Some scholars have argued that the Framers of the U.S. Constitution did not have a common set of views on economics, or that the Constitution, except perhaps in isolated clauses, does not reflect any specific economic views. The principal Framers did, in fact, share a basic set of economic...

This essay is intended to introduce my empirical project exploring Turkish perceptions of law and religion. I returned from Istanbul in the summer of 2013, having recently completed data collection. The data and analysis support a number of important findings. First, there was a trend of...

Hayek (1960) distinguishes the institutions of English freedom, which guarantee the independence of judges from political interference in the administration of justice, from those of American freedom, which allow judges to restrain law-making powers of the sovereign through constitutional...

During the last decades of the 20th century, after the end of the Cold War, a process of increasing rates of globalisation has developed in the world leading to, among other effects, the intensification of economic, ideological, political, cultural and multiple social consequences (Kacowiks...

For scholars of international law and international dispute resolution, the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence River Basin Water Resources Compact and Agreement may seem a mixed blessing. On the one hand, they promise environmental cooperation and management of the Great Lakes at an unprecedented scale....

The Cuban embargo is often cited abroad as a prime example of a U.S. unilateral economic sanctions program that has clearly failed to achieve its stated aims, and is now maintained purely for domestic political purposes. Since the tragic events of 9/11, the world has changed. The tools that once...

This paper presents a new theory of institutions. It develops a novel answer to the theoretical question of why social institutions emerge. The theory is general and applies to all forms of incorporation, including religious organizations, business corporations, partnerships, professional...

This article offers a concise typology of spontaneous norms - i.e., norms that are formed or sustained through decentralized collective behavior in a community. The typology combines three criteria for identifying spontaneous norms: (i) implicit formation of (customary) rules, as opposed to...

This paper argues that political and market concentration level explains why non-democracies often under-invest in institutional infrastructure and legal capacity. Economic growth challenges this equilibrium and incentivizes rulers to invest in institutional infrastructure complementary to...

This article offers a concise typology of spontaneous norms – i.e., norms that are formed or sustained through decentralized collective behavior in a community. The typology combines three criteria for identifying spontaneous norms: (i) implicit formation of (customary) rules, as opposed to...