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Supporting Greater Access

Steven P. Croley

in Civil Justice Reconsidered: Toward a Less Costly, More Accessible Litigation System

This final chapter concludes with another set of reform proposals to make the litigation system more accessible. It calls for greater support for programs that subsidize access to justice. In other ... More

This final chapter concludes with another set of reform proposals to make the litigation system more accessible. It calls for greater support for programs that subsidize access to justice. In other words, in addition to lowering the price of civil litigation, this chapter proposes ways to help those otherwise excluded from the system to pay for it. The discussion calls for various cross-subsidies within classes of litigants, which might be achieved, for example, by using exorbitant punitive damages and class action attorney's fee awards to support access-to-justice programs. It also calls on the legal profession to provide more support for those unable to afford access themselves, such as through legal urgent cares and legal disaster relief, and by greater commitments to new and old forms of pro bono representation.Less

An Efficiency-Based Subsidy and Tuition Policy

in Public No More: A New Path to Excellence for America's Public Universities

This chapter considers public subsidy and tuition policy for higher education in the U.S. It argues that an ideal tuition fee strategy should be able to satisfy the preferences of the students who ... More

This chapter considers public subsidy and tuition policy for higher education in the U.S. It argues that an ideal tuition fee strategy should be able to satisfy the preferences of the students who pay the tuition and the society which provides the subsidy while at the same time recognizing that public universities are constrained to cover instructional cost and break even. This chapter also offers a number of recommendations for tuition fee policy which include setting tuition rates as close to possible to program marginal costs and avoiding cross-subsidies to respond to unfunded mandates.Less

Global Energy Subsidies: Scale, Opportunity Costs, and Barriers to Reform

Doug Koplow

in Energy Poverty: Global Challenges and Local Solutions

Financial subsidies to energy exceed $750 billion annually, much of these supporting higher income quintiles. Dominated by support to fossil fuels, the subsidies surpass public investments in health ... More

Financial subsidies to energy exceed $750 billion annually, much of these supporting higher income quintiles. Dominated by support to fossil fuels, the subsidies surpass public investments in health care for the poor in many developing countries. They are 30 times the incremental funding needed to achieve universal access to modern energy services. Subsidy reform offers an attractive, though elusive, lever to achieve social and fiscal goals worldwide. Powerful political groups, including energy-intensive industries and black marketeers, often benefit from current rules and therefore block changes. Political unrest amongst the poor as fuel prices rise in the absence of alternative safety nets is also common. Successful reform efforts have leveraged positive macro-economic changes to incorporate price reforms, developed detailed data on beneficiaries and affected parties to manage the political challenges of change, ensured economic protections for the poor during the transition period, and rapidly integrated policy changes into legal frameworks to prevent backsliding.Less