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Full-Text Articles in Law
What Happened On Deliberation Day, Cass R. Sunstein, Reid Hastie, David Schkade
What Happened On Deliberation Day, Cass R. Sunstein, Reid Hastie, David Schkade
Articles
What are the effects of deliberation about legal and political issues by like-minded people? This Essay reports the results of an experimental investigation involving sixty-three citizens in Colorado. Groups from Boulder, a predominantly liberal city, met to discuss global warming, affirmative action, and civil unions for same-sex couples. Groups from Colorado Springs, a predominately conservative city, discussed the same issues. The major effect of deliberation was to make group members more extreme in their views than they were before they started to talk. Liberals became more liberal on all three issues; conservatives became more conservative. As a result of intragroup …
Mixed-Income Housing As A Pre-Commitment Strategy, Jeff Leslie
Mixed-Income Housing As A Pre-Commitment Strategy, Jeff Leslie
Articles
No abstract provided.
Prediction Markets For Corporate Governance, M. Todd Henderson, Michael Abramowicz
Prediction Markets For Corporate Governance, M. Todd Henderson, Michael Abramowicz
Articles
No abstract provided.
Property Outlaws, Eduardo Peñalver, Sonia Katyal
Property Outlaws, Eduardo Peñalver, Sonia Katyal
Articles
Most people do not hold those who intentionally flout property laws in particularly high regard. The overridingly negative view of the property lawbreaker as a "wrongdoer" comports with the status of property rights within our characteristically individualist, capitalist, political culture. This reflexively dim view of property lawbreakers is also shared, to a large degree, by property theorists, many of whom regard property rights as a relatively fixed constellation of entitlements that collectively produce stability and efficiency through an orderly system of ownership. In this Article, Professors Peihalver and Katyal seek partially to rehabilitate the reviled character of the intentional property …
Parental Leave And American Exceptionalism, Saul Levmore
Parental Leave And American Exceptionalism, Saul Levmore
Articles
No abstract provided.
Uncapturing Law School Regulation, Saul Levmore
Wealth Without Markets? (Reviewing Yochai Benkler, The Wealth Of Networks: How Social Production Transforms Markets And Freedom (2006)), Lior Strahilevitz
Wealth Without Markets? (Reviewing Yochai Benkler, The Wealth Of Networks: How Social Production Transforms Markets And Freedom (2006)), Lior Strahilevitz
Articles
No abstract provided.
Book Review (Reviewing Jeremy A. Rabkin, Law Without Nations? Why Constitutional Government Requires Sovereign State (2005)), Eric A. Posner
Book Review (Reviewing Jeremy A. Rabkin, Law Without Nations? Why Constitutional Government Requires Sovereign State (2005)), Eric A. Posner
Articles
No abstract provided.
The Social Costs Of Property Rights In Broadcast (And Cable) Signals, Shyam Balganesh
The Social Costs Of Property Rights In Broadcast (And Cable) Signals, Shyam Balganesh
Articles
No abstract provided.
Pulling A Rabbi Out Of His Hat: The Bankruptcy Magic Of Dick Posner, Randal C. Picker
Pulling A Rabbi Out Of His Hat: The Bankruptcy Magic Of Dick Posner, Randal C. Picker
Articles
No abstract provided.
On Learning From Others, Eric A. Posner, Cass R. Sunstein
On Learning From Others, Eric A. Posner, Cass R. Sunstein
Articles
No abstract provided.
The Second-Order Structure Of Immigration Law, Adam B. Cox, Eric A. Posner
The Second-Order Structure Of Immigration Law, Adam B. Cox, Eric A. Posner
Articles
Immigration law concerns both first-order issues about the number and types of immigrants who should be admitted into a country and second-order design issues concerning the legal rules and institutions that are used to implement those first-order policy goals. The literature has focused on the first set of issues and largely neglected the second. In fact, many current controversies concern the design issues. This Article addresses the second-order dimension and argues that a central design choice all states face is whether to evaluate potential immigrants on the basis of pre-entry characteristics (the ex ante approach) or post-entry conduct (the ex …
The Economics Of Presidential Pardons And Commutations, Richard A. Posner, William M. Landes
The Economics Of Presidential Pardons And Commutations, Richard A. Posner, William M. Landes
Coase-Sandor Working Paper Series in Law and Economics
No abstract provided.
The Irreducible Complexity Of Firm-Level Income Taxes: Theory And Doctrine In The Corporate Tax, David A. Weisbach
The Irreducible Complexity Of Firm-Level Income Taxes: Theory And Doctrine In The Corporate Tax, David A. Weisbach
Coase-Sandor Working Paper Series in Law and Economics
This paper argues that firm-level income taxes have an irreducible core of complexity, stemming from the ability to hold and sell an asset in two ways: directly and through the stock of a subsidiary. Both methods of selling must be taxed but coordinating the tax at each level, stock and assets, leads to complexity and line drawing. There are two implications. First, much of the doctrinal rules found in the current corporate tax can be explained through this overarching framework. Second, reform proposals will not be able to eliminate the core of complexity. The Comprehensive Business Income Tax is used …
Willingness To Pay Versus Welfare, Cass R. Sunstein
Willingness To Pay Versus Welfare, Cass R. Sunstein
Coase-Sandor Working Paper Series in Law and Economics
Economists often analyze questions of law and policy by reference to the criterion of private willingness to pay (WTP), with the belief that people's WTP for a good is an accurate proxy for the welfare that they would obtain from that good. For two reasons, the proxy is crude. The first problem is that people may not pay for all of the benefits they receive, and in such cases, use of WTP may lead in unfortunate directions, even or especially if welfare is our lodestar. Inefficient results may nonetheless increase welfare. The second and more fundamental problem is that people …
Climate Change And International Human Rights Litigation: A Critical Appraisal, Eric A. Posner
Climate Change And International Human Rights Litigation: A Critical Appraisal, Eric A. Posner
Coase-Sandor Working Paper Series in Law and Economics
Litigation over the effects of climate change has taken various forms, of which litigation based on international human rights law is perhaps the most ambitious. Plaintiffs argue that major emitters of greenhouse gases have violated rights to life and health by contributing to environmental and health injuries associated with global warming. International human rights litigation in international tribunals is unlikely to have any effect, but conceivably American courts might be open to these arguments in Alien Tort Statute litigation. If so, this would be a mistake. Because the health of the global climate is a public good, because American courts …
A Critique Of The Odious Debt Doctrine, Eric A. Posner, Albert H. Choi
A Critique Of The Odious Debt Doctrine, Eric A. Posner, Albert H. Choi
Coase-Sandor Working Paper Series in Law and Economics
Defenders of the odious debt doctrine, which bars creditors from collecting sovereign debts that financed the personal consumption of former dictators, argue that this rule would benefit populations following dictatorships and discourage would-be dictators from staging coups in the first place. We show that optimism about the doctrine is based on unrealistic assumptions about the motives and practices of dictators. With more realistic assumptions, the odious debt doctrine could be beneficial or harmful, depending on circumstances. Defenders of the doctrine have not made the empirical case that the net benefits would be positive if the doctrine were incorporated into international …
Climate Change And Animals, Cass R. Sunstein, Wayne Hsiung
Climate Change And Animals, Cass R. Sunstein, Wayne Hsiung
Coase-Sandor Working Paper Series in Law and Economics
Climate change is already having adverse effects on animal life, and those effects are likely to prove devastating in the future. Nonetheless, the relevant harms to animals have yet to become a serious part of the analysis of climate change policy. Even if animals and species are valued solely by reference to human preferences, inclusion of their welfare dramatically increases the argument for aggressive responses to climate change. We estimate that, even under conservative assumptions about valuation, losses to nonhuman life might run into the hundreds of billions of dollars annually. Whatever the precise figure, the general conclusion is clear: …
Completely Theorized Agreements In Constitutional Law, Cass R. Sunstein
Completely Theorized Agreements In Constitutional Law, Cass R. Sunstein
Coase-Sandor Working Paper Series in Law and Economics
How is constitutionalism possible, when people disagree on so many questions about what is good and what is right? This essay, written for a special issue of Social Research on Difficult Decisions, explores the role of two kinds of incompletely theorized agreements amidst sharp disagreements about the largest issues in social life. The first consist of agreements on abstract formulations (freedom of speech, equality under the law); these agreements are crucial to constitution-making as a social practice. The second consist of agreements on particular doctrines and practices; these agreements are crucial to life and law under existing constitutions. Incompletely theorized …
Cost-Benefit Analysis Without Analyzing Costs Or Benefits: Reasonable Accommodation, Balancing, And Stigmatic Harms, Cass R. Sunstein
Cost-Benefit Analysis Without Analyzing Costs Or Benefits: Reasonable Accommodation, Balancing, And Stigmatic Harms, Cass R. Sunstein
Coase-Sandor Working Paper Series in Law and Economics
Is an accommodation "reasonable," under the Americans with Disabilities Act, if and only if the benefits are roughly proportional to the costs? How should benefits and costs be assessed? Should courts asks about how much disabled employees are willing to pay to obtain the accommodation, or instead how much they would have to be paid not to have the accommodation? How should stigmatic or expressive harms be valued? This essay, written for a symposium on the work of Judge Richard A. Posner, engages these questions in a discussion of an important opinion in which Judge Posner denied accommodations involving the …
Deliberating Groups Versus Prediction Markets (Or Hayek's Challenge To Habermas), Cass R. Sunstein
Deliberating Groups Versus Prediction Markets (Or Hayek's Challenge To Habermas), Cass R. Sunstein
Coase-Sandor Working Paper Series in Law and Economics
For multiple reasons, deliberating groups often converge on falsehood rather than truth. Individual errors may be amplified rather than cured. Group members may fall victim to a bad cascade, either informational or reputational. Deliberators may emphasize shared information at the expense of uniquely held information. Finally, group polarization may lead even rational people to unjustified extremism. By contrast, prediction markets often produce accurate results, because they create strong incentives for revelation of privately held knowledge and succeed in aggregating widely dispersed information. The success of prediction markets offers a set of lessons for increasing the likelihood that groups can obtain …
Of Pirates And Puffy Shirts: A Comment On ‘The Piracy Paradox: Innovation And Intellectual Property In Fashion Design, Randal C. Picker
Of Pirates And Puffy Shirts: A Comment On ‘The Piracy Paradox: Innovation And Intellectual Property In Fashion Design, Randal C. Picker
Coase-Sandor Working Paper Series in Law and Economics
No abstract provided.
Climate Change And Animals, Cass R. Sunstein, Wayne Hsiung
Climate Change And Animals, Cass R. Sunstein, Wayne Hsiung
Public Law and Legal Theory Working Papers
Climate change is already having adverse effects on animal life, and those effects are likely to prove devastating in the future. Nonetheless, the relevant harms to animals have yet to become a serious part of the analysis of climate change policy. Even if animals and species are valued solely by reference to human preferences, inclusion of their welfare dramatically increases the argument for aggressive responses to climate change. We estimate that, even under conservative assumptions about valuation, losses to nonhuman life might run into the hundreds of billions of dollars annually. Whatever the precise figure, the general conclusion is clear: …
Climate Change And International Human Rights Litigation: A Critical Appraisal, Eric A. Posner
Climate Change And International Human Rights Litigation: A Critical Appraisal, Eric A. Posner
Public Law and Legal Theory Working Papers
Litigation over the effects of climate change has taken various forms, of which litigation based on international human rights law is perhaps the most ambitious. Plaintiffs argue that major emitters of greenhouse gases have violated rights to life and health by contributing to environmental and health injuries associated with global warming. International human rights litigation in international tribunals is unlikely to have any effect, but conceivably American courts might be open to these arguments in Alien Tort Statute litigation. If so, this would be a mistake. Because the health of the global climate is a public good, because American courts …
Cost-Benefit Analysis Without Analyzing Costs Or Benefits: Reasonable Accommodation, Balancing, And Stigmatic Harms, Cass R. Sunstein
Cost-Benefit Analysis Without Analyzing Costs Or Benefits: Reasonable Accommodation, Balancing, And Stigmatic Harms, Cass R. Sunstein
Public Law and Legal Theory Working Papers
Is an accommodation “reasonable,” under the Americans with Disabilities Act, if and only if the benefits are roughly proportional to the costs? How should benefits and costs be assessed? Should courts asks about how much disabled employees are willing to pay to obtain the accommodation, or instead how much they would have to be paid not to have the accommodation? How should stigmatic or expressive harms be valued? This essay, written for a symposium on the work of Judge Richard A. Posner, engages these questions in a discussion of an important opinion in which Judge Posner denied accommodations involving the …
Deliberating Groups Versus Prediction Markets (Or Hayek's Challenge To Habermas), Cass R. Sunstein
Deliberating Groups Versus Prediction Markets (Or Hayek's Challenge To Habermas), Cass R. Sunstein
Public Law and Legal Theory Working Papers
For multiple reasons, deliberating groups often converge on falsehood rather than truth. Individual errors may be amplified rather than cured. Group members may fall victim to a bad cascade, either informational or reputational. Deliberators may emphasize shared information at the expense of uniquely held information. Finally, group polarization may lead even rational people to unjustified extremism. By contrast, prediction markets often produce accurate results, because they create strong incentives for revelation of privately held knowledge and succeed in aggregating widely dispersed information. The success of prediction markets offers a set of lessons for increasing the likelihood that groups can obtain …
Incompletely Theorized Agreements In Constitutional Law, Cass R. Sunstein
Incompletely Theorized Agreements In Constitutional Law, Cass R. Sunstein
Public Law and Legal Theory Working Papers
How is constitutionalism possible, when people disagree on so many questions about what is good and what is right? This essay, written for a special issue of Social Research on Difficult Decisions, explores the role of two kinds of incompletely theorized agreements amidst sharp disagreements about the largest issues in social life. The first consist of agreements on abstract formulations (freedom of speech, equality under the law); these agreements are crucial to constitution-making as a social practice. The second consist of agreements on particular doctrines and practices; these agreements are crucial to life and law under existing constitutions. Incompletely theorized …
Willingness To Pay Versus Welfare, Cass R. Sunstein
Willingness To Pay Versus Welfare, Cass R. Sunstein
Public Law and Legal Theory Working Papers
Economists often analyze questions of law and policy by reference to the criterion of private willingness to pay (WTP), with the belief that people’s WTP for a good is an accurate proxy for the welfare that they would obtain from that good. For two reasons, the proxy is crude. The first problem is that people may not pay for all of the benefits they receive, and in such cases, use of WTP may lead in unfortunate directions, even or especially if welfare is our lodestar. Inefficient results may nonetheless increase welfare. The second and more fundamental problem is that people …
Contraindicated Drug Courts, Josh Bowers
Contraindicated Drug Courts, Josh Bowers
Public Law and Legal Theory Working Papers
Over the past two decades, drug treatment courts have gained traction as popular alternatives to the conventional war on drugs (and to its onedimensional focus on incarceration). Specifically, the courts are meant to divert addicts from jails and prisons and into coerced treatment. Under the typical model, a drug offender enters a plea of guilty and is enrolled in a longterm outpatient treatment program that is closely supervised by the drug court. If the offender completes treatment, his plea is withdrawn and the underlying charges are dismissed. But, if he fails, he receives an alternative termination sentence. My premise is …