cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
MADHAT: Model-Agnostic Dark Halo Analysis Tool

Abstract We present the Model-Agnostic Dark Halo Analysis Tool ( MADHAT ), a numerical tool which implements a Fermi-LAT data-driven, model-independent analysis of gamma-ray emission from dwarf satellite galaxies and dwarf galaxy candidates due to dark matter annihilation, dark matter decay, or other nonstandard or unknown astrophysics. This tool efficiently provides statistical upper bounds on the number of observed photons in excess of the number expected, based on empirical determinations of foregrounds and backgrounds, using a stacked analysis of any selected set of dwarf targets. It also calculates the resulting bounds on the properties of dark matter under any assumptions the user makes regarding dark sector particle physics or astrophysics. As an application, we determine new bounds on Sommerfeld-enhanced dark matter annihilation in a set of eight dwarfs. MADHAT v1.0 includes 58 dwarfs and dwarf candidate targets, and we discuss future planned developments. MADHAT is available and will be maintained at https://github.com/MADHATdm . Program summary Program title: MADHAT CPC Library link to program files: https://doi.org/10.17632/j4sd354jjr.1 Developer’s repository link: https://github.com/MADHATdm Licensing provisions: MIT Programming language: C++ Nature of problem: MADHAT is an efficient numerical tool that provides statistical limits on the number of observed photons coming from dark matter annihilation/decay or other nonstandard or unknown astrophysics by implementing a Fermi-LAT data-driven, model-independent analysis of gamma-ray emission from dwarf satellite galaxies and dwarf galaxy candidates. Solution method: MADHAT efficiently provides statistical upper bounds on the number of observed photons in excess of the number expected, based on empirical determinations of foregrounds and backgrounds, using a quick stacked analysis of any selected set of dwarf targets. The formalism relies on statistical estimates of the foreground/background gamma-ray flux along the observational line of sight. It also calculates the resulting bounds on the properties of dark matter under any assumptions the user makes regarding dark sector particle physics or astrophysics. MADHAT is dependent on Boost libraries.
Femtotesla Direct Magnetic Gradiometer Using a Single Multipass Cell

We describe a direct gradiometer using optical pumping with opposite circular polarization in two ${}^{87}\mathrm{Rb}$ atomic ensembles within a single multipass cell. A far-detuned probe laser undergoes a near-zero paramagnetic Faraday rotation due to the intrinsic subtraction of two contributions exceeding 3.5 rad from the highly polarized ensembles. We develop analysis methods for the direct gradiometer signal and measure a gradiometer sensitivity of 10.1 $\mathrm{fT}/\mathrm{cm}\sqrt{\mathrm{Hz}}$. We also demonstrate that our multipass design, in addition to increasing the optical depth, provides a fundamental advantage due to the significantly reduced effect of atomic diffusion on the spin-noise time-correlation, in excellent agreement with the theoretical estimate.
Mass Inflation and the C 2 -inextendibility of Spherically Symmetric Charged Scalar Field Dynamical Black Holes

It has long been suggested that the Cauchy horizon of dynamical black holes is subject to a weak null singularity, under the mass inflation scenario. We study in spherical symmetry the Einstein–Maxwell–Klein–Gordon equations and while we do not directly show mass inflation, we obtain a “mass inflation/ridigity” dichotomy. More precisely, we prove assuming (sufficiently slow) decay of the charged scalar field on the event horizon, that the Cauchy horizon emanating from time-like infinity $$\mathcal {CH}_{i^+}$$ can be partitioned as $$\mathcal {CH}_{i^+}= {\mathcal {D}} \cup {\mathcal {S}}$$ for two (possibly empty) disjoint connected sets $${\mathcal {D}}$$ and $${\mathcal {S}}$$ such that As a consequence of this result, we prove that the entire Cauchy horizon $$\mathcal {CH}_{i^+}$$ is globally $$\underline{C^2-{ inextendible}}$$ , extending a previous local result established by the author. To this end, we establish a novel classification of Cauchy horizons into three types: dynamical ( $${\mathcal {S}}=\emptyset $$ ), static ( $${\mathcal {D}}=\emptyset $$ ) or mixed. As a side benefit, we prove that there exists a trapped neighborhood of the Cauchy horizon, thus the apparent horizon cannot cross the Cauchy horizon, which is a result of independent interest. Our main motivation is to prove the $$C^2$$ Strong Cosmic Censorship Conjecture for a realistic model of spherical collapse in which charged matter emulates the repulsive role of angular momentum. In our case, this model is the Einstein–Maxwell–Klein–Gordon system on space-times with one asymptotically flat end. As a consequence of the $$C^2$$ -inextendibility of the Cauchy horizon, we prove the following statements, in spherical symmetry: The remaining obstruction in the one-ended case is associated to “locally naked” singularities emanating from the center of symmetry, a phenomenon which is also related to the Weak Cosmic Censorship Conjecture.
Capturing Curiosity: Using Internet Search Trends to Measure Public Attentiveness

While scholars have made great strides in formulating theories and measuring public attention, “most important problem” and media-based indicators are less than ideal measures. In order to address this shortcoming, this article borrows from health-care epidemiology to measure public attention based on Internet search trends. In doing so, it reviews the innovative ways in which scientists have used search activity to track the spread of infectious disease, discusses the ease and flexibility with which search data can be gathered, and then subjects a Google-based search measure to a series of validity tests. In particular, the analysis subjects the proposed measure to a battery of visual and statistical tests for convergent validity by comparing it with the most commonly used media-based measure of public attention—issue coverage in the New York Times. Across a range of policy issues (health care, global warming, and terrorism), the proposed measure demonstrates convergent validity. The article concludes by posing a series of important questions that the new measure will allow researchers to address.
Modeling multiple category brand preference with household basket data

Abstract Household basket data contain important information about the structure of brand preferences both within and across product categories. This research exploits the information in long-run basket summary data to segment consumers with respect to brand preferences. The approach provides insights into the competitive structure of brands within each product category and identifies potential synergies across product categories. The model is applied in an analysis of retailer and national brand name preferences for four paper goods categories. We discuss implications for joint promotion, product bundling and product assortment decisions.
When Two Giants Collide: Article 17 and the Scope of Trademark Protection Afforded under the TRIPS Agreement

The protection of trademarks, when it raises a conflict with the protection of geographical indications is one of the most contested issues on the international trade and intellectual property arena. In European Communities - Protection of Trademarks and Geographical Indications for Agricultural Products and Foodstuffs a WTO panel was faced with this issue. The panel report gives some insight into what international trademark law mandates as well as some pointers on how conflicts between different IP rights should be solved. This article attempts a deeper analysis of the coexistence of rights in the framework of the TRIPS Agreement that will inevitably grow in importance, when trade-related aspects start permeating all intellectual property issues in WTO fora. The article adopts a new approach to analyzing international trademark law. The Western concept of trademarks as property is contrasted to another concept of property that is derived from the use of property. While the property discussion in itself is not new to trademark law, nor is a discussion on the significance of trademark use in trademark law, here, the discussions are combined and refined in an attempt to provide an analytical framework for deciding international trademark cases. It is argued that the property right in a trademark should be assessed through how it is used, and any finding of infringement hinges upon whether the use of the trademark by its proprietor is unlawfully affected by a third party's use of an identical or similar sign. Informed by property theory and international law, the analytical framework is applied to the issues raised in the panel report. This leads to the conclusion that the panel report is flawed in certain respects.
A VULNERABILITY/SOLIDARITY FRAMEWORK FOR A GLOBAL ETHIC: HISTORICAL & CONTEMPORARY APPLICATIONS

Although bioethics seeks to address the basic problems of human flourishing, the articulation of a consensus moral framework remains almost elusive due to charges including intellectual hegemony, cultural domination and moral imperialism. This paper explores a phenomenological approach in relation to developing a global ethical framework. It fashions a vulnerability/solidarity framework drawing on trans-geographical narratives of domestic and trans-Atlantic slavery in West Africa as well as the Euro-American evolution of the human rights rhetoric and praxis. Applying this to the contemporary issue of medical brain drain, the paper shows how such a framework may help engage the local and global dimensions of bioethical issues.
What Makes Online Content Viral

Abstract Why are certain pieces of online content (e.g., advertisements, videos, news articles) more viral than others? This article takes a psychological approach to understanding diffusion. Using a unique data set of all the New York Times articles published over a three-month period, the authors examine how emotion shapes virality. The results indicate that positive content is more viral than negative content, but the relationship between emotion and social transmission is more complex than valence alone. Virality is partially driven by physiological arousal. Content that evokes high-arousal positive (awe) or negative (anger or anxiety) emotions is more viral. Content that evokes low-arousal, or deactivating, emotions (e.g., sadness) is less viral. These results hold even when the authors control for how surprising, interesting, or practically useful content is (all of which are positively linked to virality), as well as external drivers of attention (e.g., how prominently content was featured). Experi...
THE CHANGING ROLE OF TEAM LEADERSHIP IN MULTINATIONAL PROJECT ENVIRONMENTS

The influences of business environment and leadership style on team performance are examined in a field study of 37 technology-based projects. The findings provide insight into the changing business environment, as well as the leadership style and organizational conditions most conducive to high project performance in complex multinational project environments. One of the most striking finding is the large number of performance factors associated with the human side. Organizational conditions that satisfy personal and professional needs seem to have a strong effect on collaboration, commitment, risk management, and ultimately overall team performance. The paper provides a framework for assessing leadership effectiveness and suggests conditions favorable for building and managing high-performance project teams in complex, globally dispersed project environments. DOI:10.5585/gep.v3i2.110
When Categorization Is Ambiguous: Factors That Facilitate the Use of a Multiple Category Inference Strategy

Prior research has established that categorization plays a central role in new product learning. Very little is known, however, about category-based learning under conditions of categorization ambiguity. Of particular interest is whether and under what circumstances consumers might employ a multiple- (vs. single-) category strategy to generate inferences about ambiguous products. In this research, we identified 2 factors—category familiarity and the nature of the category cue—that are responsible for determining whether inferences are based on a single category or multiple, competing categories. The results of 3 studies suggest that when an ambiguous product is described in terms of conflicting conceptual and perceptual category cues, a single category inference strategy is employed when the perceptually cued category is more familiar than the conceptually cued category. In particular, inferences are based largely on the perceptually cued category under these circumstances. However, when the perceptually cued category is less than or equal to the conceptually cued category in familiarity, a multiple category inference strategy is employed and inferences are based on both the perceptually and conceptually cued categories.
Incentives and Competition in the Airline Industry

We examine how performance changes at airlines in response to a change in incentives for their executives. When airline executives are given bonuses based on on-time arrival performance, on-time arrival does indeed improve. Interestingly, competitors on the same routes also improve their on-time performance, even when the executives of the competitors did not receive bonuses based on their own on-time performance. As a result, there is no improvement in airline financial performance. Our results suggest that incentives simply heighten competition in on-time performance, which then erodes any possible financial gains from improved service.
Structure, Clearinghouses and Symmetry

We introduce and justify a taxonomy for the structure of markets and minimal institutions which appear in constructing minimally complex trading structures to perform the functions of price formation, settlement and payments. Each structure is presented as a playable strategic market game and is examined for its efficiency, the number of degrees of freedom and the symmetry properties of the structure
Payoff Kinks in Preferences Over Lotteries

This paper identifies two distinct types of payoff kinks that can be exhibited by preference functions over monetary lotteries—“locally separable” vs. “locally nonseparable”—and illustrates their relationship to the payoff and probability derivatives of such functions. Expected utility and Frechet differentiable preference functions are found to be incapable of exhibiting locally nonseparable payoff kinks; rank-dependent preference functions are incapable of avoiding them.
The Impact of Next Generation Television on Consumers and the First Amendment

Consumers have access to an ever increasing inventory of video content choices as a result of technological innovations, more readily available broadband, new business plans, inexpensive high capacity storage and the Internet’s ability to serve as a single medium for a variety of previously standalone services delivered via different channels. They increasingly have little tolerance for “appointment television” that limits access to a particular time, channel and device. Access to video content is becoming a matter of using one of several softwareconfigured interfaces capable of delivering live and recorded content anytime, anywhere, to any device and via many different transmission and presentation formats. Technological and marketplace convergence eliminate the viability of judicial and regulatory models that apply varying degrees of First Amendment protection as a function of the medium delivering the content. With the Internet serving as a single conduit for a variety of information, communications and entertainment (“ICE”), ventures can offer a bundle of services that span two or more regulatory classifications, e.g., the ability of wireless handsets to make telephone calls, to receive video programming and to access the Internet. This paper will examine the ongoing migration from channels to software-configured platforms for accessing video content with an eye toward assessing the impact on consumers and the First Amendment. The paper identifies the need for significant amendment of the
Got Wheels? Article 2A, Standardized Rental Car Terms, Rational Inaction, and Unilateral Private Ordering

This Article examines the modern system of unilateral private ordering facilitated by form contracts in the context of standard form contracts for renting a car. Modern law accepts the presumption of a free market and free bargain in the setting of form contracting despite the lack of bargaining power on the consumer side of the deal. The article assesses the importance of defaults and presumptions in contract law, and presents the results of an empirical review of standard agreement forms of ten leading rental car companies, noting examples of significant alterations to common law defaults. The article also explores the doctrine of unconscionability as it applies to form contracting and examines the historical basis for a lenient standard for contract formation assent. It questions whether extension of the lenient, hands-off approach for bilateral transactions makes sense in the context of unilateral private ordering. Ignoring the issue of bargaining power in most situations, Article 2A provides scant protection for consumers in the context of leasing personal property. Ultimately, the article questions whether the system of constrained judicial oversight that insulates bargaining from governmental control in private ordering historically should extend to the context of standardized consumer contracts that emphatically dispense with the bilateral approach to consensual transactions.
A Reply to Professor Tobias

In his response to my article, Intervention in Public Law Litigation: The Environmental Paradigm, Professor Carl Tobias finds much to commend and much to criticize, and he offers a “friendly critique” of my article. I thank Professor Tobias for taking the time to respond to my article, and I hope that this response furthers the dialogue on this important subject.
Human Capital Development and Parental Investment in India

We estimate production functions for cognition and health for children aged 1–12 in India, based on the Young Lives Survey. India has over 70 million children aged 0–5 who are at risk of developmental deficits. The inputs into the production functions include parental background, prior child cognition and health, and child investments, which are taken as endogenous. Estimation is based on a nonlinear factor model, based on multiple measurements for both inputs and child outcomes. Our results show an important effect of early health on child cognitive development, which then becomes persistent. Parental investments affect cognitive development at all ages, but more so for younger children. Investments also have an impact on health at early ages only.
Hedonic Adaptation and the Settlement of Civil Lawsuits.

This paper 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 a previously overlooked aspect of the civil litigation process: the probability of pretrial settlement. The glacial pace of civil litigation is commonly thought of as a regrettable source of costs to the relevant parties. Even relatively straightforward personal injury lawsuits can last for as long as two years, delaying the arrival of necessary redress to the tort victim and forcing the litigants to expend ever greater quantities of resources. Yet these procedural delays are likely to have salutary effects on the litigation system as well. 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 it takes her case to reach trial the aggrieved plaintiff is likely to adapt hedonically to her injury—even if that injury is permanent—and within two years will report levels of happiness very close to her pre-injury state. Consequently, the amount of money that the plaintiff believes will fairly compensate her for her injury—will ―make her whole,‖ in the typical parlance of tort damages—will decrease appreciably. The sum that the plaintiff is willing to accept in settlement will decline accordingly, and the chances of settlement increase—perhaps dramatically. The high costs of prolonged civil litigation are thus likely to be offset substantially by the resources saved as adaptive litigants succeed in settling before trial.
The Promise of International Tax Scholarship and its Implications for Research Design, Theory and Methodology

What should international tax scholars be doing? Over the past two decades, international tax has grown both as a practice area and as a field of study. Scholars have begun devoting significant attention to the development, design, and implementation of international tax law. This activity is accompanied by a reflection on the scholarship and its goals, method and content. A review of modern international tax scholarship reveals that as the field has matured, international tax scholars have increasingly turned to other disciplines, especially social sciences, to draw upon their insights, ideas, and research to improve understanding of international tax policy. But this intersection with the social sciences (and the humanities) forces us to confront some distinct differences between the approach of the legal academy to research and scholarship and the approaches reflected in other fields. As the tax academy increasingly reaches into other disciplines, we question what constitutes the core of our own discipline and what we can uniquely contribute. Ultimately, international tax scholars have a strong claim to a vital role. The importance of non-legal disciplines to the development of international tax policy, combined with the perceived inaccessibility of international tax to those working outside the field, renders international tax distinctive if not unique. The burden rests upon the tax community to establish a robust, broad and comprehensive research structure capable of integrating guidance from other disciplines. International tax scholars need to look beyond the traditional bounds of their field – but they cannot abdicate the territory to other disciplines. The real challenge is how to manage both strands effectively.
De Facto Witness Tampering

De facto witness tampering matters because it fuels increased victim despair and danger, and its omission from discourse animates much regressive case law. Although present statutes address the most virulent and direct manifestations of witness tampering (WT), they miss the nuanced and less overt, but still dangerous, conduct that achieves the same unlawful ends. Many perpetrators of intimate partner violence (IPV) and human trafficking (HT) are exceptionally resourceful in their efforts to prevent victims from testifying against them, thus necessitating the expansion of remedial statutory schemes to recognize de facto witness tampering.After briefly examining the doctrinal and normative aspects of de facto witness tampering, the Article describes the concept in practice, including “tipping point” tampering — such as victim grooming, financial sabotage, and cyberharassment. The integration of human rights doctrine must be part of instrumental reform as criminalization of de facto WT comports with internationally recognized norms of state obligations to victims of gendered violence. Because IPV-HT offenders are not likely to admit their intent to silence witnesses, it is necessary to promulgate a presumptive intent standard that focuses on the resulting harm. To that end, I propose a rebuttable presumption of intent to silence a victim when a court finds that a person committed an IPV-HT act as part of a pattern of coercive control. The Rule of Law maxim must mean that the state is obligated to protect the civil and human rights of abuse survivors and this requires criminalizing the full scope of WT conduct.
Regionalism versus Globalism : a View from the Americas

The well-deserved celebration of UNIDROIT'S first seventy-five years focused on a topic that is of particular interest to the Organization of American States and to the organ of the OAS to which the author belongs, the Inter-American Juridical Committee. The topic of the 75th Anniversary Congress -- "Worldwide Harmonization of Private Law and Regional Integration" -- implicates one of the several dichotomies with which we in the Inter-American system who work on questions of private international law (and international private law) have been grappling in recent years, the problem of regional versus global approaches to the harmonization of private international law (and international private law). In this brief contribution, the author offers a few comments on this and related dichotomies from the perspective of the Inter-American private international law codification process.
Is Secured Debt Used to Redistribute Value from Tort Claimants in Bankruptcy? an Empirical Analysis

Many scholars question the priority enjoyed by secured debt in bankruptcy. They fear that secured debt will be used to inefficiently redistribute value away from preexisting unprotected creditors of a firm. These scholars advocate a host of legal innovations, such as "superpriority" for tort claimants with respect to other creditors, to mitigate the redistributional problem. Other scholars minimize the redistributional problem, however, and argue that priority for secured credit is efficient. To help resolve this debate, this Article examines the redistributional theory from an empirical perspective. In particular, it focuses on secured debt usage by publicly traded firms facing large tort liabilities ("high-tort" firms). In theory, secured debt should be attractive for high-tort firms because they have a large class of unsecured and uncovenanted creditors (tort claimants) exposed to redistribution in bankruptcy through the use of secured credit. The Article's empirical analysis contradicts the redistributional theory's prediction, however. High-tort firms have unusually low amounts of secured debt. Although this result is very difficult to explain under the redistributional theory, it can readily be explained according to other theories of secured debt. Several important policy implications for bankruptcy priorities follow from these findings. Copyright © 2008 by Yair Listokin. t Associate Professor of Law, Yale Law School. I would like to thank Barry Adler, Kenneth Ayotte, Ian Ayres, George Priest, Alvin Klevorick, Roberta Romano, Alan Schwartz, Kathryn Spier, George Triantis, and participants at the Conference on Empirical Legal Studies at the University of Texas School of Law for many helpful comments and suggestions. All errors
Probate Law Reform and Nonprobate Transfers

The advent of widespread, large-scale probate avoidance has added a new dimension to the project of probate law reform. When the Uniform Probate Code made its debut in 1969, its primary goal was to modernize traditional probate procedures and make them more uniform, flexible, and efficient. The Code's reforms were in part a response to the rise of will substitutes which offered a ready means of transferring property at death outside the probate system. In the intervening years, however, will substitutes have continued to proliferate, while traditional probate procedures have resisted comprehensive reform. The probate system has not become obsolete - it provides valuable safeguards in many cases and remains indispensable in dealing with residual assets and resolving disputes - but it now plays a relatively modest role in regulating deathtime wealth transfers. Today, wills operate side by side with an ever-expanding array of will substitutes, and it no longer makes sense for reformers to focus exclusively or even primarily on the probate system. Accordingly, they have taken the first tentative steps toward articulating a unified law of probate and nonprobate transfers. Ultimately, the success of the reformers' project will require a sustained and vigorous effort to maintain conceptual coherence and achieve practical implementation.
Understanding the Effects of Post-Service Experience Surveys on Delay and Acceleration of Customer Purchasing Behavior: Evidence From the Automotive Services Industry

Service businesses today make extensive use of post-service experience surveys to obtain feedback from customers on service quality, satisfaction, and future repurchase behavior. Recent research ha...
Sustained Earnings and Revenue Growth, Earnings Quality, and Earnings Response Coefficients

We show that firms reporting sustained increases in both earnings and revenues have (1) higher quality earnings and (2) larger earnings response coefficients (ERCs) in comparison to firms reporting sustained increases in earnings alone. With respect to earnings quality, firms with revenue-supported increases in earnings have more persistent earnings, exhibit less susceptibility to earnings management, and have higher future operating performance. With respect to response coefficients, firms with revenue-supported increases in earnings have both higher ERCs and lower book value response coefficients, consistent with the implications of the Ohlson (1995, Contemporary Accounting Research 12, 661–687) model.
The 3-53 keV Spectrum of the Quasar 1508+5714: X-Rays from z = 4.3

We present a high-quality X-ray spectrum in the 3-53 keV rest frame band of the radio-loud quasar 1508+5714, which is by far the brightest known X-ray source at z > 4. A simple power-law model with an absorption column density equal to the Galactic value in the direction of the source provides an excellent and fully adequate fit to the data; the measured power-law photon index ? = 1.42 -->+ 0.13?0.10. Upper limits to Fe K? line-emission and Compton-reflection components are derived. We offer evidence for both X-ray and radio variability in this object and provide the first contemporaneous radio spectrum (? = -0.25). The data are all consistent with a picture in which the emission from this source is dominated by a relativistically beamed component in both the X-ray and radio bands.
The employment and output of Nations: Theory and policy implications

Abstract I build a dynamic general equilibrium model that is consistent with the trends in the participation, unemployment and employment rates for the US and major European economies over the last 50 years. I then use the model to study the interdependence of non-competitive labor and product markets in order to shed light on the effects of institutions and policies on employment and output. Unemployment harms output because it inserts a wedge between labor supply (participation) and employment. The distribution of income across wages and profits plays a central role in the economy's dynamics. The reason is that the wage share drives the labor market participation decisions of households, while the profit share drives the entry decisions of firms. Intuitively, one can think of entry decisions as another participation margin. I uncover feedback mechanisms linking the two markets that amplify the adverse effects on output of labor and product market frictions. These mechanisms have interesting policy implications.
Democracy, Inequality, and Inflation

Do democracies suffer higher inflation than nondemocracies? We identify two competing hypotheses regarding the impact of democracy on inflation. In the “populist” approach, inflation is the result of public demands for transfers financed by the inflation tax, suggesting that electoral competition will increase inflation. In the “state-capture” approach, inflation is a result of pressure from elites who derive private benefits from money creation, suggesting that electoral competition may constrain inflation. We present a simple model that captures both ideas and argue that the impact of democracy is conditioned by the prevailing level of income inequality. This claim is tested with data from more than 100 countries between 1960 and 1999 using different dynamic panel estimation methods to control for unobserved effects and the potential endogeneity of some independent variables. We find robust evidence that democracy is associated with lower inflation in lower-inequality countries but with higher inflation in higher-inequality countries.The authors thank Michael Bailey, Robert Cumby, Philip Keefer, Torsten Persson, Dennis Quinn, George Shambaugh, David Stasavage, and David Stromberg for comments on early drafts. The central bank turnover data used in this paper were generously provided by Jakob de Haan. Previous versions of this paper were delivered at the annual meetings of the Midwest Political Science Association and American Political Science Association. Financial support from the Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service and research assistance from Jorge Ugaz and Mouneer Odeh are gratefully acknowledged.
Corporate governance quality: Trends and real effects

Abstract This paper constructs a composite index of corporate governance quality, documents its evolution during the 1994–2003 period in selected emerging and developed economies, and assesses its impact on growth and productivity of the economy and its corporate sector. Our investigation yields three main findings. First, corporate governance quality in most countries has overall improved, although in varying degrees and with a few notable exceptions. Second, the data exhibit cross-country convergence in corporate governance quality with countries that score poorly initially catching up with countries with high corporate governance scores. Third, the impact of improvements in corporate governance quality on traditional measures of real economic activity—GDP growth, productivity growth, and the ratio of investment to GDP—is positive, significant and quantitatively relevant, and the growth effect is particularly pronounced for industries that are most dependent on external finance.
Centralizing treasury management in China: The rationale of the central reformers

The Chinese central government, spearheaded by the Ministry of Finance, launched a bold reform of the treasury management system in 2001, centralizing the disbursement of budgetary funds. This article analyzes the rationale of institutional reform from the perspective of the central reformers. Traditionally, governmental bank accounts in China were fragmented between and within levels of government, hindering budget implementation and intergovernmental transfers, as well as fomenting corruption. The centerpiece of China's treasury reform is the establishment of the Treasury Single Account (TSA), which serves to both strengthen expenditure controls and improve cash management. However, while the treasury reform promises to make significant strides in improving fiscal control and countering the misuse of public funds, its implementation remains imperfect and incomplete. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Does Medical Malpractice Law Improve Health Care Quality

We assess the potential for medical liability forces to deter medical errors and improve health care treatment quality, identifying liability's influence by drawing on variations in the manner by which states formulate the negligence standard facing physicians. Using hospital discharge records from the National Hospital Discharge Survey and clinically-validated quality metrics inspired by the Agency for Health Care Research and Quality, we find evidence suggesting that treatment quality may improve upon reforms that expect physicians to adhere to higher quality clinical standards. We do not find evidence, however, suggesting that treatment quality may deteriorate following reforms to liability standards that arguably condone the delivery of lower quality care. Similarly, we do not find evidence of deterioration in health care quality following remedy-focused liability reforms such as caps on non-economic damages awards.
Wise restraints?: Learning legal rules, not standards, reduces the effects of stereotypes in legal decision-making.

Does studying the law reduce bias from stereotypes in legal decision-making? Psychological, psychometric, and jurisprudential theory suggest that the answer depends on the form of the relevant legal doctrine: Learning legal rules, which provide explicit direction as to the correct outcome of a case, should reduce the impact of stereotyping; learning legal standards, which require decision-makers to draw inferences from the facts of a case, should not. The results of two experimental studies involving undergraduates and law students provide strong support for this theory. In each, consistent with the predictions of the Stereotype Content Model, participants tended to decide cases for the party that was rated by an independent sample to be associated with stereotypically warmer traits unless the participants had learned legal rules and were deciding cases with facts to which those rules applied. Learning legal standards did not moderate this effect. The findings provide additional support for the distinction between rules and standards in law and can inform the public policy decisions between which is most beneficial.
Two Too Many: Third Party Beneficiaries of Warranties Under the Uniform Commercial Code

The underlying purpose of the Uniform Commercial Code is clearly stated in section 1-103(a): “to simplify, clarify and modernize the law governing commercial transactions…and to make uniform the law among the…jurisdictions.” Generally, the cogent rules of the U.C.C. have been largely successful in achieving that end. Unfortunately, provisions such as section 2-318 have undercut this stated purpose by making the law of commercial transactions more complex and less homogenous. Specifically, section 2-318 provides state legislatures a choice among three very different alternatives (rather than one well-grounded provision) on when third-party, non-purchasers can sue a seller or manufacturer for breach of warranty. The end result is a section that (i) produces vastly different outcomes among jurisdictions, including variations in the common law among states with the same alternative; (ii) defeats the purpose of the U.C.C. by promoting complexity and discord; (iii) creates unpredictable liability; and (iv) generates unnecessary battles over choice of law. This article examines these problems associated with section 2-318 in depth and proposes a revision that aligns section 2-318 with modern jurisprudence and public policy. The proposed revision would not only fulfill the purpose of the U.C.C. by creating uniform and predictable outcomes, but also correctly allocate risk of loss to the party in the best position to avoid or minimize that risk - the manufacturer.
Communicating the Canons: How Lower Courts React When the Supreme Court Changes the Rules of Statutory Interpretation

Introduction 482 I. Inconsistency and Authority in Interpretive Methodology 485 A. Methodology in Statutory Interpretation 485 B. Methodological Inconsistency and Methodological Stare Decisis 487 C. A Note on the Selection of Case Studies and the Inferences They Support . 493 II. Large-Scale Trends 494 III. Quick Canons 507 IV. Fixed Canons 513 V. Loose Canons (The Problem of Canon Prominence) ......... 518 A. Ghosts and Zombies 519 1. The Slow Fade (and Nascent Transformation?) of the Civil-Rights Canon .... 520 2. The Uncertain Future of the Subject-Matter Jurisdiction Canon 529 B. Runaway Canons 537 VI. Canon Crystallization 542 VII.Summary and Implications 546 A. Factors Bearing on Lower-Court Responsiveness .. 547 1. Different Kinds of Canons 547 2. Different Kinds of Changes 548
Insurance and the Law

Insurance and the law traces the relationship between insurance and the legal field, with a particular focus on tort and insurance law. The article provides a conceptual description of insurance that emphasizes the role of insurance as a form of regulation, which links insurance to the more general topic of governing through risk.
Appellate Review of Patent Claim Construction: Should the Federal Circuit Be Its Own Lexicographer in Matters Related to the Seventh Amendment

This article addresses the need for a principled standard of appellate review of patent claim construction, emphasizing the necessity for such a standard to be compatible with Seventh Amendment law. In Cybor Corp. v. FAS Technologies, Inc., the Federal Circuit resolved internal conflict regarding the appropriate standard of appellate review by establishing a de novo standard and overruling its past inconsistent precedent. The appropriateness of this de novo standard of appellate review has generated extensive debate and disagreement within the judiciary, the patent bar and academia. It has been over ten years since a majority of the Federal Circuit endorsed this standard of review, taking the position that it was in line with the Supreme Court's seminal Seventh Amendment Markman case, which holds that judges, rather than juries, should construe patent claims. Over the years since the Federal Circuit endorsed the de novo standard of review, the dissenting voices on the Federal Circuit have persisted and the number of Federal Circuit judges who are on record as indicating that the standard should be revisited has steadily grown. Part I of this Article examines whether the Cybor rule of de novo appellate review of patent claim construction is consistent with Supreme Court precedent, focusing primarily on Seventh Amendment decisions. Part II discusses whether or not it is appropriate for the Federal Circuit to set the boundary between issues of fact and issues of law in patent cases. Finally, Part III addresses the extent to which various proposed standards of appellate review of claim construction are principled, with particular emphasis on their compatibility with the Seventh Amendment.
Valuing Internal vs. External Knowledge: Explaining the Preference for Outsiders

This paper compares how managersvalue knowledge from internal and external sources. Although many theories account for favoritism toward insiders, we find that preferences for knowledge obtained from outsiders are also prevalent. Two complementary case studies and survey data from managers demonstrate the phenomenon of valuing external knowledge more highly than internal knowledge and reveal some mechanisms through which this process occurs. We found evidence that the preference for outsider knowledge is the result of managerial responses to (1) the contrasting status implications of learning from internal versus external competitors, and (2) the availability or scarcity of knowledge-internal knowledge is more readily available and hence subject to greater scrutiny, while external knowledge is more scarce, which makes it appear more special and unique. We conclude by considering some consequences of the external knowledge preference for organizational functioning.
Accrual reliability, earnings persistence and stock prices ☆

Abstract This paper extends the work of Sloan (1996. The Accounting Review 71, 289) by linking accrual reliability to earnings persistence. We construct a model showing that less reliable accruals lead to lower earnings persistence. We then develop a comprehensive balance sheet categorization of accruals and rate each category according to the reliability of the underlying accruals. Empirical tests generally confirm that less reliable accruals lead to lower earnings persistence and that investors do not fully anticipate the lower earnings persistence, leading to significant security mispricing. These results suggest that there are significant costs associated with incorporating less reliable accrual information in financial statements.
Consumer Protection in Transnational Contexts

This Article provides an overview of United States consumer protection law in the growing number cases with an international dimension that arise with economic globalization, expanding transnational corporations, worldwide production chains, manufacturing outsourcing and more efficient international communication. U.S. consumer protection law remains primarily state law, including tort and product liability law, contract and warranty law, and general and product-specific consumer protection statutes. (This refers to the private law remedies for consumer goods which are the substantive laws addressed in this article.) There is little treaty-based, constitutional or federal law except for federal regulatory law that largely adopts state law standards, requires disclosure or encourages disclosure, monitoring and attention to consumer safety. Parties have extensive discretion to choose fora and governing law. Where parties do not so choose (as in noncontractual relations), plaintiffs have significant but limited discretion to select fora, and ordinary U.S. choice of law rules apply for substantive law, possibly with a greater tendency to choose U.S. law. Requirements for personal jurisdiction are similar to those in domestic litigation. Recognition and enforcement of foreign judgments depends partly on compliance with treaty obligations and application of relatively uniform state laws’ procedural and substantive standards. Class action litigation and alternative dispute resolution are available. In recent years, U.S. authorities increasingly have pursued international agreements and cooperative arrangements to increase regulatory capacity, enforcement and harmonized standards. The impact of intergovernmental cooperation has been limited, and U.S. consumers face formidable hurdles in seeking remedies against foreign defendants. Defective exports from China illustrate these limits and the increasing likelihood of foreign-based dangers to U.S. consumers. U.S. litigation against U.S. (and occasionally Chinese) defendants (many of which have foreign-based manufacturing facilities) shows how U.S. consumers can create incentives to pressure foreign producers to improve safety. Increased monitoring and regulatory harmonization may follow, benefiting U.S. consumers.
Macroeconomic Priorities and Crash States

This paper reproduces Lucas's analysis of the costs of business cycles in an economy with a low probability, crash state in consumption growth. It is shown that the presence of a crash state dramatically increases the costs of consumption volatility.
The innocence of becoming: Nietzsche against guilt

I offer an interpretation of Nietzsche's striking idea of ‘the innocence of becoming’ (die Unschuld des Werdens), and a partial defense of its import, namely, that no one is ever morally responsibl...
Romanticizing Democracy, Political Fragmentation, and the Decline of American Government

This Feature was delivered originally as the 2013-14 Ralph Gregory Elliot Lecture at Yale Law School. author. Sudler Family Professor of Constitutional Law, NYU School of Law. I am grateful for comments received there and at a presentation of these views at the NYU Faculty Workshop. I would also like to thank Helene Landemore and Nick Stephanopoulos for comments. For excellent research assistance, I thank Nabil Ansari, as well as the NYU library reference team, particularly Gretchen Feltes. I am also indebted to discussions with former Senators and members of the House, all of whom requested anonymity. H.804.PILDES.852.DOCX (DO NOT DELETE) 11/18/14 9:44 AM the decline of american government 805 feature contents
Geography and the Market for CEOs

I examine the role of geography in the market for CEOs and find that firms hire locally five times more often than expected if geography were irrelevant to the matching process. This local matching bias is widespread and exists even among the largest U.S. firms. Tests reveal that both labor supply and demand influence local matching. Compensation and unforced turnover are lower for local than for nonlocal CEOs, and the compensation of local CEOs depends on local labor market factors, unlike that of nonlocal CEOs. These findings suggest the presence of market segmentation and contrast with much of the prior literature, which explicitly or implicitly assumes a single national market. This paper was accepted by Lauren Cohen, finance.