Law Commons^™

The Financial Reform Act: Will It Succeed In Reversing The Causes Of The Subprime Crisis And Prevent Future Crises?, Charles W. Murdock

Charles W. Murdock

Summary: The Financial Reform Act: Will It Succeed in Reversing the Causes of the Subprime Crisis and Prevent Future Crises? By: Professor Charles W. Murdock

The current financial crisis, which could have plunged the world into a financial abyss similar to the Great Depression, is far from resolved. The financial institutions, which this article asserts caused the crisis, have returned to profitability and have paid billions of dollars in bonuses, while ordinary Americans have borne the brunt of the meltdown, with formal unemployment hanging around the 10% mark. This has caused some to comment that profits have been privatized and …

Reaction Or Reformation?: Leo Strauss And American Constitutional Law, Andrew C. Spiropoulos

Andrew C. Spiropoulos

This article explains the importance of the work of the political theorist Leo Strauss to the study of American constitutional law. The foundation of Strauss's work was his belief that the civilization of the West faces a profound crisis. This crisis, he argued, was a crisis of modernity, by which he meant modern political philosophy. The nature of this crisis is the West's loss of faith in reason, the cornerstone of its way of life. This loss of faith threatens the intellectual, spiritual, and even physical health of the West. Strauss argued that this crisis came about because of the …

Reaction Or Reformation?: Leo Strauss And American Constitutional Law, Andrew C. Spiropoulos

Andrew C. Spiropoulos

This article explains the importance of the work of the political theorist Leo Strauss to the study of American constitutional law. The foundation of Strauss's work was his belief that the civilization of the West faces a profound crisis. This crisis, he argued, was a crisis of modernity, by which he meant modern political philosophy. The nature of this crisis is the West's loss of faith in reason, the cornerstone of its way of life. This loss of faith threatens the intellectual, spiritual, and even physical health of the West. Strauss argued that this crisis came about because of the …

How Incentives Drove The Subprime Crisis, Charles W. Murdock

Charles W. Murdock

How Incentives Drove the Subprime Crisis

In order to address any systemic problem, whether the goal is to change the system, regulate the system, or change the incentives driving a system, it is necessary to appreciate all the drivers operating within the system. In the case of the subprime crisis, one of the drivers was the changing nature of the subprime loans, which was not factored into the models used by the investment bankers, the credit rating agencies, and the issuers of credit default swaps.

This paper is an attempt to look dispassionately at the subprime crisis from a particular …

How Incentives Drove The Subprime Crisis, Charles W. Murdock

Charles W. Murdock

In order to address any systemic problem, whether the goal is to change the system, o regulate the system, or change the incentives driving a system, it is necessary to appreciate all the drivers operating within the system. In the case of the subprime crisis, one of the drivers was the changing nature of the subprime loans, which was not factored into the models used by the investment bankers, the credit rating agencies, and the issuers of credit default swaps.

This paper is an attempt to look dispassionately at the subprime crisis from a particular perspective, namely, the incentives that …

The Roberts’S Supreme Court Takes A Sledge Hammer To Ashwander And Cautious Constitutional Jurisprudence: Citizens United V. Federal Election Commission, Allen E. Shoenberger

Allen E Shoenberger

The methodology of the Supreme Court in its recent decision permitting unlimited corporate financing of election advertisements is more troubling that the specific holding. All signs of constitutional restraint are abandoned as the court employs a sledgehammer to smash Congresses attempt to eliminate the actuality and fear of corruption from electoral politics.

Fire With Fire: Heterodox Law & Economics, Karl T. Muth

Karl T Muth

This Article first examines, from a historical perspective, the evolution of the law-and-economics movement. It then critically examines the application of economic principles the legal analysis, paying particular attention to how the political process has shaped the law-and-economics scholarship. Finally, it concludes that the principles of law-and-economics, while fundamentally sound, are often misapplied, too narrowly interpreted, and aggregated into a single viewpoint that is politically convenient rather than academically honest.