|
on Law and Economics |
| By: | Chen, Daniel L.; Michaeli, Moti; Spiro, Daniel |
| Abstract: | In many settings of political bargaining over policy, agents care not only about getting their will but also about having others approve the chosen policy thus giving it more weight. What is the effect on the bargaining outcome when agents care about such legitimacy of the policy? We study this question theoretically and empirically. We show that the median-voter theorem holds in groups that are ideologically very cohesive and in groups with extreme ideological disagreement. However, in groups with intermediate ideological disagreement, the median-voter theorem does not hold. This is since, on the individual level, ideological disagreement with the median has a non-monotonic effect on the policy. We test our model in a natural experimental setting—U.S. appeals courts—where causal identification is based on random assignment of judges into judicial panels, each consisting of three judges who rule on a case. Here judges care about legitimacy of the policy they write because a norm of consensus prevails and because increased legitimacy reduces the likelihood of the judicial case to be heard by the Supreme Court. The predicted pattern of how policies depend on the participants’ ideologies are corroborated by our empirical tests. |
| JEL: | D7 K0 Z1 |
| Date: | 2020–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:tse:wpaper:124430&r=all |
| By: | Emons, Winand; Lehnhard, Severin |
| Abstract: | To encourage private actions for damages in antitrust cases some jurisdictions subtract a fraction of the redress from the fine. We analyze the effectiveness of this policy. Such a rebate does not encourage settlement negotiations that would otherwise not occur. If, however, the parties settle without the rebate, the introduction of the reduction increases the settlement amount, yet at the price of reduced deterrence for those wrongdoers who are actually fined. Under a leniency program the rebate has no effect on the leniency applicant: she doesn't pay a fine that can be reduced. The overall effect of a fine reduction on deterrence is, therefore, negative. |
| Keywords: | Antitrust; Damages; deterrence; Leniency |
| JEL: | D43 K21 K42 L40 |
| Date: | 2020–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:14369&r=all |
| By: | Daniela Collazos; Leopoldo Fergusson; Miguel La Rota; Daniel Mejía; Daniel Ortega |
| Abstract: | This paper evaluates the impacts of increased coordination, accountability, and leadership among teams of responsible public officials, with evidence from homicide investigations in Colombia. We randomly assigned the investigations of 66% of the 1,683 homicides occurring in Bogotá, Colombia, during 2016 to a new investigation procedure emphasizing these features. We find a statistically significant 30% increase in the conviction rate in the treatment group relative to the control group. Indicators of the quality of the investigative process also improve, as well as the rate at which a formal accusation is presented before a court. Complementary findings suggest that the treatment produces well-coordinated teams that can communicate more fluently. Also, a survey of investigative team members reveal that work motivation, the extent to which they receive feedback on their performance, the pertinence and e effectiveness of their roles, and the perceived quality and coordination of the team all improve under the new scheme. |
| Keywords: | Crime, Homicides, Teamwork, Public sector |
| JEL: | C93 D73 J45 K14 K42 |
| Date: | 2020–07–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:col:000518:018215&r=all |
| By: | Daniela Collazos; Leopoldo Fergusson; Miguel La Rota; Daniel Mejía; Daniel Ortega |
| Abstract: | This paper evaluates the impacts of increased coordination, accountability, and leadership among teams of responsible public officials, with evidence from homicide investigations in Colombia. We randomly assigned the investigations of 66% of the 1,683 homicides occurring in Bogotá, Colombia, during 2016 to a new investigation procedure emphasizing these features. We find a statistically signi ficant 30% increase in the conviction rate in the treatment group relative to the control group. Indicators of the quality of the investigative process also improve, as well as the rate at which a formal accusation is presented before a court. Complementary findings suggest that the treatment produces well-coordinated teams that can communicate more uently. Also, a survey of investigative team members reveal that work motivation, the extent to which they receive feedback on their performance, the pertinence and effectiveness of their roles, and the perceived quality and coordination of the team all improve under the new scheme. |
| Keywords: | Crime, Homicides, Team work, Public sector. |
| JEL: | C93 D73 J45 K14 K42 |
| Date: | 2020–06–16 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:col:000089:018206&r=all |
| By: | Zoltán Pápai (Infrapont Economic Consulting); Aliz McLean (Infrapont Economic Consulting); Péter Nagy (Infrapont Economic Consulting); Gábor Szabó (Infrapont Economic Consulting); Gergely Csorba (Infrapont Economic Consulting and Center of Economics and Regional Sciences – Institute of Economics) |
| Abstract: | The rollout of fifth generation mobile networks is progressing around the world, but 5G looks especially expensive compared to previous generations. Network sharing between two or more mobile operators is an obvious way to attain significant cost savings, but may also raise competition concerns. This paper first distinguishes between early and mature 5G, and then discusses the expected changes mature 5G brings to the assessment of active mobile network sharing agreements from a competition policy point of view. We focus on the three main concerns where 5G may bring the most significant changes in the evaluation compared to 4G: service differentiation, cost commonality between the parties and the parties’ ability and incentives to grant access to critical inputs to downstream competitors. For each of these concerns, we show that they are not easy to substantiate and in some cases the concerns may even become less grave than under 4G. |
| Keywords: | mobile telecommunication markets, network sharing, competition policy, competitive assessment, 5G |
| JEL: | K21 L13 L41 |
| Date: | 2020–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:has:discpr:2033&r=all |
| By: | Maximilian Goethner; Lars Hornuf; Tobias Regner |
| Abstract: | During the past decade, equity crowdfunding (ECF) has emerged as an alternative funding channel for startup firms. In Germany, the Small Investor Protection Act became binding in July 2015, with the legislative goal to protect investors engaging in this new asset class. Since then, investors pledging more than 1,000 EUR now must self-report their income and wealth. Investing more than 10,000 EUR in a single ECF issuer is only possible through a corporate entity. We examine how the Small Investor Protection Act has affected investor behavior at Companisto, Germany’s largest ECF portal for startup firms. The results show that after the new law became binding, sophisticated investors invest less on average while casual investors invest more. Moreover, the signaling capacity of large investments has disappeared. |
| Keywords: | equity crowdfunding, crowdinvesting, investor protection |
| JEL: | E22 G18 G38 K22 L26 |
| Date: | 2020 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ces:ceswps:_8351&r=all |
| By: | Horn, Henrik |
| Abstract: | Standards often require the use of patented technologies. Holders of standard-essential patents (SEPs) typically commit to make their patents available on "fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory" (FRAND) terms. National competition authorities increasingly intervene against perceived FRAND violations. But which competition authority should regulate SEPs that affect more than one country? The paper uses a very simple economic framework to assess the impact of three main legal bases for allocating jurisdiction: territoriality, nationality, and cross-border effects. The findings are negative: neither base will implement a jointly efficient outcome, and the relative performance of the bases depends on the particular circumstances at hand. |
| Keywords: | Default rules; international jurisdiction; Standard-essential patents |
| JEL: | F15 K21 K33 L40 O38 |
| Date: | 2020–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:14297&r=all |
| By: | Argentesi, Elena; Buccirossi, Paolo; Calvano, Emilio; Duso, Tomaso; Marrazzo, Alessia; Nava, Salvatore |
| Abstract: | This paper presents a broad retrospective evaluation of mergers and merger decisions in the digital sector. We first discuss the most crucial features of digital markets such as network effects, multi-sidedness, big data, and rapid innovation that create important challenges for competition policy. We show that these features have been key determinants of the theories of harm in major merger cases in the past few years. We then analyse the characteristics of almost 300 acquisitions carried out by three major digital companies Amazon, Facebook, and Google between 2008 and 2018. We cluster target companies on their area of economic activity and show that they span a wide range of economic sectors. In most cases, their products and services appear to be complementary to those supplied by the acquirers. Moreover, target companies seem to be particularly young, being four-years-old or younger in nearly 60% of cases at the time of the acquisition. Finally, we examine two important merger cases, Facebook/Instagram and Google/Waze, providing a systematic assessment of the theories of harm considered by the UK competition authorities as well as evidence on the evolution of the market after the transactions were approved. We discuss whether the CAs performed complete and careful analyses to foresee the competitive consequences of the investigated mergers and whether a more effective merger control regime can be achieved within the current legal framework. |
| Keywords: | Antitrust; Big Data; Digital Markets; Ex-post; mergers; network effects; platforms |
| JEL: | K21 L4 |
| Date: | 2019–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:14166&r=all |
| By: | Aksoy, Cevat Giray; Carpenter, Christopher S.; de Haas, Ralph; Tran, Kevin |
| Abstract: | Understanding whether laws shape or simply reflect citizens' attitudes is important but empirically difficult. We provide new evidence on this question by studying the relation between legal same-sex relationship recognition policies (SSRRPs) and attitudes toward sexual minorities in Europe. Using data from the European Social Surveys covering 2002-2016 and exploiting variation in the timing of SSRRPs across countries, we show that legal relationship recognition is associated with statistically significant improvements in attitudes toward sexual minorities. These effects are widespread across demographic groups but are consistently larger for more conservative groups in countries with less gender equality. Our results suggest that laws can exert a powerful influence in shaping societal attitudes. |
| Keywords: | LGB attitudes; Public Opinion; Same-sex relationship recognition policies |
| JEL: | K36 Z1 |
| Date: | 2020–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:14309&r=all |
| By: | Damle, Devendra (National Institute of Public Finance and Policy); Srivastava, Siddharth (National Institute of Public Finance and Policy); Anand, Tushar (National Institute of Public Finance and Policy); Joshi, Viraj (National Institute of Public Finance and Policy) |
| Abstract: | In India, statutes governing individuals on matters of personal law (marriage, divorce, inheritance, adoption) differ as per the religion of the individual. In this framework, matters of inheritance of property amongst Hindus, Buddhists, Jains and Sikhs are governed by the Hindu Succession Act, 1956 (HSA). This legislation applies to the transmission of all assets owned by Hindus. The provisions of the HSA discriminate against Hindu women by prescribing different rules for devolution of property held by men and women. These provisions have the effect of excessively, and unfairly prioritising the husband’s family in the scheme of devolution as compared to the woman’s own family, even when the property belongs to the woman. The legislation is a product of an era when it was inconceivable for Indian women to own and acquire property. However, these biases continue to be perpetrated upon Hindu women in India today. This discrimination is ultra vires of Articles 14 and 15 of the Constitution of India, it violates India’s commitments under the United Nations Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women, and leads to several undesirable consequences especially in cases where the property in question is acquired by the woman through her own skill or effort. Indian legislation such the Goa Succession, Special Notaries and Inventory Proceeding Act, 2012 (GSSNIP) and Indian Succession Act, 1925 (ISA), and succession laws of developed countries are far more gender-equitable, and can serve as an inspiration for eliminating the gender-discrimination in the HSA.The efforts, so far, to reform the HSA on this particular matter have been myopic at best. We provide a principles-based approach to comprehensively amend the HSA, to remove the gender discrimination in devolution of property. We propose a draft amendment to the HSA to effect this reform. |
| Date: | 2020–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:npf:wpaper:20/305&r=all |
| By: | Ann Vourc'h; Coralie Perez |
| Abstract: | The creation of the Compte Personnel de Formation (CPF), an individualised financing scheme for professional training, marked an important step for the French professional training system. Implemented in 2015, it is the only example at the international level of an individual learning account in which training rights are accumulated over time. Born from a compromise between social partners, the CPF has generated significant improvements in training quality. The law of September 5, 2018 “For the freedom to choose one’s professional future” brought significant changes to the account in order to strengthen the role of the individual in the system, to reduce the role of collective actors – in particular sectors – and to increase that of free competition and market forces. After reviewing the design of the CPF before and after the reform, this paper provides evidence on its use in practice, discusses the extent to which it succeeds in reaching groups usually under-represented in training, as well as issues related to the quality of training. It concludes with a discussion of the CPF strengths and weaknesses. |
| JEL: | J24 J58 J62 M53 K31 |
| Date: | 2020–07–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oec:elsaab:245-en&r=all |
| By: | Leiser, Mark |
| Abstract: | ‘Dark patterns’ is a term commonly used by the web collective to describe a user interface that exploits users into doing something that they would not normally do. It is a coercive and manipulative design technique used by web designers when some sort of action is needed from a user - typically to begin the processing of personal data or indication of agreement to a contract. As dark patterns can compromise legal requirements like consent and privacy-by-design and legal principles found in both regimes, like fairness and transparency, this article analyses ‘dark patterns’ from a regulatory perspective. Two frameworks are critiqued: the European Union’s regime for data privacy and consumer protection. The paper also provides an overview of the enforcement measures available for the regulation of dark patterns. It concludes that a pluralistic approach that mixes the strengths of one regulatory regime while compensating for its weaknesses by the use of the other is needed to harness dark patterns. |
| Date: | 2020–07–16 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:osf:lawarx:ea5n2&r=all |
| By: | Shaikh M. Eskander; Sam Fankhauser; Joana Setzer |
| Abstract: | There is no country in the world that does not have at least one law or policy dealing with climate change. The most prolific countries have well over 20, and globally there are 1,800 such laws. Some of them are executive orders or policies issued by governments, others are legislative acts passed by parliament. The judiciary has been involved in 1,500 court cases that concern climate change (over 1,100 of which in the US). We use Climate Change Laws of the World (CCLW), a publicly accessible database, to analyze patterns and trends in climate change legislation and litigation over the past 30 years. The data reveal that global legislative activity peaked around 2009-14, well before the Paris Agreement. Accounting for effectiveness in implementation and the length of time laws have been in place, the UK and South Korea are the most comprehensive legislators among G20 countries and Spain within the OECD. Climate change legislation is less of a partisan issue than is commonly assumed: the number of climate laws passed by governments of the left, center and right is roughly proportional to their time in office. We also find that legislative activity decreases in times of economic difficulty. Where courts have got involved, judges outside the US have ruled in favor of enhanced climate protection in about half of the cases (US judges are more inclined to rule against climate protection). |
| JEL: | K32 Q54 Q58 |
| Date: | 2020–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:27365&r=all |
| By: | Kempf, Elisabeth; Spalt, Oliver G. |
| Abstract: | Low-quality securities class action lawsuits disproportionally target firms with valuable innovation output and lead to substantial shareholder-value losses. We establish this fact using data on class action lawsuits between 1996 and 2011 and the value of newly granted patents as a measure of valuable innovation output. Our results challenge the widely-held view that greater failure propensity of innovative firms drives their litigation risk. Instead, our findings suggest that valuable innovation output makes a firm an attractive litigation target. Our results support the view that the class action litigation system may have adverse effects on the competitiveness of the U.S. economy. |
| Keywords: | Class Action Lawsuit; corporate governance; Innovation; law and economics; patents; Shareholder Litigation |
| Date: | 2020–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:14358&r=all |
| By: | Morris M. Kleiner; Ming Xu |
| Abstract: | We show that occupational licensing has significant negative effects on labor market fluidity defined as cross-occupation mobility. Using a balanced panel of workers constructed from the CPS and SIPP data, we analyze the link between occupational licensing and labor market outcomes. We find that workers with a government-issued occupational license experience churn rates significantly lower than those of non-licensed workers. Specifically, licensed workers are 24% less likely to switch occupations and 3% less likely to become unemployed in the following year. Moreover, occupational licensing represents barriers to entry for both non-employed workers and employed ones. The effect is more prominent for employed workers relative to those entering from non-employment, because the opportunity cost of acquiring a license is much higher for employed individuals. Lastly, we find that average wage growth is higher for licensed workers than non-licensed workers, whether they stay in the same occupation in the next year or switch occupations. We find significant heterogeneity in the licensing effect across different occupation groups. These results hold across various data sources, time spans, and indicators of being licensed. Overall, licensing could account for almost 8% of the total decline in monthly occupational mobility over the past two decades |
| Keywords: | Occupational licensing; Regulation; Labor markets |
| JEL: | H10 J01 J18 J38 J40 J44 J62 J80 J88 K0 K20 K31 |
| Date: | 2020–07–15 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fip:fedmsr:88385&r=all |
| By: | Ying Chen; Hülya Eraslan |
| Abstract: | A decision maker makes a ruling on a random case in each period. She is uncertain about the correct ruling until conducting a costly investigation. A ruling establishes a precedent, which cannot be violated under binding precedent. We compare the information acquisition incentives, the evolution of standards and the social welfare under nonbinding and binding precedents. Compared to nonbinding precedent, under binding precedent, information acquisition incentives are stronger in earlier periods, but become weaker as more precedents are established. Although erroneous rulings may be perpetuated under binding precedent, welfare can be higher because of the more intensive investigation early on. |
| Date: | 2020–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dpr:wpaper:1092&r=all |
| By: | Michail Khomenko; Anatoliy Kostruba (Vasyl Stefanyk Precarpathian National University); Oleksiy Kot |
| Abstract: | In the modern world, the significance of non-property right is very high because they are preconditions of providing the real freedom of ownership, freedom of agreement, freedom of entrepreneurship and all other rights in the material sphere of society. The article studies characteristic features of personal non-property rights of individuals. The notion of personal non-property rights of individuals has been formulated taking into account the features of this group of subjective civil rights, as well as their purpose. The main issues to be addressed in the study are the clarification of the specifics (features) of the object of protection, as well as the peculiarities of the protection of the named rights, the jurisdictional and non-jurisdictional forms of protection of personal non-property rights that ensure the natural existence of an individual. In the article, the notions of personal nonmaterial benefit and personal non-property right have been formulated; the personal non-property rights, which provide the natural existence of an individual who is the object of protection, have been characterized in details; propositions regarding addressing certain legislative and practical gaps and contradictions have been presented. Also, the specific features and concepts of the protection of personal non-property rights that provide the natural existence of an individual have been determined. |
| Keywords: | Civil Law,personal non-property rights of individuals,features of personal non-property rights,moral damage,types of defense.,Protection of Rights,Procedure law |
| Date: | 2019–06–30 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:hal-02637934&r=all |