Recent scholarship has begun to assess the role of intellectual property rights in the theory of the Coasean firm. Some of this scholarship has looked at the effects of intellectual property on decisions to "make or buy" inputs to production. Other scholarship has looked at the effects of...

This paper argues for employee primacy in corporate governance. "Employee primacy" has two elements: ultimate employee control over the corporation, and an objective function of maximizing employee welfare. In methodology, the argument draws upon both economics, but understood more broadly than...

Coase’s theory of the firm has become a familiar tool to analyze the structure and organization of businesses. Such analyses have increasingly focused on property based theories of the firm, including intellectual property. In previous work we have discussed the application of this model to...

This review essay of Barry Schwartz's Paradox of Choice discusses how Schwartz's thesis that more choice is not always better should inform economists' increasing acknowledgment that preferences are constructed, not fixed. In this companion piece to my more detailed consideration of the subject...

The subprime crisis would never have occurred had investors not been such enthusiastic consumers of subprime securities. The investors now say, somewhat self-servingly (but probably correctly), that they did not understand the securities - securities for which they were willing to pay very high...

People making decisions under uncertainty may need to justify those decisions to their reputational community. This Essay considers when and how the potential need to justify might lead a decision-maker to employ a methodology better suited to yielding a justifiable choice that may not be the...

The history of rating agency reform has not been inspiring. Until recently, it seemed stuck in an ever-repeating cycle of futility. A crisis would spur calls for reform, hearings would be conducted, the SEC would issue proposals and requests for comments, and ultimately, nothing would happen -...

In the present financial crisis, the government has become extensively involved in managing companies, at times undertaking massive bailouts. The results of government involvement in business are at best mixed. Moreover, its involvement has generated significant criticism. But government...

Law has spent surprisingly little time developing a theory of human nature. Its efforts have largely focused on the abnormal - notably, those not responsible for their actions by reason of mental illness or diminished capacity. The normal has barely been addressed. Law and economics embeds a...

Disclosure has its limits. One big focus of attention, criticism, and proposals for reform in the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis has been securities disclosure. But most of the criticisms of disclosure relate to retail investors. The securities at issue in the crisis were mostly sold to...