cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Large-scale Pretraining for Visual Dialog: A Simple State-of-the-Art Baseline

Prior work in visual dialog has focused on training deep neural models on VisDial in isolation. Instead, we present an approach to leverage pretraining on related vision-language datasets before transferring to visual dialog. We adapt the recently proposed ViLBERT model for multi-turn visually-grounded conversations. Our model is pretrained on the Conceptual Captions and Visual Question Answering datasets, and finetuned on VisDial. Our best single model outperforms prior published work by \(1\%\) absolute on NDCG and MRR.
Fractal Foundation of Quantum Spin

We have shown over recent years that the dynamics of quantum fields is likely to slide outside equilibrium above the Fermi scale of electroweak interactions. In proximity to this scale, spacetime dimensionality flows with the probing energy and leads to the concept of minimal fractal manifold (MFM). It is known that modeling the physics on fractal manifolds requires use of fractional differential and integral operators. Here we show that deploying such operators on the MFM adds a non-vanishing correction to the standard orbital momentum, which can be identified with quantum spin . Our analysis paves the way towards a deeper understanding of the relationship between spin and several phenomenological aspects of quantum field theory (QFT).
Two-Stage Distributed Energy Resources Scheduling via Chance-Constrained AC Optimal Power Flow: A Second-Order Cone Programming Approach

The penetration of distributed energy resources (DERs) is increasing dramatically. Due to the uncertainty of DERs, the operation of the distribution system is facing higher risks and challenges. To overcome such challenges, a two-stage chance-constrained convex AC optimal power flow (ACOPF) model is proposed in this paper, which can increase the economic efficiency of distribution system operation and manage the intermittency of DERs. In the first stage, a convex second-order cone programming (SOCP)-based ACOPF model is proposed in which the detailed models and limitations of DER, namely, demand response (DR), energy storage units, and rooftop PV systems are modeled to obtain participation ratio of DERs. In the second stage, Monte Carlo simulation is utilized to model the uncertainties of DERs. A probability violation index is introduced to make a trade-off between scheduling more DERs and imposing a higher risk to the distribution system. In this stage, power flow analysis is conducted for each scenario to determine the probability violation index of system. Then, a modified SOCP-based ACOPF is proposed to satisfy the system probability violation criterion. Simulation results illustrate that the proposed two-stage chance-constrained model improves economic efficiency and reliability of real-time operation of the distribution system.
Higher-Dimensional Supertranslations and Weinberg's Soft Graviton Theorem

Asymptotic symmetries of theories with gravity in d = 2m+2 spacetime dimensions are reconsidered for m > 1 in light of recent results concerning d = 4 BMS symmetries. Weinberg’s soft graviton theorem in 2m + 2 dimensions is re-expressed as a Ward identity for the gravitational S-matrix. The corresponding asymptotic symmetries are identified with 2m + 2-dimensional supertranslations. An alternate derivation of these asymptotic symmetries as diffeomorphisms which preserve finite-energy boundary conditions at null infinity and act non-trivially on physical data is given. Our results differ from those of previous analyses whose stronger boundary conditions precluded supertranslations for d > 4. We find for all even d that supertranslation symmetry is spontaneously broken in the conventional vacuum and identify soft gravitons as the corresponding Goldstone bosons.
Space Hardness of Solving Structured Linear Systems.

Space-efficient Laplacian solvers are closely related to derandomization of space-bound randomized computations. We show that if the probabilistic logarithmic-space solver or the deterministic nearly logarithmic-space solver for undirected Laplacian matrices can be extended to solve slightly larger subclasses of linear systems, then they can be used to solve all linear systems with similar space complexity. Previously Kyng and Zhang [Rasmus Kyng and Peng Zhang, 2017] proved such results in the time complexity setting using reductions between approximate solvers. We prove that their reductions can be implemented using constant-depth, polynomial-size threshold circuits.
Polarization clouds and dynamical friction

We argue that dynanical friction can be viewed as the drag eterted on a ‘test’ star by the wake it induces in the field stars. We compute the wakes for the uniform infinite medium and a flat rotating sheet. In the first case we obtain a result which differs by a factor of two from the classical results. In the second case the drag vanishes.
The Exceptions Clause as a Structural Safeguard

Scholars have long treated the Exceptions Clause of Article III as a serious threat to the Supreme Court’s central constitutional function: establishing definitive and uniform rules of federal law. This Article argues that scholars have overlooked an important function of the Clause. Congress has repeatedly used its broad “exceptions power” to facilitate, not to undermine, the Supreme Court’s constitutional role. Drawing on insights from social science, this Article asserts that Congress has an incentive to use its control over federal jurisdiction to promote the Court’s role in settling disputed federal questions. Notably, this argument has considerable historical support. When the Supreme Court’s mandatory appellate docket grew to the point that it was unmanageable for a single tribunal, Congress responded by exercising its authority under the Exceptions Clause. Congress made “exceptions” to the Court’s mandatory appellate jurisdiction and replaced it with discretionary review via writs of certiorari — precisely so that the Court could concentrate its limited resources on resolving important federal questions. Thus, contrary to conventional wisdom, Congress has often used its broad exceptions power to safeguard the Supreme Court’s role in the constitutional scheme.
Moral Hazard, Incentive Contracts and Risk: Evidence from Procurement

Deadlines and late penalties are widely used to incentivize effort. Tighter deadlines and higher penalties induce higher effort, but increase the agent's risk. We model how these contract terms affect the work rate and time-to-completion in a procurement setting, characterizing the efficient contract design. Using new micro-level data on Minnesota highway construction contracts that includes day-by-day information on work plans, hours worked and delays, we find evidence of ex post moral hazard: contractors adjust their effort level during the course of the contract in response to unanticipated productivity shocks, in a way that is consistent with our theoretical predictions. We next build an econometric model that endogenizes the completion time as a function of the contract terms and the productivity shocks, and simulate how commuter welfare and contractor costs vary across different terms and shocks. Accounting for the traffic delays caused by construction, switching to a more efficient contract design would increase welfare by 22.5% of the contract value while increasing the standard deviation of contractor costs—a measure of risk—by less than 1% of the contract value.
The Ethics of Reasoning from Conjecture

An important objection to political liberalism is that it provides no means by which to decide conflicts between public and non-public reasons. This article develops John Rawls’ idea of ‘reasoning from conjecture’ as one way to argue for a commitment to public reason. Reasoning from conjecture is a form of non-public justification that allows political liberals to reason from within the comprehensive views of at least some unreasonable citizens. After laying out the basic features of this form of non-public justification, this article responds to three objections based on concerns about insincerity, cultural imperialism, and the epistemic authority of those who reason from conjecture.
How to commit (if you must): Commitment contracts and the dual-self model

This paper studies how dual-self (Fudenberg and Levine, 2006) decision-makers can use commitment technologies to combat temptation and implement long-run optimal actions. I consider three types of commitment technologies: carrot contracts (rewards for ‘good’ behavior financed by borrowing from future consumption), stick contracts (self imposed fines for ‘bad’ behavior) and binding commitment. I compare the welfare implications of these contracts and show that dual-self decision-makers strictly prefer to use carrots instead of either sticks or binding commitments. This is for several reasons: sticks are highly vulnerable to trembles (while carrots are not), sticks and binding commitments create a temptation to cancel them (while carrots do not), and finally carrots allow easy tradeoffs between commitment and flexibility (while sticks and binding commitments do not).
The Private Action Requirement

The crucial issue in the ongoing litigation over the individual health insurance mandate is whether there is a constitutional distinction between the congressional regulation of action and inaction. Critics of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act say that Congress lacks the authority under the Commerce Clause to make citizens buy health insurance against their will. The individual mandate, they contend, is not a regulation or a prohibition of economic activity, which fall within the commerce power. Instead, the requirement is a regulation of inactivity (or compelled activity) that is unprecedented under the Commerce Clause and invalid.
Anthropology, Human Rights, and Legal Knowledge: Culture in the Iron Cage

In this article, I draw on ethnography in the particular zone of engagement between anthropologists, on the one hand, and human rights lawyers who are skeptical of the human rights regime, on the other hand. I argue that many of the problems anthropologists encounter with the appropriation and marginalization of anthropology's analytical tools can be understood in terms of the legal character of human rights. In particular, discursive engagement between anthropology and human rights is animated by the pervasive instrumentalism of legal knowledge. I contend that both anthropologists who seek to describe the culture of human rights and lawyers who critically engage the human rights regime share a common problem—that of the “iron cage” of legal instrumentalism. I conclude that an ethnographic method reconfigured as a matter of what I term circling back—as opposed to cultural description—offers a respite from the hegemony of legal instrumentalism.
A Maximum Subsurface Biomass on Mars from Untapped Free Energy: CO and H2 as Potential Antibiosignatures.

Abstract Whether extant life exists in the martian subsurface is an open question. High concentrations of photochemically produced CO and H2 in the otherwise oxidizing martian atmosphere represent ...
Budget or target: the choice between input and output strategies

In many competitive environments, players need to commit either to a specific goal they will achieve (an output target) or to the resources they are willing to expend in pursuit of that goal (an input budget). We model this situation as a two-stage game where players may compete either by setting input and letting their output follow from the environment (“leading input”), or by setting output and letting the input levels required to support the output targets follow (“leading output”). We show that when each player's output is increasing (decreasing) in his rival's input, leading input (output) dominates leading output (input).
Competition and Unconscionability

This paper argues that the conventional legal doctrine that emphasizes lack of choice among suppliers or contracts as an element of unconscionability is misguided. I show that when a seller with significant market power offers only one contract, fear of alienating sophisticated customers can discourage the seller from exploiting the unsophisticated with an inefficient contract. In contrast, competitive sellers may lose money on sophisticated customers, and be willing to sacrifice them in order to exploit the unsophisticated. Likewise, offering a choice of contracts enables sellers to exploit the unsophisticated while offering an efficient contract to the sophisticated. Copyright 2013, Oxford University Press.
Product Differentiation and Mergers in the Carbonated Soft Drink Industry

I simulate the competitive impact of several soft drink mergers from the 1980s on equilibrium prices and quantities. An unusual feature of soft drink demand is that, at the individual purchase level, households regularly select a variety of soft drink products. Specifically, on a given trip households may select multiple soft drink products and multiple units of each. A concern is that using a standard discrete choice model that assumes single unit purchases may understate the price elasticity of demand. To model the sophisticated choice behavior generating this multiple discreteness, I use a household-level scanner data set. Market demand is then computed by aggregating the household estimates. Combining the aggregate demand estimates with a model of static oligopoly, I then run the merger simulations. Despite moderate price increases, I find substantial welfare losses from the proposed merger between Coca-Cola and Dr. Pepper. I also find large price increases and corresponding welfare losses from the proposed merger between Pepsi and 7 UP and, more notably, between Coca-Cola and Pepsi.
Dialogue, dispute resolution, and talk-in-interaction: On empirical studies of ephemeral phenomena

Although relational theories have gained increasing prominence in the field of alternative dispute resolution, further clarification of the actual communication that constitutes and contributes to a relational approach in the mediation and negotiation processes is still needed. This paper begins by presenting a conception of dialogue as a relational practice. Ethnomethodological conversation analysis is introduced as a research method well suited to explicating practices of talk that contribute to or undermine relational interaction and dialogue in negotiation and conflict resolution contexts. We present two case studies of two parties negotiating a lease. Comparison of the two instances isolates practices that accomplish or move away from relational interaction and dialogue. This precedes a closing discussion of dialogic phenomena which could be mapped onto sequentiallyorganized interactive practices, allowing them to be identified and studied in actual interactions. Such analysis offers valuable potential for understanding the actual discursive forms that contribute to relational approaches and dialogue and that help cultivate relational awareness and dialogic mindset in practice.
The Limits of Advocacy

Party control over case presentation is regularly cited as a defining characteristic of the American adversarial system. Accordingly, American judges are strongly discouraged from engaging in so-called “issue creation”—that is, raising legal claims and arguments that the parties have overlooked or ignored—on the ground that doing so is antithetical to an adversarial legal culture that values litigant autonomy and prohibits agenda setting by judges. And yet, despite the rhetoric, federal judges regularly inject new legal issues into ongoing cases. Landmark Supreme Court decisions such as Erie Railroad Co. v. Tompkins and Mapp v. Ohio were decided on grounds never raised by the parties, and nearly every term the Supreme Court adds to the questions presented or assigns an amicus to argue an issue that the parties have no interest in discussing. These practices operate mostly under the academic radar, and thus there have been few attempts to theorize deviations from the norm of party presentation. This Article defends judicial issue creation as a necessary corollary to the federal judiciary’s constitutional obligation to articulate the meaning of contested questions of law. Federal courts do not simply resolve disputes between parties; they are also responsible for making pronouncements of law that are binding on all who come after. When the parties fail to raise relevant legal claims and arguments—whether by error or through conscious choice—judges must do so themselves to avoid issuing inaccurate or incomplete statements of law. Although Copyright © 2009 by Amanda Frost. † Associate Professor of Law, American University Washington College of Law. I received valuable comments from Amy Coney Barrett, Mary Clark, Lynda Dodd, Vicki Jackson, Alexandra Lahav, Amanda Leiter, Alan Morrison, Scott Moss, Jack Preis, David Sklansky, Justin Smith, David Stras, Jay Tidmarsh, Melissa Waters, Russell Wheeler, David Zaring, and the participants at the faculty workshops at the University of Georgia Law School, Notre Dame Law School, and Texas Law School. Special thanks to Hortense Moulonguet Doleris for her valuable research assistance and to American University Washington College of Law for providing the research grant to support the writing of this Article. FROST IN FINAL 11/12/2009 10:58:50 PM 448 DUKE LAW JOURNAL [Vol. 59:447 issue creation is often criticized as judicial overreaching, courts can use this authority to limit the scope of their decisions, narrowing the broad propositions of law relied on by the parties. Furthermore, judicial power to raise issues sua sponte is compatible with adversary theory as long as judges are careful to avoid slipping into the role of advocate, and make sure to preserve an opportunity for a dialectical exchange between the parties on new questions raised by the court.
Information Design: A Unified Perspective

Given a game with uncertain payoffs, information design analyzes the extent to which the provision of information alone can influence the behavior of the players. Information design has a literal interpretation, under which there is a real information designer who can commit to the choice of the best information structure (from her perspective) for a set of participants in a game. We emphasize a metaphorical interpretation, under which the information design problem is used by the analyst to characterize play in the game under many different information structures. We provide an introduction to the basic issues and insights of a rapidly growing literature in information design. We show how the literal and metaphorical interpretations of information design unify a large body of existing work, including that on communication in games (Myerson 1991), Bayesian persuasion (Kamenica and Gentzkow 2011), and some of our own recent work on robust predictions in games of incomplete information.
How important are work-family support policies? A meta-analytic investigation of their effects on employee outcomes.

This meta-analysis examines relationships between work–family support policies, which are policies that provide support for dependent care responsibilities, and employee outcomes by developing a conceptual model detailing the psychological mechanisms through which policy availability and use relate to work attitudes. Bivariate results indicated that availability and use of work–family support policies had modest positive relationships with job satisfaction, affective commitment, and intentions to stay. Further, tests of differences in effect sizes showed that policy availability was more strongly related to job satisfaction, affective commitment, and intentions to stay than was policy use. Subsequent meta-analytic structural equation modeling results indicated that policy availability and use had modest effects on work attitudes, which were partially mediated by family-supportive organization perceptions and work-to-family conflict, respectively. Additionally, number of policies and sample characteristics (percent women, percent married-cohabiting, percent with dependents) moderated the effects of policy availability and use on outcomes. Implications of these findings and directions for future research on work–family support policies are discussed.
Does Multimarket Contact Facilitate Tacit Collusion? Inference on Conduct Parameters in the Airline Industry.

We provide empirical evidence that multimarket contact facilitates tacit collusion among airlines using a flexible model of oligopolistic behavior, where conduct parameters are modelled as functions of multimarket contact. We find (i) carriers with little multimarket contact do not cooperate in setting fares, whereas carriers serving many markets simultaneously sustain almost perfect coordination; (ii) cross-price elasticities play a crucial role in determining the impact of multimarket contact on equilibrium fares; (iii) marginal changes in multimarket contact matter only at low or moderate levels of contact; (iv) assuming firms behave as Bertrand-Nash competitors leads to biased estimates of marginal costs.
Revisiting the case for a populist central banker

It is known that discretionary policy may give rise to an inflationary bias if wages are negotiated in nominal terms. In a recent issue of this Review, Guzzo and Velasco argued that this bias can be eliminated, and welfare maximized, by the appointment of a central banker who does not care at all about inflation (a ‘populist’ central banker). A conceptual flaw of the latter result is identified here. It is shown that when wages are negotiated in nominal terms the result is true only in the special case of a single, all-encompassing, union. In the more general case of multiple unions, however, inflation increases linearly with their number and a populist central bank may turn out to decrease welfare.
Course scheduling and academic performance

Abstract This paper examines the relationship between course scheduling and student achievement, controlling for student and course characteristics. The literature in psychology recognizes that performance varies by time of day and that spacing learning out over time may foster greater long-term memory of items. We use student grades as a measure of performance and find a small, positive time of day effect partly driven by student selection into preferred course times. In addition, we find that students earn higher grades in classes that meet more often.
Volatility Persistence of High-Frequency Returns in the Japanese Government Bond Futures Market

The availability of a two-year high-frequency transaction data of the Japanese Government Bond (JGB) futures provides us with an opportunity to uncovering volatility persistence in high-frequency returns and testing the mixed-distribution-hypothesis (MDH) in this market. Both time-domain and frequency domain methods show that the degrees of volatility persistence are very similar across various frequencies, which supports the MDH. The result also shows that the method of filtering out the intraday pattern annihilates the complex interaction of the intraday periodicity and the volatility persistent process, and effectively uncovers volatility persistence phenomenon in the high-frequency data.
Out-of-the-Money CEOs: Private Control Premium and Option Exercises

When a proxy contest is looming, the rate at which CEOs exercise options to sell (hold) the resulting shares slows down by 80% (accelerates by 60%), consistent with their desire to maintain or strengthen voting rights when facing challenges. Such deviations are closely aligned with features unique to proxy contests, such as the record dates and nomination status, and are more pronounced when the private benefits are higher or when the voting rights are more crucial. The distortions suggest that incumbents value their stocks higher than the market price when voting rights are valuable for defending control.
Segregation and Black political efficacy

Abstract The impact of segregation on Black political efficacy is theoretically ambiguous. On one hand, increased contact among Blacks in more segregated areas may mean that Blacks are better able to coordinate political behavior. On the other hand, lesser contact with non-Blacks may mean that Blacks have less political influence over voters of other races. As for non-Blacks, inter-group conflict theory suggests that greater contact yields greater conflict between the groups while inter-group contact theory suggests exactly the reverse. We investigate this question empirically. We find that exogenous increases in segregation lead to decreases in Black civic efficacy, as measured by an ability to elect Representatives who vote liberally and more specifically in favor of legislation that is favored by Blacks. This tendency for Representatives from more segregated MSAs to vote more conservatively arises in spite of the fact that Blacks in more segregated areas hold more liberal political views than do Blacks in less segregated locales. We find evidence that this decrease in efficacy is driven by more conservative attitudes amongst non-Blacks in more segregated areas.
The joint determination of audit fees, non-audit fees, and abnormal accruals

Prior research has estimated piece-meal the determinants of audit fees, non-audit fees and abnormal accruals. Intuition, informal analysis, and a variety of theories suggest that audit fees, non-audit fees, and abnormal accruals are jointly determined. We address this endogeneity issue by modeling the confluence of audit fees, fees for non-audit services and abnormal accruals in a system of simultaneous equations.
A Simple Explanation for Why Campaign Expenditures Are Increasing: The Government Is Getting Bigger.

Abstract This paper shows that most of the large recent increases in campaign spending for federal and state offices can be explained by higher government spending. This result holds for both federal and state legislative campaigns and gubernatorial races and across many different specifications. The irony is that those who seem most concerned about the level of campaign expenditures are also frequently the ones who most strongly support increasing the size of government. Evidence is also examined on whether it is the composition and not just the level of expenditures that determines campaign expenditures and whether higher government expenditures similarly results in more candidates competing for office. Finally, by focusing on the symptoms and not the root causes of ever higher campaign expenditures, this paper argues that the current public policy debate risks changing the form in which payments are made rather than actually restricting the level of competition.
Network Effects and Technology Licensing with Fixed Fee, Royalty, and Hybrid Contracts

Technology innovators are faced with the question of whether to license an innovation to other firms, and if so, what type of license it should use. This question takes on paramount importance with information technology innovations that lead to new products and services that exhibit network effects. This paper explores the impact of network effects on the licensing choice. The literature suggests that without network effects, a royalty license is preferred by producer-innovators. We find that a fixed-fee license is optimal with strong network effects. For less intense network effects, the optimal license uses a royalty rate, either alone or in combination with a fee. We further derive the terms of the optimal license and discuss the impact of the investment needed to replicate the innovation and the size of the potential market. Our results provide insights for licensing decisions in industries that exhibit network effects.
Foreign aid and economic growth: The role of flexible labor supply ☆

This paper examines the link between foreign aid, economic growth, and welfare in a small open economy. External transfers impinge on the recipient's macroeconomic performance by affecting resource allocation decisions and relative prices. The endogeneity of the labor–leisure choice plays a crucial role in the propagation of foreign aid shocks. The efficacy of foreign aid also depends on externalities associated with the public good that it helps finance. The impact of tied and untied aid on the recipient government's intertemporal fiscal balance is examined. Finally, the transitional adjustment to a foreign aid shock is shown to be sensitive to the elasticity of substitution in production and the relative importance of the labor–leisure choice in utility.
International Law and Constitutional Interpretation: The Commander in Chief Clause Reconsidered

The Commander in Chief Clause is a difficult, underexplored area of constitutional interpretation. It is also a context in which international law is often mentioned, but not fully defended, as a p...
Some Realism about Parochialism: The Economic Analysis of Legal Ethics

This essay reviews Professor Randal Graham's Legal Ethics, the first teaching text to present legal ethics from an explicitly economic point of view. The essay argues that Graham is right to focus on an economic approach, which has not been used as much to analyze legal ethics as it has been to analyze other subjects, such as antitrust, corporations, securities, intellectual property, and tort law. The essay argues that Graham is too soft on professional ethics. He defends, implicitly or explicitly, professional licensing, administrative discipline, and the attorney-client privilege, which have only weak (if any) support in economic theory. For example, Professor Graham employs the lemons model defense of licensing, which is a poor fit for a profession in which reputation plays such an important role. The essay concludes by acknowledging that economic analysis, and utilitarianism in general, does not tell us where preferences come from. Nor, with some trivial exceptions that need no special ethical rules (don't steal, etc.), does it say whether professors should try to alter students' preferences. There is an irreducible normative element to legal ethics, though not a single irreducible approach that could actually be taught to students. The essay concludes that economic analysis should be the dominant approach to legal ethics, though not the only one, and that it should be applied rigorously to the assumptions and pretensions of the profession.
Equivariantly homeomorphic quasitoric manifolds are diffeomorphic

In this note we prove that equivariantly homeomorphic quasitoric manifolds are diffeomorphic. As a consequence we show that up to finite ambiguity the diffeomorphism type of certain quasitoric manifolds M is determined by their cohomology rings and first Pontrjagin classes.
The Landscape of Pervasive Horizontal Pleiotropy in Human Genetic Variation is Driven by Extreme Polygenicity of Human Traits and Diseases

Horizontal pleiotropy, where one variant has independent effects on multiple traits, is vitally important for our understanding of the genetic architecture of human phenotypes. We present a method to quantify horizontal pleiotropy using summary statistics from published genomewide association studies (GWASs), and perform validation using simulations. When applied to 1,564 medical phenotypes measured in 337,119 humans from the UK Biobank, our pleiotropy score detects a significant excess of horizontal pleiotropy. This signal of horizontal pleiotropy is pervasive throughout the human genome and across a wide range of phenotypes, but is especially prominent in regions of high linkage disequilibrium and among highly polygenic phenotypes. We identify thousands of loci with extreme horizontal pleiotropy, a majority of which have never been reported in any published GWAS. Our results highlight the central role horizontal pleiotropy plays in the genetic architecture of human phenotypes, and the importance of modeling horizontal pleiotropy in genomic medicine.
The Right to Inclusive Education Under International Law: Following Italy's Lead

Abstract It is estimated in the world today, that more than one billion people have a disability (World Health Organization, 2011). Many people with disabilities receive no education, and, of those who do, few receive an education on an equal basis with their non-disabled peers. In 2006, the United Nations adopted the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD). The CRPD seeks to achieve equality for people with disabilities in all areas of life, including education. Article 24 of the CRPD specifically calls upon States Parties to “ensure an inclusive education system at all levels and lifelong learning” (United Nations, 2006, Art.24, para. 1). In this article, the authors provide an overview of the right to inclusive education under international law prior to the CRPD, followed by a discussion of Article 24 of the CRPD. The authors then discuss the role of inclusive education in Italy, which has long been regarded as a leader in the field of inclusive education. The authors conclude the ...
Control benefits and CEO discipline in automatic bankruptcy auctions

Abstract Swedish bankruptcy filing automatically terminates the employment of the chief executive officer (CEO) and triggers an auction of the firm. Critics of this system warn of excessive shareholder risk-shifting incentives prior to filing. We argue that private benefits of control induce managerial conservatism that may override shareholder risk-shifting incentives. By investing conservatively, the CEO increases the joint probability that the auction results in a going-concern sale and that the CEO is rehired. This uniquely implies that the rehiring probability is increasing in private control benefits, which our empirical results support. We also find that buyers in the auction screen on CEO quality. Overall, labor market discipline is dramatic, as filing CEOs suffer large income losses relative to CEOs of matched, non-bankrupt firms. Firms emerging from auction bankruptcy appear healthy as they typically go on to perform at par with industry rivals. JEL classification: G33; G34
Culture, institutions and the wealth of nations

We argue that a more individualist culture leads to more innovation and to higher growth because of the social status rewards associated with innovation in that culture. We use data on the frequency of particular genes associated with collectivist cultures, as well as a measure of distance in terms of frequencies of blood types, and historic prevalence of pathogens to instrument individualism scores. The relationship between individualism and innovation/growth remains strong even after controlling for institutions and other potentially confounding factors. We also provide evidence consistent with two-way causality between culture and institutions.
The Year in Economics at the FCC, 2010–11: Protecting Competition Online

The past year in economics at the Federal Communications Commission focused on protecting competition in developing online markets. Our review discusses important economic issues that are raised by the FCC’s Open Internet rulemaking (which is commonly referred to as “net neutrality”) and its review of Comcast’s programming joint venture with General Electric’s NBC Universal affiliate. The Open Internet rule focused on established online markets, while the Comcast/NBCU transaction addressed nascent competition online along with competition in video programming and distribution offline.
Director Compensation and CEO Bargaining Power in REITs

We analyze director compensation for Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs) and investigate the relations between director compensation and other measures of the board independence and board monitoring. Using 136 REITs in 2001, we find that REITs that pay higher equity-based compensation to their board members are associated with higher financial performance. Our data indicate that board equity-based compensation is positively related to the existence of an independent nomination committee, however, it has no significant relationship with board size, proportion of outside directors, CEO duality and CEO tenure and ownership.
Skill, syndication, and performance: Evidence from leveraged buyouts

Abstract This paper studies why buyout firms syndicate and how this influences buyout performance. I find evidence that skill plays an important role in syndication and its effect on performance. The results suggest low-skill firms utilize syndication to pool skill, resources, and information to overcome firm-specific deficiencies and improve performance, but no such effect exists for high-skill firms. This evidence is robust to potential endogeneity concerns and other alternative explanations. Additionally, this paper is the first to use a robust statistical network methodology studying the formation of syndication networks that allows for a consistent estimation of effects within the network despite the lack of independence among observations.
Is the GED an Effective Route to Postsecondary Education for School Dropouts

Abstract We use data from the Texas Schools Microdata Panel (TSMP) to examine the extent to which dropouts use the GED as a route to postsecondary education. Lacking suitable instruments that would allow us to directly address potential biases in estimating the “GED path” to postsecondary education, our approach is to base estimates on a set of academically “at risk” students who are very similar in the 8th grade. We observe that the eventual high school graduates in this group have much better postsecondary education outcomes than do the similar at-risk 8th graders who drop out and obtain a GED. We discuss potential explanations for the observed differences in the postsecondary education outcomes of the two groups.
The United Nations Watercourses Convention on the Dawn of Entry into Force

The United Nations Convention on the Law of the NonNavigational Uses of International Watercourses (Watercourses Convention) entered into force in August 2014. Despite overwhelming support when signed in 1997, the ratification process has been slow. As a binding treaty, the Watercourses Convention provides hope that its provisions will articulate legal principles of transboundary water management capable of promoting cooperation and regional agreements. Despite entry into force, however, global support for the Watercourses Convention is weak, concurrent efforts to develop treaty regimes governing water resources create competition for resources and may obscure understandings of international water law, and the foundational principles of the Watercourses Convention remain ambiguous. A case study of the discordant hydropolitics of the Nile River Basin-perhaps the most significant watercourse lacking a cooperative management agreement-best illustrates these limitations. This Article provides an analysis of international water law and the limitations of the Watercourses Convention, considering the implications of entry into force. While the Watercourses Convention creates a workable framework for negotiating regional agreements, low levels of support from UN member states, competing treaty instruments, and ambiguous legal principles limit the potential impact of the Watercourses Convention. * Ryan B. Stoa is the Deputy Director of the Global Water for Sustainability Program and a Fellow in Water Law and Policy at the Florida International University College of Law. Contact: rstoa@fiu.edu. The author is grateful for research assistance provided by Sylmarie Trujillo and Sharon Merrill.
The Propagation of Regional Recessions

This paper develops a framework for inferring common Markov-switching components in a panel data set with large cross-section and time-series dimensions. We apply the framework to studying similarities and dierences across U.S. states in the timing of business cycles. We hypothesize that there exists a small number of cluster designations, with individual states in a given cluster sharing certain business cycle characteristics. We …nd that although oil-producing and agricultural states can sometimes experience a separate recession from the rest of the United States, for the most part, dierences across states appear to be a matter of timing, with some states entering recession or recovering before others. (JEL: C11; C32; E32)
Keeping Tabs on Partners: The Logic of Delegation in Coalition Governments

government? In this article, I theorize about the conditions under which coalition partners should make efforts to keep tabs on each other's ministers and the ways in which they might do so. I show that parties in Italian, Dutch, and multiparty Japanese coalitions used their allotments of junior ministerial positions to shadow each other's ministers, while parties in German coalitions relied instead on institutional devices to tie ministers'
Sell’s Conundrums: The Right of Incompetent Defendants to Refuse Anti-Psychotic Medication

The Supreme Court’s 2003 decision in Sell v. United States declared that situations in which the state is authorized to forcibly medicate a criminal defendant to restore competency to stand trial “may be rare.” Experience since Sell indicates that this prediction was wrong. In fact, wittingly or not, Sell created three exceptions to its holding (the dangerousness, treatment incompetency, and serious crime exceptions) that virtually swallow the right to refuse. Using the still-on-going case of Jared Loughner as an illustration, this essay explores the scope of these exceptions and the dispositions available in those rare circumstances when none of them is met. It concludes that Sell has created an unnecessarily complicated and often counter-productive legal regime that should be abandoned in favour of the regime that pre-existed it.
Pricing Lives for Corporate and Governmental Risk Decisions

The value of a statistical life (VSL) is the most influential single parameter used in calculating the benefits of governmental regulations. While there are some interagency differences, there is a commonality in the conceptual approach, the central role of mortality risk valuation in benefit assessment, and the general range of valuations used. Corporate risk decisions are based on a less rigorous risk analysis procedure. As typified by the General Motors ignition switch recall problems and the company’s lax corporate safety culture, there is often little systematic corporate balancing of cost and risk. This suppression of safety concerns may be attributable to the adverse experiences automobile companies had after conducting risk analyses that valued fatalities based on damages awards for wrongful death, and in response juries levied blockbuster punitive damages awards. Instead, companies should adopt the VSL in its product risk decisions. Companies should also be provided with a safe harbor reference point for responsible risk decisions. Regulatory agencies should use the VSL in setting regulatory sanctions.
Prizefighting and the Birth of Movie Censorship

Censorship scholars unanimously, but mistakenly, treat a 1907 ordinance of the City of Chicago as the first act of censorship in the United States. This Article finds, however, that movie censorship was born in March 1897 with prohibitions against a now-extinct genre: prizefight films that depicted real and staged boxing fights. At the time, boxing was generally illegal, yet the sport was enormously popular and boxers enjoyed privileged social status. In fact, shortly after Thomas Edison commercialized moving picture technologies in 1894, he accommodated the production of prizefight films at his studio in New Jersey, where prizefighting was prohibited. The Article documents the reasons for Edison’s decision to veto of the use of his equipment for prizefight films, only a few months after the production of prizefight films at his studio. Because of Edison’s position in the industry, this decision effectively constituted the first form of content self-regulation in the motion-picture industry, approximately thirteen years before the presently-believed-to-be first form of content self-regulation in the industry. This Article, therefore, begins to close a neglected gap in the literature on movie censorship. Its findings require a reexamination of content regulation in the motion picture industry, whose presumed twentieth century origins hide legislatures and industries already experienced with censorship campaigns and laws. Despite this Article’s historical reach, it provides important insights into modern-day social regulation. The failures of the nineteenth-century regulators to curtail popular activities like prizefighting can inform and shape current regulatory efforts, such as the design of anti-smoking policies.
The Impact of Venture Capital Investments on Public Firm Stock Performance

The aggregate amount of venture capital investments in nonpublicly traded firms since 1980 is more than $390 billion. We test two economic hypotheses on the connection between venture capital investment and subsequent firm performance. We find that lagged VC investments scaled by industry assets are negatively related to subsequent firm stock returns after adjusting for other factors. However, not all firms are equally impacted. We find that financially constrained firms suffer the most when new VC money pours into an industry. Firms receiving VC money are active in patent creation which appears to increase innovation pressures on established companies. It appears that the market is slow to incorporate the information contained in the venture capital investments.
The forensic debut of the NRC’s DNA report: population structure, ceiling frequencies and the need for numbers

This paper reviews judicial opinions that have discussed the April 1992 recommendations of a committee of the U.S. National Research Council concerning the statistics of forensic DNA profiles obtained with single-locus VNTR probes. It observes that a few courts have held ‘ceiling frequencies’ (as opposed to less ‘conservative’ estimates) admissible, but that the implications of the scientific criticisms of the ceiling procedures have yet to be addressed adequately in court opinions. It urges courts to distinguish between policy judgments and scientific assessments in both the NRC report and the scientific literature, and to defer less to the former than to the latter.
God in the Machine: A New Structural Analysis of Copyright's Fair Use Doctrine

This article is a broad reconceptualization of the role of fair use within copyright law. Fair use is commonly thought of as just one of many exceptions limiting copyright, in contrast, this article shows that fair use has actually enabled the expansion of copyright protection. Fair use has an important structural role that is often overlooked. First, copyright necessarily must balance intellectual property incentives with the protection of free speech and innovation; fair use constitutes that balancing mechanism. By establishing the outer limits of copyright, fair use in fact enables an expansive interpretation of author’s rights within those bounds. Second, because copyright works best by providing flexible principles that can accommodate technological changes, fair use also constitutes the mechanism by which Congress has given the courts a large policy making role to ensure copyright’s balance. This article explains this structural function of fair use, then shows how this theory should and does apply. In doing so, it also identifies two broad trends emerging in the case law that have previously not been recognized or articulated, despite their significance. These are the principles of consumer autonomy and medium neutrality. MTTLR 11-2 Edit Format Document GITM MTTLR Version GOD IN THE MACHINE: A NEW STRUCTURAL ANALYSIS OF COPYRIGHT’S FAIR USE DOCTRINE Matthew Sag* Cite as: Matthew Sag, God in the Machine: A New Structural Analysis of Copyright’s Fair Use Doctrine, 11 Mich. Telecomm. Tech. L. Rev. 1 (2005), available at http://www.mttlr.org/voleleven/Sag.pdf