Re: AltInst: Legislation insurance

Lorrie Faith Cranor writes:
>I don't actually know much about any of these topics, but here is
>my take on how these mechanisms relate:
>insurance ...
>investment ...
>betting ...
>Interestingly, despite the similarities between these mechanisms
>they are generally regulated in very different ways. So in situations
>where one might be illegal, it seems you should be able to achieve
>a similar outcome through one of the other mechanisms. (If betting
>on elections is illegal, invest in candidates. Where it is illegal
>to bet on race horses, why not set up a racetrack stock exchange
>for trading shares in race horses?)

Given the large market demand out there for sports betting, you
could make a lot of money finding a way to to legalize it. This has
been true for decades. The absense of such work-arounds suggests that
regulations may be harder to evade than you think.

Robin Hanson
hanson@econ.berkeley.edu http://hanson.berkeley.edu/
RWJF Health Policy Scholar, Sch. of Public Health 510-643-1884
140 Warren Hall, UC Berkeley, CA 94720-7360 FAX: 510-643-8614

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Received on Wed May 6 13:18:47 1998