As is increasingly apparent, the United States is a free speech and free press outlier. With respect to a large range of issues – defamation, hate speech, publication of information about ongoing legal proceedings, incitement to violence or illegal conduct, and many others – the United...

Civil society actors have been pushing for greater accountability of the World Bank for at least three decades. This paper outlines the range of accountability mechanisms currently in place at the World Bank along four basic levels: (1) staff, (2) project, (3) policy, and (4) board governance....

Strategic trade theory has been criticized on the grounds that its predictions are overly sensitive to modeling assumptions. For example, Eaton and Grossman (1986) show that Brander and Spencer's (1985) seminal result – i.e., when firms compete by setting quantities the optimal policy involves...

The need for a domestic U.S. policy that seriously addresses climate change is increasingly apparent. A cap-and-trade system is the best approach in the short to medium term. Besides providing certainty about emissions levels, cap-and-trade offers an easy means of compensating for the inevitably...

Modern information and communication technologies are reshaping the environment in which foreign policy and international relations are conducted. According to conventional wisdom the information revolution has increased the influence of non-state actors and undermined the authority of the...

Although the language of the First Amendment refers to freedom of speech, it turns out that most of the vast universe of speech remains untouched (and thus unprotected) by the First Amendment. Antitrust law, the law of securities regulation, the law of criminal solicitation and conspiracy, much...

Countries differ significantly in the way they regulate the entry of new businesses. In this paper, we describe the required procedures governing entry regulation, as well as the time and the cost of following theseprocedures, in seventy-five countries. We focus on legal requirements that need...

Advice is often given by individuals who have greater experience, expertise, and wisdom, in order to help someone with less experience, expertise, or wisdom in decision making and problem solving. In many cases, the advisor also possesses formal authority, power, and position. In these cases,...

Recent work on social capital has underlined the importance of networks and other ties among socially dissimilar persons (bridging ties). The resources stored in such ties are thought to play a uniquely vital role in the social, economic, and political life of diverse societies, expanding...

The purpose of this essay is to provide a foundation for understanding the "Great American Gun War," and to consider the next steps that could be taken in the search for an effective gun-control policy. We begin with a review of the more-or-less uncontroversial facts about trends in gun...