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Local Knowledge Steven Horwitz, Veronique de Rugy, Frederic Sautet, Peter Leeson, Bruce Yandle, Timothy Roemer, Peter Boettke, Daniel Sutter July 29, 2008 Local Knowledge is the first of three annual reports covering recovery in the Gulf Coast following Hurricane Katrina. This issue focuses on the successes of and challenges faced by the for profit enterprises that are rebuilding the economies and communities of the Gulf Coast.

Urbanisation and Informality in Africa's Housing Markets Karol Boudreaux June 9, 2008 A maze of regulations and administrative barriers has imposed high transaction costs on formal-sector housing entrepreneurs. By raising the costs of providing low-income housing, African governments bear much responsibility for driving formal-sector entrepreneurs out of the housing market and for driving their citizens into slums.

Hack, Mash & Peer: Crowdsourcing Government Transparency Jerry Brito May 14, 2008 The federal government makes an overwhelming amount of data publicly available each year. Laws ranging from the Administrative Procedure Act to the Paperwork Reduction Act require these disclosures in the name of transparency and accountability. However, the data are often only nominally publicly available. First, this is the case because it is not available online or even in electronic format. Second, the data that can be found online is often not available in an easily accessible or searchable format. If government information was made public online and in standard open formats, the online masses could be leveraged to help ensure the transparency and accountability that is the reason for making information public in the first place.

A New Call of the Wild: Community-Based Natural Resource Management in Namibia Karol Boudreaux May 1, 2008 The Namibian government is currently addressing twin goals of environment protection and rural economic development by means of an innovative policy of community-based natural resource management. This policy, implemented by a legislative amendment in 1996, is helping to revive a previously decimated environment. At the same time, the policy is empowering local people.

Book Review of Paul Collier's "The Bottom Billion" Karol Boudreaux May 1, 2008 In this book review, Karol Boudreaux notes that Paul Collier makes a strong case that the world’s billion poorest people face unique challenges that call for strategic development assistance. In the end, however, Ms. Boudreaux emphasises that what is needed most is sustained entrepreneurship.

Regulation by Litigation Andrew P. Morriss, Bruce Yandle, Andrew Dorchak February 1, 2008 This article appears in Vol. 9, Issue 1 of Engage: The Journal of the Federalist Society's Practice Groups. The authors discuss the use of litigation to achieve regulatory outcomes.

The Micromagic of Microcredit Karol Boudreaux, Tyler Cowen January 8, 2008 Can microcredit achieve the massive changes its proponents claim? Is it the solution to poverty in the developing world, or something more ­modest—­a way to empower the poor, particularly poor women, with some control over their lives and their ­assets?

Outcomes and Alternatives for Universal Telecommunications Service: A Case Study of Texas Jerry Ellig, Joseph Rotondi November 1, 2007 Universal service programs for telecommunications satisfy their public interest objectives when they achieve the desired outcomes at the least possible sacrifice of overall consumer welfare. This paper, published in the Fall volume of the Texas Review of Law & Politics, assesses the outcomes created by the largest universal service programs, the social costs of the funding mechanisms, and the impact of proposed reforms. The authors use the State of Texas as a case study because Texas has moved aggressively to promote competition, deregulate rates, and reform universal service.

A Tale of Two Commissions: Net Neutrality and Regulatory Analysis Jerry Ellig, Jerry Brito November 1, 2007 The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and Federal Trade Commission (FTC) have both investigated the need for "net neutrality" policies intended to prevent broadband providers from treating different types of traffic differently. This article, recently published in CommLaw Conspectus, assess the FCC's legal authority to implement net neutrality rules and recommends that the FCC conduct a thorough regulatory analysis to improve the quality of the net neutrality debate.

Innovation and Corporate Governance: The Impact of Sarbanes-Oxley Houman B. Shadab October 5, 2007 Innovation is a process that results in new goods, services, methods of production, and forms of business organization. Innovation is ultimately the product of new knowledge and arises in response to economic change. Innovation requires companies to commit to long-term risky activities and is an organization-wide effort. This article, forthcoming in the University of Pennsylvania Journal of Business and Employment Law, shows that these characteristics of innovation give rise to an important corporate governance tradeoff, and that complying with the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 ("SOX") likely impacts this tradeoff to the detriment of innovation.

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