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on Law and Economics |
| By: | Stefano Comino (Univeristy of Udine); Fabio M. Manenti (University of Padova); NIkolaus Thumm (European Commission JRC Seville) |
| Abstract: | During the last decades, the number of ICT related patents has increased considerably. In association with a great fragmentation in IP rights, the increasing number of patents has generated a series of potentially problematic consequences. Patent thickets, royalty stacking, the emergence of patent assertion entities, increased patent litigation – in particular around standard essential patents – and the difficulties in the definition of fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory (FRAND) licensing terms are among the most debated issues in the literature that we review in this paper. We devote a specific section of our survey to patents involving software products, where the above problems are amplified by the high level of abstraction of computer algorithms. In our analysis we mix theoretical and empirical arguments with a more policy-oriented reasoning. This allows us to better position the different issues in the relevant political and economic context. |
| Date: | 2017–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pad:wpaper:0212&r=law |
| By: | Simon Deakin; Viviana Mollica; Prabirjit Sarkar |
| Abstract: | We examine the relationship between creditor protection, law reform and credit expansion using longitudinal data for four developed market economies between 1970 and 2005. By decomposing the different elements of creditor protection, we show that civil law countries (France and Germany) have developed a high level of protection for creditors in the form of controls over the management of debtor firms, while common law countries (UK and USA) have arrived at a high degree of protection in relation to secured creditors' contractual rights over firms' assets. Using panel causality tests and dynamic panel data modelling, we show that laws strengthening creditors' control over debtor firms in these four countries had a long-term positive effect on credit expansion, while reforms increasing secured creditors' rights had a negative effect. We explore the implications of our findings for legal origin theory and the varieties of capitalism approach. |
| Keywords: | Economic policy, financial development, varieties of capitalism, institutional complementarities |
| JEL: | G30 G38 K22 K40 |
| Date: | 2015–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cbr:cbrwps:wp473&r=law |
| By: | Peter Blair (Clemson University); Bobby Chung (Clemson University) |
| Abstract: | In order to work legally, 29% of U.S. workers require an occupational license. We show that occupational licensing reduces the racial wage gap between white and black men by 43%, and the gender wage gap between women and white men by 36%-40%. For black men, a license is a positive indicator of non-felony status that aids in firm screening of workers, whereas women experience differentially higher returns to the human capital that is bundled with occupational licenses. The information and human capital content of licenses enable firms to rely less on race and gender as predictors of worker productivity. |
| Keywords: | wage inequality, statistical discrimination, occupational licensing, screening, signaling, optimal regulation |
| JEL: | D21 D84 J24 J31 J41 J70 K23 K31 L51 |
| Date: | 2017–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hka:wpaper:2017-50&r=law |
| By: | Miguel Á., Malo |
| Abstract: | This report consists of a comprehensive overview of labour market institutions in the small Pacific island countries in order to propose recommendations to improve the performance of their labour markets. We pay particular attention to three countries: Fiji, Palau and Papua New Guinea. We focus on the main pillars of labour market institutions, as employment protection legislation, minimum wage, and labour organization. The analysis considers the possibilities for institutional change in the next future. The main guidelines for eventual reforms are discussed, for the region as a whole and for the above three countries. |
| Keywords: | Pacific; employment protection legislation; minimum wage; unions; institutions; labour law |
| JEL: | J32 J51 J63 J80 K31 O17 O56 |
| Date: | 2017–07–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:79988&r=law |
| By: | Ralsmark, Hilda (Department of Economics, School of Business, Economics and Law, Göteborg University) |
| Abstract: | I study the impact of media visibility of people of colour on the rate of hate crimes motivated by race or ethnicity in the United States. To do so, I construct a novel measure of state-level media visibility of people of colour between 2007 and 2013. Comparing state-level variation in the hate crime rate with a measure of the one-year lagged state-level variation in media visibility, I find that an increase in media visibility reduces the number of hate crimes. The effect is not larger in states that used to be pro-slavery, but larger in states that are more prone to spontaneous emotional outbursts of hate. The result, which is robust to several checks, is in the line with the argument that "visibility matters." |
| Keywords: | Media; Information and knowledge; Economics of minorities; Crime |
| JEL: | D83 J15 K42 L82 |
| Date: | 2017–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:gunwpe:0703&r=law |
| By: | Lee, Jiwon; Wittgenstein, Teresa |
| Abstract: | Empirical investigations of litigation at the WTO reveal a noteworthy pattern: the majority of disputes settle early, either during consultation, or prior to the issuance of a panel ruling. This is surprising, considering the structure of its remedial regime undermines the system’s deterrent effect. It is, therefore, theorized that formal adjudication gains enforcement power by disseminating information on state conduct, unleashing reputational pressures. Building on the emerging stream of literature interested in the interaction between overlapping institutions, we contend that the degree to which defendants’ are embedded in external trade agreements acts as an important determinant of dispute escalation at the WTO. The fear of reputational sanctions emanating from an adverse ruling exerts impetus for settlement in disputes involving defendants that are signatories of a few, shallow agreements. The “shadow of the future,” in the form of ongoing trade negotiations, heightens the sensitivity to reputation for states with a strong potential to increase market access in the future.To test our hypothesis we quantified evidence on settlement patterns for the organization’s first fifteen years of operation. We have also compiled a novel dataset consisting of 233 trade agreements disputants were signatories to during our observation period. To account for diverse levels of integration, a measure of depth is included, applying the additive depth index introduced by the DESTA project. In order account for the fact that some provisions may be more relevant drivers of the depth of an agreement, we conducted a factor analysis to unravel unobserved, latent variable(s). We find strong support for the claim defendants’ wider integration in the trade realm predicts settlement dynamics within the WTO dispute settlement system. Our results remain statistically significant despite alternative specifications and robustness tests. |
| Date: | 2017 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:ilewps:7&r=law |
| By: | Melanie Guldi (University of Central Florida, Orlando, FL) |
| Abstract: | The U.S. tax and transfer system generates revenue and provides safety net programs that move millions out of poverty. Since women are more likely to live in poverty, they are more likely to qualify for means-tested transfers. The structure of taxation in the U.S. often penalizes secondary earners, who are usually women. These programs alter work incentives and consequently may affect labor supply decisions. In this chapter, we examine the empirical evidence on the effects of taxes and transfers on the labor supply of women in the U.S. We show that much has changed since 1990, with the biggest shift being a change from cash transfers via welfare to refundable tax credits to workers. Overall, the evidence we review shows women have higher labor force participation and are less responsive to changes in after-tax wages than they were before 1990, but the labor supply effects vary substantially by program considered. |
| Keywords: | taxes; transfer programs; women’s labor supply; Earned Income Tax Credit; Temporary Assistance for Needy Families; Medicaid |
| Date: | 2017–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cfl:wpaper:2017-01&r=law |
| By: | Andreas Kettemann; Francis Kramarz; Josef Zweimüller |
| Abstract: | This paper evaluates the 2003 Austrian severance-pay reform, often advocated as a role model for structural reforms in countries plagued by inflexible labor markets and high unemployment. The reform replaced a system with tenure-based severance payments after a layoff (but not after a quit) by payments into pension accounts that accrue to workers after a layoff as well as after a quit. We identify the reform effects using a regression discontinuity (RD) design and find a substantial increase in job mobility in response to the reform. A search-and-matching model with on-the- job search and tenure-dependent severance payments is structurally estimated using the RD-induced empirical moments. Counterfactual policy experiments suggest that flexicurity reforms spur job creation and can substantially reduce unemployment in countries where severance payments are initially high. |
| Keywords: | Severance pay, job mobility, flexicurity |
| JEL: | J63 J65 |
| Date: | 2017–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zur:econwp:256&r=law |
| By: | Tröger, Tobias |
| Abstract: | The Judgement of the EGC in the Case T-122/15 - Landeskreditbank Baden-Württemberg - Förderbank v European Central Bank is the first statement of the European judiciary on the sub-stantive law of the Banking Union. Beyond its specific holding, the decision is of great importance, because it hints at the methodological approach the EGC will take in interpreting prudential banking regulation in the appeals against supervisory measures that fall in its jurisdiction under TFEU, arts. 256(1) subpara 1 and 263(4). Specifically, the case pertained to the scope of direct ECB oversight of significant banks in the euro area and the reassignment of this competence to national competent authorities (NCAs) in individual circumstances (Single Supervisory Mechanism (SSM) Regulation, art. 6(4) subpara 2; SSM Framework Regulation, arts. 70, 71). |
| Keywords: | Banking Union,ECB,EGC,Landeskreditbank Baden-Württemberg,NCAs,SSM |
| Date: | 2017 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:safepl:56&r=law |