Law Commons^™

A Global E-Commerce Tax To Fund Global Public Goods, Rifat Azam Dr.

Rifat Azam Dr.

A Global E-commerce Tax to Fund Global Public Goods Rifat Azam

Abstract

This article argues for the imposition of a “global e-commerce tax” on global e-commerce income for funding global public goods. The idea is to create an international body (the "global fund"), to vest it with the authority to impose global tax on global e-commerce income, and to use the tax revenues to fund global public goods. I wish to stress that the model rests on two pillars: global taxation and global spending. The article presents, for the first time, an outline for a concrete design and structure of …

How Consumer Bankruptcy Reforms Can Help Save Microfinance In India, David E. Solan

David E Solan

The microfinance industry, once touted as one of the best hopes for alleviating poverty in rural India, faced a near collapse in the winter of 2011 as nearly all borrowers in Andhra Pradesh, one of the largest states in India, stopped repaying their loans. This borrower backlash was fueled by widely reported stories of farmer suicides and unscrupulous lending practices. Politicians have responded with populist legislation aimed at curtailing microfinance in India—for example, by capping interest rates. The Article argues that these proposals are misguided in that they would constrict lending to poor villagers.

The Article questions why Indian policymakers …

The Patentability Of Financial Methods: The Market Participants’ Perspectives, Stefania Fusco

Stefania Fusco

In the last few years, there has been a renewed interest in the validity of patenting business methods. The issue appeared to be settled in 1998 with the State Street decision. However in 2008, the Federal Circuit, responding to a more restrictive approach toward the patent system adopted by the Supreme Court, began questioning the soundness of the policy to extend patent protection to business methods.

The Federal Circuit’s adaptation of its position occurred explicitly in In re Bilski when the court decided to rehear the case en banc and reconsider the conclusions previously reached in State Street. The Supreme …

Derivatives: A Twenty-First Century Understanding, Timothy E. Lynch

Timothy E. Lynch

Derivatives are commonly defined as some variation of the following: a financial instrument whose value is derived from the performance of a secondary source such as an underlying bond, commodity or index. But this definition is both over-inclusive and under-inclusive. Thus, not surprisingly, derivatives are largely misunderstood, including by many policy makers, regulators and legal analysts. It is important for interested parties such as policy makers to understand derivatives, because the types and uses of derivatives have exploded in the last few decades, and because these financial instruments can provide both social benefits and cause social harms. This Article presents …

Gambling By Another Name? The Challenge Of Purely Speculative Derivatives, Timothy E. Lynch

Timothy E. Lynch

Derivatives contracts can be used to hedge pre-existing risks, but they can also be used to speculate. This Article focuses on derivatives contracts in which both counterparties are speculators. These “purely speculative derivatives (PSD) contracts” have become increasingly common over the last several years and have notably resulted in the transfer of many tens of billions of dollars from institutions that had invested in the US subprime housing market to a handful of speculators who foresaw the market’s collapse, as well as many billions of dollars in fees to PSD brokers. PSD contracts are problematic. PSD contracts are less-than-zero-sum transactions …

Mutual Fund Performance Advertising: Inherently And Materially Misleading?, Ahmed E. Taha, Alan Palmiter

Ahmed E Taha

Mutual fund companies routinely advertise the past returns of their strong-performing, actively-managed equity funds. These performance advertisements imply that the advertised high past returns are likely to continue. Indeed, investors flock to these funds despite high past returns being a poor predictor of high future returns. Thus, fund performance advertising is inherently and materially misleading and violates federal securities antifraud standards. In addition, the SEC-mandated warning in these advertisements that “past performance does not guarantee future results” fails to temper investors’ focus on past returns.

The SEC should do more to prevent investors from being misled by fund performance advertisements. …

Islamic Law And The Great Recession: Shariah-Compliance As A Sound Business Practice, Joseph Victor Schaeffer

Joseph Schaeffer

A discussion of the recent financial crisis, popularly termed the Great Recession, in terms of Islamic principles of finance. This paper suggests that strict adherence to Islamic principles would have mitigated much of the risk-taking that led to the collapse of the housing market and financial industry.

Credit Arrangements, Angelo Giampietro Avv.

Angelo Giampietro Avv.

International trade transactions can be regulated for their payment in various ways: by means of letters of credit or by cash and kind. Therefore, credit arrangements are a common and protection against risk solution. One of the most important challenges for traders involved in a transaction is to secure financing so that the transaction may actually take place. The faster and easier is the process of financing an international transaction, the more trade will be facilitated. The method of payment is crucial for the decision about the opportunity of the trading. Therefore, the arrangements for credit in international trade, play …

Cancun Climate Negotiations, Prof. Elizabeth Burleson

Prof. Elizabeth Burleson

The United Nations Climate Change Conference, held from November 29 to December 11, 2010, in Cancún, Mexico, relaunched the United Nation's multilateral facilitation role.