cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
FAITH-BASED ETHICAL INVESTING: THE CASE OF DOW JONES ISLAMIC INDEXES

This paper examines the performance of seven indexes chosen from the Dow Jones Islamic Market Index (DJIM) vis-a-vis their non-Islamic counterparts using a variety of measures such as Sharpe, Treynor, Jensen and Fama’s selectivity, net selectivity and diversification. Second, we examine the persistence of performance using Carhart’s (1997) four factor pricing models. Third, we use cointegration to examine how the Islamic indexes compare to their non-Islamic counterparts. The sample period is from January 1996 to December 2005 (120 data points). It is further broken down into two sub-periods: January 1996 to December 2000 (60 data points) and January 2001 to December 2006 (60 data points). We find no difference between Islamic and non-Islamic indexes. The Dow Jones Islamic indexes outperform their conventional counterparts from 1996 to 2000 and underperform them from 2001 to 2005. Overall, similar reward to risk and diversification benefits exist for both the Islamic and conventional indexes.
A Second Chance for Innovation--Foreign Inspiration for the Revised Uniform Residential Landlord and Tenant Act

During the 1960s and 1970s, American residential landlord and tenant law experienced a "revolution" that dramatically transformed the rights of residential tenants. The promulgation of the Uniform Residential Landlord and Tenant Act (URLTA) in 1972 marked the revolution’s culmination by recasting the residential lease as contract rather than conveyance, codifying the implied warranty of habitability, and modernizing landlord-tenant law in a number of important ways. Despite the fact that many of the changes brought about during the American landlord-tenant revolution had been in place in Europe for decades, if not centuries, the drafting of the URLTA was undertaken with little, if any, comparative research into the residential tenancy laws of foreign jurisdictions, with the result that American landlord-tenant law remains decidedly insular. However, the Uniform Law Commission’s recent call for comprehensive revision of the ULRTA represents a second chance for American landlord-tenant law to benefit from comparative exploration. This Article seeks to take advantage of this second chance, and to that end looks abroad to European jurisdictions’ treatment of landlord-tenant rights in the residential lease.
How Effective Is Japanese Foreign Aid? Econometric Results from a Bounded Rationality Model for Indonesia

How does Japanese aid influence the allocation of government expenditures and the raising of government revenues? Using a non-linear model with an asymmetric loss function the case of Japanese aid to Indonesia is examined at the macroeconomic level. It turns out that Japanese aid led to proportionately more development expenditures than other aid. It also might have been positively related to an increased effort by the Indonesian government to raise taxes. Economic explanations based on a bounded rationality models are advanced. Econometric and institutional explanations are also offered. The three sets of explanations can be seen as overlapping and complementary.
An experimental study of storable votes

The storable votes mechanism is a voting method for committees that meet periodically to consider a series of binary decisions. Each member is allocated a fixed budget of votes to be cast as desired over the sequence of decisions. This provides incentives for voters to spend more votes on those decisions that matter to them more, typically generating welfare gains over standard majority voting with non-storable votes. Equilibrium strategies have a very intuitive feature—the number of votes cast must be monotonic in the voter's intensity of preferences—but are otherwise difficult to calculate, raising questions of practical implementation. We present experimental data where realized efficiency levels were remarkably close to theoretical equilibrium predictions, while subjects adopted monotonic but off-equilibrium strategies. We are led to conclude that concerns about the complexity of the game may have limited practical relevance.
Job insecurity, unemployment insurance and on-the-job search. Evidence from older American workers

Abstract I analyse how unemployment insurance (UI) affects on-the-job search among older workers in the US, allowing for job insecurity. Using a control function approach, I find that one-standard deviation in the potential replacement rate from UI (about 12.5 percentage points) discourages on-the-job search by 0.55 percentage points, thereby reducing the probability of starting a new job at a different employer. This average effect is small because UI does not affect the search behaviour of workers who do not believe to be at risk of job loss, the majority of the employed population over 50. In contrast, a one-standard deviation increase in the potential replacement rate reduces the probability of on-the-job-search by as much as 3.5 percentage points for workers who state a 90% probability of losing their jobs. I also find suggestive evidence that this effect decreases with wages, although the estimated effects across quartiles of the wage distribution are not statistically different from each other. I also find that UI discourages on-the-job search in similar magnitudes for men and women, although the effects are only statistically significant for men.
A theory of the natural unemployment rate and the duration of employment

Abstract In this paper, a theory of the natural or equilibrium rate of unemployment is built around a theory of the duration of employment. Evidence is presented that most unemployed workers became unemployed because their previous jobs came to an end; only a minority are on temporary layoff or have just entered the labor force. Thus, high-unemployment labor markets are generally ones where jobs are brief and there is a large flow of newly jobless workers. The model of the duration of employment posits that employment arrangements are the efficient outcome of the balancing of workers' and employers' interests about the length of jobs. Full equilibrium in the labor market also requires that the rate at which unemployed workers find new jobs be efficient. The factors influencing the resulting natural unemployment rate are discussed. Under plausible assumptions, the natural rate is independent of the supply or demand for labor. Only the costs of recruiting, the costs of turnover to employers, the efficiency of matching jobs and workers, and the cost of unemployment to workers are likely to influence the natural rate of unemployment strongly. Since these are probably stable over time, the paper concludes that fluctuations in the natural unemployment rate are unlikely to contribute much to fluctuations in the observed unemployment rate.
The politics of government investment

This paper investigates the relation between corporate political connections and government investment. We study various forms of political influence, ranging from passive connections between firms and politicians, such as those based on politicians’ voting districts, to active forms, such as lobbying, campaign contributions, and employment of connected directors. Using hand-collected data on firm applications for capital under the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP), we find that politically connected firms are more likely to be funded, controlling for other characteristics. Yet investments in politically connected firms underperform those in unconnected firms. Overall, we show that connections between firms and regulators are associated with distortions in investment efficiency.
Grand, Bland or Somewhat Planned? Toward a Canadian Strategy for the Indo-Pacific Region

Canada may be a Pacific nation, but one would hardly know it, given its history of merely sporadic and inconsistent engagement with the Indo-Pacific region. The idea of a proud legacy of special relations with Asian nations is clearly overblown. Canada’s relations with the Indo-Pacific region are in need of serious attention and forethought. There is cause for concern: With the spectacular economic rise, and growing influence, of certain Asian nations, Canada’s pattern of Indo-Pacific neglect is proving increasingly unaffordable. Canada may not have squandered any significant legacy from the past, but it might easily squander the potential for crucial relations in the future. Understandably, that has led some observers to call for a sort of “grand strategy” for Canada to deal with the Indo-Pacific region: an overarching framework that would co-ordinate all the various facets — economic, institutional and security — where Canadian interests do and will touch the Indo-Pacific region. Yet, again, these calls are misplaced: Canada must be more engaged in the region, but there are instances where it should address issues on a seriatim basis (that is, confronting and responding to issues on their own, as they emerge). In some cases, a strategic framework may be prudent, but not in all cases. The appropriate approach is neither a grand strategy, nor a “muddling through” approach, but rather, something in between: partly strategically planned, partly not. In particular, it would be inadvisable for Canada to fully commit to any standing security strategy to deal with the rise of China’s military power. Canada is not a global military power, whereas its closest ally, the United States, is the world’s largest military power. The American strategy toward China will influence Canada’s approach more than any other factor, however the U.S. strategy is currently largely unclear. For Canada to be proactive in independently developing a security strategy with regard to China could result in waste and even conflict with our allies. Indeed, in evaluating Canada’s security position vis-a-vis the entire Indo-Pacific region, the factors largely seem to favour Canada taking a seriatim approach: Canada’s natural and optimal position, given its military status, is to take a reactive, second-mover approach, rather than a first-mover approach. Somewhat ironically, Canada’s history of inattentiveness towards the Indo-Pacific region may actually provide Canada with increased flexibility and advantage in the new era of rising Asian power: Put simply, save for a few examples, there is a distinct lack of baggage between Canada and the Indo-Pacific nations, leaving something close to a clean start for future relations. It is, however, critical that Canada not allow that past irresponsible practice to persist. Notions of some “grand strategy” for the Indo-Pacific region may be misguided. But given the ascendant role of Indo-Pacific nations in the 21st century, it would be even more unwise for Canada to maintain its longstanding pattern of indifference toward the region.
Fair Use & Mass Digitization: The Future of Copy-Dependent Technologies After Authors Guild v. HathiTrust

This Note discusses the future of digital libraries and other products reliant on mass digitization in the wake of the HathiTrust decision. First, this Note presents an overview of U.S. copyright protection and the ways in which its goal of incentivizing authors has consistently been balanced by efforts to protect preservation, access, and fair use. Next, the Note explores early formalities and the establishment of the national archive before discussing the modern Copyright Act and its series of statutory exemptions. After outlining the statutory provisions, the Note then discusses the fair use doctrine, focusing on its application to cases involving use for educational and research purposes. Second, this Note discusses the trial court opinion in Authors Guild, Inc. v. HathiTrust and the court’s fair use finding regarding the full-text search index and copies for the print disabled. The Note argues that this decision rightly solidifies the growing body of jurisprudence protecting uses that have a transformative purpose and that pose no threat of artistic substitution while providing a public benefit. However, the Note also argues that the same consideration cannot be applied to HathiTrust’s copies for the print-disabled and that the trial court’s fair use application and interpretation of § 121 may be narrowed or corrected on appeal. Third, this Note discusses the HathiTrust decision’s effect on the future of the Google Books case and argues that the fair use ruling paves the road for a similar finding while also giving Google leverage in its ongoing settlement negotiations. The Note argues that Google’s fair use defense is equally as strong as HathiTrust’s despite Google’s commercial exploitation because no artistic substitution exists and Google Books helps rather than harms the market for the copyrighted works. Fourth, after exploring the judicial efforts to protect useful technologies as a matter of public policy, this Note explores legislative solutions that would better advance copyright’s goals of promoting education, research, preservation, and access. The Note advocates for (1) expansion of § 108 library privileges to cover mass digitization and noncommercial exploitation; (2) expansion of protected entities that may make copies for the print-disabled under § 121; (3) establishment of a regulatory board to govern the exploitation of orphan works; and (4) categorical protection for technological uses that make use of copyrighted works in a way that does not substitute for the original’s expressive content.
Bidirectional causality in oil and gas markets

Abstract Do events in the natural gas market cause repercussions in the crude oil market? This paper studies linkages between the two markets using high-frequency, intraday oil and gas futures prices. By analyzing the effect of weekly oil and gas inventory announcements on price volatility, we show a bidirectional causal relationship. Both inventory gluts and shortages have a cross-commodity effect on price volatility not only for the next-month nearby futures contract but also for the following six months' contracts.
THE EFFECTS OF DNA DATABASES ON CRIME

Since 1988, every US state has established a database of criminal offenders’ DNA profiles. These databases have received widespread attention in the media and popular culture, but this paper provides the first rigorous analysis of their impact on crime. DNA databases are distinctive for two reasons: (1) They exhibit enormous returns to scale, and (2) they work mainly by increasing the probability that a criminal is punished rather than the severity of the punishment. I exploit the details and timing of state DNA database expansions in two ways, first to address the effects of DNA profiling on individuals’ subsequent criminal behavior and then to address the impacts on crime rates and arrest probabilities. I first show that profiled violent offenders are more likely to return to prison than similar, unprofiled offenders. This suggests that the higher probability of getting caught outweighs the deterrent effect of DNA profiling. I then show that larger DNA databases reduce crime rates, especially in categories where forensic evidence is likely to be collected at the scene—e.g., murder, rape, assault, and vehicle theft. The probability of arresting a suspect in new crimes falls as databases grow, likely due to selection effects. Back-of-the-envelope estimates of the marginal cost of preventing each crime suggest that DNA databases are much more cost-effective than other common law enforcement tools.
An expanded and strategic view of discontinuous innovations: deploying a service-dominant logic

The service-dominant logic (S-D logic) provides a novel and valuable theoretical perspective that necessitates a rethinking and reevaluation of the conventional literature on innovation. This literature is built upon a goods-dominant logic and has resulted in a restricted and out-moded perspective that overlooks many major discontinuous innovations. In this article, we show how many innovations can be better understood by deploying a S-D logic perspective. We present six S-D logic categories of discontinuous innovation positing that they can help scholars and managers analyze, design and implement breakthrough advances in resource use. We argue that discontinuous innovation can arise by changing any of the customers’ roles of users, buyers and payers on the first dimension. On the second dimension, the firm changes its value creation by embedding operant resources into objects, by changing the integrators of resources, and by reconfiguring value constellations. Finally, we offer some managerial and research implications of this expanded and strategic view of discontinuous innovation.
Local Simulations of Instabilities in Relativistic Jets I: Morphology and Energetics of the Current-Driven Instability

We present the results of a numerical investigation of current-driven instability (CDI) in magnetized jets. Utilizing the well-tested, relativistic magnetohydrodynamic code athena, we construct an ensemble of local, comoving plasma columns in which initial radial force balance is achieved through various combinations of magnetic, pressure and rotational forces. We then examine the resulting flow morphologies and energetics to determine the degree to which these systems become disrupted, the amount of kinetic energy amplification attained and the non-linear saturation behaviours. Our most significant finding is that the details of initial force balance have a pronounced effect on the resulting flow morphology. Models in which the initial magnetic field is force-free deform, but do not become disrupted. Systems that achieve initial equilibrium by balancing pressure gradients and/or rotation against magnetic forces, however, tend to shred, mix and develop turbulence. In all cases, the linear growth of CDI is well represented by analytic models. CDI-driven kinetic energy amplification is slower and saturates at a lower value in force-free models than in those that feature pressure gradients and/or rotation. In rotating columns, we find that magnetized regions undergoing rotational shear are driven towards equipartition between kinetic and magnetic energies. We show that these results are applicable for a large variety of physical parameters, but we caution that algorithmic decisions (such as choice of Riemann solver) can affect the evolution of these systems more than physically motivated parameters.
Eigenstate phase transitions and the emergence of universal dynamics in highly excited states

We review recent advances in understanding the universal scaling properties of non-equilibrium phase transitions in non-ergodic disordered systems. We discuss dynamical critical points (also known as eigenstate phase transitions) between different many-body localized (MBL) phases, and between MBL and thermal phases.
Inflation Dynamics in the CEMAC Region

This paper analyses inflation dynamics in the Central African Economic and Monetary Community (CEMAC) using a constructed dataset for country-specific commodity price indices and panel cointegrated vector autoregressive models. Imported commodity price shocks are significant in explaining inflation in the region. In most CEMAC countries, the largest effect of global food and fuel prices occurs after four or five quarters in non-core inflation and then decays substantially over time. Second-round effects are significant only in Cameroon and to a lesser extent in the Republic of Congo. Copyright 2013 , Oxford University Press.
Two Types of Inequality : Inequality Between Persons and Inequality Between Subgroups

This article analyzes the mathematical connections between two kinds of inequality: inequality between persons (e.g., income inequality) and inequality between subgroups (e.g., racial inequality). ...
An Economic Model of Privacy: A Property Rights Approach to Regulatory Choices for Online Personalization

Advances in information-acquisition technologies and the increasing strategic importance of this information have created a market for consumers' personal and preference information. Behavioral research suggests that consumers engage in a privacy calculus where they trade off their privacy costs from sharing information against their value from personalization. Through a formal economic model of this personalization-for-privacy (p4p) trade-off, we examine welfare implications by characterizing consumption utilities as "no-free-disposal" functions. We investigate the optimality of four regulatory regimes (through allowance/disallowance of usageenforcing technologies, and private contracts) by analyzing the strategic interaction between a monopolist who offers personalization services "free of charge" and two consumer types-privacy and convenience seekers. While many privacy watchdog groups have called for technology restrictions and more regulation, our research broadly suggests that society is better off with assignment of property rights over their information to consumers and full allowance of technological control and contractual abilities for the monopolist. However, when private contracts are proscribed, the regulator should also prevent the deployment of usage-enforcing technologies, particularly when the market is predominantly composed of privacy seekers. Interestingly, unlike traditional price-instrument markets for goods with free disposal, a regulator should not only encourage this market's knowledge of consumers' p4p preferences but also the various uses and benefits of preference information to the vendor.
A lysate proteome engineering strategy for enhancing cell-free metabolite production.

Abstract Cell-free systems present a significant opportunity to harness the metabolic potential of diverse organisms. Removing the cellular context provides the ability to produce biological products without the need to maintain cell viability and enables metabolic engineers to explore novel chemical transformation systems. Crude extracts maintain much of a cell’s capabilities. However, only limited tools are available for engineering the contents of the extracts used for cell-free systems. Thus, our ability to take full advantage of the potential of crude extracts for cell-free metabolic engineering is constrained. Here, we employ Multiplex Automated Genomic Engineering (MAGE) to tag proteins for selective depletion from crude extracts so as to specifically direct chemical production. Specific edits to central metabolism are possible without significantly impacting cell growth. Selective removal of pyruvate degrading enzymes resulted in engineered crude lysates that are capable of up to 40-fold increases in pyruvate production when compared to the non-engineered extract. The described approach melds the tools of systems and synthetic biology to showcase the effectiveness of cell-free metabolic engineering for applications like bioprototyping and bioproduction.
Television Advertising and Online Shopping

Media multitasking competes with television advertising for consumers' attention, but may also facilitate immediate and measurable response to some advertisements. This paper explores whether and how television advertising influences online shopping. We construct a massive data set spanning $3.4 billion in spending by 20 brands, measures of brands' website traffic and transactions, and ad content measures for 1,224 commercials. We use a quasi-experimental design to estimate whether and how TV advertising influences changes in online shopping within two-minute pre/post windows of time. We use nonadvertising competitors' online shopping in a difference-in-differences approach to measure the same effects in two-hour windows around the time of the ad. The findings indicate that television advertising does influence online shopping and that advertising content plays a key role. Action-focus content increases direct website traffic and sales. Information-focus and emotion-focus ad content actually reduce website traffic while simultaneously increasing purchases, with a positive net effect on sales for most brands. These results imply that brands seeking to attract multitaskers' attention and dollars must select their advertising copy carefully. Data, as supplemental material, are available at http://dx.doi.org/10.1287/mksc.2014.0899 .
Who's the Fairest of Them All? Evidence from Closed-End Funds

ABSTRACT: Prior research examining the ASC 820 fair value hierarchy concludes that Level 3 fair value measurements are significantly less value-relevant than Level 1 and Level 2 fair value measurements. We reevaluate this conclusion using the closed-end fund setting, in which fair value measurements are available for substantially all assets. Contrary to prior research, we find that Level 3 fair values are of similar value relevance to Level 1 and Level 2 fair values. Our findings suggest that the results in previous research are attributable to correlated omitted variable bias arising from the absence of fair value data for most assets. JEL Classifications: M41; G12; G29. Data Availability: Data are publicly available from sources identified in the article.
Limited arbitrage is necessary and sufficient for the existence of a competitive equilibrium with or without short sales

A condition oflimited arbitrage is defined on the endowments and the preferences of the traders in an Arrow-Debreu economy. Theorem 1 establishes thatlimited arbitrage is necessary and sufficient for the existence of a competitive equilibrium in markets with or without short sales. Limited arbitrage bounds utility arbitrages, the diversity of the traders in the economy, and the gains from trade which they can afford from initial endowments (Proposition 2); it is related to but nonetheless different from the no-arbitrage condition used in finance. Theorem 2 establishes that an Arrow — Debreu economy has a competitive equilibrium if and only if every one of its subeconomies withN + 1 traders does, whereN is the number of commodities. Limited arbitrage has been shown elsewhere to be equivalent to the existence of the core [16], to the contractibility of spaces of preferences and to the existence of continuous anonymous social choice rules which respect unanimity [10], [14], [15], [16].
Law, Media, & Environmental Policy: A Fundamental Linkage in Sustainable Democratic Governance

The functional linkages between law and media have long been signiacant in shaping American democratic governance. Over the past thirty-ave years, environmental analysis has similarly become essential to shaping international and domestic governmental policy. Environmentalism—focusing as it does on realistic interconnected accounting of the full potential negative consequences as well as beneats of proposed actions, policies, and programs, over the long term as well as the short term, with careful consideration of all realistic alternatives— provides a legal perspective important for societal sustainability. Because environmental values and norms are often in tension with established industrial interests that resist public interest accountability, they are inevitably forced to play on political battleaelds dominated by lobbyists’ spin and corporate stratagems for manipulating public perceptions. The press, to which Thomas Jefferson entrusted the critical task of “informing the discretion” of the populace, is a crucially important and often disappointing resource of democratic governance, not least in the area of environmental law. This Essay surveys these problems and explores the potential for environmental lawyers to improve the relationships among environmental analysis, media, and societal governance at both the “micro” level of daily practice and “macro” level of national policy
Cooperative Legalism and the Non-Americanization of European Regulatory Styles: The Case of Data Privacy

European countries have experienced massive structural transformations over the past twenty-five years with the privatization of stateowned industries, the liberalization of markets, and the rise of the European Union. According to one prominent line of analysis, these changes have led to the Americanization of European regulatory styles: previously informal and cooperative modes of regulation are becoming adversarial and litigation-driven, as in the American system. This Article explores the Americanization hypothesis with a structured comparison of data privacy regulation in four countries (France, Britain, Germany, and Italy) and a review of three other policy areas. It finds that European regulatory systems are indeed converging, but not on American-style litigation. Rather, they are moving towards a common administrative model of deterrence-oriented regulatory enforcement and industry self-regulation—called here “cooperative legalism.” The explanation for this emerging regulatory strategy is to be found in government responses to market liberalization as well as in the pressure created by the governance process of the European Union.
Regional Energy Governance and U.S. Carbon Emissions

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s final rule that limits carbon dioxide emissions from existing power plants — the Clean Power Plan — is an environmental regulation that powerfully influences energy law and forms a key part of the U.S. plan to meet its voluntary international commitments under the December 2015 Paris Agreement on climate change. Even if portions of the Plan are ultimately struck down, almost any viable pathway to lower carbon emissions will require greater integration of these two areas of law to address the large percentage of U.S. emissions from the energy sector. This integration produces both challenges and opportunities for governance. The Clean Power Plan (or similar regulations likely to be promulgated under the Clean Air Act in the future) must rely on an environmental-law cooperative federalist implementation structure in which states implement federal standards. However, electricity markets and governance are highly regional, and numerous studies show the economic benefits of interstate coordination, whether through governmental cooperation or trading among utilities. The project of energy-environment integration will benefit from existing regional energy-based institutions that already integrate electricity sources from different states. But it will require enhancement of existing regional approaches to generation capacity planning and transmission expansion, the interconnection of generators to lines, and energy markets. It also will require more interstate, state-regional-federal, and interregional cooperation.This Article systematically explores the opportunities for implementation of U.S. carbon emissions regulation presented by regional energy governance, using the Clean Power Plan as a case study. The Plan is not only the most ambitious effort at energy-environment integration to date, but also illustrates the need for enhanced regional governance. The Plan’s many options for interstate coordination — from multistate plans to utility trading — do not ensure alignment with existing regional markets because coordination will be difficult for states that choose different approaches to emissions accounting. The Article provides a timely analysis of (1) why enhanced regional governance of carbon emissions is needed, (2) what barriers it faces and opportunities it presents, and (3) how states could build from existing regional approaches in other contexts to create new mechanisms for cooperation and enhance regional governance structures. Addressing these governance issues effectively in the transition to a lower carbon economy will reduce the implementation costs of carbon emissions reduction and improve the reliability of the electricity system.
Real Exchange Rate Behaviour under Fixed and Floating Exchange Rate Regimes

In this paper we examine the stability of the real exchange rate and the macroeconomic effects of alternative exchange rate regimes, including currency union, on real exchange rate behaviour. We focus on the Irish punt in order to exploit its diversity of experience over different nominal exchange rate regimes. We make both temporal and cross-country comparisons of real exchange rate stability for the Irish punt with sterling, the US dollar and the German mark. We reach two conclusions on the basis of our results. The first is that for Ireland, as for most other countries, purchasing power parity provides a reasonably good description of actual exchange rate behaviour over the long run. Our second principal conclusion concerns regime effects. Currency union appears to matter. The real exchange rates we analyse are unambiguously less variable under currency union than under alternative exchange rate systems. Otherwise, however, we find no clear-cut differences in behaviour across regimes.
Commonality in Codes of Ethics

We create a database of company codes of ethics from firms listed on the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index and, separately, a sample of small firms. The SEC believes that “ethics codes do, and should, vary from company to company.” Using textual analysis techniques, we measure the extent of commonality across the documents. We find substantial levels of common sentences used by the firms, including a few cases where the codes of ethics are essentially identical. We consider these results in the context of legal statements versus value statements. While legal writing often mandates duplication, we argue that value-based statements should be held to a higher standard of originality. Our evidence is consistent with isomorphic pressures on smaller firms to conform.
From Peer-to-Peer Networks to Cloud Computing: How Technology Is Redefining Child Pornography Laws

Child pornography circulating in cyberspace has ballooned into the millions. To punish this flood, the law must accurately delineate culpable conduct. Technology such as peer-to-peer networks has erased the divisions among traders of child pornography, and, therefore, the differentials in punishment have lost their underpinnings. The current sentencing controversy surrounding child pornographers is merely the tip of the iceberg of the larger need to revamp the offenses themselves. This paper provides a framework for a normative critique of the offenses and their sentences. It suggests the law could better reflect technology by comporting with a refined harm rationale that rests on the fundamental injury to the victim’s dignity and privacy. Drawing on comparisons to diverse laws such as the Geneva Convention’s ban on photographs of prisoners of war, this paper states all traders in child pornography violate the rights of the children depicted and therefore inflict harm, albeit at different levels. Accordingly, the paper proposes three categories: producers, traders, and seekers of child pornography with base sentences varying accordingly. Starting at the same base level, the Sentencing Commission could then propose enhancements or departures to distinguish among the traders and their individual culpability.
In defense of fair value: Weighing the evidence on earnings management and asset securitizations

Abstract Dechow, Myers, and Shakespeare (DMS, 2009) find a negative relation between income from securitization activities and income from non-securitization activities. DMS interprets this finding as indicating that managers use the flexibility available in fair value accounting rules to smooth earnings. We clarify the role of fair value in accounting for asset securitizations, discuss alternative explanations for the evidence presented in DMS, and offer suggestions for future research. We caution against inferring the desirability of any particular accounting method from earnings management research.
International Legal Positivism and Legal Realism

and theoretical approach to the law could not have been 13 Gustav Radbruch, ‘Gesetzliches Unrecht und ubergesetzliches Recht’ 1 Suddeutsche Juristen-Zeitung (1946) 105–108 at 107. 14 Lon L Fuller, ‘American Legal Philosophy at Mid-Century’ 6 Journal of Legal Education (1954) 457–485 at 466–485. 15 Lon L Fuller, ‘Positivism and Fidelity to Law – A Reply to Professor Hart’ 71 Harvard Law Review (1958) 630–672 at 646.
Is It Really All About Race?: Section 1985(3) Political Conspiracies in the Second Circuit and Beyond

The recent scandal involving the Internal Revenue Service’s targeting of conservative Tea Party groups highlights the need for a judicial remedy to politically motivated deprivations of legally recognized rights. Section 2 of the Ku Klux Klan Act, codified as 42 U.S.C. § 1985(3), presents such a remedy. However, it is unclear whether the statute applies to conspiracies motivated solely by political animus. The U.S. Supreme Court in Griffin v. Breckenridge and United Brotherhood of Carpenters Local 610 v. Scott delved into the question but chose not to resolve the issue. Based on the Court’s discussion of the statute’s legislative history in Griffin and Scott, eight of the eleven federal circuit courts to address the issue now require racial animus to motivate conspiracies against politically defined classes. Two circuits maintain their pre-Scott application of § 1985(3) conspiracies motivated by political party affiliation. After Scott, the Second Circuit applies the racial animus requirement to politically motivated conspiracies against members of classes defined by common actions or commonly held beliefs, but it has yet to decide whether its pre-Scott application of § 1985(3) to political affiliation motivated conspiracies remains valid. The district courts within the Second Circuit have articulated different approaches to applying Second Circuit precedent to political affiliation animus cases. This Note describes the holdings of the Second Circuit in the context of the greater circuit split and examines the approaches taken by the district courts within the Second Circuit. This Note concludes that the Second Circuit could resolve the confusion among its district courts by extending § 1985(3) to conspiracies motivated solely by political party affiliation but by requiring racial animus for all other politically motivated conspiracies. This would remain consistent with the legislative history, historical context, and Supreme Court interpretation of the Ku Klux Klan Act.
Some Remarks on Reforming WTO AD/CVD Rules

In these remarks, I argue that a plausible reason that anti-dumping actions are so widely abused for protectionist purposes is that they represent a rare instance of essentially unilateral actions that are permissible within the WTO: under the banner of anti-dumping actions, governments can block imports and provide their industries with import relief without fear of retaliation or demands for compensation from their trading partners. Cognisant of the great potential for abuse of anti-dumping actions, the WTO Agreement on Implementation of Article VI represents an extraordinarily detailed attempt by WTO member governments to ‘reign in’ this potential through a detailed set of rules governing the acceptable methodologies and procedures for initiating anti-dumping actions. But as long as the underlying incentives for abuse remain, governments are likely to continue to find new and increasingly ingenious ways to respond to these incentives without running afoul of the rules. To create incentives for the use of anti-dumping measures that are more in line with a cooperative international environment, I suggest extending WTO compensation provisions to cover anti-dumping actions. In this way, the WTO might in effect ‘harness retaliation’ and convert it into a tool of international order in the area of anti-dumping actions.
The False Promise of One Person, One Vote

A. The Legal Status of Population and Voting 217 B. The Popular Appeal of "One Person, One Vote" 222 C. Justifications for the One Person, One Vote Standard ......225 1. Some Traditional Justifications for the Standard ......... 225 2. Limitations and Criticisms of the Standard 230 II. INTERPERSONAL UTILITY COMPARISONS 236
Synchronicity and firm interlocks in an emerging market.

Stock price synchronicity has been attributed to poor corporate governance and a lack of firm-level transparency. This paper investigates the association between different kinds of firm interlocks, control groups, and synchronicity in Chile. A unique data set containing equity cross-holdings, common individual owners, and director interlocks is used to map out firm ties and control groups. While there is a correlation between synchronicity and share ownership and equity ties, synchronicity is more strongly correlated with interlocking directorates. The presence of share directors is associated with either reduced firm-level transparency or increased correlation in firm fundamentals—due, for example, to joint resource allocation across the firms.
A Close Reading of Barnette, in Honor of Vincent Blasi

This article, written for a symposium marking the 75th anniversary of West Virginia State Board of Education v. Barnette, offers a close reading of Justice Jackson's opinion for the Court. In doing so, it offers an implicit and explicit tribute to Vincent Blasi, whose teaching and writing have emphasized the value of deep, careful engagement with the language and arguments of a single text, such as a judicial opinion, and who has been an inspiration to me and many other contemporary First Amendment scholars. This close reading explores a gallery of passages from Barnette that have received relatively little scholarly attention, largely because Jackson's arresting "fixed star" passage has monopolized much of the discussion. But other passages in the opinion help reveal additional important points about the case with important broader implications. They suggest something about why Jackson treated this as a speech rather than a religion case and as an individual liberty case rather than an equal treatment case. They have implications for arguments about third-party harms, "government nonendorsement," student speech, and heckler's veto doctrine. And they underscore the importance of Jackson's description of an autonomous "sphere of intellect and spirit" and of the limits of state power in this area. Perhaps much more than has been recognized, Barnette is a paean to the sovereignty of the mind, and in doing so it treats this realm as much or more as a matter of state non-interference than as a subject for measured judicial balancing. Although I focus closely on the text of the opinion itself, I offer some larger assessments of Barnette's condition today. I make two general observations. First, on the one hand, Barnette had an excellent 75th anniversary year, with citations and discussions in major Supreme Court decisions suggesting its stock is high. On the other, I suggest that it is in much poorer health in academic circles. A striking number of scholarly discussions of current issues, such as the wedding vendor cases, omit Barnette altogether. I suggest that these omissions are evidence of a deeper discomfort with Barnette. And for good reason: As this close reading reveals, the words and deeper music of Barnette are in genuine tension with current popular positions on these issues, and suggest that at some point these scholars need to engage directly and seriously with Barnette. Second, I argue that in interesting ways Barnette is a kind of "pre-capitulation" of much that happened in First Amendment law in the 75 years that followed it. This is true not just in the sense that Barnette positively inspired a great deal of First Amendment doctrine, but also in the sense that much of the jurisprudence that followed consisted of efforts to cabin Barnette and its implications and to build safety valves around it.
Thousands of Alpha Tests

Data snooping is a major concern in empirical asset pricing. We develop a new framework to rigorously perform multiple hypothesis testing in linear asset pricing models, while limiting the occurrence of false positive results typically associated with data snooping. By exploiting a variety of machine learning techniques, our multiple-testing procedure is robust to omitted factors and missing data. We also prove its asymptotic validity when the number of tests is large relative to the sample size, as in many finance applications. To improve the finite sample performance, we also provide a wild-bootstrap procedure for inference and prove its validity in this setting. Finally, we illustrate the empirical relevance in the context of hedge fund performance evaluation.
Public Lawyers, Private Values: Can, Should, and Will Government Lawyers Serve the Public Interest?

There is a widely shared perception among lawyers, judges, and various public officials that government lawyers have greater responsibilities to serve the public interest than lawyers in private practice. This perception is reflected in judicial opinions, lawyer professional responsibility standards, and numerous other legal writings. Nonetheless, a number of academic critics have attacked what is described here as the "public interest serving" role for government attorneys. This Article provides a defense of the public interest serving role against its critics. While the critiques addressed are diverse, they often make the mistake of importing values from the context of private litigation into the quintessentially public context of government litigation. The Article concludes by offering three examples of the most common forms of government litigation—criminal prosecutions, lawsuits against executive branch agencies, and civil enforcement proceedings—in an effort to demonstrate how the public interest serving role ought to be pursued.
Fiscal Policies and Asset Prices

The surge in public debt triggered by the financial crisis has raised uncertainty about future tax pressure and economic activity. We examine the asset pricing effects of fiscal policies in a production-based general equilibrium model in which taxation affects corporate decisions by: (1) distorting profits and investment; (2) reducing the cost of debt through a tax shield; and (3) depressing productivity growth. In settings with recursive preferences, these three tax-based channels generate sizable risk premia, making tax uncertainty a first-order concern. We document further that corporate tax smoothing can substantially alter the effects of public expenditure shocks.
How Audit Reviewers Respond to an Audit Preparer's Affective Bias: The Ironic Rebound Effect

ABSTRACT: Prior research suggests that audit seniors' judgments are sometimes biased by their affect toward (i.e., feeling of personally liking or disliking) client personnel. We examine how experienced audit reviewers respond when reviewing an audit preparer's judgment that appears to be biased by the preparer's affect toward a client's controller. In our experiment, reviewers are provided with a preparer's judgment that appears inconsistent with the audit workpapers. We then examine the effect of providing versus not providing reviewers with a cue about the preparer's positive or negative affect toward the controller. We find that despite reviewers' belief that affect biases a preparer's judgment, reviewers who are informed of the preparer's affect do not rely less on the preparer's judgment. Instead, they actually rely more on the preparer's judgment than do those who are not informed about the preparer's affect. This result is consistent with Wegner's (1994) ironic rebound effect, which predicts that ...