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on Law and Economics |
| By: | Cohen-Zada, Danny (Ben Gurion University); Sander, William (DePaul University) |
| Abstract: | In this paper, we first explore how an exogenous increase in the opportunity cost of religious participation affects individuals' religious participation and reported happiness using data from the General Social Survey. The exogenous shift in the cost of religious participation is a result of repealing of so-called blue laws which restrict retail activity on Sundays. We find that repealing blue laws causes a significant decline in the level of religious participation of white women and in their happiness. We do not observe any significant decline in reported happiness of other groups whose religious participation was not significantly affected by repeal. We also use repeal as an instrumental variable (IV) for church attendance and provide direct evidence that church attendance has a significant positive effect on happiness, especially for women. |
| Keywords: | religious participation, happiness, blue laws |
| JEL: | K10 J16 |
| Date: | 2010–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp5198&r=law |
| By: | Andrews, Philip; Gorecki, Paul K. |
| Abstract: | On 21 December 2009 the Irish High Court found that a regulatory proposal, the Variation, by the four Dublin local authorities, is a breach of national competition law. The Variation allows a single operator to collect household waste, irrespective of whether the operator is selected by competitive tender or the local authority reserves the collection function to itself. The judgment has important, possibly groundbreaking, implications. Local government is held to be an undertaking and hence its decisions susceptible to review and prohibition under national competition rules. The burden of the paper is, however, that the local authorities are not undertakings for the purposes of competition law when they made the Variation. Even if the local authorities were undertakings in this regard, competitive tendering for selecting a single operator to collect household waste collection is neither an anti-competitive agreement nor an abuse of a dominant position. If, however, the High Court judgment is affirmed by the Supreme Court on appeal, then the wider implications of the judgment will need to be explored. |
| Keywords: | competition policy/regulation/geographic market definition/abuse of dominance/collective dominance/household waste collection/definition of an undertaking/anticompetitive agreement/Article 86/Competition Act 2002/Waste Management Acts,1996-2007 |
| Date: | 2010–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:esr:wpaper:wp353&r=law |
| By: | Lu Han; Siddhartha Bandyopadhyay; Samrat Bhattacharya |
| Abstract: | We examine various determinants of property and violent crimes by using police force area level (PFA) data on England and Wales over the period 1992-2008. Our list of potential determinants includes two law enforcement variables, crime-specific detection rate and prison population, and various socio-economic variables such as unemployment rate, real earnings, proportion of young people and Gini Coefficient. By adopting a fixed effect dynamic GMM estimation methodology we attempt to address the potential bias that arises from the presence of time-invariant unobserved characteristics of a PFA and endogeneity of several regressors. We find that, on average, higher detection rate and prison population leads to lower poverty and violent crimes. However, socio-economic variables play a limited role in explaining different crime types. |
| Keywords: | crime, dynamic panel, GMM, law enforcement, socio-economic variables |
| JEL: | K42 C23 |
| Date: | 2010–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bir:birmec:10-26&r=law |
| By: | Barnes, Paul |
| Abstract: | Insider dealing has been unlawful in the UK since 1980 and market abuse, of which insider dealing is just one form, since 2000. It is from this time when the FSA was established and the creation of these as civil offences that they could be pursued rigorously. It is the purpose of this article to examine the FSA’s record of enforcement relative to its estimated level of occurrence and the US experience |
| Keywords: | insider dealing; market abuse; FSA |
| JEL: | K2 G2 L51 G18 G38 G3 G28 |
| Date: | 2010–09–29 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:25585&r=law |
| By: | Hasan, Lubna |
| Abstract: | Rule of Law and strong legal systems are considered a pre-condition for sustained development. Their relative weakness in the under-developed world is considered as the main obstacle to growth. Strengthening Rule of Law and legal systems has, therefore, become a standard advice from the developing community. Pakistan, too, has witnessed a surge in demand for Rule of Law in recent years. Capitalizing on this domestically garnered mandate, this paper reviews the legal obstacles to economic growth in Pakistan. It finds significant impediments for growth and market development due to legal shortcomings in the case of Pakistan. |
| Keywords: | Rule of Law; Legal Development; Economic Growth; Pakistan |
| JEL: | O43 K10 |
| Date: | 2010–09–30 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:25565&r=law |
| By: | Chilosi, Alberto |
| Abstract: | Not necessarily the most appropriate defence of stakeholder interests can be found in the institutions and practice of corporate governance, other specific kinds of legal provisions can be more suitable. In the literature the issue of protection of stakeholder interests (of employees in particular) is generally considered in a static context: how should corporate governance be shaped in relation to existing firms, according in particular to some subjective criteria of fairness and fair play. But in order to exist and to reach a given dimension the firm must be first founded and grow. Thus the propensity to found a firm and finance and manage its growth, and therefore the supply of entrepreneurship, depend, among others, on the extent of founders’ and co-owners’ rights, and thus on the institutions of corporate governance. As shown by Hall and Soskice (2001) the latter, together with the different legal setups, result in different varieties of capitalism, such as broadly speaking the Anglo-Saxon or the continental-European variety, with different characteristics, advantages and disadvantages. Among the disadvantages of the continental European model, not considered by Hall and Soskice, are much higher rates of long-run unemployment. |
| Keywords: | Stakeholders; Corporate Governance; Labour Market; Varieties of Capitalism |
| JEL: | K22 G34 P10 |
| Date: | 2010–09–28 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:25514&r=law |