Law and Economics Commons^™

A Bit Like Cash: Understanding Cash-For-Bitcoin Transactions Through Individual Vendors, Stephanie J. Robberson, Mark R. Mccoy

Journal of Digital Forensics, Security and Law

As technology improves and economies become more globalized, the concept of currency has evolved. Bitcoin, a cryptographic digital currency, has been embraced as a secure and convenient type of money. Due to its security and privacy for the user, Bitcoin is a good tool for conducting criminal trades. The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) has regulations in place to make identification information of Bitcoin purchasers accessible to law enforcement, but enforcing these rules with cash-for-Bitcoin traders is difficult. This study surveyed cash-for-Bitcoin vendors in Oklahoma, Texas, Arkansas, Missouri, Kansas, Colorado, and New Mexico to determine personal demographic information, knowledge of …

The Trouble With Corporate Conscience, James D. Nelson

Vanderbilt Law Review

Accomplished corporate law scholars claim that modern businesses need an infusion of morality. Disappointed by conventional regulatory responses to recurring corporate scandal, these scholars argue that corporate conscience provides a more fruitful path to systemic economic reform. In Burwell v. Hobby Lobby, which held that for-profit businesses can claim religious exemptions from general laws, the Supreme Court gave this notion of corporate conscience added momentum. Emboldened by the Court's embrace of business goals extending beyond shareholder profit, proponents of a moralized marketplace now celebrate corporate conscience as an idea whose time has come. This Essay criticizes the leading arguments for …

Against Populist Isolationism: New Asian Regionalism And Global South Powers In International Economic Law, Pasha L. Hsieh

Cornell International Law Journal

This Article provides the most up-to-date examination of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), which is poised to become the world’s largest free trade agreement (FTA). It argues that the 16-country mega-FTA will galvanize the paradigm shift in Asian regionalism and build a normative foundation for the Global South in international economic law. Based on intertwined theoretical and substantive claims, this Article opens an inquiry into the assertive legalism of developing nations in the new regional economic order. It further manifests the pivotal force of emerging economies against populist isolationism in the Trump era that undermines the neoliberal foundation of …

Life Cycle Costing And Food Systems: Concepts, Trends, And Challenges Of Impact Valuation, Jason J. Czarnezki

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications

Our global food systems create pervasive environmental, social, and health impacts. Impact valuation is an emerging concept that aims to quantify all environmental, social, and health costs of food systems in an attempt to make the true cost of food more transparent. It also is designed to facilitate the transformation of global food systems. The concept of impact valuation is emerging at the same time as, and partly as a response to, calls for the development of legal mechanisms to address environmental, social, and health concerns. Information has long been understood both as a necessary precursor for regulation and as …

Responsible Investing: Access Denied, Keith Macmaster

LLM Theses

Retail investors are increasingly demanding responsible investments. Retail investors also require the services of an advisor. Many responsible funds may not be responsible. This is due to many factors, including incomplete disclosures, and lack of financialization of risks. The thesis shows that traditional mutual funds, while structurally able to provide responsible investments, have not provided responsible holdings to mass affluent clientele. Institutional investors, and wealthy retail investors, have options to avail themselves of responsible investments; mass affluent investors have less choice to invest responsibly. The thesis recommends enhanced material disclosures and financial valuation models to better identify responsible investments. Advisors …

Backstop, Not Bailout: The Case For Preserving The Orderly Liquidation Authority Under Dodd-Frank, Mark R. Maciuch

Brooklyn Journal of Corporate, Financial & Commercial Law

The Trump Administration and Republicans have initiated efforts to repeal certain provisions of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (Dodd-Frank), one of which is the Orderly Liquidation Authority (OLA) under Title II of Dodd-Frank. Critics of the OLA argue that it enables, rather than prevents, future bailouts funded by taxpayers. These critics are concerned with the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation’s (FDIC) discretion to decide when and how to resolve distressed financial firms, as well as the FDIC’s access to large amounts of funds from the U.S. Department of the Treasury to carry out these functions. Proponents of …

Insider Trading: Are Insolvent Firms Different?, Andrew Verstein

Brooklyn Journal of Corporate, Financial & Commercial Law

Federal law restricts insider trading. Yet these restrictions operate differently on insolvent or bankrupt firms. The law is more constraining in some respects: federal law extensively regulates the trading of residual claims in solvent firms but not insolvent firms. However, the law is more constraining in other respects: insider trading law does little to limit debt-trading at solvent firms, but a bankruptcy enmeshes all creditors in a web of insider trading rules. This Article identifies insolvency’s economic and legal influence on insider trading law and then normatively evaluates this transformation.

The At&T/Time Warner Merger: How Judge Leon Garbled Professor Nash, Steven C. Salop

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

The US District Court in the AT&T/Time Warner vertical merger case has issued its opinion permitting the merger. At of this writing in August 2018, the Department of Justice (DOJ) has appealed to the DC Circuit and filed its brief, as have several Amici. I was disappointed that the DOJ was unable to prove its case to the satisfaction of Judge Leon, the trial judge. Notwithstanding the court’s confidence that the merger is procompetitive, I remain concerned that it will have anti- competitive effects, both on its own and following the subsequent vertical mergers in the TV industry, which this …

Oligopoly Pricing And Richard Posner, Keith N. Hylton

Faculty Scholarship

Over a span of nearly 50 years Richard Posner’s voice has loomed large over the subject of oligopoly pricingand antitrust. The span begins in 1969 with Posner’s publication of “Oligopoly and the Antitrust Laws: A Suggested Approach,” which argues for more aggressive enforcement of Section 1 in cases involving circumstantial evidence of conspiracy. The span ends with Posner’s opinion in In re Text Messaging Antitrust Litigation, in 2015. The two writings, the first an academic article published early in Posner’s career and the second a judicial opinion published near the end of his time on the bench, suggest very different …

The Law Officer (Lo) And Compliance Officer (Co): Status, Function, Liabilities, And Relationship, Tamar Frankel

Faculty Scholarship

The rise of Compliance officers (COs) has raised questions about their status in institutions and comparisons to the Legal Officers (CLOs). While both officers deal with law and its enforcement, their functions and positions differ in fundamental ways. And while LOs position is recognized, the status of COs is evolving. However, these differences are slowly becoming clearer.

1. While the LO’s function is to provide legal advice to the institutional client, the CO’s function is to (i) evaluate the institution’s activities before violations take place and (ii) help prevent violations of the law by the institution. The CO should detect …

Finishing The Job Best Practices For A Diverse Workforce In The Construction Industry V.8 Sept 2018, Susan Moir Scd

Labor Studies Faculty Publication Series

This manual is a work in progress. It is produced by the Policy Group on Tradeswomen’s Issues (PGTI), a regional collaboration of researchers, government agencies, unions, community-based organizations, developers and contractors committed to increasing access for women and people of color to good paying careers in the construction trades. Our goal is to make our shared efforts and experiences helpful to industry leaders who share our commitment. It is based on best practices developed on major projects that came close, met, or exceeded workforce hiring goals. This manual and additional resources are available online at on the PGTI website at …

Economic Liberty "In A World Of Pure Imagination”: A Theoretical Analysis Of Willy Wonka, Natural Rights, And The New Age Of Innovation, Tammy M. Eick

Nova Law Review

No abstract provided.

Cryptocurrencies: The New Species, Ors Penzes

Nova Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Diminishing Duty Of Loyalty, Julian Velasco

Journal Articles

Fiduciary duties comprise an integral part of corporate law. It is generally understood that directors owe the corporation and its shareholders two fiduciary duties: the duty of care and the duty of loyalty. Although both duties are firmly established in corporate law, they are not treated equally. It is generally understood that the duty of loyalty is enforced far more rigorously than the duty of care. The justification for this dichotomy is twofold. First, differential treatment is appropriate because of the relative urgencies of the underlying subject matter: loyalty issues pose greater risks than do care issues. Second, the deference …

The International Provisions Of The Tcja: Six Results After Six Months, Reuven S. Avi-Yonah

Law & Economics Working Papers

Over six months have passed since the enactment of the TCJA, so it is now possible to reach some preliminary conclusions on its impact. The main ones are:

1. The transition tax plus anticipated GILTI tax minus territoriality have resulted in higher GAAP effective tax rates for 2017. In some cases they approach 35% for large multinationals with a lot of offshore income. For the first six months of 2018, however, overall corporate tax revenues are sharply down because of the 21% rate plus expensing. This is the exact reverse of the situation before TCJA in which MNEs showed very …

How To Break The Monopoly In Port Industrial, Minjiang Gao

World Maritime University Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Between Power Politics And International Economic Law: Asian Regionalism, The Trans-Pacific Partnership And U.S.-China Trade Relations, Jiangyu Wang

Pace International Law Review

This Article examines the interactions of power politics and international economic law in the development of regionalism in Asia, particularly in the context of United States-China trade relations. It argues that the process of regional economic integration in Asia has been slow-moving because of the politicization of regionalism by power rivalries. China’s initial regional integration initiatives apparently ignored the United States, a superpower which has always been a major player in Asia and an indispensable part of the region’s economic process. The United States-led Trans-Pacific Partnership was allegedly designed to exclude China, Asia’s largest economy. On the other hand, the …

Intellectual Property, Income Inequality, And Societal Interconnectivity In The United States: Social Calculus And The Historical Distribution Of Wealth, Brenda Reddix-Smalls

North Carolina Central University Science & Intellectual Property Law Review

Scant attention has been paid to the historical trajectory and effect of the United States’ intellectual property regimes—patenting, copyrighting, and trademarking—as devices which implement racialized property grants and further income and social inequality. This article focuses on just that and argues that the United States Constitution was designed as a property-based and economically-driven social compact which identifies intellectual property interests through a racialized lens. From this view, it is further argued that the Intellectual Property Clause, which itself was designed to incentivize invention and innovation, protected the racialized property interests of the governing elites of the newly established government and …

Serial Collusion By Multi-Product Firms, Michael J. Meurer, William Kovacic, Robert Marshall

Faculty Scholarship

We provide empirical evidence that many multi-product firms have each participated in several cartels over the past 50 years. Standard analysis of cartel conduct, as well as enforcement policy, is rooted in the presumption that each cartel in which a given firm participates is a singular activity, independent of other cartel conduct by the firm. We argue that this analysis is deficient in many respects in the face of serial collusion by multi-product firms. We offer policy recommendations to reign in serial collusion, including a mandatory coordinated effects review for any merger involving a serial colluder, regardless of the apparent …

Effects Of Senate Bill 4 On Wage-Theft: Why All Workers Are At Risk In Low-Income Occupations, Daniella Salas-Chacon

The Scholar: St. Mary's Law Review on Race and Social Justice

Abstract forthcoming