Showing papers by "Georgetown University Law Center published in 2019"

Roles for Computing in Social Change

Abstract: A recent normative turn in computer science has brought concerns about fairness, bias, and accountability to the core of the field. Yet recent scholarship has warned that much of this technical work treats problematic features of the status quo as fixed, and fails to address deeper patterns of injustice and inequality. While acknowledging these critiques, we posit that computational research has valuable roles to play in addressing social problems — roles whose value can be recognized even from a perspective that aspires toward fundamental social change. In this paper, we articulate four such roles, through an analysis that considers the opportunities as well as the significant risks inherent in such work. Computing research can serve as a diagnostic, helping us to understand and measure social problems with precision and clarity. As a formalizer, computing shapes how social problems are explicitly defined — changing how those problems, and possible responses to them, are understood. Computing serves as rebuttal when it illuminates the boundaries of what is possible through technical means. And computing acts as synecdoche when it makes long-standing social problems newly salient in the public eye. We offer these paths forward as modalities that leverage the particular strengths of computational work in the service of social change, without overclaiming computing’s capacity to solve social problems on its own.

Coin-Operated Capitalism

Abstract: This Article presents the legal literature’s first detailed analysis of the inner workings of Initial Coin Offerings We characterize the ICO as an example of financial innovation, placing it in kinship with venture capital contracting, asset securitization, and (obviously) the IPO We also take the form seriously as an example of technological innovation, where promoters are beginning to effectuate their promises to investors through computer code, rather than traditional contract To understand the dynamics of this shift, we first collect contracts, “white papers,” and other contract-like documents for the fifty top-grossing ICOs of 2017 We then analyze how such projects’ software code reflected (or failed to reflect) their contractual promises Our inquiry reveals that many ICOs failed even to promise that they would protect investors against insider self-dealing Fewer still manifested such contracts in code Surprisingly, in a community known for espousing a technolibertarian belief in the power of “trustless trust” built with carefully designed code, a significant fraction of issuers retained centralized control through previously undisclosed code permitting modification of the entities’ governing structures These findings offer valuable lessons to legal scholars, economists, and policymakers about the roles played by gatekeepers; about the value of regulation; and the possibilities for socially valuable private ordering in a relatively anonymous, decentralized environment

Strengthened scientific support for the Endangerment Finding for atmospheric greenhouse gases

Abstract: We assess scientific evidence that has emerged since the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's 2009 Endangerment Finding for six well-mixed greenhouse gases and find that this new evidence lends increased support to the conclusion that these gases pose a danger to public health and welfare. Newly available evidence about a wide range of observed and projected impacts strengthens the association between the risk of some of these impacts and anthropogenic climate change, indicates that some impacts or combinations of impacts have the potential to be more severe than previously understood, and identifies substantial risk of additional impacts through processes and pathways not considered in the Endangerment Finding.

WTO Dispute Settlement Post 2019: What to Expect?

Abstract: What does the imminent demise of the WTO Appellate Body (AB) mean for the settlement of ongoing and future trade disputes? This editorial discusses two ‘unlikely solutions’, at least in the short term: the US lifts its veto on AB appointments; a WTO organ unlocks the impasse. Appeals pending on 10 December 2019 will most likely be carried-over pursuant to (contested) Rule 15 of the AB Working Procedures. For panel reports released after that date, four main scenarios emerge: (i) appeals ‘into the void’ blocking the panel report, (ii) no appeal ex post, or ex ante no appeal pacts, (iii) Article 25 appeal arbitration, (iv) ‘floating’ panel reports (interim or final), neither adopted, nor appealed/blocked. The transformation from GATT to WTO took half a century. Regular veto rights in the settlement of trade disputes may be back in a matter of months. It is one thing to lose the AB, quite another to return to pre-WTO dispute settlement where panel outcomes are not automatically binding and power relations play a considerably greater role. At the same time, it would be wrong to equate a (temporary?) return to GATT-style dispute settlement with the collapse of a rules-based WTO system.

The Effects of Varying Electronic Cigarette Warning Label Design Features On Attention, Recall, and Product Perceptions Among Young Adults

Abstract: This study was a 3 (Brand: Blu, MarkTen, Vuse) by 3 (Warning Size: 20%, 30%, or 50% of advertisement surface) by 2 (Warning Background: White, Red) experimental investigation of the effects of elec...

Uses and abuses of socio-legal studies

Abstract: Many scholars have developed maps of impact and periodization of ideas and eras in the last fifty years of the socio-legal field. More recently other fields (e.g. behavioral economics) have both used and co-opted basic concepts and studies of the older socio-legal field (e.g. group behavior in corporate governance and social influences in decision making). Yet, judges, legal policy makers, and other actors in legal institutions continue to make, interpret, enforce and evaluate laws, often with empirical claims of validity or prediction, without actually referring to verifiable data or empirically valid patterns of social data. This chapter reviews, both through my own socio-legal work, and that of other scholars, the uses and abuses (or failure to use) socio-legal research (both empirical and conceptual) in law (doctrine, policy and theory). This essay describes the field’s and my own “origin” stories, rooted in key socio-legal ideas of law in social context, legal realism, legal pluralism, legal movements and institutions, “gaps” in the law on the books vs. the law in action, law and culture, legal theory, ideology and the role of law in social change. I then review some examples of “good” uses of socio-legal studies methods and theories (e.g. robust concepts and research findings on legal process, decision-making, enforcement of law and social control, and cultural meanings of law for lay people, as well as professionals), as well as some examples of misuses (or lack of use) of rigorous socio-legal studies. I conclude with some observations about why socio-legal studies remains somewhat marginalized in legal decision making (different “standards of proof” in different disciplines) and legal study generally (at both educational and research levels).

An Economic Analysis of the Pre-Deeming US Market for Nicotine Vaping Products.

Abstract: Objectives Public health policies are often enacted without adequate consideration of the existing market structure or their impacts on that market structure. This paper provides context for the potential impact of regulations on nicotine vaping products (NVP) use by providing a structural analysis of competition in the US NVP market before FDA regulation. Methods A literature review was conducted with the aim of providing a framework for analysis that: 1) defines the market; 2) evaluates market concentration; 3) identifies entry barriers; and 4) examines firm conduct. Results The NVP market includes retail, internet sellers and vape shops. Although conventional retail became more concentrated after the major cigarette companies entered the NVP market, the vape shop and internet sectors remain substantially less concentrated, producing an overall low market concentration, with few entry barriers and competitive behavior. Conclusions The largely unregulated US NVP market has been highly competitive, with a high degree of innovation. However, new FDA deeming regulations as applied to NVPs could make it difficult for smaller companies to remain in the market and could discourage new companies and new product innovations from entering the market.

"Big" Food, Tobacco, and Alcohol: Reducing Industry Influence on Noncommunicable Disease Prevention Laws and Policies Comment on "Addressing NCDs: Challenges From Industry Market Promotion and Interferences".

Abstract: The food, tobacco and alcohol industries have penetrated markets in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), with a significant impact on these countries' burden of noncommunicable diseases (NCDs). Tangcharoensathien and colleagues describe the aggressive marketing of unhealthy food, alcohol and tobacco in LMICs, as well as key tactics used by these industries to resist laws and policies designed to reduce behavioural risk factors for NCDs. This commentary expands on the recommendations made by Tangcharoensathien and colleagues for preventing or managing conflicts of interest and reducing undue industry influence on NCD prevention policies and laws, focusing on the needs of LMICs. A growing body of research proposes ways to design voluntary industry initiatives to make them more effective, transparent and accountable, but governments should also consider whether collaboration with health-harming industries is ever appropriate. More fundamentally, mechanisms for identifying, managing and mitigating conflicts of interest and reducing industry influence must be woven into - and supported by - broader governance and regulatory structures at both national and international levels.

Discounting Women: Doubting Domestic Violence Survivors’ Credibility and Dismissing Their Experiences

Abstract: In recent months, we’ve seen an unprecedented wave of testimonials about the serious harms women all too frequently endure. The #MeToo moment, the #WhyIStayed campaign, and the Larry Nassar sentencing hearings have raised public awareness not only about workplace harassment, domestic violence, and sexual abuse, but also about how routinely women survivors face a Gaslight-style gauntlet of doubt, disbelief, and outright dismissal of their stories. This pattern is particularly disturbing in the justice system, where women face a legal twilight zone: laws meant to protect them and deter further abuse often fail to achieve their purpose, because women telling stories of abuse by their male partners are simply not believed. To fully grasp the nature of this new moment in gendered power relations—and to cement the significant gains won by these public campaigns—we need to take a full, considered look at when, how, and why the justice system and other key social institutions discount women’s credibility. We use the lens of intimate partner violence to examine the ways in which women’s credibility is discounted in a range of legal and social service system settings. First, judges and others improperly discount as implausible women’s stories of abuse, based on a failure to understand both the symptoms arising from neurological and psychological trauma and the practical constraints on survivors’ lives. Second, gatekeepers unjustly discount women’s personal trustworthiness, based on both inaccurate interpretations of survivors’ courtroom demeanor and negative cultural stereotypes about women and their motivations for seeking assistance. Moreover, even when a woman manages to overcome all the initial modes of institutional skepticism that minimize her account of abuse, she often finds that the systems designed to furnish her with help and protection dismiss the importance of her experiences. Instead, all too often, the arbiters of justice and social welfare adopt and enforce legal and social policies and practices with little regard for how they perpetuate patterns of abuse. Two distinct harms arise from this pervasive pattern of credibility discounting and experiential dismissal. First, the discrediting of survivors constitutes its own psychic injury--an institutional betrayal that echoes the psychological abuse women suffer at the hands of individual perpetrators. Second, the pronounced, nearly instinctive penchant for devaluing women’s testimony is so deeply embedded within survivors’ experience that it becomes a potent, independent obstacle to their efforts to obtain safety and justice. The reflexive discounting of women’s stories of domestic violence finds analogs among the kindred diminutions and dismissals that harm so many other women who resist the abusive exercise of male power, from survivors of workplace harassment to victims of sexual assault on and off campus. For these women, too, credibility discounts both deepen the harm they experience and create yet another impediment to healing and justice. Concrete, systematic reforms are needed to eradicate these unjust, gender-based credibility discounts and experiential dismissals, and to enable women subjected to male abuses of power at long last to trust the responsiveness of the justice system.

Discussions between health professionals and smokers about nicotine vaping products: Results from the 2016 ITC Four Country Smoking and Vaping Survey

Abstract: Background and aims Debate exists about whether health professionals (HPs) should advise smokers to use nicotine vaping products (NVPs) to quit smoking. The objectives were to examine in four countries: (1) the prevalence of HP discussions and recommendations to use an NVP; (2) who initiated NVP discussions; (3) the type of HP advice received about NVPs; and (4) smoker's characteristics related to receiving advice about NVPs. Design Cross-sectional study using multivariable logistic regression analyses on weighted data from the 2016 ITC Four Country Smoking and Vaping Survey (ITC 4CV1). Setting Four countries with varying regulations governing the sale and marketing of NVPs: 'most restrictive' (Australia), 'restrictive' (Canada) or 'less restrictive' (England and United States). Participants A total of 6615 adult smokers who reported having visited an HP in the last year (drawn from the total sample of 12 294 4CV1 respondents, of whom 9398 reported smoking cigarettes daily or weekly). Respondents were from the United States (n = 1518), England (n = 2116), Australia (n = 1046), and Canada (n = 1935). Measurements Participants' survey responses indicated if they were current daily or weekly smokers and had visited an HP in the past year. Among those participants, further questions asked participants to report (1) whether NVPs were discussed, (2) who raised the topic, (3) advice received on use of NVPs and (4) advice received on quitting smoking. Findings Among the 6615 smokers who visited an HP in the last year, 6.8% reported discussing NVPs with an HP and 2.1% of smokers were encouraged to use an NVP (36.1% of those who had a discussion). Compared with Australia (4.3%), discussing NVPs with an HP was more likely in the United States [8.8%, odds ratio (OR) = 2.15, 95% confidence interval (CI) = 1.41-3.29] and Canada (7.8%, OR = 1.87, 95% CI = 1.26-2.78). Smokers in Australia were less likely to discuss NVPs than smokers in England (6.2%), although this was not statistically significant (OR = 1.47, 95% CI = 0.98-2.20). Overall, the prevalence of HPs recommending NVPs was three times more likely in the United States than in Australia (OR = 3.07, 95% CI = 1.45-6.47), and twice as likely in Canada (OR = 2.28, 95% CI = 1.06-4.87) than in Australia. Australia and England did not differ (OR = 1.76, 95% CI = 0.83-3.74). Just over half (54%) of respondents brought up NVPs themselves; there were no significant differences among countries. Conclusions Discussions in Australia, Canada, England, and the United States between smokers and health professionals about nicotine vaping products appear to be infrequent, regardless of the regulatory environment. A low percentage of health professionals recommended vaping products. This was particularly evident in Australia, which has the most restrictive regulatory environment of the four countries studied.

Addressing food insecurity in the United States: the role of policy, systems changes, and environmental supports.

Abstract: This commentary provides a brief overview of the historical, contemporary, and potential future approaches for using policy, systems changes, and environmental supports (PSE) to address food insecurity in the United States. We reflect on and integrate where possible the findings put forth in the other 16 papers included in the Translational Behavioral Medicine Special Issue entitled: Food Access Among Low-Income Populations: Understanding the Potential Intersect of Diet, Obesity, Food Insecurity, and Hunger.

The Importance of Cross-Border Regulatory Cooperation in an Era of Digital Trade

Abstract: Technology is transforming global trade. The global trading system, however, has struggled to keep up with changes in technology. One of the major challenges for the trading system is that the issues raised by digitally enabled commerce are largely regulatory in nature. The issues that are at the forefront of digital trade increasingly relate to citizens’ most fundamental interactions, including speech, finance, energy, and transportation. This paper argues that resolving these international regulatory issues will require reforming the approach that has been taken to global trade negotiations. International discussions around the most challenging issues in the digital economy ought to move away from the ‘horse-trading’ nature of traditional trade negotiations and towards a strategy focused on regulatory cooperation. Failure to achieve regulatory cooperation could further fragment digital services based upon national borders. The Internet has the potential to positively impact the global economy precisely because it is global, decentralized, and bottom-up in nature. International policymaking through regulatory cooperation can maintain those principles, while protecting fundamental national concerns such as stability, privacy, and security.

Ebola and War in the Democratic Republic of Congo: Avoiding Failure and Thinking Ahead

Abstract: The Ebola epidemic in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) is exceptionally dangerous, occurring within active armed conflict and geopolitical volatility, including a million displaced persons. With 421 cases, 240 deaths, and the numbers increasing, this Ebola outbreak is the second deadliest in history.1 Recent spread to Butembo, home to 1.2 million people, raised concerns. The DRC, World Health Organization (WHO), and partners are leading a vigorous international response, yet despite deploying an experimental vaccine, cases doubled in October 2018 and many cases had unknown origin. Uncontrolled Ebola outbreaks can expand quickly, as occurred in West Africa in 2014. Averting that outcome in the DRC requires rapid action including a strengthened public health response, security, and community outreach. If violence escalates, it could compromise a fragile response. Yet resources are insufficient. The United States and other countries are not permitting personnel deployment to the epicenter, including from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and US Agency for International Development (USAID). In this Viewpoint, we review recommendations of experts convened by Georgetown University and listed at the end of this article. The United States and international community should launch high-level political mobilization, with diplomatic, human, and economic resources. It is critical to recognize that future health crises will occur in fragile, insecure settings. To prepare, the international community needs long-term planning and enhanced capacities to improve the safety and effectiveness of epidemic response operations.

The US Cigarette Industry: An Economic and Marketing Perspective.

Abstract: Objectives Tobacco company conduct has been a central concern in tobacco control. Nevertheless, the public health community has not taken full advantage of the large economics and marketing literature on market competition in the cigarette industry. Methods We conducted an unstructured narrative review of the economics and marketing literature using an antitrust framework that considers: 1) market; definition, 2) market concentration; 3) entry barriers; and 4) firm conduct. Results Since the 1960s, U.S. cigarette market concentration has increased primarily due to mergers and growth in the Marlboro brand. Entry barriers have included brand proliferation, slotting allowance contracts with retailers and government regulation. While cigarette sales have declined, established firms have used coordinated price increases, predatory pricing and price discrimination to sustain their market power and profits. Conclusions Although the major cigarette firms have exercised market power to increase prices and profits, the market could be radically changing, with consumers more likely to use several different types of tobacco products rather than just smoking a single cigarette brand. Better understanding of the interaction between market structure and government regulation can help develop effective policies in this changing tobacco product market.

Supervised Injection Facilities: Legal and Policy Reforms

Abstract: The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported that more than 70 000 deaths from drug overdoses occurred in 2017, including prescription and illicit opioids, representing a 6-fold increase since 1999. Innovative harm-reduction solutions are imperative. Supervised injection facilities (SIFs) create safe places for drug injection, including overdose prevention, counseling, and treatment referral services. Supervised injection facilities neither provide illicit drugs nor do their personnel inject users. Supervised injection facilities are effective in reducing drug-related mortality, morbidity, and needle-borne infections. Yet their lawfulness remains uncertain. The Department of Justice (DOJ) recently threatened criminal prosecution for SIF operators, medical personnel, and patrons.

Catalyzing Privacy Law

Abstract: The United States famously lacks a comprehensive federal data privacy law. In the past year, however, over half the states have proposed broad privacy bills or have established task forces to propose possible privacy legislation. Meanwhile, congressional committees are holding hearings on multiple privacy bills. What is catalyzing this legislative momentum? Some believe that Europe’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), which came into force in 2018, is the driving factor. But with the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) which took effect in January 2020, California has emerged as an alternate contender in the race to set the new standard for privacy. Our close comparison of the GDPR and California’s privacy law reveals that the California law is not GDPR-lite: it retains a fundamentally American approach to information privacy. Reviewing the literature on regulatory competition, we argue that California, not Brussels, is catalyzing privacy law across the United States. And what is happening is not a simple story of powerful state actors. It is more accurately characterized as the result of individual networked norm entrepreneurs, influenced and even empowered by data globalization. Our study helps explain the puzzle of why Europe’s data privacy approach failed to spur US legislation for over two decades. Finally, our study answers critical questions of practical interest to individuals—who will protect my privacy?—and to businesses—whose rules should I follow?

Five Principles for Vertical Merger Enforcement Policy

Abstract: There seems to be consensus that the Department of Justice’s 1984 Vertical Merger Guidelines do not reflect either modern theoretical and empirical economic analysis or current agency enforcement policy. Yet widely divergent views of preferred enforcement policies have been expressed among agency enforcers and commentators. Based on our review of the relevant economic literature and our experience analyzing vertical mergers, we recommend that the enforcement agencies adopt five principles: (i) The agencies should consider and investigate the full range of potential anticompetitive harms when evaluating vertical mergers; (ii) The agencies should decline to presume that vertical mergers benefit competition on balance in the oligopoly markets that typically prompt agency review, nor set a higher evidentiary standard based on such a presumption; (iii) The agencies should evaluate claimed efficiencies resulting from vertical mergers as carefully and critically as they evaluate claimed efficiencies resulting from horizontal mergers, and require the merging parties to show that the efficiencies are verifiable, merger-specific and sufficient to reverse the potential anticompetitive effects; (iv) The agencies should decline to adopt a safe harbor for vertical mergers, even if rebuttable, except perhaps when both firms compete in unconcentrated markets; (v) The agencies should consider adopting rebuttable anticompetitive presumptions that a vertical merger harms competition when certain factual predicates are satisfied. We do not intend these presumptions to describe all the ways by which vertical mergers can harm competition, so the agencies should continue to investigate vertical mergers that raise concerns about input and customer foreclosure, loss of a disruptive or maverick firm, evasion of rate regulation or other threats to competition, even if the specific factual predicates of the presumptions are not satisfied.

Cross-country comparison of cigarette and vaping product marketing exposure and use: findings from 2016 ITC Four Country Smoking and Vaping Survey.

Abstract: Objective To compare exposure to and use of certain cigarette and vaping product marketing among adult smokers and vapers in four countries with contrasting regulations—Australia (AU), Canada, England and the USA. Data sources Adult smokers and vapers (n=12 294) from the 2016 International Tobacco Control (ITC) Four Country Smoking and Vaping Survey (4CV1). Analysis Self-reported exposure to cigarette and vaping product advertising through point-of-sale, websites/social media, emails/texts, as well as exposure to and use of price offers were assessed for country differences using logistic regression models adjusted for multiple covariates. Results Reported exposure to cigarette advertising exposure at point-of-sale was higher in the USA (52.1%) than in AU, Canada and England (10.5%–18.5%). Exposure to cigarette advertising on websites/social media and emails/texts was low overall (1.5%–10.4%). Reported exposure to vaping ads at point-of-sale was higher in England (49.3%) and USA (45.9%) than in Canada (32.5%), but vaping ad exposure on websites/social media in Canada (15.1%) was similar with England (18.4%) and the USA (12.1%). Exposure to vaping ads via emails/texts was low overall (3.1%–9.9%). Exposure to, and use of, cigarette price offers was highest in the USA (34.0 % and 17.8 %, respectively), but the use rate among those exposed was highest in AU (64.9%). Exposure to, and use of, price offers for vaping products was higher in the USA (42.3 % and 21.7 %) than in AU, Canada and England (25.9%–31.5 % and 7.4%–10.3 %). Conclusions Patterns of cigarette and vaping product marketing exposure generally reflected country-specific policies, except for online vaping ads. Implications for research and policy are discussed.

Evidence of Environmental Changes Caused by Chinese Island-Building.

Abstract: This paper quantifies environmental effects of island-building operations in the South China Sea, which result from dredging and can negatively impact marine flora, fauna, and ecosystems. The extent of the damage caused by island-creation is believed to be large, as the South China Sea reefs support the largest concentration of marine biodiversity on Earth. Through use of satellite imagery, we investigate the island-construction on Mischief Reef in the South China Sea, showing backscatter increases of up to 350% in waters surrounding the reef, with plumes of excess sediment exceeding 250 km2 at times during island-construction, and the cumulative area impacted by dredging exceeding 1,200 km2. Comparison of satellite-derived chlorophyll-a, backscatter, absorption and remote sensing reflectance at 412 nm suggest that dredging activities led to a decrease in biological health of the region resulting from the smothering of natural benthic habitats and reef complexes with sediment. We anticipate this ex post facto quantification of the connectivity between island-construction, large particulate plumes and a decrease in absorption related to marine life in the water column to establish a starting point for further study into ecosystem impact. The potential associations between these damages and a long-term reduction in ocean life and resources could serve inter-governmental bodies with a baseline metric for evaluating the level of damage caused. This may result in both forward-looking deterrent policies that limit island-building as well as backward-looking compensation.

Global employment and decent jobs, 2010–2030: The forces of demography and automation

Abstract: Globally, an estimated 734 million jobs will be required between 2010 and 2030 to accommodate recent and ongoing demographic shifts, account for plausible changes in labour force participation rates, and achieve target unemployment rates of at or below 4 per cent for adults and at or below 8 per cent for youth. The facts that most new jobs will be required in countries where “decent” jobs are less prevalent and workers in many occupations are increasingly subject to risks of automation further compound the challenge of job creation, which is already quite sizable in historical perspective. Failure to create the jobs that are needed through 2030 would put currently operative social security systems under pressure and undermine efforts to guarantee the national social protection floors enshrined in the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). A l’echelle mondiale, on estime qu’il faudra creer 734 millions d’emplois entre 2010 et 2030 pour resister aux evolutions demographiques recentes et actuelles, contribuer a une evolution plausible des taux de participation au marche du travail, et atteindre les objectifs relatifs aux taux de chomage (au maximum 4 pour cent chez les adultes et 8 pour cent chez les jeunes). Le fait que la plupart des nouveaux emplois devront etre crees dans des pays ou le travail «decent» est peu repandu et ou l’automatisation menace de plus en plus les travailleurs de nombreux secteurs complique davantage ce defi, qui s’annonce deja historiquement considerable. Si on ne parvient pas a creer les emplois necessaires d’ici a 2030, les systemes de securite sociale actuels seront mis sous pression, et cela minera les efforts visant a concretiser le socle de protection sociale prevu par les objectifs de developpement durable (ODD). A nivel mundial, se estima que entre 2010 y 2030 seran necesarios 734 millones de empleos para adaptarse a los cambios demograficos recientes y en curso, incorporar los posibles cambios a las tasas de actividad y alcanzar tasas de desempleo de un 4 por ciento como maximo para los adultos y de un 8 por ciento como maximo para los jovenes. El hecho de que la mayoria de los nuevos empleos son necesarios en paises donde hay menos empleos “decentes” y donde los trabajadores de muchos sectores se enfrentan cada vez mas al riesgo de automatizacion, dificulta mas aun el desafio de crear empleos, que ya es bastante importante desde una perspectiva historica. Si no se crean los empleos necesarios de aqui a 2030, los sistemas de seguridad social actualmente activos se veran sometidos a presion y se socavaran los esfuerzos por garantizar los pisos nacionales de proteccion social consagrados en los Objetivos de Desarrollo Sostenible (ODS). Schatzungen zufolge werden weltweit zwischen 2010 und 2030 734 Millionen Arbeitsplatze benotigt, um die jungsten und anhaltenden demografischen Veranderungen abzufedern, wahrscheinliche Veranderungen in der Erwerbsbeteiligungsquote zu berucksichtigen und die angestrebten Arbeitslosenquoten von hochstens 4 Prozent bei Erwachsenen und von hochstens 8 Prozent bei Jugendlichen zu erreichen. Dass die meisten neuen Arbeitsplatze in Landern erforderlich sind, in denen „menschenwurdige“Arbeitsverhaltnisse weniger verbreitet sind, und dass die Arbeitnehmer in vielen Berufen zunehmend mit der Gefahr der Automatisierung konfrontiert sind, sind zwei Tatsachen, welche die aus historischer Sicht bereits relativ umfangreiche Herausforderung der Schaffung von Arbeitsplatzen zusatzlich komplexer machen. Sollte es nicht gelingen, bis 2030 die notigen Arbeitsplatze zu schaffen, wurden die gegenwartig funktionierenden Systeme der sozialen Sicherheit unter Druck geraten und die Anstrengungen zur Gewahrleistung nationaler Grundsicherungen, wie sie in den Zielen fur nachhaltige Entwicklung festgelegt wurden, unterminiert. По оценкам, в период с 2010 по 2030 год в мире потребуется создать 734 млн рабочих мест с учётом недавних и текущих демографических изменений, чтобы можно было адаптироваться к наиболее вероятным изменениям в уровнях экономической активности населения и достичь целевые показатели безработицы на уровне 4% и ниже для взрослого населения и 8% и ниже для молодёжи. Сложная задача по созданию рабочих мест – и без того довольно значительная в историческом смысле – усугубляется ввиду того, что большинство новых рабочих мест необходимо будет создавать в странах, где «достойные» рабочие места встречаются гораздо реже и где работники многих профессий всё чаще подвергаются рискам автоматизации. Если к 2030 году не будет создано необходимое число рабочих мест, под давлением окажутся существующие системы социального обеспечения и будут подорваны усилия, направленные на установление минимальных национальных уровней социальной защиты, предусмотренных Целями ООН в области устойчивого развития (ЦУР). 全球范围内, 考虑劳动力参与率的合理变化, 以及实现成人失业率低于4%、青年失业率低于8%的目标, 2010年至2030年间将需要约7.34亿个工作岗位来适应近年发生且还在持续的人口变化。事实上, 大多数需要创造就业的国家恰恰是“体面”就业机会不足、各职业工种越来越受自动化风险影响的国家, 这进一步加剧了创造就业的挑战, 而从历史角度看, 这一挑战已相当艰巨。如果无法创造到2030年所需的就业机会, 当前运行良好的社会保障体系将承受压力, 实现可持续发展目标 (SDG)确定的国家社会保护最低标准的努力也将受到破坏。 على الصعيد العالمي، ستكون هناك حاجة إلى ما يقدر بنحو 734 مليون وظيفة بين عامي 2010 و2030 لاستيعاب التحولات الديموغرافية الحديثة والمستمرة، مع مراعاة التغييرات المعقولة في معدلات مشاركة القوى العاملة، وتحقيق معدلات البطالة المستهدفة التي تعادل نسبة 4 في المائة أو أقل بالنسبة للبالغين وتعادل نسبة 8 في المائة أو أقل بالنسبة للشباب. وإن الحقائق التي مفادها أن معظم الوظائف الجديدة ستكون مطلوبة في البلدان التي تكون فيها الوظائف "اللائقة" أقل انتشارا وأن العاملين في العديد من المهن معرضون بشكل متزايد لمخاطر الأتمتة، مما يزيد من تعقيد التحدي المتمثل في خلق فرص العمل، والذي هو تحد كبير أصلا من منظور تاريخي. و الإخفاق في توفير الوظائف اللازمة حتى عام 2030 من شأنه أن يضع أنظمة الضمان الاجتماعي الجاري العمل بها حاليا تحت الضغط، إذ إنه سيقوض الجهود المبذولة لضمان الحد الأدنى للحماية الاجتماعية الواردة في أهداف التنمية المستدامة. Em nivel global, estima‐se que 734 milhoes de empregos serao necessarios entre 2010 e 2030 para conciliar as recentes e continuas mudancas demograficas, corresponder a mudancas plausiveis nas taxas de participacao da forca de trabalho e alcancar a meta de taxa de desemprego de 4% ou menos para adultos e de 8% ou menos para jovens. Os fatos de que a maioria dos novos empregos serao necessarios em paises onde empregos “decentes” sao menos predominantes e onde os trabalhadores em varias ocupacoes sao cada vez mais ameacados pela automacao somam‐se ao desafio da criacao de empregos, que ja e consideravel na perspectiva historica. A incapacidade de criar os empregos necessarios ate 2030 colocaria os sistemas de seguridade social que estao operacionais no momento sob pressao e minariam os esforcos de garantir os pisos de protecao social em nivel nacional estabelecidos nos Objetivos de Desenvolvimento Sustentavel (ODS).

The "Conscience" Rule: How Will It Affect Patients' Access to Health Services?

Abstract: On May 2, 2019, the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and Office of Civil Rights (OCR) released a final rule that heightens the rights of hospitals and health workers to refuse to participate in patients’ medical care based on religious or moral grounds. The rule covers OCR’s authority to investigate and enforce violations of 25 federal “conscience protection” laws. Tied to the US Constitution’s spending power, the rule applies to state and local governments, as well as public and private health care professionals and entities if they receive federal funds such as Medicare or Medicaid. The rule applies to a range of important health services such as abortions, sterilizations, assisted suicide, and advance directives — extending to sex reassignment and HIV treatment.

Is Affording Undocumented Immigrants Health Coverage a Radical Proposal

Abstract: During the Democratic presidential debate on July 31, all 10 candidates raised their hands when asked if they would provide health insurance to undocumented immigrants. Among all Democratic ideas for health reform, this is least popular. A recent poll found that only 38% of respondents approve. The idea drew extensive criticism, which is understandable: Why should the United States provide health coverage for people who don’t have a legal right to be here? Extending coverage could be seen as rewarding individuals who have violated the law. There are, however, strong reasons to afford health coverage for this population: modest economic costs, safeguarding the public’s health by curbing the spread of infectious diseases, and complying with international law that requires health coverage for migrants. Many countries fail to afford migrants equitable access to health coverage, so adopting a policy of providing undocumented immigrants on par with other residents — integrated into existing federal health insurance programs — would help the United States regain moral leadership, in line with World Health Organization (WHO) and United Nations (UN) guidelines, and potentially save money (discussed below).

A Taxonomy of Police Technology’s Racial Inequity Problems

Abstract: Over the past several years, increased awareness of racial inequity in policing, combined with increased scrutiny of police technologies, have sparked concerns that new technologies may aggravate inequity in policing. To help address these concerns, some advocates and scholars have proposed requiring police agencies to seek and obtain legislative approval before adopting a new technology, or requiring the completion of “algorithmic impact assessments” to evaluate new tools. In order for policymakers, police agencies, or scholars to evaluate whether and how particular technologies may aggravate existing inequities, however, the problem must be more clearly defined. Some scholars have explored inequity in depth as it relates to specific police technologies. But to date, none have provided an explanation of how police technology aggravates inequity that can be applied across all technologies—including future technologies we have not yet encountered. This Article fills that gap. It offers a proposed new taxonomy that parses the ways in which police technology may aggravate inequity as five distinct problems: police technology may (1) replicate inequity in policing, (2) mask inequity in policing, (3) transfer inequity from elsewhere to policing, (4) exacerbate inequitable policing harms, and/or (5) compromise oversight of inequity in policing. Naming and defining these problems will help police agencies, policymakers, and scholars alike analyze proposed new police technologies through an equity lens and craft policies that respond appropriately. This framework should be built into evaluations of police tools performed in accordance with Community Control Over Police Surveillance (“CCOPS”) ordinances being passed in a growing number of cities. To assist with these practical applications of the taxonomy, this Article also offers a model equity impact assessment for proposed police technologies, and explains why the time is ripe for introduction of such an assessment. Finally, this Article explains how the proposed taxonomy and impact assessment tool can be used to evaluate new technologies through an equity lens in contexts beyond the criminal legal system. As policymakers consider requiring algorithmic impact assessments in other domains, they can draw on the framework provided in this Article for one possible model.

Texas v United States: The Affordable Care Act Is Constitutional and Will Remain So.

Abstract: On December 14, 2018, in a widely reported decision, a federal judge in Texas ruled that the entire Affordable Care Act (ACA) is unconstitutional. The judge reasoned that since the ACA’s “individual mandate” is unconstitutional, the rest of the law cannot stand without it. However, the ACA will remain in place pending appeal, and it is highly unlikely that this ruling will stand.