Law and Economics Commons^™

Did The Youth Hiring Act Of 2023 Impact Wages In Arkansas?, Henley S. Queen

Economics Undergraduate Honors Theses

Some believe Arkansas Act 195 may create more problems than it looks to solve; the paper sets out to find if Arkansas is experiencing any benefits from the passing of the law. This paper is an economic analysis of Arkansas Act 195 of 2023 (The Youth Hiring Act of 2023), which removed a work permit requirement for fourteen and fifteen year olds. The paper also observes data from Iowa since the state passed a similar policy. Using Bureau of Labor Statistics data on waiters, fast food workers, cashiers, and bartenders from 2017 to 2023 in Iowa and Arkansas, it performs …

What Impact Did The Tcja Tax Cuts Have On The Manufacturing Sector?, Ryan Parker

Accounting Undergraduate Honors Theses

Throughout this paper I will examine positive effects the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 had on the manufacturing sector. To do this I begin by outlining the key provisions in the TCJA that directly benefit the manufacturing sector. This includes the corporate tax rate reduction from 35 percent to 21 percent, the changes to the repatriation tax for foreign funds, and the treatment for capital assets. I then analyze key metrics including pre-tax income, income tax provision, dividends, changes in retained earnings, and spending on property plant and equipment. I will show the interactions between the increase in …

How Did The Tax Cuts And Jobs Act Of 2017 Effect Small Businesses?, Jackson Pittman

Accounting Undergraduate Honors Theses

The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) of 2017 marked a significant overhaul of the United States tax system, promising to stimulate economic growth and enhance the competitiveness of American businesses. Amidst its broad-reaching reforms, the TCJA introduced several provisions directly impacting small businesses, aiming to alleviate their tax burdens and foster entrepreneurial activity. This thesis endeavors to evaluate the multifaceted effects of the TCJA on small businesses, examining its implications for their financial performance, investment behavior, and overall economic contribution.

Preliminary findings suggest that the TCJA has produced a generally positive result for small businesses. On one hand, reduced …

Racial Diversity And Law Firm Economics, Jack Thorlin

Arkansas Law Review

There is an eternal temptation to think that if one recognizes a moral problem and does something about it, then one is blameless even if the action taken does not solve the problem. We usually recognize that it is absurd to credit intent when the disconnect from results is vast—consider the rightfully mocked tendency of people to respond to tragedies by declaring that their “thoughts and prayers” are with the victims rather than taking any meaningful step to ameliorate their suffering. People still engage in such posturing because the behavior benefits them in several ways: (a) others see that the …

An Analysis Of The Suspect: The Impact Of Economic Conditions On Crime, Ryan Perez

Economics Undergraduate Honors Theses

Every place in the world experiences a level of crime within its borders, but there is much contention as to which factors lead to crime. Economic conditions, due to their association with poverty, are frequently discussed as a possible contributors to crime rates. This analysis examines four macroeconomic variables (GDP per capita, unemployment rate, inflation rate, and interest rate) and their effect on crime rates (violent, property, and total). After thoroughly reviewing the philosophical nature of crime, the current economic conditions through the lens of the selected macroeconomic variables, and the present criminal landscape throughout the United States and the …

Recent Developments, Silas Heffley

Arkansas Law Review

In a case involving a Missouri televangelist, a purported COVID-19 cure, and state officials from Arkansas and California, the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed the lower court’s dismissal for lack of personal jurisdiction.

I Want You To Panic: Leveraging The Rhetoric Of Fear And Rage For The Future Of Food, Iselin Gambert

Journal of Food Law & Policy

"Humanity Is About to Kill 1 Million Species in a Globe-Spanning Murder-Suicide. Only 11 Years Left to Prevent Irreversible Damage from Climate Change." Doomsday headlines like these are terrifying. But are they enough to make us act? The causes of the current climate crisis are many, but the science is clear that the meat and dairy industry shoulders much of the blame. Given the role the animal agriculture industry plays in perpetuating the climate crisis, combined with the harms the industry imposes on the animals and workers within it, politicians and governments—given their degree of power and influence—should ostensibly be …

The Right To Food Comes To America, Wendy Heipt

Journal of Food Law & Policy

The people of Maine recently exercised an opportunity no citizen of this country has ever had before: the ability to vote on whether to enshrine a right to food in their state constitution. This Essay provides an overview of Maine’s experience with food rights in order to explain how the state came to occupy this unique position.

France's Organisme De Défense Et De Gestion: A Model For Farmer Collective Action Through Standard Development And Brand Management, Christopher J. Bardenhagen, Philip H. Howard, Marie-Odile Noziéres-Petit

Journal of Food Law & Policy

Quality-based food production, often with a regional dimension, can provide farmers with new, value added markets. It can also provide consumers with access to place based high-quality products, and may benefit local economies through increased commerce. French Organismes de Défense et de Gestion (ODGs) illustrate a mode of quality-based agri-food business organization. ODGs focus on the development of production standards, as well as management of the intellectual property related to those standards. This mode, which is commonly used in Europe, has not often been used in the United States, despite its potential for regional food system development. The ODG mode …

China's Food Pagodas: Looking Forward By Looking Back?, Yifei Li, Dale Jamieson

Journal of Food Law & Policy

In this Article we provide a close analysis of the Chinese Dietary Guidelines – the Food Pagoda. Our focus on the dietary guidelines is motivated by two main considerations. First, the guidelines represent the most comprehensive, nationwide, state sponsored effort to educate the people of China about food. Like citizens in most countries, Chinese people are presented with numerous, often competing, messages from scientists, food gurus and online influencers. The dietary guidelines are different in that they are backed by an entire suite of governmental resources for nationwide dissemination through hospitals, schools, public billboards, TV and radio ads, among others. …

The Pandemic, Climate Change And Farm Subsidies, Allen H. Olson, Edward J. Peterson

Journal of Food Law & Policy

Many people believe that once the COVID-19 pandemic has passed, life will return to the way it was. This belief is both unrealistic and dangerous. It is unrealistic because the virus will be around for years if not indefinitely. The timeframe for the worst of the pandemic will depend on our ability to administer effective vaccines worldwide and the public’s willingness to accept continued social distancing in the meantime. The damage done to public health, the economy and individuals is already substantial and will get worse. Recovery will be slow and incomplete. The belief that life will return to the …

Iowa Land And Landowners: Fear Or Opportunity, Neil D. Hamilton

Journal of Food Law & Policy

Our relation to the land changed as modern agriculture changed. Today many issues involving the land seem to focus on fear and conflict, revealing a fragility of agriculture surprising for how it confounds the expected image of strength and stability. In many ways, our fragile relation to the land contrasts to the optimism of the relation in the past, in the years of settlement and expansion. Part of the change reflects the adverse impacts of modern agriculture catching up with us, and part stems from a society more willing to focus on issues of equity, inclusion, and inequality. The good …

Consent By Registration: The "Back-Door Thief", Nate Arrington

Arkansas Law Review

Consider this personal jurisdiction quandary: A growing Arizona company wants to start expanding into other states. The company is incorporated in Delaware and has its principal place of business in Arizona. It decides to make the leap and begins registering to do business in a few surrounding states, including New Mexico. The registration seems straightforward and does not mention anything about jurisdiction. After the registration, but before conducting any business in New Mexico, a Kentucky resident decides to sue the Arizona-based corporation. The suit is based on an alleged tort occurring in Utah, and the plaintiff files the lawsuit in …

The U.S. Dairy Industry In The 20th And 21st Century, George B. Frisvold

Journal of Food Law & Policy

At the beginning of the 20th Century, the U.S. dairy industry was comprised of millions of small-scale operations producing for their own or for very local consumption. By the end of the 20th Century, the industry was dominated by large-scale producers marketing products via large cooperatives. Improvements in transportation, advances in animal breeding and feeding technologies, and scale economies have allowed the industry to be more competitive on global markets, where there is now active international trade in dairy products. Major government programs to support dairy farm income date back to Depression-era problems facing the industry. Federal programs to support …

Virtual Currency As Crypto Collateral Under Article 9 Of The Ucc: Trying To Fit A Square Peg In A Round Hole, Sharon E. Foster

Arkansas Law Review

This Article addresses the current state of academic discussion regarding the problems of creating an enforceable security interest under Article 9 of the Uniform Commercial Code (UCC) using virtual currency, such as bitcoin, as collateral. While academic discussion is helpful and, indeed, may one day be adopted by a court and become law, the primary problem in using virtual currency as collateral is the uncertainty regarding using Article 9 to create an enforceable security interest in virtual currency. Simply put, Article 9 does not specifically address virtual currency as collateral, and we have no case law at this time to …

New Things Under The Sun: How The Cftc Is Using Virtual Currencies To Expand Its Jurisdiction, James Michael Blakemore

Arkansas Law Review

A decade has passed since Bitcoin solved a fundamental problem plaguing virtual currencies: How to ensure, without resort to financial intermediaries or other trusted central authorities, that a unit of digital currency can be spent only once. In that time, Bitcoin has inspired countless follow-on projects. Some have attempted to improve the technology’s potential use for digital cash, by, for example, increasing the number of transactions processed per second or improving user privacy. Others have strayed further from Bitcoin’s original intent, building on blockchain—Bitcoin’s central innovation—to enable distributed computing and so-called smart contracting, decentralized lending, governance, data storage, and digital …

Deceptively Simple: The Arkansas Deceptive Trade Practices Act, Margaret E. Rushing

Arkansas Law Review

In the 2017 legislative session, the Arkansas General Assembly significantly changed the Arkansas Deceptive Trade Practices Act (“ADTPA”). These changes now prohibit private class actions under the ADTPA and require plaintiffs to prove additional elements of reliance and actual financial loss when bringing a claim. The changes appear to limit the ability of a consumer to bring a private action under the ADPTA. With these changes, Arkansas joins a minority of jurisdictions with deceptive trade practices acts that increase a plaintiff’s burden and restrict private class actions.

Revamping The Right To Be Informed: Protecting Consumers Under New Jersey's Truth-In-Consumer Contract, Warranty, And Notice Act*, Jessica Guarino

Arkansas Law Review

Prior to the 1960s, “courts were notorious for their insensitivity to consumer interests, while legislatures did little in the way of offering the consumer comprehensive protection against business fraud.”1 However, the tide of legislation began to turn in the 1960s as a movement for greater consumer protections finally reached the ears of an individual with a powerful voice: President John F. Kennedy.

Marijuana Business Attorneys And The Professional Deference Standard, Andrew Dixon

Arkansas Law Review

Imagine that you practice as an attorney in the State of Arkansas. A client solicits your advice about opening a marijuana dispensary or cultivation center. The client might want you to assist him in filing a dispensary application with the State. On the other hand, she might want you to negotiate a commercial lease or to provide services to ensure compliance with municipal zoning laws. Although Arkansas voters approved a constitutional amendment permitting medical marijuana sales, you provide a clear warning to your client: possessing, manufacturing, selling, and distributing marijuana remains a federal crime. After these precautions, however, you proceed …

Medical Marijuana In Arkansas: The Risks Of Rushed Drafting, Carol Goforth, Robyn Goforth

Arkansas Law Review

Arkansas voters passed the Arkansas Medical Marijuana Amendment to the state constitution in late 2016. Almost certainly, the vast majority of voters did so without reading or understanding the intricacies of the initiative, and instead voted simply to affirm their desire to permit the medical use of marijuana in the state. Among many other provisions, the amendment imposed a 120 day time limit (later extended by the Arkansas legislature to 180 days) within which the Arkansas Department of Health and other agencies were to adopt rules implementing the voter mandate. While six months might seem like plenty of time in …

A Commentary On Litigation Involving Uber Technologies, Inc., Catherine Hagemeier

Economics Undergraduate Honors Theses

Uber Technologies, Inc. is a peer-to-peer ridesharing, food delivery, and transportation network managed in San Francisco, California. Travis Kalanick and Garrett Camp developed the idea for the ridesharing app in 2008, after experiencing difficulty hailing a cab. They originally designed the app to be used in major metropolitan areas, but the business inevitably took off; it now operates in 633 cities worldwide. In 2017, Uber claimed that the company earned roughly $7.5 billion in revenue, employed more than 12,000 “independent drivers,” and connected over one billion people (“Finding the Way”). Though widely successful and heralded as a major influencer in …

Fostering Innovation And Entrepreneurship: Shark Tank Shouldn't Be The Model, Brian Kingsley Krumm

Arkansas Law Review

For the past half century, innovation has driven the economic growth that has made the American economy the envy of the world. For most of this period, venture capitalists provided not only the capital that new innovative companies needed, but also the management expertise.

Local And State Governments Are Taking The Stage When It Is Fda's Curtain Call - Are Local And State Governments' Safety Warnings Preempted By Federal Law?, Melissa M. Card

Journal of Food Law & Policy

Eliminated from fad diets, sworn off by celebrities, and frantically reformulated out of processed foods, added sugars have been deemed the new nutritional scoundrel. Recent studies from the American Heart Association, the World Health Organization, and the American Cancer Association demonstrate that the consumption of added sugar leads to increased risks of obesity, diabetes, heart disease, and gout. While all foods containing added sugar are deemed unhealthy, Sugary-Sweetened Beverages ("SSBs") are said to be especially toxic by the American health community, by virtue of these beverages' being excessively high in added sugar content, low in satiety, and incomplete in compensation …

Moving Towards Harmonization Of The Food Safety Standards: Role Of The Tpp And Ttip Agreements, Ksenia A. Petrovets

Journal of Food Law & Policy

We are now less dependent on locally available food resources that we have ever been. The continuing industrialization of food production, the advancement in technologies and the rapid development of supply chains granted us the luxury of immediate access to a variety of products originating from local supermarkets all over the world. This, along with the greater level of food production industrialization, inevitably comes the rise of related food safety risks. Because of the enlargement of producing operations, an emerging safety threat in one place may result in a foodborne illness outbreak thousands of miles away from its place of …

Will Consumers Be In The "Dark" About Labels On Genetically Engineered And Modified Foods?, Hilary Nat

Journal of Food Law & Policy

In the 1900s, the United States began to sell genetically engineered foods. One of the first genetically engineered foods sold in the United States and approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) was the Flavr Savr tomato. The tomato's genetic structure was modified to prevent softening which allowed it to ripen after being picked. In the United States, statistics demonstrate that 92% of com, 94% of soybeans, and 94% of cotton sold is genetically engineered. In addition, it is estimated that 75% of the processed foods sold in supermarkets around the United States contain ingredients that are products of …

Energy Drink Regulations: Why The Time For More Fda Authority Is Not Ripe And How States Can Protect Children Without Unjustly Infringing On Adult Autonomy, Larry D. Treat

Journal of Food Law & Policy

In December of 2011, Anais Fournier ("Anais"), a fourteen-year-old from Maryland, was at the mall with her friends when she drank a twenty-four ounce Monster energy drink. Within twenty-four hours, Anais consumed a second twenty-four ounce energy drink. Together, the two Monster energy drinks Anais consumed contained around 480 milligrams ("mg") of caffeine. A few hours after the second drink, Anais went into cardiac arrest and later died from cardiac arrhythmia. An autopsy found that caffeine toxicity caused Anais's arrhythmia and impeded her heart's ability to pump blood. As it turns out, Anais suffered from a preexisting heart condition called …

2016 China Food Law Update, Michael T. Roberts, Ching-Fu Lin

Journal of Food Law & Policy

This update of China food law builds on a unique feature for the Journal of Food Law & Policy that has been provided since the Journal's inception - separate food law updates for both the United States and European Union. "Recognizing the globalness of the modem food system, these updates have served an invaluable role in keeping scholars and practitioners abreast of the world's leading food regulatory systems." China's emergence as a developed, modem food regulatory system with the potential of being a leading food regulatory system makes sense given its position as a world economic powerhouse. China's role in …

Animal Legal Defense Fund V. Otter: Industrial Food Production Simply Is Not A Private Matter, Lucy L. Holifield

Journal of Food Law & Policy

About half of the states have either passed or attempted to pass laws aimed at stifling criticism and exposure of factory farms throughout the country. This unwanted exposure is often the result of undercover reporters gaining access to the interior of meat-producing entities by seeking and obtaining employment. Their reports often expose filthy and dangerous conditions, substantial animal abuse, and the incorporation of unfit animal products into the public's food supply.

"All I Do Is Win": The No-Lose Strategy Of Cafo Regulation Under The Caa, Karl J. Worsham

Journal of Food Law & Policy

Corporate farms, often known as concentrated animal feeding operations ("CAFO'), provide inexpensive animal products but do so by externalizing the cost of their operation in the form of environmental harms and risks to human health. This article explores one possible approach to mitigating CAFO-caused harms. It argues that CAFO regulation under any one of three Clean Air Act ("CAA ") programs will result in net benefits, not just for air quality, but also for other CAFO-caused harms and thus, that CAA regulation of CAFOs is a no-lose strategy. The article then goes further to conclude that, while regulation under any …

Regulating The Food Truck Industry: An Illustration Of Proximity And Sanitation Regulations, Nicholas Alvarez

Journal of Food Law & Policy

Manny Hernandez, a Chicago food truck owner, would wake up in the middle of the night and slowly travel by foot around downtown Chicago carrying a 200-foot rope. The rope was used to measure the distance from the doors of brick-and-mortar restaurants to possible parking locations for his food truck. A Chicago ordinance prohibited food trucks from operating within 200 feet of the front door of any brick-and-mortar restaurant. Furthermore, Manny could not just find one spot; he needed to find many spots because Chicago law also stated that food trucks were only allowed to park at one location for …