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on Law and Economics |
| By: | Carolina Arteaga; Gustavo J. Bobonis; Paola Salardi; Dario Toman |
| Abstract: | We study the large-scale implementation of a system of specialized domestic violence courts (SDVCs), an innovation in access to justice programs for potential victims of intimate partner violence (IPV) and offenders. Using individual-level administrative data from the universe of civil domestic violence cases in Puerto Rico during the period 2014-2020, we leverage the staggered opening of SDVCs across judicial regions to examine the consequences for victims’ judicial protection and offender recidivism. Access to SDVCs leads to a considerable 8 percentage points increase in the probability that judges issue a protection order and a 1.7 percentage point (15 percent) decrease in victim and offender reappearance rates within one year of the start of the case. Effects are more pronounced for cases in which parties have children in common and in which access to SDVCs is more limited. Linking the case data to administrative and survey data on judges, we show that the priorities of judges assigned to SDVCs play a prominent role in explaining these outcomes. |
| JEL: | J12 K40 |
| Date: | 2025–09 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:34293 |
| By: | Dnes, Stephen |
| Abstract: | Recent years have seen sharp growth in the number and scale of class actions filed before the UK Competition Appeal Tribunal ('Tribunal'). Pending claims are worth an estimated £134 billion. There are 655 million claimants, that is, ten claims per person. On average, there is roughly one new class action every week. The sudden increase in the scope of claims raises questions about their quality. The strong economic case against hardcore cartels applies equally to private litigation, but there are also some more adventuresome cases which stray from true cases of economic harm. Such cases increase costs and could harm innovation. Three specific concerns arise: (1) Cases are not getting much money, even against hardcore cartels; (2) Some low-quality cases have crept in, but they are mixed up with stronger ones which ought not to be undermined by reform; (3) Cases are very slow. This paper explores five related policy options to address these three issues. They can be used together or in isolation to focus cases onto the stronger ones and away from the weaker ones. The proposals span several major aspects of the cases and would significantly focus their remit. |
| Keywords: | Civil law, Legal reform, United Kingdom |
| Date: | 2025 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:ieadps:327121 |
| By: | Cao, Gewei (RS: GSBE other - not theme-related research, Microeconomics & Public Economics); Rusch, Hannes (RS: GSBE UM-BIC, Microeconomics & Public Economics, RS: GSBE other - not theme-related research) |
| Abstract: | Human trafficking is a modern form of slave trading. While we know that it inflicts substantial damage on its victims, its broader societal impact is not well understood. Inspired by Nunn & Wantchekon (2011, AER), we study whether human trafficking shapes interpersonal trust in two severely affected countries for which suitable criminal statistics and survey data are available: Romania and India. We find that victimization rates at the sub-national level are robustly linked to lower interpersonal trust. Our results corroborate those of Nunn & Wantchekon, conceptually replicate them in the economics of crime, and highlight their persistent contemporary relevance. |
| JEL: | J47 D91 J83 K42 O17 |
| Date: | 2025–09–22 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:unm:umagsb:2025008 |
| By: | Voss, Simon |
| JEL: | O18 R31 L65 P36 |
| Date: | 2025 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:vfsc25:325469 |
| By: | Aadya Bahl; Jeffrey Grogger; Ria Ivandic; Tom Kirchmaier; Ekaterina Oparina |
| Abstract: | Domestic abuse remains a pervasive challenge worldwide. According to data from the Office for National Statistics, domestic abuse affects one in five people aged 16 and above in the UK. In 2021, the then Conservative government took significant steps to tackle the issue through the Domestic Abuse Act, which established clear definitions and stronger protections for victims. But more work needs to be done, particularly on risk assessment by the police. The Labour Party has made tackling violence against women and girls a central priority in its manifesto. Delivering on this ambition requires moving beyond the current approach. CEP research has helped to identify approaches - rooted in better data and analysis - which are more effective. Integrating these tools into call-handling systems, alongside measures to reduce police workloads and support victims, could transform the effectiveness of domestic abuse response. |
| Keywords: | crime, abuse, domestic abuse, police, policy |
| Date: | 2025–09–30 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cep:ceppap:019 |
| By: | Pierluigi Murro; Valentina Peruzzi |
| Abstract: | This paper examines whether judicial enforcement shapes firms' participation in global value chains (GVCs). Exploiting Italy's 2013 court reorganization as a natural experiment, we combine firm-level survey data with administrative records and implement a spatial discontinuity IV design. We find that longer trials significantly reduce the probability of GVC participation: even delays of just a few weeks in civil proceedings translate into sizeable declines, underscoring the economic value of timely enforcement. The effect is concentrated among downstream firms and in trade with advanced markets, and operates through external finance, product complexity, and firm opacity |
| Keywords: | Global value chains; Judicial enforcement; Regional development; Product complexity |
| JEL: | F10 F61 K41 R11 |
| Date: | 2025–09 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:sap:wpaper:wp264 |
| By: | Natasha Aggarwal (TrustBridge Rule of Law Foundation); Bhavin Patel (TrustBridge Rule of Law Foundation) |
| Abstract: | Appellate tribunals were established to ensure speedy and expert adjudication of appeals from regulators’ orders. However, tribunals in India frequently remand matters to regulators, resulting in prolonged delays and undermining regulatory certainty. This paper provides introductory overviews of the Securities Appellate Tribunal (sat) and the Appellate Tribunal for Electricity (aptel) and analyses orders issued by these tribunals in 2024. We find that 13/228 sat orders (5.7%) and 28/171 aptel orders (16.4%) direct remands. We also evaluate whether these remands are consistent with recognised legal principles regarding when a remand may be ordered. In the absence of specific rules governing when tribunals can remand matters, we rely on the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908 (cpc) and judicial decisions to determine the limits of tribunals’ powers of remand. We classify reasons in the cpc and judicial decisions as “Permissible Reasons†, and all others as “Other Reasons†and find that several remands by both tribunals are for Other Reasons. Such remands increase costs, create uncertainty, and defeat the purpose for which tribunals were established. We suggest that clear limits on tribunals’ power to remand, similar to those on courts’ remands powers, should be codified in parent statutes and made uniformly applicable across tribunals. |
| Date: | 2025–09 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bjd:wpaper:14 |
| By: | Dong, Xiaoge (Center for Mathematical Economics, Bielefeld University) |
| Abstract: | We study “willful ignorance” - choosing not to learn whether a task is illegal - in a lawmaker-principal-agent game and characterize the penalty policies that implement welfare-maximizing behavior. The model delivers an implementability frontier : which equilibrium behaviors can exist and be selected by penalties. With perfect inquiry, this frontier is aligned with the welfare ordering, so the lawmaker can make the welfare-maximizing behavior both exist and be preferred by all parties. With imperfect inquiry, noise breaks that alignment and produces two failures: inquiry that is socially desirable may be infeasible at any penalty, and inquiry that is socially undesirable may persist because it cannot be switched off. We compare harm-based, compliance-based, and dual-penalty rules: harm-based rules preserve control but tightens feasibility; compliance-based rules relax feasibility but sacrifices control; dual penalty rules recover both levers subject to simple bounds. The framework yields practical guidance for calibrating penalties to harm, inquiry accuracy, and inquiry costs. It also implies that ignorance cannot serve as a shield: the absence of knowing crime in equilibrium is driven by incentives rather than morality, making non-inquiry the true strategic margin of liability design |
| Keywords: | willful ignorance, ostrich instruction, law and economics, asymmetric information. |
| Date: | 2025–09–26 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bie:wpaper:752 |
| By: | Charles Taragin; Benjamin Wallace; Eddie Watkins |
| Abstract: | We study how corporate debt influences the competitive outcomes of horizontal and conglomerate mergers. In contrast to standard models where debt does not affect pricing, our framework shows that mergers can spread fixed debt obligations across a broader product portfolio, creating an "insurance effect" against adverse demand shocks. This effect interacts with the traditional recapture effect from reduced competition. Using numerical simulations and a case study of a major casino merger, we find that debt can either dampen or amplify post-merger price increases, depending on the merger's structure and the market environment. |
| Keywords: | Financial structure; Merger simulation; Horizontal markets |
| JEL: | L41 L13 K21 G32 G34 |
| Date: | 2025–09–19 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fip:fedgfe:2025-80 |
| By: | Frédéric Marty (Université Côte d'Azur, GREDEG, CNRS, France); Thierry Warin (HEC Montréal; CIRANO, OBVIA, GPAI/CEIMIA) |
| Abstract: | Digital markets are increasingly dominated by entities that leverage technical specificities such as network effects, economies of scale, and scope, as well as significant advantages in data access and critical infrastructure, including computing power and cloud capacities. The advent of generative artificial intelligence (AI) marks a potential inflection point in this landscape. In this context, the primary barriers to entry are no longer merely data and open source foundation models but the availability of large, high-quality datasets and substantial computing power. This paper examines whether these barriers will entrench the dominant positions of Big Tech companies or if they will catalyze a reshuffling of competitive dynamics. By focusing on the dual challenges of data and computing power, this study identifies the key factors that will shape the future competitive landscape of the generative AI industry. This article contributes to the ongoing debate in industrial economics and strategic management regarding the potentially disruptive effects of generative AI on the market power of Big Tech firms. Can this technological shift recalibrate competitive dynamics, or will it ultimately serve to entrench existing power structures? At its core, the article seeks to interrogate a prevailing narrative - namely, the notion that innovation inherently sustains competitive processes, even in the face of short-term lock-in effects. |
| Keywords: | Generative AI, data-based advantage, digital ecosystems, Big Techs |
| JEL: | K21 L12 L13 L41 |
| Date: | 2025–09 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:gre:wpaper:2025-38 |