This paper seeks to situate an understanding of the long-term implications of Smart Contract (SC) technologies as a cluster of technologies that together with AI (shorthand for software applications) and 5G (shorthand for networked ICTs) will prove important for enabling a future wherein any...

We relate the design of contract law to the process of development. In this paper, contract law defines which private agreements are enforceable (i.e. are binding and enforced by courts) and which are not. Specically, we consider an economy where agents face a hold-up problem (moral hazard in...

This paper, an edited and footnoted transcript of a presentation at a research Centre of Excellence at Hokkaido University, looks at the influence of “responsive regulation” theory on the large-scale “Australian Consumer Law” reforms enacted in 2010. It outlines some frameworks developed...

In this article, we study the choice of issuer location and regulatory competition in the European corporate debt market. We find that, in absolute terms, Germany has by far the highest outflow of debt issues, while the Netherlands, the UK, Luxembourg and Ireland see the most inflows (in that...

This article provides a comprehensive overview of the regulations on e-commerce protection rules in China and the European Union. It starts by giving a general overview of different approaches towards consumer protection in e-commerce. This article then scrutinizes the current legal system in...

Arbitration providers, such as the American Arbitration Association (“AAA”) and JAMS, have promulgated due process protocols to regulate the fairness of consumer and employment arbitration agreements. A common criticism of these due process protocols, however, has been that they lack an...

This article examines the effect of regulatory competition in international arbitration law on the parties' choice of the place of arbitration – in other words, the extent to which countries that revise their arbitration statutes succeed in attracting parties to hold more arbitration...

Bancassurance has grown to currently become a completely consolidated insurance distribution channel in the global market, even though it shows unequal levels of development depending on the social and economic characteristics of the different countries. Several factors have contributed to give...

Civil liability of rating agencies has to strike a balance between over-deterrence and overly lax behavior control. The resulting problems of a capital market freeze and difficulties of proof, as they become apparent in most legal systems and the European Commission's Draft Proposal to amend the...

This brief academic note has been prepared as background reading material for prior study by course participants at PACT-2013 at the IACA, which the author is scheduled to address on September 25, 2013. It traces certain recent legal and regulatory developments relating to public procurement...