Dear Members,

As you may know, Ian McEwin stepped down as President of the Australian Law and Economics Association to take up a post in Singapore. In his absence, I have taken on the role as Acting President and am currently endeavouring to revitalise the Association for 2005.

2005 is set to be an exciting time for the Association. To begin with, preparations are currently underway for the establishment of the Asia-Pacific Law and Economics Review. This journal, to be published by Berkley Electronic Press later on this year, concentrates on applied research into law and economics issues within an Asia-Pacific context. More information on this new venture – including a call for papers – later in the newsletter.

2005 will also see the inauguration of the Asian Law and Economics Association (ASLEA). We have outlined the details for the first ASLEA annual meeting – to be held midyear in Seoul, Korea – later in the newsletter. Plans are also currently underway to initiate close cooperation between AustLEA and ASLEA in the near future, with an eye to ensure the ongoing strength of law and economics within the Asia-Pacific region.

Finally, we are currently in the processes of organising the next AustLEA annual general meeting, to be held in the latter part of this year. We are currently trying to organise a prominent international Law and Economics expert to provide the keynote lecture at the meeting – we will give you more news on this as it develops.

I look forward to working with you all this year – and as always, if you have any comments or suggestions, please feel to contact me

Kind Regards,

George Barker
BarkerG@law.anu.edu.au

If you have any comments or suggestions on the website please contact Wen Li Cheng wcheng@lecg.com.

In mid-2005, the Centre for Law and Economics at the Australian National University will be publishing an exciting new journal in the field of law and economics. Titled the Asia Pacific Law and Economics Review (APLER), this peer-reviewed general law and economics journal will be the first of its kind within the Asia-Pacific region.

APLER is set to have a broad focus within the field of law and economics, concentrating on high quality empirical or theoretical manuscripts that address all aspects of law and economics. APLER is particularly interested in publishing empirical research from a law and economics perspective using data from countries in the Asia-Pacific Region and empirical or theoretical research which has policy implications for one or more countries in the Asia-Pacific Region.

APLER will be published by Berkley Electronic Press, initially as an online journal. The editorial board has set June 2005 as the date when the journal will first appear. New articles will then be added to the web page as they pass through the review process, and then printed copies of the journal will be available on an semi-annual basis.

Individuals who are interested in submitting an article to this journal should contact the APLER editor, George Barker via email on BarkerG@law.anu.edu.au or mail addressed to Dr George R Barker, Director of the Centre for Law and Economics, Australian National University, Fellows Road, Canberra, ACT 0200, Australia

The Asian Law and Economics Association (ASLEA) is set to hold its inaugural annual meeting later this year, in Seoul, Korea.

The Asian Law and Economics Association is the latest in a growing number of law and economics associations that are being established throughout the world (see our global directory later in this newsletter). The idea behind ASLEA was to create an association, similar to the American and European law and economics associations, where academics, practitioners and researchers could get together to develop law and economics ideas within a specifically Asian context.

ASLEA will get off the ground with its first annual meeting, to be held later on this year at the Kyung Hee University in Seoul, Korea. The conference will be held on the 24th and 25th of June, 2005, and the meeting is open to all academics, lawyers and researchers interested in the area of law and economics. Those who are interested in submitting an academic paper at the meeting are invited to submit an abstract (in English) to submission@aslea.org by the 28th of February, 2005. The papers are not restricted to topics relating to Asian countries, but can cover any legal issue that is addressed from an economic perspective.

This meeting is being organised by Professor Jeong-Yoo Kim, from the University's Department of Economics, and all further enquiries should be directed to him via info@aslea.org.

Preparations are currently underway for the 2005 AustLEA Annual General Meeting, that is expected to be held around August this year. The AGM will provide an excellent opportunity for members to re-connect with AustLEA following is recent hiatus, as well as allowing scholars, lawyers and economists from around the country to come to together and debate law and economics ideas.

The meeting will bring together some of Australia's and New Zealand's eminent law and economics professionals, and will provide an opportunity for members to present and discuss new academic papers – expect a call for papers soon. Importantly, the meeting will also provide members with an opportunity to elect a new President for 2005/06, to continue on the reinvigoration of the Association well into the future.

If you have any comments or suggestions regarding the upcoming AGM (including other upcoming law and economics events that that may be able to 'host' the AGM), please contact current Acting President George Barker via email at BarkerG@law.anu.edu.au.

The Australian Centre of Regulatory Economics (ACORE) has announced the dates for its 2005 seminar series. The speaker at the first seminar, to be held on the 3rd of March, is Professor John Panzar, the Louis Merck Professor of Economics at Northwestern University and a noted telecommunications regulation advisor.

On April 7th, ACORE will be presenting Nobel Prize winner Professor Jim Mirrlees form the University of Cambridge. Professor Mirrlees won the 1986 Nobel Prize for Economics for his work on the theory of taxation, and the tentative title for his talk will be "What goods should be taxed?"

The rest of the seminar dates are listed below:

• May 5th with Professor Tim Coelli from the University of Queensland
• June 2nd with Mr Jim Cox from the Independent Pricing and Regulatory Tribunal (IPART)
• July 7th with Mr Gary Banks from the Productivity Commission
• August 4th with Professor Peter Bardsley from the University of Melbourne
• September 1st with Professor Kevin Fox from the University of New South Wales
• October 6th with Mr Ed Willett from the ACCC
• November 3rd with Professor Rohan Pitchford from the University of Sydney

All seminars will be held at the Australian National University, Canberra. For further details, go to ACORE's website at www.acore.org.au

Australian Law & Economics Association
Tel: 02 6125 3396  Fax: 02 6125 0103, E-mail: cle.law@anu.edu.au