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Category Archives: Law
Is there such a thing as an immoral promise?
Or is an immoral or wicked promise not a real “promise” qua promise at all? In either case, we need to have some reliable method of determining right from wrong, yet most (if not all) theories of promissory obligation fail … Continue reading
Posted in Ethics, Law, Paradoxes, Philosophy
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Next Lecture: Contracts & Fraud
Part 1 — Contracts (Lessons 3 & 4) “The Social Network” (the film version of our assigned book “Accidental Billionaires”) depicts an ill-fated promise. After the Winklevoss twins introduce themselves to fellow classmate Mark Zuckerberg, they pitch him their idea for … Continue reading
Posted in Ethics, Law
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Was Facemash illegal or just unethical?
In our second class (May 19th), we are going to re-enact Mark Zuckerberg’s “Ad Board” hearing at Harvard. (Some background: Before he launched Facebook, Harvard sophomore Mark Zuckerburg created a website called Facemash in the fall of 2003. In brief, Facemash … Continue reading
Posted in Ethics, Law
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“Facebook 101”
This summer, we are teaching a large undergraduate course (n = 305) on “the legal and ethical environment of business.” Specifically, we will focus on the founding of Facebook–as depicted in the bestseller “The Accidental Billionaires” by Ben Mezrich–to explore … Continue reading
Posted in Ethics, Law, Literature
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“Immoral Promises”
That is the title of our most recent work in progress, which we posted here on the Social Science Research Network. As the title suggests, the focus of our paper is on illegal and immoral promises, like the ill-fated partnership … Continue reading
Posted in Law, Paradoxes, Philosophy
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Will this presidential promise be kept?
Earlier this year, we wrote up an in-depth series of blog posts discussing the moral bases of “the presidential pledge,” i.e. the solemn pledge all the Republican presidential candidates made to support the eventual nominee of their party. (Here is … Continue reading
Posted in Current Affairs, Deception, Law, Philosophy, Politics
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Best Final Project (Spring 2016)
Congratulations to our students Cassidy Singer and Jacob Triton. This semester, they submitted an innovative final project (see video above) discussing the legal and ethical aspects of their proposed start-up business, ExpressU, an on-campus ride-sharing service. Mr Cassidy presented the … Continue reading
Posted in Law
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A three-bathroom solution?
The State of North Carolina recently enacted a controversial law limiting the legal rights of “transgender individuals.” The law prevents such persons from using public restrooms that don’t correspond with the gender (male or female) on their birth certificates. (By … Continue reading
Posted in Culture, Current Affairs, Economics, Law
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In defense of Paul Krugman (Earth day edition)
Economist Paul Krugman recently wrote up a short and provocative essay in the N.Y. Times on “Econ 101 boosterism” or the naive application of textbook economics to real-world moral and legal problems. In his essay, Krugman compares the pros and … Continue reading
Posted in Current Affairs, Economics, Law
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Review of Aden et al. (part 3 of 3)
In our previous two posts, we reviewed the main details of a proposed private law solution to Puerto Rico’s public debt crisis. (This proposed solution would not require any new legislation, and it appears in this working paper by Aden, … Continue reading
Posted in Economics, Law
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prior probability 