Specificity And Time Horizons,
2018
Seattle University School of Law
Specificity And Time Horizons, Frank Partnoy
Seattle University Law Review
This Essay argues that the short-termism debate would benefit from greater clarity and specificity regarding time horizons. I make four points. First, optimal time horizons vary in discernible ways. Second, the potential mismatch between actual and optimal time horizons should generate a range of responses. Third, investors and managers can discern and disclose estimates of actual and optimal time horizons (e.g., using categories such as preconscious, fast conscious, slow conscious, and discounting). Fourth, market participants, policy makers, and scholars should use such estimates to be more precise about time horizons. For example, critics of hedge fund activism could recognize ...
Are Investor Time Horizons Shortening?,
2018
Seattle University School of Law
Are Investor Time Horizons Shortening?, Rachelle Sampson, Yuan Shi
Seattle University Law Review
The rise in quarterly capitalism in corporate America—increased pressure to meet quarterly earnings predictions and cater to shareholder preferences for short-term returns—has gained significant coverage in the business world and popular press in recent years. Increasingly, popular opinion suggests that firms bow to shareholder pressures, taking steps to smooth earnings and boost share prices in the short-term; firms do so by cutting Research and Development (R&D) investment, engaging in extensive cost-cutting, or increasing dividends and share buybacks. Recent estimates at the industry level show that investor discount rates have increased in recent years, supporting the notion that ...
20/20 Vision In The Long & Short-Termism Debate,
2018
Seattle University School of Law
20/20 Vision In The Long & Short-Termism Debate, Anne Tucker
Seattle University Law Review
What is an optimal investment time horizon—for institutions, individual shareholders and corporations? This question can evoke emotional, ideological, and theoretical responses. The answers usually deeply entrenched debates over the fundamental roles of markets versus regulation and between the appropriate loci of corporate power: the board of directors versus the shareholders. Too long-term and it is myopia; too near-term and is it short-termism. Neither label is inconsequential, so the debates are not tepid, academic, or marginal.
Brain Perspectives On Investor Behavior And Decision-Making Errors,
2018
Seattle University School of Law
Brain Perspectives On Investor Behavior And Decision-Making Errors, Owen D. Jones
Seattle University Law Review
I want to start off with what I consider to be the statement of the problem. As I understand it, you’re concerned that the time horizons for maximizing the value of an investment vary among individuals in surprisingly wide, imperfectly predictable, and often seemingly irrational ways. And, if I understand your target here, the idea is that a deeper understanding of the causes of this variation might aid in the planning and design of legal and corporate policies. To jump into this, I’m going to give a little bit of an introduction about behavioral biases, and something that ...
Federalism Of Personal Finance: State & Federal Retirement Plans,
2018
Seattle University School of Law
Federalism Of Personal Finance: State & Federal Retirement Plans, William A. Birdthistle
Seattle University Law Review
In this Article, I consider possible approaches that attempt to improve the plans through which millions of Americans tend to their life savings. I begin by considering the inadequacies of our current system of defined contribution accounts and then address two possible alternatives: the first being a federal account universally available to Americans based largely on the model of the Thrift Savings Plan; the second being a system of statebased retirement accounts like those that have already been developed in a handful of states. Though I conclude that a single, federal plan would be superior, either alternative approach would be ...
The Myth Of The Ideal Investor,
2018
Seattle University School of Law
The Myth Of The Ideal Investor, Elisabeth De Fontenay
Seattle University Law Review
Critiques of specific investor behavior often assume an ideal investor against which all others should be compared. This ideal investor figures prominently in the heated debates over the impact of investor time horizons on firm value. In much of the commentary, the ideal is a longterm investor that actively monitors management, but the specifics are typically left vague. That is no coincidence. The various characteristics that we might wish for in such an investor cannot peacefully coexist in practice. If the ideal investor remains illusory, which of the real-world investor types should we champion instead? The answer, I argue, is ...
An Identity Theory Of The Short- And Long-Term Investor Debate,
2018
Seattle University School of Law
An Identity Theory Of The Short- And Long-Term Investor Debate, Claire A. Hill
Seattle University Law Review
Economics famously treats market actors as homogeneous. People are homo economicus, rational self-interested maximizers of their own utility. So far, so good, notwithstanding supposed behavioral “deviations” from rationality (more on those later). That people can view their own utility very differently from one another is recognized in theory, but not so much in practice. Also not sufficiently recognized is the extent to which people’s views of their own utility reflect their theories of who they are and how the world works, and that they hold such views and theories not just atomistically, but also collectively—that is, socially.
Corporate Governance As Privately-Ordered Public Policy: A Proposal,
2018
Seattle University School of Law
Corporate Governance As Privately-Ordered Public Policy: A Proposal, Lynn Stout, Sergio Gramitto
Seattle University Law Review
In this Article, we show how our society can use corporate governance shifts to address, if not entirely resolve, a number of currently pressing social and economic problems. These problems include: rising income inequality; demographic disparities in wealth and equity ownership; increasing poverty and income insecurity; a need for greater innovation and investment in solving problems like disease and climate change; the “externalization” of many costs of corporate activity onto third parties such as customers, employees, creditors, and the broader society; the corrosive influence of corporate money in politics; and discontent and loss of trust in the capitalist system among ...
Flash Traders (Milliseconds) To Indexed Institutions (Centuries): The Challenges Of An Agency Theory Approach To Governance In The Era Of Diverse Investor Time Horizons,
2018
Seattle University School of Law
Flash Traders (Milliseconds) To Indexed Institutions (Centuries): The Challenges Of An Agency Theory Approach To Governance In The Era Of Diverse Investor Time Horizons, Harold Weston, Conrad Ciccotello
Seattle University Law Review
One aspect of the problem in trying to align a corporate investment horizon (the time period for return on investment) to that of its shareholders is the enormous range of investor time horizons, which can range from milliseconds to centuries. A second aspect of the problem is whether ownership of shares equates to ownership of the corporation. A third aspect of the problem is that, despite the theories and advocacy of shareholders being owners, based on the agency model of corporate finance first developed in the 1970s, the theory is contrary to corporate law. These three aspects will be developed ...
Predictive Neglect And "Unfit" Mothers - When Having A Mental Illness Means The State Takes Your Child,
2018
Rutgers School of Law
Predictive Neglect And "Unfit" Mothers - When Having A Mental Illness Means The State Takes Your Child, Amelia Lyte
DePaul Journal of Women, Gender and the Law
No abstract provided.
Panel Discussion: Author Meets Critic,
2018
Northwestern Pritzker School of Law
Panel Discussion: Author Meets Critic
Northwestern Journal of Law & Social Policy
No abstract provided.
Panel Discussion: Ethnographic Evidence,
2018
Northwestern Pritzker School of Law
Panel Discussion: Ethnographic Evidence
Northwestern Journal of Law & Social Policy
No abstract provided.
Hall V. Florida: The Supreme Court’S Guidance In Implementing Atkins,
2018
Selected Works
Hall V. Florida: The Supreme Court’S Guidance In Implementing Atkins, James W. Ellis
James W. Ellis
No abstract provided.
Duty And Disobedience: The Conflict Of
Conscience And Compliance In The Trump Era,
2018
Pepperdine University
Duty And Disobedience: The Conflict Of Conscience And Compliance In The Trump Era, Keith A. Petty
Pepperdine Law Review
In the first weeks of President Trump’s administration, the Acting Attorney General was fired for ordering the Justice Department not to enforce a controversial Executive Order on immigration. Police departments and corporate boardrooms prepare for deregulation and less oversight, opening the door to more aggressive police tactics and profit seeking, respectively. Military leaders wonder whether they will be ordered to torture suspected terrorists. In each of these situations, individuals must decide whether they will follow their conscience and disobey superiors, or comply with organizational and state policies. This article examines the conflict between conscience and compliance, and draws upon ...
Ask Versus Tell: Potential Confusion When Child Witnesses Are Questioned About Conversastions,
2018
Arizona State University
Ask Versus Tell: Potential Confusion When Child Witnesses Are Questioned About Conversastions, Stacia N. Stolzenberg, Kelly Mcwilliams, Thomas D. Lyon
University of Southern California Legal Studies Working Paper Series
Children’s potential confusion between “ask” and “tell” can lead to misunderstandings when child witnesses are asked to report prior conversations. The verbs distinguish both between interrogating and informing and between requesting and commanding. Children’s understanding was examined using both field (i.e., Study 1) and laboratory (i.e., Studies 2-4) methods. Study 1 examined 100 5- to 12-year-olds’ trial testimony in child sexual abuse cases, and found that potentially ambiguous use of ask and tell was common, typically found in yes/no questions that elicited unelaborated answers, and virtually never clarified by attorneys or child witnesses. Studies 2-4 ...
Volk V. Demeerleer Study,
2018
University of Washington School of Law
Volk V. Demeerleer Study, Patricia C. Kuszler, Terry J. Price, University Of Washington School Of Law, Center For Law, Science And Global Health
Center for Law, Science and Global Health
The University of Washington School of Law Center for Law, Science and Global Health was asked to “convene a study on the Washington State Supreme Court decision Volk v. DeMeerleer, 386 P.3d 254 (Wash. 2016).” The Volk case elaborated on the duty of mental health providers to protect foreseeable victims of a dangerous patient. The goal of the study was to evaluate whether or not this case “substantially changed the law [in Washington] on the duty of care owed to third parties by mental health providers and whether it has had an impact on access to mental health services ...
Therapeutic Jurisprudence And Environmental Law – One Missing Link,
2018
New York Law School
Therapeutic Jurisprudence And Environmental Law – One Missing Link, Michael L. Perlin
Other Publications
No abstract provided.
Celebrating Mundane Conflict,
2018
University of Colorado Law School
Celebrating Mundane Conflict, Deborah J. Cantrell
Articles
This Article interrogates the dominant conception of conflict and challenges the narrative of conflict as hard, difficult and painful to engage. The Article reveals two primary framing errors that cause one to misperceive how ubiquitous and ordinary is conflict. The first error is to misperceive conflict as categorical — something either is a conflict or it is not. People make that error as a way of trying to avoid conflict. People falsely hope that there might be a category of “not conflict,” like disagreements, that will be easier to navigate. The second error is to misperceive the world and individuals as ...
The New Chinese Mental Health Laws,
2018
China University of Political Science and Law
The New Chinese Mental Health Laws, Zhiyuan Guo, Floyd Feeney
Washington University Global Studies Law Review
The United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities is by far the most important international agreement yet developed concerning the mentally disabled. China adopted this Convention in 2008. In 2012 China went further—making major changes in the way that China deals with mental health issues in both its criminal and its civil law. Coming first was a new Criminal Procedure Code that adds a whole new dimension to the way that China deals with the mentally ill who are charged with crimes. Equally important was the new civil mental disabilities law that China adopted later in ...
The Developing Brain: New Directions In Science, Policy, And Law,
2018
Lemma Barkeloo & Phoebe Couzins Professor of Law, Washington University in St. Louis.
The Developing Brain: New Directions In Science, Policy, And Law, Susan Frelich Appleton, Deanna M. Barch, Anneliese M. Schaefer
Washington University Journal of Law & Policy
No abstract provided.
