Polish Yearbook of Law and Economics. Vol. 2 (2011)

From the Editors

With pleasure we introduce the second yolume of the Polish Yearbook of Law & Economics encompassing a collection of articles presented at 2nd Polish Law & Economics Conference. In 2010, with the organization of the lst Polish Law & Economics Conference and the issuance of the first yolume of Polish Yearbook of Law & Economics, a new chapter was opened in the development of the cross-disciplinary scientific movement of Law and Economics in Poland. The second yolume of the Yearbook marks the subseuent step in this development, confirming its academic value, potential and sustainability.

The 2nd Polish Law &c Economics Conference was organized at the Uniyersity of Warsaw on May 6-7, 2011 by the Polish Association of Law & Economics (PSEAP) in cooperation with Centre for Economic Analyses of Public Sector (CEAPS) at the Faculty of Economic Sciences of the Uniyersity of Warsaw and the Students' Association of Institutional Economics (KNEI) at the Uniyersity of Warsaw. With its two days of presentations, covering a wide rang of issues analyzed from the Law and Economics perspective, the conference brought together mor than 100 scholars, Students and practitioners active in Economic Analysis of Law, as well as the areas of Law, Economics and related disciplines, from Poland and seyeral other countries. The conference program consisted of the keynote lecture by Professor Eli Salzberger (Uniyersity of Haifa), three sessions encompassing nine presentations, as well as a student panel (three speakers). Detailed Information about the Conference is ayailable at the Polish Law & Economics Conference website (http://www.lawandeconomics.pl).

This second yolume of the Polish Yearbook of Law £c Economics contains seven papers presented during the 2nd Polish Law & Economics Conference, as well as two student papers (in the Student Section) delivered during the student panel of the conference by winners of the Best Student Paper Prize contest accompanying the conference. Other scholars and students who gave their presentations during the conference, included Mateusz Izbicki and Weronika Winiewska, Bartosz Makowicz, as well as Piotr Charewicz.

The first section of this volume (Featured Article) contains Eli Salzberger's paper entitled "Law and Economics - Limits of Analysis: The Case of Intellectual Property", based on his keynote lecture delivered at the conference. This contribution has two principal goals. In the first part it places Law and Economics in the framework of the philosophy of science, mora and political philosophy, as well as the philosophy of law, describing the origins of this scientific movement, its evolution and possible future development paths. This survey of the roots and history of Law and Economics later proyides background for Eli Salzberger's normative analysis of intellectual property rights presented in the second part of his contribution. The author formulates critical remarks with regard to the shift from the incentives paradigm to the proprietary paradigm in the economic analysis of intellectual property. H concludes with a practical advice for Law and Economics students and scholars in this field regarding the role of the positive and normative premises on the bases of which they conduct their studies and formulate genera conclusions.

The subseuent three papers in the volume present applications of the economic approach to Polish law in various fields. In his paper "Economic Analysis of the Language Quotas for Polish Songs on the Radio" Patryk Gauszka conducts a simple cost-benefit analysis of Polish laws establishing language uotas for radio broadcasters and shows why it may not be efficient, from economic point of view, to maintain such legislation. The author also argues that to promote development of radio stations with diversified repertoire (i.e. market diversity) legislators should consider introducing uotas based on the criterion of musie genre.

The next paper presenting Polish legislation in an economic perspective is Grzegorz Kula and Anna Ruzik-Sierdziska's "The Effects of Multiple Institutional Changes - The Case of Retirement Decisions in Poland". Sice 1995 the Polish government has introduced so many broad reforms of the pension system that this "institutional uncertainty" may, according to the authors, have led to suboptimal decisions about the timing of retirement in Poland. Their pseudo-panel econometric study of factors influencing individual retirement decisions in Poland in years 1995-2007 yields mixed results: it confirms that social security institutions and changes in the pension system ar important for labor force participation rat and retirement decisions, but it does not succeed in identifying the effects of the institutional uncertainty.

Selected Polish tort law cases ar the focus of Oskar Luty's contribution to the yolume entitled "Economic Consideration Behind Negligence Related Rulings in Poland - Dogmatic Heresy or Rational Imperative?". The author focuses, in particular, on the insights that Law and Economics has developed with regard to the "efficient due care" concept and suggests how this model could be introduced into the Polish tort law.

Economic analysis of financial markets regulation has recently received increasing attention from Law and Economics scholars. This topie is also the focus of Mariusz Golecki's paper "Is the OTC Market a Market Failure? Derivatives from the Perspective of Transaction Costs Economics". The author undertakes the challenge of providing the answer to the uestion whether the Coasean theory of regulation is correct when applied to financial markets and how to explain the existence and growth of the Over-The-Counter (OTC) market for derivatives from the perspective of transaction cost economics. The author also proposes mor genera analytical framework for the analysis of regulatory regimes evolution.

Magorzata Sadowska's "Energy Liberalization in A Antitrust Straitjacket: A Plant Too Far?" provides a deeper insight into recent developments in the European Union antitrust enforcement in the context of energy markets. Stating that liberalization and competition policy pursue effectively coinciding goals with respect to the European energy markets the author analyzes in detail the 2008 E.ON case - an investigation of the European Commission into price manipulation on the German wholesale electricity market - and concludes that the new pattern of antitrust enforcement encompassing a widespread use of commitment procedur and increased intervention in the market has serious adverse implications.

In his paper "Domestic Institutions and the Political Economy of International Agreements" Florian Kiesow Cortez looks at the motivation of countries to establish or participate in International agreements based on domestic political economy factors. The author's analysis, rooted in particular in credible commitment theory, focuses on the number of veto players affecting the credibility of governments and their incentives to "lock in" policies through international agreements, as well as electoral institutions which provide politicians with incentives to mk use of international agreements. The outcome of the author's theoretical analysis suggests four hypotheses regarding the influence of domestic institutions on international agreements.

Magdalena Maecka's paper "Disappointment and Promise of Neuroeconomics Applied to Law" views Law and Economics in a mor genera context and presents the promising, recently developed research program of Neuroeconomics and the Law. The author is critical of the existing models and applications to law based on neuroeconomic research, but at the same time she acknowledges the potential of this strand of research for the future as it is mor reliable in addressing yarious problems relating law and human behavior than standard economic theories.

The Student Section of this volume presents two papers delivered during the student panel of the conference by winners of lst and 2nd prize in the Best Student Paper Prize contest accompanying the 2nd Polish Law & Economics Conference. The 3rd prize in this contest was awarded to Piotr Charewicz, whereas works of Kamil Joski, Jarosaw Kantorowicz, Krystian Kopka, Elbieta Krajewska, Szymon Oko, Izabela Prager, and Magdalena Zmysowska brought their authors distinctions awarded by the Scientific Committee of the conference.

In the first paper presented in the Student Section of this volume Anna Laszczyk (the winner of the lst prize in the contest) undertakes an analysis of the possibility to create a European digital single market for musie ("Imagine There Is No Countes - Digital Single Market for Creative Contents - the Case of Musie"). The author argues, in particular, that in terms of the art an automatic application of competition law based on transaction cost analysis is inadequate and that prevailing methods of Law & Economics ar not sufficient to analyze processes which occur in cyberspace. In the second paper - "The Limits of Limited Liability - An Economic Analysis of Limited Liability and Piercing of the Corporate Veil" Miosz Jówiak (the winner of the 2nd prize) aims to determine whether the Polish lega system requires an additional tool of corporate creditor protection in the form of "piercing of the corporate veil". The papers included in this volume ar their authors' preliminary steps in academic writing and, although remaining at a rather genera level of analysis, may give the Reader a broader picture of the variety of topics and approaches encompassed by Law and Economics.

Having briefly presented the contents of the volume we leave the Reader to explore the subsequent chapters in more detail.