I have a new essay in which I propose a user guide to measure effectiveness of regulatory agencies. The essay is Designing Antitrust Agencies for More Effective Outcomes: What Antitrust Can Learn From Restaurant Guides.
Antitrust policy should be concerned with the quality and effectiveness of the antitrust system. Some efforts at agency effectiveness include self-study of antitrust agencies to determine the factors that lead to improving agency quality. Such studies, however, often focus only on enforcement decisions and other agency initiatives such as competition advocacy. They do not reflect at least one other part of the equation: what do non-government users of the antitrust system think about the quality of antitrust agencies? This Symposium Essay advocates the use of a ratings guide by antitrust practitioners for antitrust agencies to add to the tools in which to measure agency effectiveness for both mature and emerging antitrust agencies.
Tuesday, May 4, 2010
Saturday, April 24, 2010
Who Bribes in Public Contracting and Why: Worldwide Evidence from Firms
This new article has some really interesting findings. Download it while it is hot.
Who Bribes in Public Contracting and Why: Worldwide Evidence from Firms
Utilizing data from an enterprise survey of over 11,000 firms operating in 125 countries, and building on a profit maximizing cost-benefit framework driving a firm’s bribery decision, we study the determinants of bribery in public procurement contracting. The data suggest that about one-third of firms bribe in order to secure public contracts, and that these firms pay an average of 7.9% of the contract value in bribes. The likelihood of bribing is higher in low income countries (50%), yet in industrialized OECD countries bribery does take place among a substantial minority (14%) of firms.
Econometric estimations suggest that the demand side of good governance (voice and democratic accountability, press freedom, transparency) and the supply-side (rule of law, government effectiveness), along with competition, reduce both the incidence and magnitude (fee) of procurement bribery by the firm. Multinational firms appear to partially adapt to their host country governance environment, bribing more often in medium- and low-income countries (at 20%) than in OECD countries (at 11%). Yet multinationals do not fully ‘adapt’ and thus do not behave exactly like the domestic firms in the host country (at 36%); transnational firms appear more sensitive to reputational costs in their home country and internationally as well.
Firms that are larger and foreign-owned are less likely to bribe than smaller domestic firms, yet among bribers, foreign and domestic firms pay similar bribe fees. This suggests that reputational risks - which weigh on the decision to bribe, not on the amount - play an important role. The results are consistent with the firm’s profit-maximizing framework and have implications for policy, namely in efforts to raise the cost and lower the benefits of bribing (e.g. detection and public disclosure of firms that bribe). The results also cast doubt on conventional initiatives that do not affect the profit function (such as voluntary codes of conduct).
Who Bribes in Public Contracting and Why: Worldwide Evidence from Firms
Utilizing data from an enterprise survey of over 11,000 firms operating in 125 countries, and building on a profit maximizing cost-benefit framework driving a firm’s bribery decision, we study the determinants of bribery in public procurement contracting. The data suggest that about one-third of firms bribe in order to secure public contracts, and that these firms pay an average of 7.9% of the contract value in bribes. The likelihood of bribing is higher in low income countries (50%), yet in industrialized OECD countries bribery does take place among a substantial minority (14%) of firms.
Econometric estimations suggest that the demand side of good governance (voice and democratic accountability, press freedom, transparency) and the supply-side (rule of law, government effectiveness), along with competition, reduce both the incidence and magnitude (fee) of procurement bribery by the firm. Multinational firms appear to partially adapt to their host country governance environment, bribing more often in medium- and low-income countries (at 20%) than in OECD countries (at 11%). Yet multinationals do not fully ‘adapt’ and thus do not behave exactly like the domestic firms in the host country (at 36%); transnational firms appear more sensitive to reputational costs in their home country and internationally as well.
Firms that are larger and foreign-owned are less likely to bribe than smaller domestic firms, yet among bribers, foreign and domestic firms pay similar bribe fees. This suggests that reputational risks - which weigh on the decision to bribe, not on the amount - play an important role. The results are consistent with the firm’s profit-maximizing framework and have implications for policy, namely in efforts to raise the cost and lower the benefits of bribing (e.g. detection and public disclosure of firms that bribe). The results also cast doubt on conventional initiatives that do not affect the profit function (such as voluntary codes of conduct).
Laws Locations: The Textures of Legality in Developing and Transitional Societies
Laws Locations: The Textures of Legality in Developing and Transitional Societies
April 23-25, 2010, UW Law School
The Conference titled "Laws Locations: The Textures of Legality in Developing and Transitional Societies" will be held at the University of Wisconsin Law School on April 23-25, 2010. The conference is held in conjunction with the annual symposium of the Wisconsin International Law Journal. It is part of the Research Circle on Role of Law in Developing and Transition Countries.
The conference is held in honor of Professor David Trubek, Voss Bascom Emeritus Professor of Law and Senior Fellow, Center for World Affairs and the Global Economy (WAGE).
Guest speaker:
Professor Richard Abel, Michael J Connell Professor of Law, University of California Los Angeles Law School will deliver "Personal Reminiscences of David Trubek."
Conference theme
Agenda
Speaker bios
Abstracts
Papers
Flavia Agnes
Cathi Albertyn
Helena Alviar
Joe Conti
Allison Christians
Javier Couso
Diogo Coutinho
Jackie Dugard
David Engel
Mary Gallagher
Manuel Gomez
Mario Gomez
Diana Kapiszewski
Jonathan Klaaren
Lisa Laplante
Lauren McCarthy
Sally Merry
Shunko Rojas
Alvaro Santos
Greg Shaffer
Mario Schapiro
Druscilla Scribner
Mauricio Villegas
April 23-25, 2010, UW Law School
The Conference titled "Laws Locations: The Textures of Legality in Developing and Transitional Societies" will be held at the University of Wisconsin Law School on April 23-25, 2010. The conference is held in conjunction with the annual symposium of the Wisconsin International Law Journal. It is part of the Research Circle on Role of Law in Developing and Transition Countries.
The conference is held in honor of Professor David Trubek, Voss Bascom Emeritus Professor of Law and Senior Fellow, Center for World Affairs and the Global Economy (WAGE).
Guest speaker:
Professor Richard Abel, Michael J Connell Professor of Law, University of California Los Angeles Law School will deliver "Personal Reminiscences of David Trubek."
Conference theme
Agenda
Speaker bios
Abstracts
Papers
Flavia Agnes
Cathi Albertyn
Helena Alviar
Joe Conti
Allison Christians
Javier Couso
Diogo Coutinho
Jackie Dugard
David Engel
Mary Gallagher
Manuel Gomez
Mario Gomez
Diana Kapiszewski
Jonathan Klaaren
Lisa Laplante
Lauren McCarthy
Sally Merry
Shunko Rojas
Alvaro Santos
Greg Shaffer
Mario Schapiro
Druscilla Scribner
Mauricio Villegas
Saturday, April 3, 2010
LLSV Revisited Symposium in the BYU Law Review
Volume 2009, no. 6
Articles
“Law and Finance”: Inaccurate, Incomplete, and Important
Ruth V. Aguilera and Cynthia A. Williams
Law and Financial Development: What We Are Learning from Time-Series Evidence
John Armour, Simon Deakin, Viviana Mollica, and Mathias Siems
Legal Regimes and Political Particularism: An Assessment of the “Legal Families” Theory from the Perspectives of Comparative Law and Political Economy
John W. Cioffi
Unpacking Adaptability
Andreas Engert and D. Gordon Smith
The Legal Origins Theory in Crisis
Lisa M. Fairfax
Legal Origins and the Tasks of Corporate Law in Economic Development: A Preliminary Exploration
John Ohnesorge
A "Law & Personal Finance" View of Legal Origins Theory
Karl S. Okamoto
Rethinking the "Law and Finance" Paradigm
Katharina Pistor
Legal Origins, Investor Protection, and Canada
Poonam Puri
Mixing-and-Matching Across (Legal) Family Lines
J. Mark Ramseyer
Competition Policy and Comparative Corporate Governance of State-Owned Enterprises
D. Daniel Sokol
Contemporary Legal Transplants: Legal Families and the Diffusion of (Corporate) Law
Holger Spamann
Legal Origins, Functionalism, and the Future of Comparative Law
Christopher A. Whytock
Articles
“Law and Finance”: Inaccurate, Incomplete, and Important
Ruth V. Aguilera and Cynthia A. Williams
Law and Financial Development: What We Are Learning from Time-Series Evidence
John Armour, Simon Deakin, Viviana Mollica, and Mathias Siems
Legal Regimes and Political Particularism: An Assessment of the “Legal Families” Theory from the Perspectives of Comparative Law and Political Economy
John W. Cioffi
Unpacking Adaptability
Andreas Engert and D. Gordon Smith
The Legal Origins Theory in Crisis
Lisa M. Fairfax
Legal Origins and the Tasks of Corporate Law in Economic Development: A Preliminary Exploration
John Ohnesorge
A "Law & Personal Finance" View of Legal Origins Theory
Karl S. Okamoto
Rethinking the "Law and Finance" Paradigm
Katharina Pistor
Legal Origins, Investor Protection, and Canada
Poonam Puri
Mixing-and-Matching Across (Legal) Family Lines
J. Mark Ramseyer
Competition Policy and Comparative Corporate Governance of State-Owned Enterprises
D. Daniel Sokol
Contemporary Legal Transplants: Legal Families and the Diffusion of (Corporate) Law
Holger Spamann
Legal Origins, Functionalism, and the Future of Comparative Law
Christopher A. Whytock
Wednesday, March 24, 2010
Technology Entrepreneurship and Management Conference and Call for Papers
The Brown International Advanced Research Institutes (BIARI) ambitious new program is designed to provide a valuable professional development opportunity for young faculty in the early stages of their research and teaching careers.
From June 13th - June 26th 2010, we will convene 30-40 emerging scholars at an Institute on Technology Entrepreneurship and Management at Brown University in the United States.
This Institute will provide a forum for presenting and discussing research on a broad range of current themes in entrepreneurship studies and related disciplines. Perspectives will include, but are by no means limited to: development economics, organizational and economic sociology, management theory, and technology studies. The program will devote particular attention to similarities and differences between entrepreneurship in the ‘Global North’ and ‘Global South’; however, work with a purely Southern or purely Northern focus is also welcome, especially if the researcher is receptive to cross-national comparisons.
Instructors and keynote speakers at the Institute will be a mix of Brown faculty and leading scholars from institutions around the world. Further details about the Institute can be found here.
Technology Entrepreneurship and Management is one of four Institutes being held in June 2010. To learn more about the BIARI initiative and the application process. please visit our website at: http://brown.edu/BIARI
The Brown International Advanced Research Institutes program has been generously funded by Brown University and Santander Universities. Successful applicants will receive travel assistance, be hosted in University residential housing and be provided catered meals. During
the Institute, participants will have access to Brown University's world class research facilities. Please send questions and comments to BIARI@brown.edu.
Saturday, March 20, 2010
Unpacking Adaptability
I just read an interesting new paper on LLSV.
Unpacking Adaptability
Andreas Engert
Ludwig Maximilians University of Munich - Institute of International Law - Comparative Law
D. Gordon Smith
Brigham Young University - J. Reuben Clark Law School
Brigham Young University Law Review, p. 1553, 2009
Abstract: Legal Origins Theory -- first proposed over a decade ago by Rafael La Porta, Florencio Lopez-de-Silanes, Andrei Shleifer and Robert W. Vishny -- holds that adaptable legal systems produce superior substantive law that, in turn, leads to superior economic outcomes. In this essay, we examine this adaptability hypothesis. The chief methodological challenge confronting the empirical study of adaptability is that researchers cannot measure adaptability directly. Legal Origins Theory attempts to surmount this challenge, in the first instance, by using legal institutions as proxies for adaptability. One of the foundational assumptions of Legal Origins Theory is that courts engage in highly contextualized rulemaking that improves the quality of law over time. Legal Origins Theory then takes this assumption one step further, asserting that “judicial law making and adaptation play a greater role in common than in civil law.” Thus, legal origin becomes a second-order proxy for adaptability. We contend that adaptability is undertheorized and that a more nuanced understanding of adaptability reveals the implausibility of legal origin as proxy for adaptability.
Unpacking Adaptability
Andreas Engert
Ludwig Maximilians University of Munich - Institute of International Law - Comparative Law
D. Gordon Smith
Brigham Young University - J. Reuben Clark Law School
Brigham Young University Law Review, p. 1553, 2009
Abstract: Legal Origins Theory -- first proposed over a decade ago by Rafael La Porta, Florencio Lopez-de-Silanes, Andrei Shleifer and Robert W. Vishny -- holds that adaptable legal systems produce superior substantive law that, in turn, leads to superior economic outcomes. In this essay, we examine this adaptability hypothesis. The chief methodological challenge confronting the empirical study of adaptability is that researchers cannot measure adaptability directly. Legal Origins Theory attempts to surmount this challenge, in the first instance, by using legal institutions as proxies for adaptability. One of the foundational assumptions of Legal Origins Theory is that courts engage in highly contextualized rulemaking that improves the quality of law over time. Legal Origins Theory then takes this assumption one step further, asserting that “judicial law making and adaptation play a greater role in common than in civil law.” Thus, legal origin becomes a second-order proxy for adaptability. We contend that adaptability is undertheorized and that a more nuanced understanding of adaptability reveals the implausibility of legal origin as proxy for adaptability.
Harvard Institute for Global Law and Policy Workshop on Global Law and Economic Policy
The Institute for Global Law and Policy is proud to announce our first annual Workshop on Global Law and Economic Policy, June 2-11, 2010 at Harvard Law School.
IGLP: The Workshop is an intensive ten day residential program designed for doctoral and post-doctoral scholars. The Workshop aims to promote innovative ideas and alternative approaches to issues of global law, economic policy and social justice in the aftermath of the economic crisis. The initiative will bring young scholars and faculty from around the world together with leading faculty working on issues of global law and economic policy for serious research collaboration and debate. Hosted by Harvard Law School, The Workshop aims to bring together specialists from across the arts and sciences as well as the professional schools who are interested in the intersections between law, economics and global policy.
The Workshop is funded with generous support from Santander Universities and Sovereign Bank
It is co-sponsored by the School for Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) in London, the Bernard and Audre Rapoport Center for Human Rights and Justice at the University of Texas, and Sciences Po Law School in Paris.
Professor David Kennedy will serve as Faculty Director for the Workshop. He is Director of The Institute for Global Law and Policy and Professor of Law at Harvard Law School where he teaches international law, international economic policy, legal theory, law and development and European law. His research uses interdisciplinary materials from sociology and social theory, economics and history to explore issues of global governance, development policy and the nature of professional expertise.
The Core Faculty for 2010 will include:
Matthew Craven, Dean of the Faculty of Law and Social Sciences, Professor of International Law and Director, Centre for the Study of Colonialism, Empire and International Law, School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London; Dennis Davis, Judge of the High Court of Cape Town, South Africa; Christine Desan, Professor of Law, Harvard Law School; Karen Engle, Cecil D. Redford Professor in Law and Director, Bernard and Audre Rapoport Center for Human Rights and Justice, University of Texas; Jorge Esquirol, Professor of Law and Director of International & Comparative Law Programs, Florida International University College of Law; Roy Kreitner, Professor of Law, Faculty of Law, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv; Susan Marks, Professor of Public International Law, King's College London; Vasuki Nesiah, Lecturer in Law, Brown University; Kerry Rittich, Associate Professor at The Faculty of Law and the Women's and Gender Studies Institute at The University of Toronto; Alvaro Santos, Associate Professor of Law at Georgetown University Law Center; Chantal Thomas, Professor of Law and Director of the Clarke Initiative for Law and Development in the Middle East and North Africa, Cornell Law School; Robert Wai, Associate Professor of Law, Osgoode Hall Law School, Toronto; Mikhail Xifaras, Professor of Law, Sciences Po Law School.
The Core Faculty will be joined by speakers and discussants from Harvard and other leading universities.
While in residence at Harvard, participants will review current scholarly developments and reconsider canonical texts with the aim of strengthening our ability to understand and influence the shape and direction of global economic policy and law. Afternoon pro-seminars will offer participants the opportunity to share their own work in progress with colleagues and leading scholars in their field.
IGLP: The Workshop will be organized around six Program Themes:
The Structure and History of Global Law
Global Political Economy: The Architecture of Monetary and Financial Integration
Human Rights and Social Justice
International Economic Policy and Transnational Regulation
Law and Economic Development
Global Law: Universality and Constitutionalism
Exploration of each Program Theme will be led by a team of senior scholars and will be designed to promote discussion on recent scholarly trends as well as classical texts. In addition there will be several plenary talks by leading scholars and policy makers. All participants in The Workshop will have an opportunity to participate in exploration of each thematic area and to share their own scholarship. Our goal will be to understand the history and structure of our contemporary world political and economic system. We will aim to map modern money, finance, development, governance, regulation and social justice, opening them to contestation and debate.
Click here to Apply to IGLP: The Workshop!
The Institute for Global Law and Policy is committed to keeping the Workshop as cost-free as possible for admitted applicants, including travel, meals and lodging.
Click Here for Information about Traveling to Harvard.
IGLP: The Workshop is an intensive ten day residential program designed for doctoral and post-doctoral scholars. The Workshop aims to promote innovative ideas and alternative approaches to issues of global law, economic policy and social justice in the aftermath of the economic crisis. The initiative will bring young scholars and faculty from around the world together with leading faculty working on issues of global law and economic policy for serious research collaboration and debate. Hosted by Harvard Law School, The Workshop aims to bring together specialists from across the arts and sciences as well as the professional schools who are interested in the intersections between law, economics and global policy.
The Workshop is funded with generous support from Santander Universities and Sovereign Bank
It is co-sponsored by the School for Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) in London, the Bernard and Audre Rapoport Center for Human Rights and Justice at the University of Texas, and Sciences Po Law School in Paris.
Professor David Kennedy will serve as Faculty Director for the Workshop. He is Director of The Institute for Global Law and Policy and Professor of Law at Harvard Law School where he teaches international law, international economic policy, legal theory, law and development and European law. His research uses interdisciplinary materials from sociology and social theory, economics and history to explore issues of global governance, development policy and the nature of professional expertise.
The Core Faculty for 2010 will include:
Matthew Craven, Dean of the Faculty of Law and Social Sciences, Professor of International Law and Director, Centre for the Study of Colonialism, Empire and International Law, School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London; Dennis Davis, Judge of the High Court of Cape Town, South Africa; Christine Desan, Professor of Law, Harvard Law School; Karen Engle, Cecil D. Redford Professor in Law and Director, Bernard and Audre Rapoport Center for Human Rights and Justice, University of Texas; Jorge Esquirol, Professor of Law and Director of International & Comparative Law Programs, Florida International University College of Law; Roy Kreitner, Professor of Law, Faculty of Law, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv; Susan Marks, Professor of Public International Law, King's College London; Vasuki Nesiah, Lecturer in Law, Brown University; Kerry Rittich, Associate Professor at The Faculty of Law and the Women's and Gender Studies Institute at The University of Toronto; Alvaro Santos, Associate Professor of Law at Georgetown University Law Center; Chantal Thomas, Professor of Law and Director of the Clarke Initiative for Law and Development in the Middle East and North Africa, Cornell Law School; Robert Wai, Associate Professor of Law, Osgoode Hall Law School, Toronto; Mikhail Xifaras, Professor of Law, Sciences Po Law School.
The Core Faculty will be joined by speakers and discussants from Harvard and other leading universities.
While in residence at Harvard, participants will review current scholarly developments and reconsider canonical texts with the aim of strengthening our ability to understand and influence the shape and direction of global economic policy and law. Afternoon pro-seminars will offer participants the opportunity to share their own work in progress with colleagues and leading scholars in their field.
IGLP: The Workshop will be organized around six Program Themes:
The Structure and History of Global Law
Global Political Economy: The Architecture of Monetary and Financial Integration
Human Rights and Social Justice
International Economic Policy and Transnational Regulation
Law and Economic Development
Global Law: Universality and Constitutionalism
Exploration of each Program Theme will be led by a team of senior scholars and will be designed to promote discussion on recent scholarly trends as well as classical texts. In addition there will be several plenary talks by leading scholars and policy makers. All participants in The Workshop will have an opportunity to participate in exploration of each thematic area and to share their own scholarship. Our goal will be to understand the history and structure of our contemporary world political and economic system. We will aim to map modern money, finance, development, governance, regulation and social justice, opening them to contestation and debate.
Click here to Apply to IGLP: The Workshop!
The Institute for Global Law and Policy is committed to keeping the Workshop as cost-free as possible for admitted applicants, including travel, meals and lodging.
Click Here for Information about Traveling to Harvard.
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