Who caused the subprime bubble?
Mian, Sufi, and Trebbi have and answer in The Political Economy of the Subprime Mortgage Credit Expansion: the government, mortgage lenders and mortgage borrowers. Here’s the abstract: We examine how special interests, measured by campaign contributions from the mortgage industry, and constituent interests, measured by the share of subprime borrowers in a congressional district, may have ... Who caused the subprime bubble?
Money Never Sleeps (but audiences might)
Ok, so I went and saw the movie, thanks to my entrepreneurial colleague Christine Hurt, who already has a post up. Read this post for the basics. I plan to follow up with a much longer analysis when I get the time. Here’s some stuff that should suffice for now. First, the movie stinks. It’s ... Money Never Sleeps (but audiences might)
Illinois Corporate Colloquium: Krawiec on Narratives of Corporate Board Diversity
Each fall I invite leading corporate scholars to present and discuss their recent work to faculty and students in the Illinois Corporate Colloquium. I plan to discuss these papers here on TOTM. This semester we started with Kim Krawiec (Duke) and her paper (with Lissa Broome and John Conley), Dangerous Categories: Narratives of Corporate Board ... Illinois Corporate Colloquium: Krawiec on Narratives of Corporate Board Diversity
The SEC takes heat over the Goldman suit
Per the WSJ, the SEC’s internal watchdog told the Senate Banking Committee that the SEC’s suit against Goldman was a “suspicious” attempt to “to distract attention from a report criticizing the SEC for failing to detect an alleged Ponzi scheme.” It’s not like I’m surprised. Here’s my criticism of the suit and the settlement. The only ... The SEC takes heat over the Goldman suit
I’m sorry II
Likewise. I don’t retract a word of my prior post, in which I ventured to suggest that economic arguments might substitute for personal attacks. If the comments to this blog over the last week represent the state of the discussion we are having about economic policy, then I truly fear for this country’s future.
Looking for a few good associates
The Philadelphia Inquirer’s Chris Mondics writes about statistics showing that first-year law firm associate salaries are not declining despite the apparent turmoil in the legal marketplace. He asks whether this means “the big-law-firm model has come through unscathed after the worst downturn since the Great Depression. Well, actually, no.” In fact, he notes the revenue squeeze ... Looking for a few good associates
Love, marriage and firms
I’ve been working on the relationship between family law and business associations. My current paper, discussed here, shows why business association standard forms may be inappropriate for domestic relationships. Another question regarding the relationship between families and firms concerns the extent to which the family is a substitute for the firm as a business organization ... Love, marriage and firms
The dregs of the Enron case
The government finally dropped its prosecution of Nigerian Barge defendant James A. Brown. Here’s part of the WSJ story by John Emshwiller: At the 2004 trial, prosecutors alleged that Enron’s sale of an interest in three power-producing barges, located off the coast of Nigeria, to Merrill was a sham that allowed the energy company to ... The dregs of the Enron case
On Forbes.com: Some thoughts on Wall Street 2
If you can’t wait for the movie, here’s my Forbes.com column.
The Supreme Court and mutual funds @ Cato
I’ll be helping Cato celebrate Constitution Day and the soon-to-be-published edition of their latest Supreme Court Review with my contribution on last term’s Jones v. Harris: Federal Misgovernance of Mutual Funds. See Walter Olson’s summary of the panel on the business cases. Here’s the abstract of my paper: In Jones v. Harris Associates, the Supreme ... The Supreme Court and mutual funds @ Cato
The shrinking of Big Law
The ABA Journal reports that eight Seyfarth Shaw lawyers, “a substantial portion of the public sector practice group at Seyfarth until last month,” have formed a small boutique in the Chicago suburbs focusing on local governments. The result is a lower-overhead firm that can cut its rates by 10-15% vs. Seyfarth’s charges. The article explains ... The shrinking of Big Law
Art vs. money vs. nature
Friday’s WSJ reported on Christo’s project to dress 42 miles of the Arkansas River. Christo does spectacular art that usually intrudes, at least temporarily, on nature. In this case it seems he may have met his Waterloo. Interest groups are lining up at the BLM to have their say. The nature lovers want nature for ... Art vs. money vs. nature
