The Latest

The most recent scholarly commentary on law, economics, and more

On disclosure: Hands-tying

Dale Oesterle has called Gretchen Morgenson a “national treasure.” Today Larry Ribstein exposes the treasure for fool’s gold. I’m with Larry on this one. Morgenson’s article on executive compensation is yellow journalism at its worst (well, at least a far as business journalism goes. And really — what else is there?). As Larry suggests, hatchet ... On disclosure: Hands-tying

SEC Advisory Committee on Smaller Companies Meets Tomorrow

The SEC Advisory Committee on Smaller Public Companies is meeting tomorrow (2/21/06) at 9:00 a.m.  Click here for the Notice of Meeting.  This is the committee that has proposed, among other things, exempting smaller public companies from SOX 404.  The meeting will be audio webcast through www.sec.gov. I’m going to try to listen to it ... SEC Advisory Committee on Smaller Companies Meets Tomorrow

$6 Million for Biondi

Matt Bodie at PrawfsBlawg has a nice postscript on Icahn’s settlement with Time Warner (click here). Frank Biondi will get a nice postscript too–$6 million. Biondi agreed late last month to serve as Time Warner’s CEO in the event Icahn was successful in ousting the board. Even though Icahn was unsuccessful, Biondi gets $6 million ... $6 Million for Biondi

New Blog on Empirical Legal Studies

The Empirical Legal Studies Blog—a collaborative effort of Jason Czarnezki (Marquette), Michael Heise (Cornell), William Ford (Chicago), and Theodore Eisenberg (Cornell)—launched today at www.elsblog.org. Its purpose is to “advance productive and interdisciplinary discourse among empirical legal scholars.” Welcome to the blogosphere ELS! p.s: I noticed your site is lacking “TM”s. You may want to slap ... New Blog on Empirical Legal Studies

Google User Privacy

I have some questions about Google’s reluctance to turn over user search data to the government. (For background on this story, see here.) 1. Why does Google gather this data to begin with? Wouldn’t the best way to protect user privacy be not to save this information in the first place? Why does Google need ... Google User Privacy

Management Talent Leaving in Droves for Private Equity

According to this Business Week article, top managers are fleeing public companies for jobs with private equity funds to hunt for deals, head portfolio companies, or both. The attractions are twofold: money and freedom. The pay can be outrageously good even at the entry levels; for CEOs, it can be spectacular. The flexibility is alluring, ... Management Talent Leaving in Droves for Private Equity

Bargaining in the Shadow of Justice Alito

David Fischer at Antitrust Review posts an excerpt from Information Resources, Inc.’s (IRI) press release issued to explain the recent settlement of their ten year long litigation against VNU (A.C. Nielsen, IMS Health, and Dun and Bradstreet). IRI’s claims were based on an “above cost” bundling theory that Thom has discussed in detail here. In ... Bargaining in the Shadow of Justice Alito

Donaldson & Pitt & Levitt & Breeden (Oh my!)

The Council on Foreign Relations puts on some really impressive webcasts/conference calls. Here’s one TOTM readers may be especially interested in (if, that is, you’re one of those lucky people who doesn’t get hives listening to extended bouts of highly-politicized self rationalization): The SEC in a Globalizing Securities Market: A Conversation with the Past Four ... Donaldson & Pitt & Levitt & Breeden (Oh my!)

One of many much-needed lessons about foreign oil

State of the Blogosphere

Below are highlights from the recent two part “State of the Blogosphere” Report by David Sifry, the founder and CEO of Technorati. Click here for Part 1 and here for Part 2. From part 1: Technorati now tracks over 27.2 Million blogs. The blogosphere is doubling in size every 5 and a half months. It ... State of the Blogosphere

Blogging and Tenure

I had my post-decision debriefing meeting with our Reappointment, Tenure and Promotion (RP&T) Committee this week (I got promoted to associate). This was my first RP&T meeting since I started blogging so I was interested in getting the committee’s take on it. Without a doubt it is favorable. In fact, to my surprise the committee ... Blogging and Tenure

ABA: You MUST follow the law. (Unless we don’t like it.)

WARNING: This post is off-topic for this blog (it doesn’t relate to markets). If that bothers you, don’t read any further. Moroever, I do not purport to speak for my co-bloggers. Their opinions of the issue discussed below may differ from my own. Having issued those caveats, I cannot resist making one more comment (my ... ABA: You MUST follow the law. (Unless we don’t like it.)