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Duke Law

Faculty Scholarship

Empirical

2004

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Full-Text Articles in Law

Innovation In Boilerplate Contracts: An Empirical Examination Of Soverign Bonds, Mitu Gulati, Stephen J. Choi Jan 2004

Innovation In Boilerplate Contracts: An Empirical Examination Of Soverign Bonds, Mitu Gulati, Stephen J. Choi

Faculty Scholarship

Network externalities may lead contracting parties to stay wiht a "standardized" term despite preferences for another term. Using a dataset of sovereign bond offerings from 1995 to early 2004, we test the importance of standardization for the modification provisions relating to payment terms. We provide evidence that (1) standardization may lead parties to adopt provisions not necessarily out of preference and (2) standards, nonetheless, may change. The process of change, however, is not necessarily quick or straightforward. In the sovereign bond context, change came by way of an "interpretive shock." Contracts with modification provisions requiring the unanimous consent of bondholders …


Choosing The Next Supreme Court Justice: An Empirical Ranking Of Judge Performance, Mitu Gulati, Stephen J. Choi Jan 2004

Choosing The Next Supreme Court Justice: An Empirical Ranking Of Judge Performance, Mitu Gulati, Stephen J. Choi

Faculty Scholarship

The judicial appointments process has grown increasingly frustrating in recent years. Both sides claim that their candidates are the "most meritorious" and yet this is seldom any discussion of what constitutes merit. Instead, the discussion moves immediately to the candidates' likely positions on hot-button political issues like abortion, gun control, and the death penalty. One side claims that it is proposing certain candidates based on merit, while the other claims that the real reason for pushing those candidates is their ideology and, in particular, their likely votes on key hot-button issues. With one side arguing merit and the other side …