A stretched exponential function taking the form, f(x) = exp(-x^β), x ∈ [0, ∞), β ∈ (0, 1], characterizes decay, diffusion, and relaxation phenomena known as Kohlrausch-Williams-Watts (KWW) processes. Recent work, particularly on relaxation kinetics in metallic glasses, has described the...

Unsupervised machine learning can interpret logarithmic returns and conditional volatility in commodity markets. k-means and hierarchical clustering can generate a financial ontology of markets for fuels, precious and base metals, and agricultural commodities. Manifold learning methods such as...

Machine-learning regression models lack the interpretability of their conventional linear counterparts. Tree- and forest-based models offer feature importances, a vector of probabilities indicating the impact of each predictive variable on a model’s results. This brief note describes how to...

Price-level, or “price-cap,” regulation offers an alluring alternative to the traditional technique of monitoring a regulated firm’s profits. Part II of this article contrasts price-level regulation with conventional cost-of-service ratemaking and with Ramsey pricing. Price-level...

Retirement security is of paramount importance to working people. Adequate retirement income is also a leading concern for private and public pension systems. Pension funding adequacy measures the ability of pension scheme assets to meet a system’s liabilities. Pension managers accumulate...

In Soft Law and the Global Financial System: Rule-Making in the Twenty-First Century (2011), Christopher J. Brummer provides a detailed and informative analysis of the international regulatory response to the global financial crisis of 2008. This accomplishment alone warrants a close look at...

If justice be the end of law, ask on. How we pose normative legal questions "limits and disposes the way in which any answer -right or wrong-may be given." Economic analysis of law has firmly established itself as a controversial but respected neorealist approach to legal criticism. Ever since...

A specter is haunting academia, the specter of globalization. In Globalization and Its Losers, an essay published in the winter 2000 issue of the Minnesota Journal of Global Trade, I described legal and economic integration across borders as an epochal moment for a broad array of ecological,...

Legal preparedness for disaster consists of implementing the optimal portfolio of rules for managing catastrophic risks. This article extends the simpler model of modern disaster theory, "http://ssrn.com/abstract=1910669" http://ssrn.com/abstract=1910669, into a more ambitious model of...

The failure of individual firms in the banking industry poses a unique threat to the entire economy. Emerging wisdom on systemic risk has identified two shortcomings in traditional regulatory approaches, all of which failed to anticipate the financial crisis of 2008-09. First, static measures of...