prior probability

Source: Remember Singapore (10/1)

Built in the 19th century, Jurong Road was the oldest road in the western part of Singapore. According to the Monthly Progress Report by the …

Coming to the End of Jurong Road

Class #6 of my Advanced Topics in Law class will be devoted to the battle of ideas over corporate social responsibility (CSR). To make this intellectual battle as memorable as possible, I have enlisted the late great conservative economist Milton Friedman and the feisty-liberal-law-professor-cum-senator Liz Warren to personify two different approaches to CSR: “greed is good” and “share the wealth.” Also, for your reference, two years ago I wrote up a detailed, 13-part paragraph-by-paragraph review of Milton Friedman’s classic essay “The social responsibility of business is to increase its profits.” Links to my extended review of Friedman’s ideas are below:

1. Review of Milton Friedman (part 1)
2. Friedman on business ethics (part 2)
3. Friedman’s critique of CSR (part 3)
4. Review of Friedman (part 4): corporate managers vs. sole proprietors
5. Review of Friedman (part 5): interlude
6. Review of Friedman (part 6): theory choice
7. Milton Friedman’s fallacy? (part 7)
8. Friedman and the art of sophistry (part 8)
9. Review of Friedman (part 9): ethics and epistemology
10. Review of Friedman (part 10): markets versus politics
11. Review of Friedman (part 11): do motives matter?
12. Review of Friedman (penultimate post): politics versus markets redux
13. Review of Friedman (last post)

Yes, why not? Stupid bastards!!! Check out Matthew Walther’s review of last night’s presidential debate. I missed the debate (#YankeesIndians), but according to Mr Walther, one of the candidates even said, “Stupid bastard.” (Which one!?) Here is just one excerpt from Walther’s excellent essay: “It was like witnessing an argument about an arcane procedural rule during a senior bingo night at a nursing home in purgatory.” Updated (10/1) with Remy’s excellent rap version of the first “presidential” debate.

In honor of Oktoberfest, which actually begins in September(!), check out this cool color-coded map of Germany’s most popular beers by region. (Hat tip: u/tifa365, via Reddit.)

In his classic book The Common Law, the father of legal realism Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. famously said, “The life of the law has not been logic; it has been experience.” In summary, the Common Law refers to a body of judge-made rules, doctrines, and legal principles. Among other things, this vast and complex body of rules, doctrines, and principles comprises three important areas of private law that are especially relevant to business firms, including Torts, Contracts, and Property. The Law of Contracts, for example, defines which promises are legally-enforceable, and the Law of Torts imposes various legal duties on individuals and firms, while the Law of Property establishes what rights owners have and how ownership rights can be created in the first place. Module 3 is thus devoted to these great areas of our Common Law, and for the benefit of my fall business law students, below are links to several short blog posts describing the contents of Module 3 of our legal and ethical environment of business course:

1. Introduction: Overview of the Common Law
2. Property: The Case of the Saucy Intruder
3. Contracts: Pepsi versus Joe Exotic
4. Torts: Tiger King and Cattle Trespass
5. Bonus Section on Illegal and Immoral Agreements: Illicit Promises of the Rich & Famous

And now, back to our regularly-scheduled blogging …

If so, then why hasn’t the IRS prosecuted Trump for tax fraud yet? There are two possible reasons. One is that the line between tax evasion (illegal, if you get caught) and tax avoidance (generally legal) is not always clear. The other is the six-year statute of limitations, which protects big-time tax evaders/avoiders like Trump. (More here, via Irina Ivanova at CBS Money Watch.) Or, in the alternative, is our complicated and convoluted tax code to blame for this eggregious state of affairs? Either way, here is a thread on the legality of Trump’s crude tax avoidance strategies.

This song is about a lost love, but for me, I always think of the Caribbean island of Cuba, the magical archipelago of my ancestors, whenever I listen to this beautiful song because my long lost love is Cuba.