Economics and Law.ppt

Internet and social policy Example: Todd Kendall, “Pornography, rape and the Internet” (2007) Internet uptake went at different speeds in different US states What crimes were correlated? Rape and prostitution went down, while ‘runaways’ went up The first two had significance concentrated among 15-24yo males For more examples of this, see “Freakonomics” Ethics In our field, laws are often ten years behind, and even then often don’t fit reality very well Practical ethics: in what circumstances should we restrain our actions more than the law requires? Analogy: medical ethics (used to) require doctors to observe stricter confidentiality than either the law of confidence or data protection law required The philosophy of ethics asks “What are true moral values?” and “Why?” Philosophies of ethics Authority theories mostly derive from religion. But God usually talks via scriptures or a priesthood; so how do you resolve disputes? Intuitionist theories say we can tell what’s good and bad, like we can tell something is green. But again, our intuitions can differ, and how do you resolve disputes? Egoist theories say we act rationally in our own self-interest. Same problem with disputes though Philosophies of ethics (2) Deontological theories (theories of duty): Natural-rights: we mustn’t interfere with basic rights of others such as assembly and free speech, or we won’t reach social accord Kantian: act only on maxims that you’d like to be universal (i.e. treat others as you’d have them treat you) Consequentialist theories include utilitarian (maximise W = ∑Ui) and Rawlsian (maximise W = min Ui ). Problems: bounded rationality; social choice Current debates include: Evolutionary psychology (monkeys do tit-for-tat; Machiavellian brain hypothesis …) Neuroethics (from moral development of children to consciousness as an epiphenomenon …) Many policy aspects of socio-technical systems (privacy, IP, surveillance, censorship …) Technology is making many subtle changes to status, mone