The Archives

The collection of all scholarly commentary on law, economics, and more

Showing archive for:  “Criminal & Civil Justice Reform”

Is Tenure Overrated Or Are the Alternatives Really That Bad?

Steve Levitt thinks that tenure is overrated. But relative to what? Levitt proposes doing away with tenure because it distorts the incentives of scholars to front load their productivity and then ride off into the sunset after tenure is granted. Surely he is right about this incentive effect. Levitt also makes quick work of the ... Is Tenure Overrated Or Are the Alternatives Really That Bad?

Lott v. Levitt: Low Stakes?

Michael Abramowicz over at Concurring Opinions has an interesting post about the ongoing litigation between economists John Lott and Steven Levitt. Lott’s suit alleges that Levitt defamed him in his recent book Freakonomics by suggesting that Lott’s research on the relation between guns and crime could not be “replicated” by other scholars and in a ... Lott v. Levitt: Low Stakes?

Morrison at ELS Blog

Ed Morrison (Columbia) has a great series of guest blogs at the always worth reading ELS Blog on a few research questions in bankruptcy and torts as well as a methodological entry. I am a little bit late with the link (his guest stint ended December 8th ), but I really enjoyed the posts. Here ... Morrison at ELS Blog

"There is Little Evidence that Economic Analysis of Law Has Changed [Antitrust] in Any Noticeable Way"

Huh? This statement appears in this article by Professor Anthony D’Amato (Northwestern) on the failure of interdisciplinary scholarship in the legal academy. HT: Brian Leiter. Quite frankly, I was very surprised to see a claim like this in a paper written after 1970 or so. Even in corners of the academy hostile to economic analysis, ... "There is Little Evidence that Economic Analysis of Law Has Changed [Antitrust] in Any Noticeable Way"

Domain Name Hijacking

Dan Solove over at Concurring Opinions reports on an insidious practice that unfortunately has become increasingly common: domain name hijacking. Here’s how it works. The original owner of a popular website fails to renew its domain name prior to the expiration of the owner’s entitlement. An opportunistic “hijacker” then purchases the name and offers to ... Domain Name Hijacking

Posner on the Overlapping Generations of Law and Economics

Richard Posner reviews Steven Shavell’s Foundations of Economic Analysis of Law in the most recent issue of Journal of Economic Literature (June 2006). Not to take anything away from Posner’s review of the merits of Shavell’s treatise, and his detailed analysis of Shavell’s treatment of particular areas of law (e.g. intellectual property), but to me ... Posner on the Overlapping Generations of Law and Economics

Empirical Scholarship for the Untenured and at SEALS

Lisa Fairfax kicked off an interesting discussion over at the Glom regarding some reasons why untenured folks should not engage in empirical scholarship. The basic message: it takes too long, is too hard (to get data, mostly), may not be received well by tenure committees. There are some great comments to the post defending the ... Empirical Scholarship for the Untenured and at SEALS

Measure 37 Upheld

You may or may not know that Oregon’s Measure 37 — our anti-takings measure — was ruled unconstitutional last year by a state trial court. See this post by Todd Zywicki. But today the Oregon Supreme Court reversed, and handed the effort to quash Measure 37 a resounding defeat. The court’s holding, on each of ... Measure 37 Upheld