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Category Archives: Law
Credible Commitment?
What a great time to be alive, especially if you are consultant, what with so many philanthropic foundations to choose from … Our friend Mark Zuckerberg recently pledged–via a lengthy public letter ostensibly addressed to his newborn daughter–to donate 99% … Continue reading
Posted in Law, Questions Rarely Asked
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Best Final Project (Fall 2015)
Congratulations to our amazing student Andrea Londono. Her excellent video (see link above) explaining the law and ethics of BeatBox Beverages, a startup company located in Austin, Texas, received the most votes for “best presentation” from the students in our … Continue reading
Posted in Law
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Voting paradox (federal courts edition)
Independent scholar David Post (via the Volokh Conspiracy) recently brought the following “wild voting paradox” to our attention. In general, appeals at the federal level are decided by a panel consisting of three judges. Now, let’s imagine a case involving … Continue reading
Legal Risk (daily fantasy sports edition)
As we mentioned in our previous post, Eric Schneiderman, the Attorney General of New York, recently sent a “cease-and-desist” letter to DraftKings and FanDuel, ordering them to stop taking wagers from New York residents. Both firms have responded that they … Continue reading
Posted in Current Affairs, Law
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An Open Letter to the Attorney General of New York State
Dear Sir: In your eloquent and well-reasoned cease-and-desist letter to DraftKings dated Nov. 10, 2015, you conclude that “Daily Fantasy Sports” is a form of illegal gambling under New York law. Specifically, you assert that “DraftKings has promoted … DFS [Daily … Continue reading
Posted in Current Affairs, Law
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Are smartphone videos “speech” or “conduct”?
This is an important legal question, since “speech” is generally protected under the First Amendment, while “conduct” can be prohibited and punished. At this year’s Loyola constitutional law colloquium in Chicago, professor Alan K. Chen explained why digital photographs and … Continue reading
Posted in Current Affairs, Law
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What does it mean to “interpret” the Constitution?
This is one of the penetrating questions Richard Posner posed at the Sixth Annual Constitutional Law Colloquium at Loyola University in Chicago. According to Judge Posner, judges resort to various ad hoc theories of interpretation to decide cases when the … Continue reading
Posted in Law
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Television Markets in the Continental U.S.
Why not use this map of broadcast TV markets to create a new system of congressional voting districts and thus solve the gerrymandering problem in politics? Hat tip: elliotd303 (via reddit).
Posted in Law
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“Breaking Bad and the Natural Law Tradition”
Update (2 Feb. 2016): Our paper has a new title: “So Long Suckers: Bargaining and Betrayal in Breaking Bad.” We’ve posted a complete draft of our working paper on SSRN, and we’ve posted our new abstract here. That is the … Continue reading
Trick or Treat? A Reverse Dutch Auction of Puerto Rico’s Public Debts
This is the most novel solution to Puerto Rico’s current debt crisis we’ve studied thus far, an idea attributed to Professor Arturo Estrella, an economist at the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in New York State. (We say “attributed to” because we can’t … Continue reading
Posted in Current Affairs, Economics, Law
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prior probability 