Transition Policy: A Conceptual Framework

Louis Kaplow

No 9596, NBER Working Papers from National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc

Abstract: Legal change, whether through legislation, regulation, or court decision, is a common phenomenon, and virtually all reform creates both gains and losses for those who under the prior regime took actions that would have lasting effects. This article offers a conceptual framework for assessing the desirability of different transition policies, ranging from compensation of losses and taxation of gains, grandfathering of pre-enactment investments, and delayed or partial implementation to complete and immediate implementation or even retroactive application. Emphasis is placed on how transitions and various mitigation strategies affect the incentives of and risk borne by private actors as well as on the behavior of government and how it may be affected by transition policy.

JEL-codes: H20 K11 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2003-04
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-law
Note: LE PE
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (4)

Published as Kaplow, Louis. "Transition Policy: A Conceptual Framework." Journal of Contemporary Legal Issues 13 (2003): 161.

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.nber.org/papers/w9596.pdf (application/pdf)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:nbr:nberwo:9596

Ordering information: This working paper can be ordered from
http://www.nber.org/papers/w9596

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in NBER Working Papers from National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc National Bureau of Economic Research, 1050 Massachusetts Avenue Cambridge, MA 02138, U.S.A.. Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by ().