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on Law and Economics |
| By: | Sand-Zantman, Wilfried; Dosis, Anastasios |
| Abstract: | We study the effects of property rights over the use of data on market outcomes. For this, we consider a model in which a monopolistic firm offers a service to a set of heterogeneous users. Usage generates valuable data but data extraction entails a privacy cost to users. We show that both the firm and users prefer the users (the firm) to own the rights for low (high) values of data. We further discuss the robustness of our results by allowing more contracting possibilities to the data owner. We show that the main trade-off between the two ownership regimes is robust to these extensions. |
| Keywords: | Ownership; Data; Imperfect Competition; Privacy |
| JEL: | D82 D83 D86 L12 L19 L49 |
| Date: | 2019–07–17 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:tse:wpaper:123180&r=all |
| By: | Cahuc, Pierre; Malherbet, Franck; Prat, Julien |
| Abstract: | According to French law, employers have to pay at least six months salary to employees whose seniority exceeds two years in case of unfair dismissal. We show, relying on data, that this regulation entails a hike in severance payments at two-year seniority which induces a significant rise in the job separation rate before the two-year threshold and a drop just after. The layoff costs and its procedural component are evaluated thanks to the estimation of a search and matching model which reproduces the shape of the job separation rate. We find that total layoff costs increase with seniority and are about four times higher than the expected severance payments at two years of seniority. Counterfactual exercises show that the fragility of low-seniority jobs implies that layoff costs reduce the average job duration and increase unemployment for a wide set of empirically relevant parameters. |
| Keywords: | Dismissal costs; Employment protection legislation; unemployment |
| JEL: | J32 J63 J65 |
| Date: | 2019–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:13767&r=all |
| By: | Aaron Chalfin; Benjamin Hansen; Rachel Ryley |
| Abstract: | For every crime there is a victim. However nearly all studies in the economics of crime have focused the causal determinants of criminality. We present novel evidence on the causal determinants of victimization, focusing on legal access to alcohol. The social costs of alcohol use and abuse are sizable and well-documented. We find criminal victimization for both violent and property crimes increases noticeably at age 21. Effects are not present at other birthdays and do not appear to be driven by a birth-day "celebration effect." The effects are particularly large for sexual assaults, especially those that occur in public locations. Our results suggest prior research which has focused on criminality has understated the true social costs associated with increased access to alcohol. |
| JEL: | D8 I1 I12 K42 |
| Date: | 2019–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:26051&r=all |
| By: | Guido, Friebel; Miriam, Manchin; Mariapia, Mendola; Giovanni, Prarolo |
| Abstract: | Irregular migrants from Africa and the Middle East ow into Europe along land and sea routes under the control of human smugglers. The demise of the Gaddafi regime in 2011 marked the opening of the Central Mediterranean Route for irregular border-crossing between Libya and Italy. This resulted in the immediate expansion of the global smuggling network, which produced an asymmetric reduction in bilateral distance between country pairs across the Mediterranean sea. We exploit this source of spatial and time variation in irregular migration routes to estimate the elasticity of migration intentions to illegal moving costs proxied by distance. We build a novel dataset of geolocalized time-varying migration routes, combined with cross-country survey data on individual intentions to move from Africa (and the Middle East) into Europe. Netting out any country-by-time and pair-level confounders we find a large negative effect of distance along smuggling routes on individual migration intentions. Shorter distances increase the willingness to migrate especially for youth, (medium) skilled individuals and those with a network abroad. The effect is stronger in countries closer to Libya and with weak rule of law. |
| Keywords: | International Migration, Human Smuggling, Illegal Migration, Libyan Civil War |
| JEL: | K23 K42 |
| Date: | 2018–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mib:wpaper:393&r=all |
| By: | Pierre Bentata (ESC Troyes - École Supérieure de Commerce de Troyes - Groupe ESC Troyes en Champagne); Romain Espinosa (CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, CREM - Centre de recherche en économie et management - UNICAEN - Université de Caen Normandie - NU - Normandie Université - UR1 - Université de Rennes 1 - UNIV-RENNES - Université de Rennes - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique); Yolande Hiriart (CRESE - Centre de REcherches sur les Stratégies Economiques (EA 3190) - UBFC - Université Bourgogne Franche-Comté [COMUE] - UFC - Université de Franche-Comté, IUF - Institut Universitaire de France - M.E.N.E.S.R. - Ministère de l'Education nationale, de l’Enseignement supérieur et de la Recherche) |
| Abstract: | The aim of this paper is to observe how supreme courts use their discretionary power over their dockets to correct appellate courts' decisions relative to their own interpretation of the law. There are two supreme courts in France, the Conseil d'État for the administrative branch, and the Cour de Cassation for the civil one. In both courts, at different dates though, a reform took place that gave them discretionary control over their dockets. Hence, a difference in the supreme courts' decisions might be due to either different correction activities, selection strategies, or both. Accordingly, it is necessary to distinguish between them before drawing any conclusions about supreme courts' behaviors. We develop an econometric approach to assess whether the correction activities are similar between supreme courts, and whether these activities are affected when the supreme courts can select cases. Using an original database of all environmental cases determined by the supreme courts between 1956 and 2010, we rely on a counterfactual approach to compare cases across the courts before and after the reforms. Our study concludes that correction activities do not differ across the courts as long as they are submitted to the same selection rule. We also find that the supreme courts use the possibility of selection to increase their pro-plaintiff correction activities in a way that affects the overall probability of success of plaintiffs and defendants. |
| Keywords: | litigation,judicial review,appeal process,selection bias,bias correction,appellate court,supreme court,administrative law,civil law,judicial reform,French environmental cases |
| Date: | 2019 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:halshs-02167246&r=all |
| By: | Simplice A. Asongu (Yaoundé/Cameroon); Joseph Nnanna (The Development Bank of Nigeria, Abuja, Nigeria) |
| Abstract: | This study investigates the determinants of and persistence in access to weapons using a global sample of 163 countries for the period 2010 to 2015. The empirical evidence is based on Generalised Method of Moments (GMM). Hysteresis in access to weapons is consistently more apparent in countries with below-median levels in access to weapons, compared to their counterparts with above-median levels in access to weapons. The hysteresis hypothesis within this context is the propensity of past values of access to weapons to influence future values of access to weapons. Factors that consistently drive access to weapons are: perceptions of crime; criminality; conflict intensity; political instability; military expenditure, violent demonstrations and terrorism. The effects of these drivers are contingent on initial levels of access to weapons. Policy recommendations for managing access to weapons are discussed. |
| Keywords: | Access to weapons; Global evidence; Persistence; Arms; Security |
| JEL: | H56 L64 K42 P50 |
| Date: | 2019–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:exs:wpaper:19/008&r=all |
| By: | Omar Galárraga; Jeffrey E. Harris |
| Abstract: | In recent years, several countries have implemented restrictive, abstinence-only policies toward reproductive health, as opposed to comprehensive, adolescent-friendly health services. Little is known, however, about the effects of these restrictive policies on adolescent birth rates at the national level or their differential effects by race and ethnicity. The extant literature is even scarcer in low- and middle-income countries. We fill this knowledge gap by exploiting an unexpected policy change in Ecuador that abruptly reversed course for reproductive health services for adolescent women in 2014. In a difference-in-differences analysis of age-specific birth rates in Ecuador’s 221 cantons, we find that the abrupt policy change was associated with an increase in teen birth rates by 9 births per 1000 women. In a difference-in-difference-in-differences analysis, we find that the policy change was associated with an additional increase of 12 births per 1000 women among those cantons where at least 12 percent of the population is self-declared as indigenous. Our results are robust to changes in standard error clustering, population weighting, logarithmic model specification, adjustments for underreporting, and changes in the year when the new policy went into effect. |
| JEL: | I12 I18 J13 J18 |
| Date: | 2019–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:26044&r=all |
| By: | Simplice A. Asongu (Yaoundé/Cameroon); Nicholas M. Odhiambo (Pretoria, South Africa) |
| Abstract: | This study examines how income-driven governance affects inclusive human development in Sub-Saharan Africa with data for the period 2000-2012. The empirical evidence is based on the Generalised Method of Moments (GMM) and Tobit regressions. Nine bundled and unbundled concepts of governance are used: political (voice & accountability and political stability/no violence), economic (government effectiveness and regulation quality) and institutional (corruption-control and the rule of law) governances. The main finding is that ‘middle income’-driven governance has a higher effect on inclusive human development than ‘low income’-driven governance. Policy implications are discussed in the light of: (i) the contemporary relevance of findings; (ii) the pivotal role of a higher income level in the post-2015 sustainable development agenda; and (iii) inconsistent strands in the literature and in foreign aid policies. |
| Keywords: | Inclusive development; Income levels; Governance; Africa |
| JEL: | D31 I10 I32 K40 O55 |
| Date: | 2019–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:exs:wpaper:19/036&r=all |
| By: | Putra, Adhitya |
| Abstract: | Abstract The adoption of a standard agreement from the beginning of its birth has caused controversy both concerning the existence and validity of standard contracts. The Civil Code does not specifically regulate standard agreements. This writing focuses on two issues, namely the validity of the agreement with the standard clause related to sharia principles and the consequences of the law lacking the principle of freedom of contract. This research is normative research that refers to legislation and jurisprudence using legal materials both primary and secondary. The legal material was collected through library studies and then analyzed qualitatively. This study concludes: first, the agreement with conventional standard clauses is no longer questioned whether the agreement is valid or not, but more importantly, the fairness of the contents of the standard clause and in the standard sharia contract tend to result in injustice. Second, normatively there are no legal consequences due to the absence of freedom of contract in the agreement. |
| Keywords: | Keywords: Civil Law, Standard Contracts, Sharia Principles |
| JEL: | A11 B41 G21 H50 |
| Date: | 2019–07–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:94792&r=all |
| By: | Raul-Felix Hodos (Bucharest Academy of Economic Studies); Narcis Pavalascu (University of Medicine and Pharmacy of Targu Mures) |
| Abstract: | The paper aims at briefly reviewing the advantages of arbitration in relation to classical, public justice, on the one hand, and, on the other hand, of specialized arbitration (in insurance) compared to the general arbitration. Alternative dispute resolution has been received in recent decades as a necessary measure not only to relieve the courts of a significant part of the potential cases, but mainly because of the confidential and rapid nature of the procedures adopted. Technological changes brought with them new ways of communicating, and conflicts can now arise not only from lack of communication, but also from the inappropriate communication of information or because of too much information that leads to the loss of the essential data. Exiting the pre-defined formats of the participants on the insurance market must also lead to the adaptation of methods of alternative dispute resolutions, and specialized arbitration is one of the most important ways to choose. |
| Keywords: | insurance, arbitration, justice, compensation, decision |
| JEL: | K41 |
| Date: | 2019–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fst:wpaper:0033&r=all |
| By: | Matias Covarrubias; Germán Gutiérrez; Thomas Philippon |
| Abstract: | We study the evolution of profits, investment and market shares in US industries over the past 40 years. During the 1990’s, and at low levels of initial concentration, we find evidence of efficient con- centration driven by tougher price competition, intangible investment, and increasing productivity of leaders. After 2000, however, the evidence suggests inefficient concentration, decreasing competition and increasing barriers to entry, as leaders become more entrenched and concentration is associated with lower investment, higher prices and lower productivity growth. |
| JEL: | D24 D4 K0 L0 |
| Date: | 2019–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:25983&r=all |