Law Commons^™

Financial Inclusion, Cryptocurrency, And Afrofuturism, Lynnise Phillips Pantin

Northwestern University Law Review

As a community, Black people consistently face barriers to full participation in traditional financial markets. The decentralized nature of the cryptocurrency market is attractive to a community that has been historically and systematically excluded from the traditional financial markets by both private and public actors. As new entrants to any type of financial market, Black people have increasingly embraced blockchain technology and cryptocurrency as a path towards the wealth-building opportunities and financial freedom they have been denied in traditional markets. This Article analyzes whether the technology’s decentralized system will lead to financial inclusion or increased financial exclusion. Without reconciling the …

Racism As A Threat To Financial Stability, Cary Martin Shelby

Northwestern University Law Review

This Article draws from several theoretical frameworks such as critical race theory, law and economics, and rule of law conceptions to argue that the Financial Stability Oversight Council (FSOC) should formally recognize racism as a threat to financial stability due to its interconnectedness with recent and projected systemic disruptions. This Article begins by first introducing a novel model created by the author through which to dissect this claim. This “Systemic Disruption Model” provides a theoretical depiction of how racism drives every phase along the life-cycle continuum of a systemic disruption.

First, with respect to the Model’s “Introduction” phase, this Article …

Auditing Overseas: How The United States Can Learn From Recent Financial Audit Reform In The United Kingdom, Daniel Damitio

Northwestern University Law Review

Financial auditing is one of the cornerstones of an effective capital market structure. When performed correctly, an independent financial audit provides investors with the security they need to effectively transact based on company disclosures. When this system fails, however, the results for investors and the economy as a whole can be devastating. In recognition of this danger, the market for financial auditing in the United States is regulated by a number of governmental and nongovernmental bodies charged with maintaining its health and effectiveness. But stakeholders within the U.S. market and government have criticized these regulators for failing to adequately respond …

The Missing U.S. Vat: Economic Inequality, American Fiscal Exceptionalism, And The Historical U.S. Resistance To National Consumption Taxes, Ajay K. Mehrotra

Northwestern University Law Review

Since the 1970s, economic inequality has soared dramatically across the globe and particularly in the United States. In that time, one of the obstacles of using fiscal policy to address inequality has been the growing myth of the “overtaxed American”—the misguided notion that U.S. taxpayers pay more in taxes than residents of other advanced, industrialized countries. This myth has persisted, in part, because of the peculiar and distinctive nature of the fractured American fiscal and social welfare state. Even a cursory review of comparative tax data shows that the United States, by most measures, is a low-tax country compared to …

Private Equity And Venture Capital In Germany: How Europe’S Heartland Is Poised To Become The Next Bay Area, Jake Besanceney

Northwestern Journal of International Law & Business

Abstract

This note examines the current state of private equity and venture capital activity and investment in Germany, and specifically in Berlin, in relation to the state of such activity and investment that existed in the San Francisco Bay Area prior to and following its tech explosion in the late twentieth century. Numerous factors such as political and ethnic diversity, a comparatively lower cost of living, and proximity to higher education institutes are propelling Berlin’s startup and tech scenes, and are eerily reminiscent of similar factors that fueled the Bay Area’s growth and attracted private equity and venture capital activity …

Esg Ratings: A Blind Spot For U.S. Securities Regulation, Alexander Coley

Northwestern Journal of International Law & Business

Providers of “Environmental, Social, and Governance” (ESG) ratings have emerged as prominent informational intermediaries in the sustainable finance ecosystem. The key players are familiar names such as Moody’s, Morningstar, MSCI and S&P. In recent years, investors, financial markets observers and academics have raised serious doubts about the value and integrity of ESG ratings, pointing to lack of reliability and comparability and risks of conflicts of interest and abuse, including the potential for “greenwashing.”

ESG ratings are now in the crosshairs of financial regulators, particularly, in Europe. However, the regulatory discourse has failed to contend with risks arising from the use …

The Rise Of "Fringetech": Regulatory Risks In Earned-Wage Access, Nakita Q. Cuttino

Northwestern University Law Review

By many accounts, the financial technology, or FinTech, sector appears to have developed an innovative solution to assist low-income workers with income shortfalls between standard paydays by displacing fringe financial service providers, namely payday lenders. Earned wage access programs facilitate early transfers of earned-but-unpaid wages to low- income workers through mobile platforms, algorithmic technology, and GPS tracking. To many, earned wage access programs represent a win-win for employees and employers. These programs are believed to be cheaper and safer alternatives to payday loans. Preliminary research also suggests these programs improve labor-retention rates for employers and help reduce financial distress for …

Too Many To Fail: Against Community Bank Deregulation, Jeremy C. Kress, Matthew C. Turk

Northwestern University Law Review

Since the 2008 financial crisis, policymakers and scholars have fixated on the problem of “too-big-to-fail” banks. This fixation, however, overlooks the historically dominant pattern in banking crises: the contemporaneous failure of many small institutions. We call this blind spot the “too-many-to-fail” problem and document how its neglect has skewed the past decade of financial regulation. In particular, we argue that, for so- called community banks, there has been a pronounced and unjustifiable shift toward deregulation, culminating in sweeping regulatory rollbacks in the Economic Growth, Regulatory Relief, and Consumer Protection Act of 2018.

As this Article demonstrates, this deregulatory trend rests …

Debt Bondage: How Private Collection Agencies Keep The Formerly Incarcerated Tethered To The Criminal Justice System, Bryan L. Adamson

Northwestern Journal of Law & Social Policy

This Article examines the constitutionality of statutes which allow courts to transfer outstanding legal financial obligations to private debt collection agencies. In Washington State, the clerk of courts can transfer the legal financial obligation of a formerly incarcerated person if he or she is only thirty days late making a payment. Upon transfer, the debt collection agencies can assess a “collection fee” of up to 50% of the first $100.000 of the unpaid legal financial obligation, and up to 35% of the unpaid debt over $100,000. This fee becomes part of the LFO debt imposed at sentencing, and like that …

Racialized Tax Inequity: Wealth, Racism, And The U.S. System Of Taxation, Palma Joy Strand, Nicholas A. Mirkay

Northwestern Journal of Law & Social Policy

This Article describes the connection between wealth inequality and the increasing structural racism in the U.S. tax system since the 1980s. A long-term sociological view (the why) reveals the historical racialization of wealth and a shift in the tax system overall beginning around 1980 to protect and exacerbate wealth inequality, which has been fueled by racial animus and anxiety. A critical tax view (the how) highlights a shift over the same time period at both federal and state levels from taxes on wealth, to taxes on income, and then to taxes on consumption—from greater to less progressivity. Both of these …

Delaware's New Competition, William J. Moon

Northwestern University Law Review

According to the standard account in American corporate law, states compete to supply corporate law to American corporations, with Delaware dominating the market. This “competition” metaphor in turn informs some of the most important policy debates in American corporate law.

This Article complicates the standard account, introducing foreign nations as emerging lawmakers that compete with American states in the increasingly globalized market for corporate law. In recent decades, entrepreneurial foreign nations in offshore islands have used permissive corporate governance rules and specialized business courts to attract publicly traded American corporations. Aided in part by a select group of private sector …

Horizontal Directors, Yaron Nili

Northwestern University Law Review

Directors wield increasing influence in corporate America, making pivotal decisions regarding corporate affairs and management. A robust literature recognizes directors’ important role and examines their incentives and performance. In particular, scholars have worried that “busy directors”—those who serve on multiple corporate boards—may face time constraints that affect their performance. Little attention, however, has been paid to directors who sit on the boards of multiple companies within the same industry. This Article terms them “horizontal directors” and spotlights, for the first time, the legal and policy issues they raise. The “horizontal” feature of directorships, a term often used in the antitrust …

Comparative Analysis Of U.S. And Saudi Arabia Investment Funds Regulations, Gabriella Tang

Northwestern Journal of International Law & Business

The investment funds sector has always been a major player in the financial industry globally. As such, many countries with mature financial markets have enacted regulations to govern the activity and management of investment funds. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) enacted the Investment Company Act of 1940(the Act) as an effort to restore investor confidence in investment funds and safeguard investors from future abuses after the market crash in 1929. On the other hand, emerging financial markets started to take part in regulations in the hope to attract more investors and outside resources. The Capital Market Authority of …

Chasing The Fruits Of Misery: Confronting The Historical Relationships Between Opioid Revenues, Offshore Financial Centers, And International Regulatory Networks, Stephen C. Wilks

Northwestern Journal of International Law & Business

As the opioid crisis continues to claim lives throughout the U.S., tort litigants have faced challenges pursuing Purdue Pharma – one of the drug makers responsible for aggressively promoting OxyContin while downplaying the drug’s addictive effects. Much of this litigation posture sought to recover billions in public health costs incurred responding to the crisis at federal, state and local levels. As the plaintiff class grew, Purdue Pharma petitioned for bankruptcy protection, at which point auditors discovered the entity’s beneficial owners had caused it to wire billions in opioid profits into offshore accounts – placing them beyond the reach of litigants. …

Accredited Investors: A Need For Increased Protection In Private Offerings, Christopher R. Zimmerman

Northwestern University Law Review

On June 19, 2019, the SEC released a report examining, in part, the adequacy of the accredited investor definition contained within Regulation D of the Securities Act of 1933 and soliciting public comment on potential changes to that definition. This Note argues that the current accredited investor definition, which determines who may invest in a private offering, does not adequately protect retail investors. Implemented in 1982 with fixed wealth requirements to qualify, the accredited investor definition has never been significantly revised, despite four decades of inflation that dramatically increased the percentage of households who meet the qualifications of an “accredited …

The Next Global Disruptive Innovation: Can Mobile Money Make The Journey Upmarket To Disrupt The Financial Services Industry?, David Myerson

Northwestern Journal of International Law & Business

No abstract provided.

Swamp Money: The Opportunity And Uncertainty Of Investing In Wetland Mitigation Banking, Elan L. Spanjer

Northwestern University Law Review

In recent years, the wetland mitigation banking program has emerged as a favored mechanism for protecting the nation’s aquatic resources while allowing for economically beneficial development projects to proceed. Mitigation banks generate wetland credits, which in turn can be sold at a profit to developers who need them to offset wetland impacts. The number of mitigation banks has grown significantly in recent years, and the market has seen an influx of institutional investment. However, investors face significant risks and uncertainty, and many prospective investors lack access to information about wetland credit prices—which are neither reported to the regulatory authorities nor …

Finding The Pearl In The Oyster: Supercharging Ipos Through Tax Receivable Agreements, Christopher B. Grady

Northwestern University Law Review

A new, “supercharged” form of IPO has slowly developed over the last twenty years. This new form of IPO takes advantage of several seemingly unrelated provisions of the tax code to multiply pre-IPO owners’ proceeds from a public offering without reducing the amount public investors are willing to pay for the stock. Supercharged IPOs use a tax receivable agreement to transfer tax assets created by the IPO back to the pre-IPO ownership, “monetizing” the tax assets. As these structures have become more efficient, commentators have expressed concerns that these agreements deceive shareholders who either ignore or do not understand the …

“Single Point Of Entry”: The Promise And Limits Of The Latest Cure For Bailouts, John Crawford

NULR Online

No abstract provided.

The Motivating Force Of A Bonus Pool, And Other Objections, Claire A. Hill

NULR Online

No abstract provided.

I Got 99 Problems And They’Re All Fatca, Nirav (Jonathan) Dhanawade

Northwestern Journal of International Law & Business

Offshore personal income tax evasion accounts for approximately $50 billion in annual lost revenue for the United States. These large sums of money are squirrelled away in tax havens—jurisdictions, such as Aruba, the Cayman Islands, and Dubai, whose laws allow some U.S. citizens to evade paying their U.S. income taxes. Before the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) was enacted, U.S. citizens could avoid taxes on passive income by not reporting this income to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). To detect tax evasion, the IRS pursued U.S. citizens with undeclared assets in foreign banks. But the IRS’s quest was largely …

Easing The Tension Between Statutes Of Limitations And The Continuing Offense Doctrine, Jeffrey R. Boles

Northwestern Journal of Law & Social Policy

This Article is the first to analyze comprehensively the relationship between the continuing offense doctrine and criminal statutes of limitations. The continuing offense doctrine is a powerful tool for prosecutors who face statute of limitations challenges. It functions to delay the running of statutes of limitations for certain crimes by postponing the completion of those crimes. In order to trigger the operation of the doctrine, a court must conclude that a particular crime is a “continuing offense” for statute of limitations purposes. Identifying what crimes are continuing offenses has been a problematic exercise for federal courts, leading to a growing …

Foreclosing Foreclosure: Escaping The Yawning Abyss Of The Deep Mortgage And Housing Crisis, Aleatra P. Williams

Northwestern Journal of Law & Social Policy

In 2007, Rick Sharga, vice president of marketing at RealtyTrac, stated that with more stringent lending and underwriting standards, “we will likely see a significant foreclosure decrease” within the next three years. However, a sustained and considerable decrease in foreclosures has yet to occur. In fact, the real estate market downfall and resulting mortgage and housing crisis have proven to be wider, deeper, and more serious than first anticipated. Since 2007, millions of homeowners faced, and continue to face, foreclosure proceedings. To provide protections for homeowners, federal and state actors have attempted regulatory and legislative solutions to stem the foreclosure …

Why Mortgage "Formalities" Matter, David A. Dana

Faculty Working Papers

This Article argues that adherence to mortgage formalities regarding foreclosure is valuable for expressive reasons and also as a potential deterrent to future undesirable underwriting and securitization practices. The Article reviews how some courts have in effect written procedural requirements for foreclosure out of the law, and asks why these courts have done so and whether lenders' behavior might have been improved during this housing crisis had the state courts uniformly afforded equal respect to the legal rights of homeowners and those of lenders.

Contingent Capital In European Union Bank Restructuring, Christoph K. Henkel, Wulf A. Kaal

Northwestern Journal of International Law & Business

The uncoordinated reorganization and resolution of Systemically Important Financial Institutions in different countries pose many challenges. Contingent capital provides a viable alternative for the efficient restructuring and resolution of failing financial institutions. Contingent Capital provides a mechanism for internalizing banks’ failure costs and helps return distressed financial institutions to solvency. This article offers a comparative perspective on bank resolution and restructuring in the European Union, Switzerland, the United Kingdom and Germany and shows that Contingent Capital could play a substantial role in bank restructuring.

Chuaigh Ár Lá – Debt Of A Gaelsman: Ireland’S Sovereign Debt Crisis, National And International Responses, James Croke

Northwestern Journal of International Law & Business

How did a small island nation on the periphery of Europe go from the pauper of the European Union, to a paragon of a market economy, and back to fiscal ruin within the space of twenty years? Ireland was the poorest nation in the European Economic Community (EEC) in 1988. In the late 1980’s and early 1990’s it undertook structural reforms to fundamentally reshape its economy, the result was a booming economy throughout the mid-to-late 1990’s and early 2000’s, primarily fueled by exports and foreign direct investment. Rather than continue on a sustained, but slower, growth path in the 2000’s, …

Dodd-Frank, International Remittances, And Mobile Banking: The Federal Reserve’S Role In Enabling International Economic Development, Colin C. Richard

NULR Online

International remittances—"cross-border person-to-person payments of relatively low value" sent primarily by international migrants to family members in developing countries—alleviate poverty, support entrepreneurship, and foster the development of financial systems. Until recently, aside from prohibitions on financial interactions with countries such as Cuba or Burma, U.S. regulators have only indirectly addressed these monetary transfers. The Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (Dodd-Frank) changes this, providing direct, substantive regulation of the industry for the first time. Dodd-Frank calls on the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (Board) to craft more than a dozen regulations to enforce Dodd-Frank's remittance …

The International Anti-Money Laundering And Combating The Financing Of Terrorism Regulatory Strategy: A Critical Analysis Of Compliance Determinants In International Law, Navin Beekarry

Northwestern Journal of International Law & Business

Concerns about the risks money laundering (ML) and terrorist financing (TF) present to the stability of the international financial system have resurfaced in the context of the liquidity problems faced by financial institutions as a result of the recent credit crisis (2008). Because ML and TF evolve with new criminal activities and methodologies, ML and TF present systemic threats to the stability of the financial system. Addressing new developments in ML/TF and their associated risks requires a sufficiently flexible and adaptable international regulatory strategy. In this paper, I examine the international anti-money laundering and combating the financing of terrorism (AML/CFT) …

The Revolving Door Of Emigration: The Economic Influences Of Remittances In Developing Countries, Laura L. Norris

Northwestern Journal of International Law & Business

Economic incentives play an integral role in many individuals' choices to leave their country of origin. While a person may independently make the decision to migrate, some governments have developed extensive programs to promote the export of workers. Developing nations often initiate such programs for the purpose of acquiring additional sources of foreign exchange and external financing, as emigrants in transnational families can play a critical role in development through remittances. Remittances to developing countries totaled $325 billion in 2010, and they will likely continue to increase along with emigration. The following Comment considers the palpable contribution remittances have on …

Solving Global Financial Imbalances: A Plan For A World Financial Authority, Carlos Mauricio S. Mirandola

Northwestern Journal of International Law & Business

This paper will propose a plan to reform international finance—the World Financial Authority (WFA) Plan. Under such a plan, the IMF and other existing international financial institutions would be reformed and coordinated around a newly created WFA. The WFA would have two core functions. The first function would be to manage international liquidity, thus reducing externalities arising from domestic monetary policies adopted by its members, and addressing global liquidity problems involving financial activities of transnational private banks. The second function would be to help countries make their domestic monetary policies more effective, thus regaining traction and preventing contagion. A central …