All over the world, governments are using nudges as regulatory tools. Is this ethical? Much of the answer depends on whether nudges promote or instead undermine welfare, autonomy, and dignity. Many nudges, and those that deserve support, promote some or all of those ideals, and undermine none of them. If welfare is our guide, much […]
Lehman Brothers’ failure and bankruptcy deepened the 2008 financial crisis whose negative effect on the United States’ economy lasted for several years. Yet, while Congress reformed financial regulation in hopes of avoiding another crisis, bankruptcy rules such as those that governed Lehman’s failure, have persisted unchanged. When Lehman failed, it lost considerable further value when […]
The concept of “source” is central to the functioning of the current international tax system. To the extent the “source” of income is meant to reflect the spatial location of income; however, many academic commentators have come to regard the concept as completely incoherent. Further, that incoherence is viewed as a partial explanation of the […]
The Federal Reserve System has come to occupy center stage in the formulation and implementation of national and global economic policy. And yet, the mechanisms through which the Fed creates that policy are rarely analyzed. Scholars, central bankers, and other policymakers assume that the Fed’s independent authority to make policy is created by law–specifically, the […]
Contract law does not adequately account for the harms that we can inflict on third parties by joint agreement. Some terms are prohibited, and some third party interests are protected by independent causes of action. But a wide variety of material interests that are otherwise recognized in law may be burdened by other people’s contracts. […]
This Comment explores the troubling phenomenon of “lettermarking,” which occurs when Members of Congress write to personnel in administrative agencies to request appropriations that would benefit their donors and constituents. Although lettermarking has exploded in popularity since both houses of Congress adopted a moratorium on earmarking in 2011, nothing has been written about this practice […]
Bankruptcy judges routinely enjoin debt and equity trading during Chapter 11 proceedings in order to protect bankrupt corporations’ net operating loss (NOL) tax credits. These credits disappear if a corporation changes ownership. Firms and judges reason that Chapter 11’s automatic stay prohibits any trading that would imperil NOL credits by causing a change in ownership. […]
We analyze contractual clauses which limit the ability of licensees to challenge patents at the basis of their licensing agreements. In particular, we study no-contest clauses, which prohibit licensees from contesting the validity of the patent, and challenge-penalty clauses, which penalize licensees for doing so. We develop a model that we use to compare three […]
Leveraged loans have reached new peaks in the post-crisis period. This Article assesses U.S. leveraged loan regulation and highlights the ways in which the entity- or institution-based focus of regulation have been the source of critical blindspots that have limited the ability of regulators to monitor and address the risks of leveraged lending. First, the […]
In light of recent developments in auction theory, this Article re-examines Delaware corporate law governing directors’ actions when structuring the sale of a corporation. A foundational doctrine of Delaware law is that when the board of directors resolves to sell a corporation, it must obtain the highest price reasonably available. Auction theory posits that, in […]
In this Article we identify a number of serious mechanical flaws in the statutes and judicial doctrines that govern fee liability for mutual fund managers. Originating in Section 36(b) of the Investment Company Act, mutual fund fee liability allows investors to sue managers for charging fees above a judicially created standard. Commentators have extensively debated […]
An examination of U.S. banking history shows that economically efficient private bank money requires that information-revealing securities markets for bank liabilities be closed. That is, banks are optimally opaque, which is why they are regulated and examined. This Article examines the transition from private bank notes, the predominant form of money before the U.S. Civil […]
Shadowy Banking is financial activity that is engineered to extract implicit subsidies from government safety nets. It substitutes innovative corporate entities and products for activities that could be performed more straightforwardly within a traditional banking firm. The shadows obscure organizational forms and transaction strategies that circumvent regulatory restraints and extract subsidies by regulation-induced innovation. Because […]
In this Article I review the literature on the conceptual and analytical arguments for and against capital adequacy and liquidity requirements for banks, in light of historical and recent experiences and evidence. Much research argues for higher capital adequacy requirements given their beneficial effects in terms of better incentives, greater buffers, and improved interventions in […]
Much of financial regulation and supervision is devoted to ensuring the safety and soundness of financial institutions. Such micro- and macro-prudential policies are almost always formulated as capital requirements, leverage constraints, and other statutory restrictions designed to limit the probability of extreme financial loss to some small but acceptable threshold. However, if the risks of […]