Law Commons^™

Using Experimental Economics To Understand Competition, Bart Wilson

Bart J Wilson

No abstract provided.

Local Rules And A Global Economy: An Economic Policy Perspective, Dan Danielsen

Dan Danielsen

This article explores the growing significance and theoretical implications of ‘local rules’—such as Chinese labour standards, US financial regulation and Swiss bank secrecy rules—in the global economy. In particular, the argument developed is that Ronald Coase’s framework for analysing the effects of legal rules on economic welfare can help to reveal important weaknesses in current international legal approaches to analysing the transnational impact of local rules as well as contribute to a ‘global economic policy perspective’ better attuned to problems of power in the global regulatory order. Such a perspective will help us to see the effects of power differences …

How Can Open Source And Closed Source Software Business Structures Mutually Exist, Yugank Goyal, Padmanabha Ramanujam

Yugank Goyal

The phenomenon of producing Open Source Software based on unconstrained access to source code and the swift growth of the open source business structure of producing software fuelled by Linux Operating System and Apache Web Server have raised important questions, which are of immense scholastic interest. Accordingly many scholars in the last few years have endeavoured to clarify as to why thousands of top-quality programmers contribute freely to an open source product which is a public good. However, there has hardly been any attempt to explain how open source and closed source business structure of producing software can coexist. This …

Tripartism In Ireland, Jon Foster

Jon Foster

Over the past few years, the term “PIIGS” has become synonymous with economic concerns and fears of collapse. The acronym, which currently refers to the European countries of Portugal, Italy, Ireland, Greece, and Spain: was originally just ‘PIGS’ , used to group the similar economies of Southern Europe when considering them for acceptance into the European Monetary Union. Nevertheless, as a result of the global financial crisis, this term soon came to identify economically weak and overly indebted nations. However, unlike Italy, Greece, and Portugal, who had before the crisis demonstrated relatively slow growth, modest unemployment, and a propensity to …

Exploration Into The Foreign Policy Impact Of Recent Immigration Laws, Luke Larson

Luke Larson

No abstract provided.

Exploration Into The Foreign Policy Impact Of Recent Immigration Laws, Luke Larson

Luke Larson

No abstract provided.

A Health Care Autopsy, Marc Gans

Marc Gans

This paper analyzes each of the factors responsible for the rapid rise in health care spending in this country. This includes an in-depth analysis of prescription drug expenditures, which has been the fastest growing component of health care costs. Lastly, this paper will address whether there is anything particularly unique about health care spending in California.

Imperial Ignition: Ecological Debt, Greenhouse Development Rights And Climate Change, Jonathan Stribling

Jonathan Stribling

This paper argues for legal principles to remedy the harm done to those least responsible for yet most affected by climate change. It examines approaches to developing the concepts of ecological and climate debt in U.S. law. This paper argues for the importance of understanding ecological debt and particularly “climate debt” in order to sustainably remedy climate change. The paper also argues that the principles of capacity and responsibility, which are the basis of the Greenhouse Development Rights (GDR) framework, are critical to remedying climate debt and should be included in global climate negotiations and U.S. environmental law.

The Role Of Science In The Uruguay Round And Nafta Trade Disciplines, David A. Wirth

David A. Wirth

The central theme of this article is the necessity for deference to decision-making processes of national regulatory authorities in the application of these new trade disciplines and the need for trade-based reviews of national regulatory measures to operate within clearly defined limits. Accordingly, this article first examines and summarizes the relevant texts, including the original 1947 GATT, the Uruguay Round, and the NAFTA texts on standards. Next, the article considers the role of science in the standard-setting process with reference to the copious literature on this topic. Finally, the article takes up the difficult question of the application of the …

At War With The Environment, David A. Wirth

David A. Wirth

In this Article, Professor Wirth reviews the book National Defense and the Environment by Stephen Dycus, a recognized expert in both environmental and national security law. The emphasis of the book is on containing and remediating the environmental excesses of the American defense-industrial complex, with a domestic policy focus. While Professor Wirth considers Dycus’ work an intellectually rewarding and refreshing new entry into the ongoing environment-as-security colloquy, he does not consider the book to be accessible to a general audience given the book’s fundamentally legalistic nature.

Investing In Distressed Italian Companies Under The Reformed Italian Bankruptcy Law - A Comparison With The Us Bankruptcy Code, Pierantonio Musso

Pierantonio Musso

This article presents a scheme to profitably invest in distressed Italian companies by taking advantage of the Italian Bankruptcy Law in comparison with the US Bankruptcy Code. The risks connected to the insolvency proceeding are analyzed under their economic effects and foreseen in their general appearance. Specific remedies to avoid or mitigate the potential risks are provided. Singular advantages, available only in the proposed investment scheme under the Italian Law, are described. As a result the investment produces a less risky and more profitable outcome than an investment in a non-distressed and non-Italian target company.

The Impact Xat, Paul Boudreaux

Paul Boudreaux

Impact fees complicate the construction of new housing across the nation. Although justified as a means of forcing new development to “pay its way” for the costs of government infrastructure necessitated by the new housing, impact fees are imposed in a way that make them, in effect, a dubious population tax. Indeed, the typical impact fee does little to discourage costly suburban sprawl. This essay, using economic lessons from policies to discourage the wasteful use of resources with light bulbs, bathrooms, and buildings, suggests a new policy course. It proposes an impact xat (a cross between a tax and fee) …

The Impact Xat, Paul Boudreaux

Paul Boudreaux

Impact fees complicate the construction of new housing across the nation. Although justified as a means of forcing new development to “pay its way” for the costs of government infrastructure necessitated by the new housing, impact fees are imposed in a way that make them, in effect, a dubious population tax. Indeed, the typical impact fee does little to discourage costly suburban sprawl. This essay, using economic lessons from policies to discourage the wasteful use of resources with light bulbs, bathrooms, and buildings, suggests a new policy course. It proposes an impact xat (a cross between a tax and fee) …

Resolving Large, Complex Financial Firms, Thomas Fitzpatrick, Mark Greenlee, James Thomson

James B Thomson

How to best manage the failure of systemically important fi nancial fi rms was the theme of a recent conference at which the latest research on the issue was presented. Here we summarize that research, the discussions that it sparked, and the areas where considerable work remains.

Labor Disputes In Professional Sports: How Federal Judges Referee Antitrust Lawsuits-- False Starts And Technical Fouls, Michael Leroy

Michael H LeRoy

Using a database of 83 published court opinions from 1970-2011, I show that players have utilized conflicting federal laws to improve their labor market mobility. They formed unions under the National Labor Relations Act, and bargained collectively with leagues. Often, however, they lacked bargaining power to modify the draft or reserve clause, which bound them to a team. Players sued, therefore, under the Sherman Act to challenge these practices as restraints of trade. Thus, players have used a dual engagement strategy of bargaining with leagues under the NLRA while holding identical negotiations under the threat of Sherman Act treble damages. …

How Well Does Bankruptcy Work When Large Financial Firms Fail? Some Lessons From Lehman Brothers, Thomas Fitzpatrick, James Thomson

James B Thomson

There is disagreement about whether large and complex financial institutions should be allowed to use U.S. bankruptcy law to reorganize when they get into financial difficulty. We look at the Lehman example for lessons about whether bankruptcy law might be a better alternative to bailouts or to resolution under the Dodd-Frank Act’s orderly liquidation authority. We find that there is no clear evidence that bankruptcy law is insufficient to handle the resolution of large complex financial firms.

Restoring The Natural Law: Copyright As Labor And Possession, Alfred C. Yen

Alfred C. Yen

In this Article, Professor Yen explores the problems associated with viewing copyright solely as a tool for achieving economic efficiency and advocates for the restoration of natural law to copyright jurisprudence. The Article demonstrates that economics has not been solely responsible for copyright’s development and basic structure, but has rather developed along lines suggested by neutral law, despite modern copyright jurisprudence. The Article considers the consequences of extinguishing copyright’s natural law facets in favor of the blind pursuit of efficiency and concludes by exploring the implications of restoring natural law thinking to copyright jurisprudence.

Damages To Business Interests, R. Steven Thing

R. Steven Thing

No abstract provided.

Justice, The Bretton Woods Institutions And The Problem Of Inequality, Frank J. Garcia

Frank J. Garcia

The Bretton Woods Institutions are, together with the WTO, the preeminent international institutions devoted to managing international economic relations. This mandate puts them squarely in the center of the debate concerning development, inequality and global justice. While the normative analysis of the WTO is gaining momentum, the systematic normative evaluation of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund is comparatively less developed. This essay aims to contribute to that nascent inquiry. How might global justice criteria apply to the ideology and operations of the Bank and Fund? Political theory offers an abundance of perspectives from which to conduct such …

Is Free Trade "Free?" Is It Even "Trade?" Oppression And Consent In Hemispheric Trade Agreements, Frank J. Garcia

Frank J. Garcia

In order for free trade as a policy to deliver fully on its social promise, it must be both “free” and “trade.” In fact, it must be free, in the sense of voluntary, to be trade at all. In other words, for normative and practical reasons, free trade requires that global economic relations be structured through agreements which reflect the consent of those subject to them. The neoliberal trading system today only imperfectly lives up to this obligation. In this essay, I will examine the role of consent in trade agreements, drawing on examples from CAFTA as representative of important …

Nafta And The Creation Of The Ftaa: A Critique Of Piecemeal Accession, Frank J. Garcia

Frank J. Garcia

No abstract provided.

The Moral Hazard Problem In Global Economic Regulation, Frank J. Garcia

Frank J. Garcia

Global regulation of international business transactions presents a particular form of the moral hazard problem. Global firms use economic and political power to manipulate state and state-controlled multilateral regulation to preserve their opportunity to externalize the social costs of global economic activity with impunity. Unless other actors can effectively counter this at the national and global regulatory levels, globalization re-creates the conditions for under-regulated or “robber baron” capitalism at the global level. This model of economic activity has been rejected at the national level by the same modern democratic capitalist states which currently dominate globalization, creating a crisis of legitimacy …

Evaluating Imf Crisis Prevention As A Matter Of Global Justice, Frank J. Garcia

Frank J. Garcia

No abstract provided.

Trade And Justice: Linking The Trade Linkage Debates, Frank J. Garcia

Frank J. Garcia

No abstract provided.

Save The Economy: Break Up The Big Banks And Shape Up The Regulators, Charles W. Murdock

Charles W. Murdock

Save the Economy: Break Up the Big Banks and Shape Up the Regulators

The U.S. economy is still reeling from the financial crisis that exploded in the fall of 2008. This article asserts that the big banks were major culprits in causing the crisis, by funding the non-bank lenders that created the toxic mortgages which the big banks securitized and sold to unwary investors. Paradoxically, banks which were then too big to fail are even larger today.

The article briefly reviews the history of banking from the Founding Fathers to the deregulatory mindset that has been present since 1980. It …

Understanding Csr: An Empirical Study Of Private Self-Regulation, Benedict Sheehy

Benedict Sheehy

Abstract: The article is a study of an important burgeoning form of regulation—private self-regulation—in the area of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). Rather than taking a purely theoretical approach or a social scientific study relying publicly reported data, the article addresses the issue by way of interview based case studies. As a study in regulation it clarifies the difference between various types of self-regulation, trade associations’ codes as private self-regulation and government sponsored self-regulation. This distinction hampers efforts to understand the important aspects of motivation and compliance. This study provides empirical examination of compliance in private self-regulation. Given the impact and …

The Case Against Credit Bidding: Optimal Creditor Behavior In Chapter 11 Collateral Auctions, Jared Kawalsky

Jared Kawalsky

This paper will attempt to advance some theoretical justifications for recent bankruptcy decisions that have denied the existence of a right for secured creditors to credit bid in the course of a reorganization under § 1129 of the Bankruptcy Code. § 363 of the Bankruptcy Code specifically grants secured creditors the right to bid their credit in a sale of their collateral as part of a going concern sale. However, in a reorganiztion under § 1129, secured creditors are not necessarily permitted to participate in an auction of the collateral underlying their liens. Relying on the broad auction theory literature …

Delaware’S Relevance In Chapter 22: Who Is “Courting Failure” Now?, Ruth S. Lee

Ruth S Lee

This study presents surprising new statistical evidence that contributes to the current “over-heated” academic debate about the Delaware courts’ role in Chapter 11 failure. In 2001, Professor LoPucki published an influential article suggesting that when large corporations file for bankruptcy under Chapter 11, they fail at a dramatically higher rate in Delaware courts than in other jurisdictions. He attributed this to corruption. His article enraged many academics and practitioners, and ignited many articles in the past two decades. This study presents startling evidence that while Chapter 11s filed in Delaware courts did have much higher failure rates from 1991-1996, after …

Development Lending To Municipalities By The World Bank Group, Asheesh Bhalla

Asheesh Bhalla

The World Bank Group has recently shifted its development lending policies to have a greater focus on lending to municipalities and developing financial institutions and systems of market creation at the local level. The author reviews this policy shift, and the consequences of such policy changes on local government institutions and law.

The Cost Of Democratization: Beyond Economists' Explanations Of Credit Card Debt, Andrea Freeman

Andrea Freeman

The credit card industry’s business model relies on the payment of fees and high interest rates by the poorest consumers to generate profits and subsidize credit card use by the richest. Industry studies indicate that African Americans and Latinos pay higher interest rates and more penalty fees than whites. Compounding credit card debt disparities are recent census statistics revealing that whites now have a median wealth twenty times higher than African Americans and eighteen times higher than Latinos. Despite the high social costs of deepening inequalities, law and economics and behavioral economics have largely ignored their contribution to market failure …