp images of how policy is made--from trial lawyers to crusading agencies, from university faculty and health professionals to the muddle in Congress. It's all here, in one timely and highly readable book.

Don't buy this book.......2001-10-26

This book may mislead some gullible readers, but it must anger anyone familiar with struggles against Big Tobacco.

I awarded two stars for Dr. Derthick's central idea. I could not award any more stars due to Dr. Derthick's flawed execution in writing this book.

Her central idea is that litigation does not work as well as legislation in designing policies and making decisions. Most readers, I believe, will grant the author that much. Lawsuits are designed for some evils of democracies but are not well designed to make policy or to regulate society.

A good book on the pitfalls of litigating even when legislatures, executives, and bureaucracies have largely failed would be a Godsend, I thought. I still think that. The trouble is, this is not a good book.

Some of the book is merely disappointing: arguments and assumptions too flimsy to be specious; half-clever tactics that will fool few who do not want to be fooled; and so on. However, what about wretched students whose teacher is so reckless as to assign the book? How many of them will see the fallacies? This, then, is a dangerous book when it is not merely disappointing.

Let me reveal just two tricks.

Trick #1: Ersatz Equilibration

Professor Derthick facilely "levels the playing field" by supplying -- usually at the end of a long paragraph of anti-smokers' complaints about Big Tobacco's stifling of reforms -- some allegedly compensating political advantage that the anti-smokers enjoyed. I could supply examples, but I shall spare ... busy patrons. This trick should not deceive a deft reader any more than noting that Burt Lancaster's soldiers downed a Japanese plane in "From Here to Eternity" made the U. S. less disadvantaged after Pearl Harbor. [If the author would protest that comparison, I would remind her that tobacco kills more Americans in a month than died at Pearl Harbor on 12-7-41.]

Still, I worry that beginning students or gullible citizens may not see that Derthick has downplayed all of the bogus research, mendacity, and propaganda that Big Tobacco has used to prevent legislative initiatives from succeeding.

If readers know that normal politics has been subverted by tobacco companies, they may welcome the courts as a way to save fellow citizens from cancer or at least to make tobacco companies devote some of their profits to helping those whom they have victimized.

Trick #2: Ideals and Reals

The good professor presumes that no one would deny that the Constitution favors legislation over litigation. I deny that. Indeed, I do not see how one could construe the separation of powers a la Montesquieu and the Constitution of 1787 -- and state constitutions -- other than to say, as Marshall claimed in Marbury v. Madison, that courts interpret and apply legislated policies to specific cases. The Constitution, I had long believed, assigned different sorts of policy-making to different spheres. Dr. Derthick's truism is false unless one circumscribes policy-making in a manner utterly at odds with political experience.

However, even if the Constitution conferred some priority on legislative policy-making, and even if we overlook the domination of at least some policy-making by executives and extra-legislative forces, anti-smokers would nonetheless have an argument that Congress had defaulted over the decades.

The author not only soft-peddles the legislative history of smoking but hypes the crusade-like mentality of the anti-tobacco forces. This lovely decontextualization makes anti-tobacco activists look truly fanatical unless the reader is independently aware of the perfidy and propaganda and profits that have characterized at least fifty years of Big Tobacco's purported or proven role as purveyor of cancer. [Of course, the author does note that smokers chose to smoke. Great point! And women who used Dalkon Shield chose to have it inserted! And alcoholics chose to take that first drink!]

If we compare Congress as an anticipated ideal with the real world politicking in Congress, we should not be surprised when the ideal bests the real. To steal from John Hart Ely: the good news is that the good doctor's trick "works;" the bad news is that everyone should see it as a cheap trick.

Book Description

This digital document is an article from Independent Review, published by Independent Institute on January 1, 2003. The length of the article is 1517 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: Up in Smoke: from Legislation to Litigation in Tobacco Politics.(Book Review)
Author: Robert Heineman
Publication: Independent Review (Refereed)
Date: January 1, 2003
Publisher: Independent Institute
Volume: 7 Issue: 3 Page: 463(4)

Article Type: Book Review

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