Economics Commons^™

Pareto Versus Welfare, Robert C. Hockett

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

Many normatively oriented economists, legal academics and other policy analysts appear to be "welfarist" and Paretian to at least moderate degree: They deem positive responsiveness to individual preferences, and satisfaction of one or more of the familiar Pareto criteria, to be reasonably undemanding and desirable attributes of any social welfare function (SWF) employed to formulate social evaluations. Some theorists and analysts go further than moderate welfarism or Paretianism, however: They argue that "the Pareto principle" requires the SWF be responsive to individual preferences alone - a position I label "strict" welfarism - and conclude that all social evaluation should in …

The Likely Impact Of Mandated Paid Sick And Family-Care Leave On The Economy And Economic Development Prospects Of The State Of Ohio, Edward W. Hill, Spence Christopher, Daila Shimek, Ziona Austrian

All Maxine Goodman Levin School of Urban Affairs Publications

This report analyzes the potential impact of a proposed paid sick and family care leave legislation on the economy of the state of Ohio, the economic development prospects of the state and on the management of production processes that depend on highly integrate teams. The report also reviews the literature on the effect of mandated paid sick and family care leave on the industrial relations system—workplace performance and worker retention. Our analysis concludes that there would have been a net cost associated with the paid sick leave and family-care initiative proposed in Ohio with a lower bound estimate of $63.84 …

Changing The Paradigm Of Stock Ownership From Concentrated Towards Dispersed Ownership? Evidence From Brazil And Consequences For Emerging Countries, Erica Gorga

Cornell Law Faculty Working Papers

This paper analyzes micro-level dynamics of changes in ownership structures. It investigates a unique event: changes in ownership patterns currently taking place in Brazil. It builds upon empirical evidence to advance theoretical understanding of how and why concentrated ownership structures can change towards dispersed ownership.

Commentators argue that the Brazilian capital markets are finally taking off. The number of listed companies and IPOs in the Sao Paulo Stock Exchange (Bovespa) has greatly increased. Firms are migrating to Bovespa’s special listing segments, which require higher standards of corporate governance. Companies have sold control in the market, and the stock market has …

Is American Health Care Uniquely Inefficient?, Alan M. Garber, Jonathan Skinner

Dartmouth Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Taking Distribution Seriously, Robert C. Hockett

Cornell Law Faculty Working Papers

It is common for legal theorists and policy analysts to think and communicate mainly in maximizing terms. What is less common is for them to notice that each time we speak explicitly of socially maximizing one thing, we speak implicitly of distributing another thing and equalizing yet another thing. We also, moreover, effectively define ourselves and our fellow citizens by reference to that which we equalize; for it is in virtue of the latter that our social welfare formulations treat us as “counting” for purposes of socially aggregating and maximizing.

To attend systematically to the inter-translatability of maximization language on …

Oil And Remittances In The Middle East, Azza El-Sharabassy

Graduate Program in International Studies Theses & Dissertations

This dissertation constructs a framework for understanding the determinants of remittances. It develops the effects of multiple macro economic variables in one area in the Middle East on the remittances flows and the future development of (another Arab neighboring country) Egypt. The framework will explore the relationship between oil prices and remittances from oil based economies (mainly Saudi-Arabia, Kuwait and the Arab Emirates) to a labor exporting country (Egypt). It also highlights the impact of multiple variables affecting the flow of remittances from labor exporting Arab countries: (1) Prices of oil. (2) Oil revenues. (3) Differentials in deposit interest rate …

Law, Biology, And Property: A New Theory Of The Endowment Effect, Owen D. Jones, Sarah F. Brosnan

Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications

Recent work at the intersection of law and behavioral biology has suggested numerous contexts in which legal thinking could benefit by integrating knowledge from behavioral biology. In one of those contexts, behavioral biology may help to provide theoretical foundation for, and potentially increased predictive power concerning, various psychological traits relevant to law. This Article describes an experiment that explores that context.

The paradoxical psychological bias known as the endowment effect puzzles economists, skews market behavior, impedes efficient exchange of goods and rights, and thereby poses important problems for law. Although the effect is known to vary widely, there are at …

Economic Sanctions Against Human Rights Violations, Buhm Suk Baek

Cornell Law School Inter-University Graduate Student Conference Papers

The idea of human rights protection, historically, has been considered as a domestic matter, to be realized by individual states within their domestic law and national institutions. The protection and promotion of human rights, however, have become one of the most important issues for the international community as a whole. Yet, with time, it has become increasingly difficult for the international community to address human rights problems collectively. Despite a significant development in the human rights norms, effective protection of fundamental human rights and their legal enforcement has a long way to go.

This paper will argue that economic sanctions …

Reflective Intensions: Two Foundational Decision-Points In Mathematics, Law, And Economics, Robert C. Hockett

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

This Article, transcribed from a symposium talk given by the author, examines two critical junctures at which foundational decisions must be made in three areas of theoretical inquiry - mathematics, law, and economics. The first such juncture is that which the Article labels the "arbitrary versus criterial choice" juncture. This is the decision point at which one must select between what is typically called an "algorithmic," "principled," "law-like," or "intensionalist" understanding of those concepts which figure foundationally in the discipline in question on the one hand, and a "randomized," "combinatorial," or "extensionalist" such understanding on the other hand.

The second …

Taxation Causes Kentucky To Lag Tennessee In Growth, Stephen E. Lile

Economics Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

The Lt. Governor Encourages Lawyers To Take Advantage Of State Resources To Aid Ohio's Economic Development, Lee Fisher

Law Faculty Articles and Essays

For the last several months, my colleagues and I at the Ohio Department of Development have been focused on the formation of a statewide economic development strategy that will establish our priorities and guide our future decisions. Ultimately this strategy will serve as an economic development plan for Ohio that will be led primarily by the Ohio Department of Development, along with the Governor's office and other state agencies and departments. With full implementation, our strategic plan will not only guide Ohio's long-term investments, but will also help guide our daily decisions.

Women, Re-Entry And Everyday Life: Time To Work?, Dina R. Rose, Venezia Michalsen, Dawn R. Wiest, Anupa Fabian

Department of Justice Studies Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works

This study focuses on women at various stages of re-entry into the community after involvement with the criminal justice system. In particular, it takes a close look at how the participants in the study manage their time in the face of the types of competing demands that are all too common to most people.

Why Brazil Has Not Grown: A Comparative Analysis Of Brazilian, Indian, And Chinese Economic Management, Fernando Ferrari-Filho, Anthony Petros Spanakos

Department of Political Science and Law Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works

This paper does not aim to dispute that Brazil would benefit from reforms in any or all of these areas. Rather, the paper offers a skeptical perspective on reform menus and proposes an alternative explanation for the faster growth of Brazil’s peers India and China2. The paper begins by introducing (section 1) the idea of the BRICs countries, to establish the basis for comparisons of most similar cases. It then surveys the results of a generation of Washington Consensus era growth (section 2). Although there is a considerable amount of divergence over what causes growth, it seems that something approaching …

The Interaction Of Customary Law And Microfinance: Women's Entry Into The World Economy, Shana Hofstetter

William & Mary Journal of Race, Gender, and Social Justice

This note examines the complicated relationship between microfinance and customary law. Microfinance, the practice of giving small, collateral-free loans to the poorest members of society, has gained great popularity in the last thirty years. These loan programs specifically target women and use women's traditional emphasis on groups to ensure success. Customary law can hinder microfinance ventures because of the restrictions these laws place on women's roles and responsibilities. Case studies on the Dominican Republic, Morocco, and Bangladesh explore how individual customary laws can hinder microfinance programs and women's micro-businesses. This note also discusses how microfinance programs act as catalysts of …

What Explains Insider Trading Restrictions? International Evidence On The Political Economy Of Insider Trading Regulation, Laura N. Beny

Law & Economics Working Papers Archive: 2003-2009

This article investigates the determinants of insider trading regulation across countries. The article presents a political economy analysis of such regulation that takes into account both private (distributional) and public (economic efficiency) considerations. The model cannot be tested directly because the relevant private preferences and social costs are unobservable. However, existing theories of capital market development suggest that various observable social factors can explain the diversity of insider trading policies across countries. In turn, these social factors should reveal the underlying preferences and social costs motivating such regulation.

The main finding, based on data from a cross section of countries …

Economics, Law And Institutions: The Shaping Of Chinese Competition Law, David J. Gerber

All Faculty Scholarship

China has been considering enactment of an anti-monopoly (antitrust) law since 1993, and it has now enacted such a law. Given the potential importance of this legislation, there is much uncertainty about what the enactment means and what roles it is likely to play in influencing the development of the Chinese economy. This article applies a neo-institutionalist analysis in examining some of the factors that have influenced the shaping of the legislation and that are likely to influence the operation of competition law and its organizations. The main argument is that the central dynamic in both the creation of the …

Loco Labels And Marketing Madness: Improving How Consumers Interpret Information In The American Food Economy, Margaret Sova Mccabe

Law Faculty Scholarship

America's current food labeling scheme, as illustrated by the example of salt, is flawed when examined from the consumer and public health perspective. While the Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act has sound scientific standards, those standards as currently applied to labels do not efficiently signal health information to consumers. Without better information on labels, consumers will continue to make poor choices at the grocery store. However, there are promising new ways to label. Both the United Kingdom and the domestic supermarket chain Hannaford’s have implemented simple health labeling on food packaging or grocery shelves to improve the amount and location …

More Crabs, But Still No Barrel, John Henry Schlegel

Other Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Legacy Of The Clinton Bubble, Timothy Canova

Law Faculty News Articles, Editorials, and Blogs

This article looks at the economy following the Clinton administration period in the White House.

Are De Jure Labor Laws Absolute? Formal Manufacturing In India, Gurmeet Singh Ghumman

Dissertations and Theses Collection (Open Access)

We investigate the view that de facto labor market conditions are important in evaluating the effects of labor institutions in developing countries where enactment does not necessarily imply enforcement. Using India as a case study we empirically investigate the effects of labor markets on the organized manufacturing sector from 1970 to 1997. Recognizing that the state can intervene in the outcome of labor disputes we construct a measure to proxy the degree of the state legislature's prejudice towards pro-worker causes. We argue that leftist and communist political parties can interfere in the resolution of disputes in favor of workers through …

Hedonic Adaptation And The Settlement Of Civil Lawsuits, John Bronsteen, Christopher J, Buccafusco, Jonathan S. Masur

Faculty Scholarship

This Essay examines the burgeoning psychological literature on happiness and hedonic adaptation (a person's capacity to preserve or recapture her level of happiness by adjusting to changed circumstances), bringing this literature to bear on the probability of pretrial settlement in civil litigation. The existing economic and behavioral models of settlement are incomplete because they do not incorporate the effect of adaptation on the sum for which a plaintiff is willing to accept an offer. When an individual first suffers a serious injury, she will likely predict that the injury will greatly diminish her future happiness. However, during the time that …

Vote-Trading In International Institutions, Ofer Eldar

Faculty Scholarship

There is evidence that countries trade votes among each other in international institutions on a wide range of issues, including the use of force, trade issues and elections of judges. Vote-trading has been criticized as being a form of corruption, undue influence and coercion. Contrary to common wisdom, however, I argue in this paper that the case for introducing policy measures against vote-trading cannot be made out on the basis of available evidence. This paper sets out an analytical framework for analyzing vote-trading in international institutions, focusing on three major contexts in which vote-trading may generate benefits and costs: (1) …

Moving Beyond Markets And Minimalism: Democracy In The Era Of Globalization, Richard Burchill

Human Rights & Human Welfare

A review of:

Democracy as Human Rights: Freedom and Equality in the Age of Globalization by Michael Goodhart. London: Routledge, 2005.

Tribal Nation Economics: Rebuilding Commercial Prosperity In Spite Of U.S. Trade Restraints–Recommendations For Economic Revitalization In Indian Country, Angelique Eaglewoman

Faculty Scholarship

Tribal commerce created the current highways that stretch from coast-to-coast in North America today. The roads that are traveled by semi-trucks full of cargo, grocery produce, and all manner of commercial goods are on top of the ancient trade routes Natives have traveled for centuries. Unfortunately, the history and sophistication of Native commercial activities have been largely suppressed and left out of the story of the North American continent as Euro-Americans rewrote the continent’s history to reflect the glorification of colonization. The truth is that there was no need for the 'rugged pioneer' to cut through tall grass to head …

If Ethanol Is The Answer, What Is The Question, Peter Z. Grossman

Scholarship and Professional Work - Business

Since 2005, in the face of rising oil and gasoline prices, many Americans have looked to plant-based fuels, particularly ethanol, as the "answer" to our energy dilemmas. Section III examines the issues connected specifically to ethanol, how market forces as well as government subsidies have worked to make corn-based ethanol economically viable at times, why that viability has been lost in recent months even with subsidies, and further, why ethanol from corn on the scale the legislation demands is impractical. Clearly it would be technically possible to produce the mandated 15 billion gallons of ethanol, and distilling capacity will nearly …

Law And Economic Change During The Short Twentieth Century, John Henry Schlegel

Contributions to Books

Published as Chapter 16 in Cambridge History of Law in America, Volume 3: The Twentieth Century and After (1920–), Michael Grossberg & Christopher Tomlins, eds.

The brief recounting of the American economy in the twenties and thirties raises obvious questions about law and economic change. Economic change is the shift from one enacted, in both senses, understanding of economic life to another, in the case of the short twentieth century, from an associationalist economy to an impatient economy. This chapter explicates this economic change, and interrogates it in order to understand the role of law in its occurrence. Despite the …

Domestic Bonds, Credit Derivatives, And The Next Transformation Of Sovereign Debt, Anna Gelpern

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

Not long ago, financial markets in most poor and middle-income countries were shallow to nonexistent, and closed to foreigners. Governments often had to rely on risky borrowing abroad; the private sector had even fewer options. But between 1995 and 2005, domestic debt in the emerging markets grew from $1 trillion to $4 trillion. In Mexico, domestic debt went from just over 20% of the total government debt stock in 1995 to nearly 80% in 2007. Foreign and local investors are buying. Over the same period, derivative contracts to transfer emerging market credit risk surpassed the market capitalization of the benchmark …

The Elusive Cap And Gown: The Impact Of Tax Policy On Access To Higher Education For Law-Income Individuals And Families, Phyllis C. Taite

Faculty Articles

No abstract provided.

Gone In Sixty Milliseconds: Trademark Law And Cognitive Science, Rebecca Tushnet

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

Trademark dilution is a cause of action for interfering with the uniqueness of a trademark. For example, consumers would probably not think that "Kodak soap" was produced by the makers of Kodak cameras, but its presence in the market would diminish the uniqueness of the original Kodak mark. Trademark owners think dilution is harmful but have had difficulty explaining why. Many courts have therefore been reluctant to enforce dilution laws, even while legislatures have enacted more of them over the past half century. Courts and commentators have now begun to use psychological theories, drawing on associationist models of cognition, to …

Who Should Own The Air?: A Closer Look At Smoking Bans, Stacy Mcmullen

Honors Program Theses

Smoking bans result from public health concerns. There are well over 70,000 articles in peer-reviewed journals that link smoking with various health problems [Chaloupka et al. 2004-2005, 2]. There are also a number of states currently debating statewide bans. Are statewide smoking bans the answer to the tobacco problem or are they simply an example of excessive paternalism? The purpose of this paper is to examine the two sides of the argument and determine whether policymakers should implement smoking bans. It will show that, in the end, nonsmokers should own the air, and smoking bans should be implemented to protect …