Law and Economics Commons^™

Tax Now Or Tax Never: Political Optionality And The Case For Current-Assessment Tax Reform, David Gamage, John R. Brooks

Articles by Maurer Faculty

The U.S. income tax system is broken. Due to the realization doctrine and taxpayers’ consequent ability to defer taxation of gains, taxpayers can easily minimize or avoid the taxation of investment income, a failure that is magnified many times over when considering the ultra-wealthy. As a result, this small group of taxpayers commands an enormous share of national wealth yet pays paltry taxes relative to the economic income their wealth produces—a predicament that this Article condemns as being economically, politically, and socially harmful.

The conventional view among tax law experts has assumed that the problems created by the realization doctrine …

Stealing Organs?, Benjamin Mcmichael

Indiana Law Journal

Every nine minutes, a new person joins a waitlist for an organ transplant, and every day, seventeen people die waiting for an organ that will never come. Because the need for organ transplants far outstrips the number of available organs, the policies and rules governing organ allocation in the United States are critically important and highly contentious. Recently, proponents of a new allocation system—one focused more on sharing organs across the nation instead of allocating organs primarily to local transplant candidates—have gained ground. Bolstered by two separate lawsuits in the past five years, advocates of greater national sharing have succeeded …

Promoting Regulatory Prediction, Jonathan S. Masur, Jonathan Remy Nash

Indiana Law Journal

It is essential for environmental protection that private actors be able to anticipate government regulation. If, for instance, the Biden Administration is planning to tighten regulations of greenhouse gas emissions, it is imperative that private companies anticipate this regulatory change now, not a few years from now after they have constructed even more coal- and gas-fired power plants. Those additional power plants will mean more irreversible greenhouse gases, and these plants can be politically challenging to shutter once built. The point is general to private actors making decisions in the shadow of potential government regulation. Better information about future government …

The Sec’S Climate Disclosure Rule: Critiquing The Critics, George S. Georgiev

Faculty Articles

Climate change is an existential phenomenon, which entails a wide variety of physical risks as well as sizeable but underappreciated economic risks. In March 2022, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) moved to address some of the information gaps related to the effects of climate change on firms by proposing a rule that requires public companies to report detailed and standardized information about important climate-related matters for the benefit of investors and markets. Though the rule proposal was welcomed by many market participants, it was also met with a level of opposition that was unusual in both its intensity …

The Extraterritorial Reach Of Section 10(B): A Wolf Hunt Off Wall Street, Radley Gillis

Emory Law Journal

Born to combat the market effects of the Great Depression, the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 protects American investors and maintains American confidence in the U.S. securities market. These objectives are largely accomplished through the imposition of liability from Section 10(b) of the Securities Exchange Act and the SEC’s Rule 10b-5. These federal laws impose civil and criminal penalties for domestic insider trading and securities fraud violations. Because Section 10(b) and Rule 10b-5 only apply domestically, when securities violations occur both within the United States and abroad, the reach of federal law becomes questionable, leaving federal courts with a complex …

Output Effect Of Private Antitrust Enforcement, Sinchit Lai

Fordham Journal of Corporate & Financial Law

A growing body of literature evaluates the impact of antitrust laws on economic growth. Most of these empirical studies identify a positive impact; however, the existing literature only studies the effect of the existence of antitrust laws, but not their enforcement. To fill this gap in the literature, this Article uses private antitrust case filing numbers to examine the growth effect. Employing U.S. data and, after addressing endogeneity, using a two-stage least squares (2SLS) regression analysis, I identify a negative and robust association between private enforcement and output on a national level in the short run over the period from …

Possessing Intangibles, João Marinotti

Articles by Maurer Faculty

The concept of possession is currently considered inapplicable to intangible assets, whether data, cryptocurrency, or NFTs. Under this view, intangible assets categorically fall outside the purview of property law’s foundational doctrines. Such sweeping conclusions stem from a misunderstanding of the role of possession in property law. This Article refutes the idea that possession constitutes—or even requires—physical control by distinguishing possession from another foundational concept, that of thinghood. It highlights possession’s unique purpose within the property process: conveying the status of in rem claims. In property law, the concept of possession conveys to third parties the allocation of property rights and …

Developments In The Laws Affecting Electronic Payments And Financial Services, Sarah Jane Hughes, Stephen T. Middlebrook, Tom Kierner

Articles by Maurer Faculty

The past year proved to be a busy period for the regulation of electronic payments and financial services. In this year’s survey, we discuss rulemakings, enforcement actions, and other litigation that has significantly impacted the law governing payments and financial services. Part II addresses the ongoing fight between federal and state authorities over which should properly regulate Fin- Tech entities and describes some new steps the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (“OCC”) has taken to assert its authority in this area. Part III details an enforcement action that California regulators took against a FinTech company they determined had …

Weathering State And Local Budget Storms: Fiscal Federalism With An Uncooperative Congress, David Gamage, Darien Shanske, Gladriel Shobe, Adam Thimmesch

Articles by Maurer Faculty

Throughout most of 2020, state and local governments faced severe budget crises as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. Increased demand for state welfare services and rising state expenses related to controlling the spread of COVID-19 stretched state and local budgets to their breaking points. At the same time, layoffs, business closures, and social distancing measures reduced states’ primary sources of tax revenues. The traditional practice of American fiscal federalism is for the federal government to step in to provide aid during a national emergency of this magnitude, because state and local governments lack the federal government’s monetary and fiscal …

The American Experience With Employee Noncompete Clauses: Constraints On Employees Flourish And Do Real Damage In The Land Of Economic Liberty, Kenneth G. Dau-Schmidt, Xiaohan Sun, Phillip J. Jones

Articles by Maurer Faculty

Agreements not to compete are generally an anathema to free market advocates. Independent profit maximization is one of the fundamental assumptions of the neoclassical economic model and necessary to its conclusion that markets yield results that are Paraeto efficient. Consistent with this theory, and practical experience, agreements among competitors, or potential competitors, to divide a market, or fix price or quantity are per se violations under our antitrust laws.

Despite this fact, even some ardent free market advocates have argued on behalf of the enforcement of covenants not to compete in the employment relationship. The traditional economic argument in favor …

Retirement Lost: Enhancing The Durability Of The 401(K) Account, Anna-Marie Tabor

Dickinson Law Review (2017-Present)

American workers have left billions of dollars in 401(k) accounts that they may never be able to find. The problem affects low-wage workers the most, aggravating income-based retirement inequality. Workers who are laid off or change jobs often leave their 401(k) savings in a former employer’s plan. As time passes, communication breaks down between departed employees and their plans, and changes to the employer, plan provider, or individual accounts may prevent the worker from finding the account. Once participants and plans have lost contact with each other, many plans force transfer balances under $5000 into Individual Retirement Accounts, without the …

An Attempt To Bring Modern Workplace Realities To The Social Security Disability Adjudication System, Robert E. Rains

Dickinson Law Review (2017-Present)

No abstract provided.

Voices From Below—Africa’S Contribution To The Development Of The Norm Of Corporate Responsibility To Respect Human Rights, Akinwumi Olawuyi Ogunranti

PhD Dissertations

The long conversations about corporate responsibility predominantly take place in forums and conferences in the Global North. Yet, the majority of the human rights abuses and their impacts are felt by peasants, farmers, children, and women in local communities in the Global South who do not have a voice in the institutionalized governance systems that animate global affairs. This thesis answers the question of how norms and human rights institutions in Africa can influence the corporate responsibility to respect (CR2R) norm as embedded in pillar II of the United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights. Through the theory …

Disabusing The Tax Aid Narrative: What Inter-National Tax Equity Really Means For "Poor" Countries And How To (Re)Frame It, Okanga Ogbu Okanga

PhD Dissertations

International tax regimes (e.g., the “double taxation regime”) are created by states with competing tax jurisdiction to coordinate their tax rules and, specifically, to address common efficiency problems like international double taxation. In developing such regimes, states attempt to balance competing tax policy priorities: efficiency, administrability, and equity. This work engages with equity, as a policy norm of international tax (inter-national tax equity). It is my thesis that the framing/articulation of inter-national tax equity suffers from a narrative problem that, perhaps, stems from its apparent conceptual unclarity and multifarious usage. This narrative problem is most evident in the articulation of …

How The American Taxation System Unduly Affects The Black Community

Florida A & M University Law Review

This article provides evidence that the American taxation system disproportionately impacts the Black community due to long-term tax policy implications, racial disparities in income, and the overall accumulation of wealth. Part I of this article will provide a brief synopsis of the start of the American taxation system and the first instances of tax implementation. Part II of this article will discuss the income disparities among the Black and White races and the interplay with gender. Part III of this article will expound on the effect that income inequalities, tax policies, and tax breaks have on wealth accumulation between Black …

Resistance Is Not Futile: Challenging Aapi Hate, Peter H. Huang

Publications

This Article analyzes how to challenge AAPI (Asian American Pacific Islander) hate—defined as explicit negative bias in racial beliefs towards AAPIs. In economics, beliefs are subjective probabilities over possible outcomes. Traditional neoclassical economics view beliefs as inputs to making decisions with more accurate beliefs having indirect, instrumental value by improving decision-making. This Article utilizes novel economic theories about belief-based utility, which economically captures the intuitive notion that people can derive pleasure and pain directly from their and other people's beliefs. Even false beliefs can offer comfort and reassurance to people. This Article also draws on interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary theories about …

มาตรการทางภาษีเพื่อส่งเสริมการพัฒนาทักษะอาชีพ : แนวทางการใช้ค่าเรียนคอร์สออนไลน์เป็นค่าลดหย่อนภาษีเงินได้บุคคลธรรมดา, ภรทิพย์ ปักษีเลิศ

Chulalongkorn University Theses and Dissertations (Chula ETD)

เอกัตศึกษานี้มีวัตถุประสงค์เพื่อศึกษาแนวทางการกำหนดมาตรการทางภาษีเพื่อสนับสนุนการพัฒนาทักษะอาชีพในกรณีการกำหนดค่าลดหย่อนภาษีเงินได้บุคคลธรรมดาสำหรับค่าใช้จ่ายในการเรียนที่รวมถึงการเรียนรูปแบบออนไลน์ ผู้วิจัยทำการศึกษาด้วยวิธีการวิจัยทางเอกสาร โดยการศึกษา รวบรวมข้อมูลกฎหมาย รวมถึงข้อมูลทางด้านอื่น ๆ ที่เกี่ยวข้อง โดยเฉพาะที่เกี่ยวกับหลักเกณฑ์การให้สิทธิประโยชน์ทางภาษีเงินได้บุคคลธรรมดาในต่างประเทศเพื่อวัตถุประสงค์ดังกล่าว นำมาวิเคราะห์ปัญหา ข้อจำกัด และแนวทางในการประยุกต์หลักเกณฑ์ดังกล่าวกับบริบทประเทศไทย จากการศึกษามาตรการปัจจุบันของประเทศไทยพบว่า ประเทศไทยมีการสนับสนุนผ่านภาษีเงินได้นิติบุคคล โดยนายจ้างที่เป็นบริษัทจำกัดหรือห้างหุ้นส่วนนิติบุคคลสามารถนำค่าใช้จ่ายในการฝึกอบรมพนักงานมาหักลดหย่อนภาษีได้ แต่มาตรการดังกล่าวไม่เป็นไปตามหลักความเสมอภาคทางภาษีอากร และไม่สอดคล้องนิยามการพัฒนาฝีมือแรงงานตามพระราชบัญญัติส่งเสริมการพัฒนาฝีมือแรงงาน พ.ศ. 2545 ตลอดจนไม่สอดคล้องกับการเปลี่ยนแปลงทางสังคมและเทคโนโลยีในปัจจุบัน มาตรการที่มีอยู่จึงไม่มีประสิทธิภาพเพียงพอในการส่งเสริมพัฒนาทักษะอาชีพของแรงงานไทย ผู้วิจัยได้ทำการศึกษามาตรการทางภาษีเพื่อส่งเสริมการพัฒนาทักษะอาชีพในประเทศสหรัฐอเมริกา ประเทศแคนาดา และประเทศสิงคโปร์ พบว่าทั้ง 3 ประเทศให้การสนับสนุนผ่านภาษีเงินได้บุคคลธรรมดา มีการกำหนดหลักเกณฑ์ร่วมกันที่สำคัญคือมาตรฐานคุณภาพหลักสูตรที่เรียนและความสัมพันธ์ระหว่างหลักสูตรที่เรียนและอาชีพที่ผู้เสียภาษีประกอบ รวมไปถึงหลักเกณฑ์เฉพาะที่ยกมาวิเคราะห์ ได้แก่ การกำหนดช่วงอายุที่ได้รับสิทธิประโยชน์ทางภาษีของประเทศแคนาดา การอนุญาตให้ใช้ค่าใช้จ่ายในการเรียนเพื่อเปลี่ยนสาขาอาชีพภายในระยะเวลา 2 ปีของประเทศสิงคโปร์ และการกำหนดเพดานรายได้สุทธิสูงสุดที่สามารถใช้สิทธิประโยชน์ทางภาษีได้ของประเทศสหรัฐอเมริกา ซึ่งมีความสอดคล้องกับบริบทปัญหาและแนวโน้มการเปลี่ยนแปลงในสังคมปัจจุบัน ดังนั้น เพื่อสนับสนุนการพัฒนาทักษะอาชีพของแรงงานไทยอย่างมีประสิทธิภาพมากขึ้นกว่าในปัจจุบัน จึงควรเพิ่มเติมมาตรการทางภาษีเงินได้บุคคลธรรมดาโดยกำหนดเป็นค่าลดหย่อนภาษีเงินได้และจำเป็นต้องวางหลักเกณฑ์การควบคุมคุณภาพครอบคลุมไปถึงการเรียนรูปแบบออนไลน์ซึ่งเป็นรูปแบบที่เหมาะสมกับลักษณะการใช้ชีวิตของประชากรวัยทำงานในปัจจุบันด้วย ตลอดจนพิจารณาหลักเกณฑ์ตามสภาพสังคมในปัจจุบัน โดยพิจารณาต้นทุนทางเศรษฐศาสตร์และประโยชน์ของมาตรการเป็นสำคัญ

When Should Governments Invest More In Nudging? Revisiting Benartzi Et Al. (2017), Avishalom Tor, Jonathan Klick

Journal Articles

Highly influential recent work by Benartzi et al. (2017) argues—using comparisons of effectiveness and costs—that behavioral interventions (or nudges) offer more cost-effective means than traditional regulatory instruments for changing individual behavior to achieve desirable policy goals. Based on this finding, these authors further conclude that governments and other organizations should increase their investments in nudging to supplement traditional interventions. Yet a closer look at Benartzi et al.’s (2017) own data and analysis reveals that they variously exclude and include key cost elements to the benefit of behavioral instruments over traditional ones and overstate the utility of cost-effectiveness analysis for policy …

The Law And Economics Of Behavioral Regulation, Avishalom Tor

Journal Articles

This article examines the law and economics of behavioral regulation (“nudging”), which governments and organizations increasingly use to substitute for and complement traditional instruments. To advance its welfare-based assessment, Section 1 examines alternative nudging definitions and Section 2 considers competing nudges taxonomies. Section 3 describes the benefits of nudges and their regulatory appeal, while Section 4 considers their myriad costs—most notably the private costs they generate for their targets and other market participants. Section 5 then illustrates the assessment of public and private welfare nudges using cost-benefit analysis, cost-effectiveness analysis, and rationality-effects analysis.

Water In The Time Of Covid: Water Insecurity, Privatization, And Establishment Of The Human Right To Water, Liza Sternik

University of San Francisco Law Review

No abstract provided.