prior probability

Via SSRN, my colleague and friend Brian Frye made a marriage proposal to Maybell Romero in their latest law review article! Don’t believe me? Here it is. And better yet, she said yes!

William “Bill” Withers died one week ago (30 March 2020) in Los Angeles, Calif. (my hometown). Although “Lean on Me” and “Just the Two of Us” are among his most famous works, “Lovely Day” (below) is one of my personal favorite songs of all time. If you are like me and cannot get enough of this classic tune, I have also included for your musical pleasure a small sample of remakes of this beautiful song (below the fold). Also, check out Andy Greene’s 2015 retrospective (via Rolling Stone magazine) of Bill Withers’s remarkable and improbable artistic career.

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It has been several years since I last took a purely online course (Professor Randall Picker’s excellent course on “Internet Giants”), but I have decided to use my quarantine time more productively by signing up for “An Intuitive Introduction to Probability” (via Coursera), which is taught by Karl Schmedders, who is a Professor of Quantitative Business Administration at the University of Zurich. Like Picker, Prof Schmedders is an excellent instructor. I have already completed the first three modules of his probability course and will be writing up a review soon …

File under: “the kids are alright”

That is the title of my most recent work in progress, which is available here via SSRN. Here is an abstract of my paper: “In the United States, most official responses to the current pandemic have included some sort of a suppression policy–the shutting down of non-essential business and economic activities–in order to promote “social distancing” and slow the spread of infection. This white paper will not question the wisdom or efficacy of such economic suppression policies. Instead, this paper will make a modest constitutional proposal: that all such suppression polices occur within a well-defined legal and property-rights framework under the Takings Clause of the Fifth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.”

The four corrupt lawmakers pictured below, left to right, are Kelly Loeffler (R-Ga.); Richard Burr (R-N.C.); Jim Inhofe (R-Okla.); and Dianne Feinstein (D-Cal.). File under: “Insider trading for me but not for thee.”

More details here, via The Guardian (UK).

Via SSRN, I have just posted my review of Cheryl Misak’s intellectual biography of Frank Ramsey. (FYI: Misak’s beautiful book is available here via Amazon.) Below is the abstract of my review: “The English polymath Frank Ramsey was one of the first scholars to paint a subjective picture of probability, but how and when did he make this revolutionary discovery? Among other things, Cheryl Misak’s beautiful biography of Ramsey explores this remarkable terrain.” In addition, I also explain why Ramsey’s approach to probability is relevant to law and legal theory. Bonus: “Frank Ramsey’s Production Function.” Enjoy!