Digital Commons Network^™

Clitoridectomy And The Economics Of Islamic Marriage & Divorce Law, Ryan M. Riegg

Ryan M. Riegg

Comparing Judicial Compensation: Apples, Oranges, And Cherry-Picking, Matthew W. Wolfe

Matthew W. Wolfe

United States Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts describes the American judiciary as the envy of other constitutional democracies. But in one respect, the judiciary apparently trails others: judicial pay. Citing higher salaries of judges in other countries, Chief Justice Roberts and Associate Justices Stephen Breyer and Samuel Alito have all argued that inadequate judicial pay leads to a decline in judicial performance and quality. Judicial pay advocates apparently make these comparisons to emphasize that low judicial salaries “threaten” judicial quality and independence or, alternatively, that high judicial salaries “ensure” quality and independence. But the argument is incomplete, relying upon …

Statistical String Theory For Courts: If The Data Don't Fit..., David F. Babbel

David F Babbel

The primary purpose of this article is to provide courts with an important new tool for applying the correct probability distribution to a given legal question. This tool is path-breaking and will have an extensive impact on how a wide variety of cases are decided. In areas as diverse as criminal prosecutions and civil lawsuits alleging securities fraud, courts must assess the relevance and reliability of statistical data and the inferences drawn therefrom. But, courts and expert witnesses often make mistaken assumptions about what probability distributions are appropriate for their analyses. Using the wrong probability distribution can lead to invalid …

Behavioral Public Finance, Edward J. Mccaffery

Edward J McCaffery

These are slides from a presentation to the Gruter Institute for Law and Behavioral Research, Squaw Valley Conference, May, 2008 (at which event Michael Jensen got me to agree to post these slides as a pdf on SSRN . . . ). The task is to give an overview of what I hope to be an emerging field of behavioral public finance. Behavioral finance, as per Barberis and Thaler 2003 (and others), consists of two parts: (1) individual level heuristics and biases, which can lead to sub-optimal (inconsistent) judgment and decision-making, and (2) institutional arbitrage mechanisms. In private finance and …

Comments On Liebman And Zeckhauser, Simple Humans, Complex Insurance, Subtle Subsidies, Edward J. Mccaffery

Edward J McCaffery

These are brief comments on an excellent paper by Jeffrey Liebman and Richard Zeckhauser, prepared for a conference sponsored by the Urban Institute and Brookings on tax and health care policy. Liebman and Zeckhauser summarize the complexities involved in making optimal health insurance decisions, and offer generally cautionary notes about conflating these with tax law (a theme of the conference). Most importantly, Liebman and Zeckhauser suggest a positive role for employers in health care and insurance decisions, as better setters or framers of choice sets—witness 401(k) plans. In this Commentary, I applaud Leibman and Zeckhauser’s general work and particular observation, …

The Development And Testing Of A Purchasing Power Parity Method For Comparing Construction Costs Internationally, Rick Best

Rick Best

Over the past fifty to sixty years there have been numerous attempts to compare the performance of the construction industries of different countries. In almost all cases the cost of construction has been an important, sometimes the single parameter Cost performance has sometimes been equated to productivity, and productivity measurement and comparison is attempted by governments and their agencies on a regular basis.

Fundamental to these exercises has been the necessity to bring construction costs in different national currencies to a common base. This is imperative as amounts in different currencies cannot be directly compared.

Money market exchange rates do …

How The Government Can Protect Home Mortgage Consumers: A Proposal To Provide Consumers A Risk Assessment Of Mortgages, Adeline Park

Adeline Park

The recent sub-prime mortgage crisis has revealed the consumer’s vulnerability in the home mortgage marketplace. Consumers face an overwhelming variety of mortgage options, and are not motivated to invest the necessary time and resources to comprehend the meaning and implications of each loan feature. I propose that the government assess the risk of each loan feature available in the home mortgage market, based on the historical number of foreclosures each loan type has yielded. The government will then require lenders to display the risk assessment icon on all sales, marketing, and advertising materials. The risk assessment icon will identify the …

Reaffirming The Rights Of Foreign Investors To The Protection Of Icsid Arbitration: Sempra Energy International V. The Argentine Republic, Daniel Krawiec

Daniel A Krawiec II

Earlier this decade, the Argentine government responded to a substantial domestic economic crises by passing several emergency laws and unilaterally changing the terms of its investment agreements with foreign investors. Sempra v. Argentine Republic is an important case because the tribunal decisively reaffirmed the right to ICSID arbitration for American investors harmed by Argentina’s actions. Furthermore, the tribunal held that the U.S.-Argentina bilateral investment treaty provided substantial substantive investment protection.

Involving Undergraduates In Research To Encourage Them To Undertake Phd Study In Economics, Ronald G. Ehrenberg

Ronald G. Ehrenberg

This paper discusses the reasons for the recent decline in Economics PhDs given out to American citizens and posits that the trend could be curbed if faculty were encouraged to utilize undergraduates more frequently in research projects and papers within not only the classroom, but within their respective departments at large.

Are Contingent-Fee Attorneys Deterred?: How Courts Can More Effectively Police Adhesive Arbitration Agreements, Kenyon Harbison

Kenyon D Harbison

If you’re like me, you become bound by a new arbitration agreement almost every day, sometimes without even knowing it. They are included with banking and credit card statements, in most employment contracts, and in most purchase agreements. When we make purchases online we ‘click’ our assent to them without reading them. When we receive them in the mail we signal our assent by failing to opt out. But what happens when we are injured, defrauded, or cheated, try to sue, and find we are instead subject to arbitration? What standards can we expect courts to apply if we challenge …

Leave Those Orcs Alone: Property Rights In Virtual Worlds, Kevin Deenihan

Kevin E Deenihan

Conversion of property is a familiar piece of law. What about conversion of virtual property? In 2006, a man filed suit claiming theft of virtual real estate he maintained in a Virtual World. The Judge may well have wondered: is this property law? Intellectual property? Torts? Contract? When should the law even apply to Virtual Worlds at all? New societies populated by millions of people have sprung up in the online context. Their inhabitants buy goods, trade with each other, and form complex self-regulating organizations and economic systems. All are activities governed in the real world by centuries of legal …

Comparing Judicial Compensation: Apples, Oranges, And Cherry-Picking, Matthew W. Wolfe, Reed Watson

Matthew W. Wolfe

United States Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts describes the American judiciary as the envy of other constitutional democracies. But in one respect, the judiciary apparently trails others: judicial pay. Citing higher salaries of judges in other countries, Chief Justice Roberts and Associate Justices Stephen Breyer and Samuel Alito have all argued that inadequate judicial pay leads to a decline in judicial performance and quality. Judicial pay advocates apparently make these comparisons to emphasize that low judicial salaries “threaten” judicial quality and independence or, alternatively, that high judicial salaries “ensure” quality and independence. But the argument is incomplete, relying upon …

"Can Tax Policy Stop Human Trafficking?", Diane Fahey

Diane L. Fahey

ABSTRACT

Can Tax Policy Stop Human Trafficking?

The total number of victims who are held in captivity to perform forced labor at any one time is estimated to be as high as twenty-seven million. That would be equivalent to every man, woman, and child in the states of New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, and New York being held in captivity and forced twelve to fourteen hours each day to labor in sweatshops, or toil as agricultural workers, or service sexually many customers every day with no hope that it will ever end except by death. They would live in crowded, dirty …

A Positive Theory Of Eminent Domain, Eric Kades

Eric A. Kades

"Old And Making Hay:" The Results Of The Pro Bono Institute Survey On The Viability Of A "Second Acts" Program To Transition Attorneys To Retirement Through Pro Bono Work, Kenneth G. Dau-Schmidt, Esther F. Lardent, Reena Glazer, Kellen Ressmeyer

Kenneth G. Dau-Schmidt

In his 1998 Fairchild Lecture, Professor Marc Galanter proposed the idea that senior attorneys should be encouraged to undertake “a second ‘public service’ career” as a way of transitioning to retirement. The logic for encouraging such “Second Acts” in lawyers’ careers is compelling. As Professor Galanter has demonstrated, in the coming years, there will be record numbers of attorneys navigating the transition to retirement as the “Baby Boomers” reach their golden years. This substantial body of highly skilled lawyers could have a significant impact on fulfilling unmet needs for legal representation. If even 5% of the practicing attorneys over sixty-five …

Gender And The Legal Profession: The Michigan Alumni Data Set 1967-2000, Kenneth G. Dau-Schmidt, Marc S. Galanter, Kaushik Mukhopadhaya, Kathleen E. Hull

Kenneth G. Dau-Schmidt

The entry of women into the legal profession has forever changed both lawyers and the profession. In the brief period since the 1970’s, women have gone from a few brave pioneers constituting 3% of the bar to almost half of all new law students and a third of practicing attorneys. Women have brought to the profession a different set of assets and problems than men, focusing attention on the problem of balancing work and family in a way not previously experienced by the profession. In this study, we use the University of Michigan Law School Alumni Data Set to undertake …

Waging War With Wal-Mart: A Cry For Change Threatens The Future Of Industrial Loan Corporations, Zachariah J. Lloyd

Zachariah J. Lloyd

Although ILCs have existed with relatively little fanfare for decades and several blue chips already control ILCs of their own, Wal-Mart’s ILC application created unprecedented opposition and drastic calls for legislative action from nearly every arena to prevent Wal-Mart and other giant retailers like it from controlling a banking institution. The purpose of this Note is to chronicle the development of the ILC industry and analyze whether the separation of banking and commerce is a justifiable basis for opposing ILCs. Part II will address: the history of the ILC, from its creation to emergence as the banking entity of choice …

Work And Disability: Issues And Strategies In Career Development And Job Placement, Susanne M. Bruyere

Susanne Bruyère

This is an exceedingly comprehensive text on a wide variety of subjects related to process of employment preparation, job development, career and workplace issues for persons with disabilities, and the professionals who assist them in these areas. It is laid out as a 12-chapter edited volume with contributions made by 29 individuals with a variety of expertise, who also offer diversity in terms of geographic location and type of employment including research centers, educational institutions, and private consulting operations. The topics highlighted in the chapters include such areas as psychosocial and economic aspects of work; selected legislation that relates to …

Good Faith And Fair Dealing In Commercial Leasing: The Right Doctrine In The Wrong Transaction, Daniel B. Bogart

Daniel B. Bogart

Professor Bogart was keynote lecturer for the 2007 Kratovil Conference Real Estate Law and Practice sponsored by the John Marshall Law School Center for Real Estate Law. This article was solicited in connection with that lecture. In this article, Professor Daniel Bogart criticizes the unfortunate habit of many courts to import the doctrine of good faith and fair dealing, as it has been developed in residential real estate law, into commercial leasing. Commercial leasing practice is hugely important to real property lawyers and generates a significant portion of their legal fees. More importantly, commercial leasing is the driving force behind …

The University As Consumer?: Rethinking Overlap Behavior, Kenyon D. Harbison

Kenyon D Harbison

From the 1950's through the decision in United States v. Brown University, the Ivy League colluded with regard to the financial aid awards it awarded to commonly admitted students, pursuant to a so-called "Overlap Agreement." In the 90's, the federal government sued, alleging antitrust violations, and all but one university settled. MIT took the case up to the Third Circuit, which roughly held that non-economic pro-competitive justifications could be assessed in applying Rule-of-Reason antitrust analysis. MIT settled before the remand, or before the case could go to the Supreme Court. To date, all commentators have blindly followed standard economic orthodoxy, …

Turned On Its Head?: Norms, Freedom, And Acceptable Terms In Internet Contracting, Richard Warner

Richard Warner

Is the Internet turning contract law on its head? Many commentators contend it is. Precisely this issue arises in current controversies over end user license agreements (EULAs) and Terms of Use agreements (TOUs, the agreements governing our use of web sites). Commentators complain that, in both cases, the formation process unduly restricts buyers’ freedom; and, that sellers and web site owners exploit the process to impose terms that deprive consumers of important intellectual property and privacy rights. The courts ignore the criticisms and routinely enforce EULAs and TOUs. There is truth on both sides of this court/commentator divide. EULAs and …

Comentario Del Artículo De Alfonso Herranz-Loncán "Railroad Impact In Backward Economies: Spain, 1850 - 1913", Javier Agudo

Javier Agudo

Herranz-Loncán concluye que el ferrocarril sí tuvo un importante impacto en la economía española, pero no superior al experimentado en otros países como, por ejemplo, Inglaterra. ¿Cómo se explica entonces que el ferrocarril tenga el mismo impacto en un país que no tenía apenas vías de comunicación alternativas que en Inglaterra, donde ya existía una extensa y densa red de canales? La respuesta es que el transporte por ferrocarril tenía una importancia muy reducida en el total del PIB español. La economía española era una economía atrasada, y una gran parte de ella permaneció ajena al ferrocarril hasta mucho más …

Comentario Del Artículo De Joan R. Rosés Y Blanca Sánchez-Alonso "Regional Wage Convergence In Spain 1850 - 1930", Javier Agudo

Javier Agudo

Entre los años 1850 y 1930, España experimentó una importante convergencia de los salarios en las distintas regiones, al nivel de otros países europeos, si bien hay que destacar el periodo excepcional de la I Guerra Mundial, en el que aumentaron las divergencias. Los movimientos migratorios no son una variable explicativa importante en el caso de España puesto que, exceptuando los años posteriores a la I Guerra Mundial, no fueron de suficiente entidad. Hay que buscar en la creación de un mercado nacional sin barreras la causa explicativa de la convergencia de los salarios.

The Changing Role Of The State In The British Economy Between 1914 And 1921, Javier Agudo

Javier Agudo

The First World War represented the first high profile war that took place after the developed world had experienced the Industrial Revolution, and the international economic relations between countries had never been so strong. Based principally in the work by R. H. Tawney "The abolition of economic controls, 1918-1921" (Tawney; 1943), I am going to try to explain in this essay the role of the state during the conflict and how the Government reacted to the different problems that aroused in this period.

Comentario Del Artículo De Joan R. Rosés "Why Isn’T The Whole Of Spain Industrialized? New Economic Geography And Early Industrilalization, 1797-1910", Javier Agudo

Javier Agudo

España se convirtió en un mercado plenamente integrado a la lo largo del siglo XIX. Rosés no tiene ninguna duda de este hecho. Por ello, las teorías de los historiadores que intentan explicar el desarrollo de las regiones como entidades separadas no tienen ninguna consistencia. Es a través de la nueva geografía económica como puede darse una respuesta coherente y completa a por qué no toda España está industrializada.

Fighting The Food Crisis: Feeding Africa One Family At A Time, Karol C. Boudreaux, Adam Aft

Karol C. Boudreaux

Food riots have exploded. Prices for staple goods—wheat, maize, rice—have risen dramatically. 1 in 3 people in sub-Saharan Africa confront hunger and malnutrition, persistent threats. Many of the hungry are Africa’s smallholder farmers, subsistence farmers whose productivity has fallen over the past three decades while agricultural productivity rates have soared in other parts of the word. This article asks: what kinds of strategies, both legal and practical, will it take to effectively address the problem of a food crisis in sub-Saharan Africa? Scholars and politicians point to the need for a Green Revolution for Africa, a new effort to increase …

Histéresis Y Desempleo: El Caso De Francia Y Ee.Uu., Javier Agudo

Javier Agudo

La histéresis es un fenómeno por el cual los shocks afectan a la tasa de desempleo de manera permanente, de manera que cuando la economía logra recuperarse no le es posible retomar los niveles de empleo existentes antes de la recesión. La literatura afirma que el mercado laboral europeo presenta una histéresis que no existe en Estados Unidos, donde los niveles tienden a retornar a la tasa natural de desempleo. La hipótesis de histéresis se asocia a la presencia de raíces unitarias mientras que la hipótesis de tasa natural de desempleo se corresponde con un proceso estacionario. En nuestro trabajo, …

Revitalizing Essential Facilities, Spencer Weber Waller, Brett Frischmann

Spencer Weber Waller

Revitalizing Essential Facilities

Spencer Weber Waller

Brett Frischmann

Our article examines an age old debate about the nature and limits of property rights and the current manifestation of this debate in antitrust law. Many areas of law struggle to balance private property rightsCmost importantly, the right of exclusionCwith the public=s right of access to essential resources. What is the best way to manage resources that provide both public and private benefits? For years, academics and law makers have debated this question with respect to transportation systems, communication networks, scientific research, and a variety of other "infrastructural" resources. Many press for …

How Realistic Is The Supply/Demand Equilibrium Story? A Simple Demonstration Of False Trading And Its Implications For Market Equilibrium, Neil H. Buchanan

Neil H. Buchanan

Transactions at non-equilibrium prices are false trades. Under standard assumptions, markets without false trading produce Pareto-efficient outputs. This paper demonstrates graphically the complications created when false trades occur, showing that quantities produced deviate from Pareto-efficient quantities except under unique conditions. In a general equilibrium framework, this spills over to cause Pareto-inefficient results in other markets as well. These observations call into question the use of standard supply-and-demand equilibrium theory as a starting point for policy analysis.

Democracy Autocracy And Macroeconomic Performance In Pakistan, Nasir Iqbal, Sardar Javaid Iqbal Khan, Muhammad Irfan Chani

Muhammad Irfan Chani

Pakistan showed a healthy growth rate of 5.6 percent during the entire history and faced many ups and downs in economic growth due to dramatic changes in political regimes. The literature shows mixed results regarding the impact of autocracy or democracy on economic growth. The aggregate growth of the economy under autocracy remained better as compared to democratic period. Financial indicators show consistent path through out the history of Pakistan. Different trade policies are designed in different regime to run the external sector and the impact of each policy was different.