Law Commons^™

How Do Local-Level Legal Institutions Promote Development?, Varun Gauri

Varun Gauri

This paper develops a framework and some hypotheses regarding the impact of local-level, informal legal institutions on three economic outcomes: aggregate growth, inequality, and human capabilities. It presents a set of stylized differences between formal and informal legal justice systems, identifies the pathways through which formal systems promote economic outcomes, reflects on what the stylized differences mean for the potential impact of informal legal institutions on economic outcomes, and looks at extant case studies to examine the plausibility of the arguments presented. The paper concludes that local-level, informal legal institutions can support social substitutes for the enforcement of contracts, although …

Why Japanese Entrepreneurs Don't Give Up Control To Venture Capitalists, Zenichi Shishido

Zenichi Shishido

The biggest difference in the incentive bargains between entrepreneurs and venture capitalists in the US and Japan is that American entrepreneurs abandon control while Japanese entrepreneurs do not. Years ago, Black & Gilson tried to explain the difference by the existence and non-existence of liquid IPO markets. Although now there are multiple liquid IPO markets in Japan, Japanese entrepreneurs are still reluctant to abandon control of their companies to venture capitalists. While there must be many complementary reasons, such as different market situations, different social norms, etc., for the difference, I will raise a hypothesis that it can be partly …

Tying, Price Discrimination And Antitrust Policy, Herbert Hovenkamp

Herbert Hovenkamp

ABSTRACT

A tying arrangement is a seller’s requirement that a customer may purchase its “tying” product only by taking its “tied” product. In a variable proportion tie the purchaser can vary her purchases of the tied product. For example, a customer might purchase a single printer, but either a contract or technological design requires her to purchase varying numbers of printer cartridges from the same manufacturer. Such arrangements are widely considered to be price discrimination devices, but their economic effects have been controversial.

Price discrimination comes in various “degrees.” In third degree price discrimination the seller isolates two or more …

P2p 'System Caching' – The Copyright Dilemma, Assaf Jacob, Zoe Argento

Assaf Jacob

This paper explores the legal ramifications of the prevalent Internet Service Provider practice of providing caching services to P2P network users. First, the paper describes the P2P industry, its benefits and drawbacks. Then the paper discusses several caching techniques that can be implemented, and indeed are implemented, by ISPs around the globe. These practices allow ISPs to provide clients with better services but, by the same token, expose them to copyright infringement suits by third parties. The article will discuss how copyright law should consider the costs and benefits to the public of P2P caching practices, especially in the application …

The Economics Of The Attorney-Client Privilege: A Comprehensive Review And A New Justification, Keith A. Kendall

Keith A Kendall

The attorney-client privilege is one of the fundamental aspects of legal professional practice in the United States. Despite this central importance, there have been many calls over the centuries for the privilege’s abolition. A relatively recent trend is for such criticisms to be based on an economic analysis of the privilege’s mechanics, including incentives for rent seeking behavior, signaling problems faced by clients and incentives to overinvest in litigation. Responses to these criticisms that also utlize economic reasoning center on the economics of information production, recognizing that the privilege serves a useful function, notwithstanding the critiques. In addition to these …

¡Que Fácil!, Manuel Ayau

Manuel Ayau (1925-2010)

No abstract provided.

The Author's Rights In Literary And Artistic Works, Alina Ng

Alina Ng

This paper suggests that authorship and creativity, which necessarily precedes the production of literary and artistic works, are products of authentic human expression that the law must encourage in order for works, contributing to the progress of science and the useful arts, to be produced. While the commercial market for literary and artistic works encourages the creation of diverse works to meet popular consumer demand, encouraging the production of works for the commercial market may however result in works, which may lack social, educational and cultural value or utility. Natural law philosophy, which advocates a natural order for society and …

An Introduction To Social Choice, Maxwell L. Stearns

Maxwell L. Stearns

Social choice studies the differing implications of the concept of rationality (or transitivity) for individuals versus groups under specified conditions and the significance of these differences in various institutional decision making contexts. This introductory chapter on social choice for the Elgar Handbook on Public Choice (Elgar Publishing Company, Dan Farber and Anne O’Connell, editors), introduces the basic framework of social choice, considers the implications of social choice for various legal and policy contexts, and provides a framework for evaluating a range of normative proposals grounded in social choice for reforming lawmaking institutions. After a brief introduction, part II introduces the …

Why Not Tell The Truth?: Deceptive Practices And The Economic Meltdown, Charles W. Murdock

Charles W. Murdock

Today we are witnessing a crisis caused by economic formulae developed without a responsible exercise of judgment and, in many instances, with a shocking disregard for the truth. The virtue of truthfulness is not just some abstract moral principle. Rather, it is a critical component of a well functioning society. As the current situation demonstrates, the lack of regard for truthfulness can have disastrous consequences, not just for our own country, but around the world.

This article will first examine how broadly truth is devalued throughout our society. Second, it will focus on the lack of truthfulness in politics and …

The New Regulation: From Command To Coordination In The Modern Administrative State, Robert B. Ahdieh

Robert B. Ahdieh

The New Regulation: From Command To Coordination In The Modern Administrative State, Robert B. Ahdieh

Robert B. Ahdieh

The New Regulation: From Command To Coordination In The Modern Administrative State, Robert B. Ahdieh

Robert B. Ahdieh

The New Regulation: From Command To Coordination In The Modern Administrative State, Robert B. Ahdieh

Robert B. Ahdieh

The New Regulation: From Command To Coordination In The Modern Administrative State, Robert B. Ahdieh

Robert B. Ahdieh

Behavioral Economic Issues In American And Islamic Marriage & Divorce Law, Ryan M. Riegg

Ryan M. Riegg

Opportunism, Uncertainty, And Relational Contracting - Antitrust Rules In The Film Industry, Ryan M. Riegg

Ryan M. Riegg

The Law And Economics Of Cybersecurity: An Introduction, Mark F. Grady, Francesco Parisi

Mark F. Grady

One of the most controversial theoretical issues of our time is the governance of cybersecurity. Computer security experts, national security experts, and policy analysts have all struggled to bring meaningful analysis to cybersecurity; however, the discipline of law & economics has yet to be fully applied to the issue. This introduction presents work by leading national scholars who examine this complex national security challenge from a law and economics perspective. The focus spans from a discussion of pure market solutions to public-private issue analysis, providing a valuable basis for policy considerations concerning the appropriate governmental role on the issue of …

Building Market Institutions: Property Rights, Business Formalization And Economic Development, Joyce Palomar

Joyce Palomar

No abstract provided.

Un Nuevo Código Civil Para El Siglo Xxi: Un Ejercicio Académico, Juan Javier Del Granado, Alejandro Guzmán Brito, Alfredo Bullard González, Bruno Meyerhof Salama, Carlos Pablo Márquez, Crispulo Marmolejo Gonzáles, Dante Haro Reyes, Eduardo Andrés Caamaño Rojo, Eduardo Andrés Pigretti, Félix Huanca Ayaviri, Fernando Castillo Cadena, Francisco González De Cossío, Francisco Reyes Villamizar, Hugo Alejandro Acciarri, Luciano Bennetti Timm, María Del Pilar Bonilla, Mateo Miró, Maximiliano Marzetti, Mónika Infante Henríquez, Pablo Alejandro Iannello, Rafael Mery Nieto, Santiago Montt

Rafael Mery Nieto

Legal scholars in the Anglo-American common law can overlook the connection between particular ordinances and the underlying framework of justice or order. A concrete embodiment of the fruits of basic law and economics scholarship, in a codified system of rules, may be necessary for the economic approach to be fully appreciated by legal scholars grounded in the civil law. A new-generation law and economics code will restate, and squarely face the need to deconstitutionalize, private law in Latin American countries within a tried and tested legal framework of Roman law.

Invisible Ink In The Eighth Arrondissement, Karl T. Muth

Karl T Muth

IMPORTANT: This document may prompt you for a username and password. If this occurs, please simply click "cancel" and the document will load. Thank you. This Article deals with the history of the secret contract that governs the distribution of economic rents enjoyed by Formula One. It further explores the environment in which this secret contract evolved and briefly discusses applications for secret contracts in other scenarios and industries.

With Avarice Aforethought: Insider Trading And 10b5-1 Plans, Karl T. Muth

Karl T Muth

The 10b5-1 plan and its growing popularity create a variety of governance problems and temptations for executives at publicly-traded corporations. The thought, in creating a safe harbor for such plans, was to allow insiders to diversify their individual holdings while in possession of nonpublic, material information. The 10b5-1 plan allows the actual liquidation transaction to occur while the plan participant is in possession of inside information, so long as the orders or instructions causing the trade were created as part of a "plan" that predates the insider's acquisition of the pertinent information. This creates a sort of time machine, where …

¿Por Qué Blawgueamos? Breve Análisis Económico De Los Blogs Jurídicos (Blawgs) Y De La Blogósfera, Maximiliano Marzetti

Maximiliano Marzetti

BREVE ANÁLISIS ECONÓMICO DE LOS BLOGS JURÍDICOS (BLAWGS) Y DE LA BLOGÓSFERA.

Opportunism, Uncertainty, And Relational Contracting - Antitrust Rules In The Film Industry, Ryan M. Riegg

Ryan M. Riegg

Behavioral Economic Issues In American & Islamic Marriage & Divorce Law, Ryan M. Riegg

Ryan M. Riegg

More Private Equity, Less Government Subsidy, And More Tax Efficiency In Urban Revitalization, Roger M. Groves

Roger M. Groves

MORE PRIVATE EQUITY, LESS GOVERNMENT SUBSIDY, AND MORE TAX EFFICIENCY IN URBAN REVITALIZATION: Modeling Profitable Philanthropy and Investment Incentives In hopes of revitalizing depressed urban areas, US tax policy has been to use tax credits as a major incentive to induce private equity re-investment. But those give away subsidies to private investors have failed to have transformative effects, and come at a price in the billions to the public treasury. This article seeks a shift in the tax policy paradigm to increase the private equity investment, while reducing tax subsidy dependence. For the philanthropic urban investor, the short term incentive …

Facebook 2 Blackberry And Database Trading Systems: Morphing Social Networking To Business Growth In A Global Recession, Roger M. Groves

Roger M. Groves

FACEBOOK 2 BLACKBERRY AND DATABASE TRADING SYSTEMS: MORPHING SOCIAL NETWORKING TO BUSINESS GROWTH IN A GLOBAL RECESSION Summary Facebook has now applications to the Blackberry Smartphone and IPhone. And Facebook has exploded internationally. If the Facebook social networking technology has applications to Blackberry, why not business? And as any business looks for growth, the market is not an existing heavily saturated United States, but a global market. Can the Facebook model of data sharing be customized to propel US technology firms into new international markets? This article claims the affirmative, through a multilateral clearing system, with credits and vouchers, as …

Originality, Alex Stein, Gideon Parchomovsky

Alex Stein

In this Essay we introduce a model of copyright law that calibrates authors’ rights and liabilities to the level of originality in their works. We advocate this model as a substitute for the extant regime that unjustly and inefficiently grants equal protection to all works satisfying the “modicum of creativity” standard. Under our model, highly original works will receive enhanced protection and their authors will also be sheltered from suits by owners of preexisting works. Conversely, authors of less original works will receive diminished protection and incur greater exposure to copyright liability. We operationalize this proposal by designing separate rules …

Reconceptualizing Trespass, Alex Stein, Gideon Parchomovsky

Alex Stein

This Essay addresses an anomaly in trespass law. Trespass law is generally understood as the paradigmatic example of property-rule protection: an owner can obtain an injunction against the trespasser and have him removed from her land. The property-rule protection enjoyed by the owner protects her right to exclude others and to set the price for the use of her property. However, the property-rule protection only exists ex ante: it avails only against imminent or ongoing trespasses. Ex post, after a trespass ends, the owner can only recover compensation measured by the market value of the unauthorized use, i.e., the going …

What Is The Probability Your Vote Will Make A Difference?, Andrew Gelman, Nate Silver, Aaron S. Edlin

Aaron Edlin

One Size Does Not Fit All: A Framework For Tailoring Intellectual Property Rights, Michael W. Carroll

Michael W. Carroll

The United States and its trading partners have adopted cultural and innovation policies under which the government grants one-size-fits-all patents and copyrights to inventors and authors. On a global basis, the reasons for doing so vary, but in the United States granting intellectual property rights has been justified as the principal means of promoting innovation and cultural progress. Until recently, however, few have questioned the wisdom of using such blunt policy instruments to promote progress in a wide range of industries in which the economics of innovation varies considerably.

Provisionally accepting the assumptions of the traditional economic case for intellectual …