Stock market reactions to political events demonstrate that the value of some firms is strongly affected by which party controls political power. However, contrary to common perception, event studies do not indicate that the ability to make unlimited political contributions or expenditures...

This paper analyzes why some governments protect property rights while others do not. Although institutional constraints may affect government incentives to protect property rights, the paper emphasizes that different political institutions have dissimilar effects. Coalition institutions that...

Patents for inventions are at the crossroad of law, technology and economics, with the Patent System resting on two fundamental assumptions: one, that technical progress is desirable and that disclosure is preferable to secrecy; two, that a competitive market economy is in the public interest,...

We implemented five strategies gleaned from practices in achievement-increasing charter schools - increased instructional time, a more rigorous approach to building human capital of teachers and administrators, high-dosage tutoring, frequent use of data to inform instruction, and a culture of...

This study asks why corruption is increasing in European countries and what are the most important factors that explain such corruption? Although corruption scandals, speeches and reports indicate that corruption persists in European countries no one has tested the causes of corruption in...

Tenancy has been a means for labor to advance their socio-economic condition in agriculture yet in Brazil and Latin America, tenancy rates are low compared to the U.S. and the OECD countries. We test for the importance of insecure property rights in Brazil on the reluctance of landowners to rent...

The opioid crisis generates broader societal harms beyond direct health and economic effects, impacting non-users through adverse spillovers on children, families, and communities. We study the spillover effects of a supply-side policy aimed at reducing the over-prescribing of opioids on women's...

This paper describes the methodology used to build the WJP Rule of Law Index – a new quantitative assessment tool designed to offer a comprehensive picture of the extent to which countries adhere to the rule of law in practice. The WJP Rule of Law Index provides new data on nine dimensions of...

I study the basic evidentiary problem of how the legal system regulates primary activities on the basis of information supplied by interested and potentially dishonest parties. I then apply the framework to the historical evolution of Civil Procedure. Evidence production is analyzed according to...

To change the law, an interest group must choose between lobbying the legislature and litigating for new precedent. Lobbying becomes more likely as the relative benefits from rule change become greater, as the costs of lobbying become smaller and as the voting strength of the interest groups...