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Efficient Arbitration – Part 2: Launching an Efficient Arbitration
July 30, 2018
Kicking off our series on efficiency in arbitration, our first article, Efficient Arbitration – Part 1: Metrics sets out our idea of an efficient arbitration: Achieving the best possible outcome with the least amount of resources. A balancing act. A range of tools are available to focus the spending of resources. Resources should be invested, not wasted. The selection of the right tools to do so often falls to counsel. It is crucial that counsel is aware of the available tools, stays...
July 30, 2018
Kicking off our series on efficiency in arbitration, our first article, Efficient Arbitration – Part 1: Metrics sets out our idea of an efficient arbitration: Achieving the best possible outcome with the least amount of resources. A balancing act. A range of tools are available to focus the spending of resources. Resources should be invested, not wasted. The selection of the right tools to do so often falls to counsel. It is crucial that counsel is aware of the available tools, stays...
No Contest Clauses – Not Just for Wills
July 30, 2018
Estate planners often advise their clients to include a no contest clause, or in terrorem clause, in their documents as to deter...
July 30, 2018
Estate planners often advise their clients to include a no contest clause, or in terrorem clause, in their documents as to deter...
Estimating Risk Preferences in the Field
July 29, 2018
We survey the literature on estimating risk preferences using field data. We concentrate our attention on studies in which risk preferences are the focal object and estimating their structure is the core enterprise. We review a number of models of risk preferences — including both expected utility (EU) theory and non-EU models — that have been estimated using field data, and we highlight issues related to identification and estimation of such models using field data. We then survey the literature,...
July 29, 2018
We survey the literature on estimating risk preferences using field data. We concentrate our attention on studies in which risk preferences are the focal object and estimating their structure is the core enterprise. We review a number of models of risk preferences — including both expected utility (EU) theory and non-EU models — that have been estimated using field data, and we highlight issues related to identification and estimation of such models using field data. We then survey the literature,...
NY Times: For Wealthy Americans, There Will Never Be A Better Time To Get Divorced Due To New GOP Tax Law
July 29, 2018
For the wealthiest Americans, there may never be a better time to get divorced. A change in the new Republican tax law will eliminate a tax break for alimony payments that are finalized after Dec. 31, prompting financial planners and lawyers to warn wealthy clients that if they have been contemplating filing for divorce, they better act fast. Under the law, Americans who finalize or modify divorce agreements in 2019 or later will no longer be able to deduct alimony payments from their taxes....
July 29, 2018
For the wealthiest Americans, there may never be a better time to get divorced. A change in the new Republican tax law will eliminate a tax break for alimony payments that are finalized after Dec. 31, prompting financial planners and lawyers to warn wealthy clients that if they have been contemplating filing for divorce, they better act fast. Under the law, Americans who finalize or modify divorce agreements in 2019 or later will no longer be able to deduct alimony payments from their taxes....
Willingness to Pay to Use Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Instagram, Snapchat, and More: A National Survey
July 28, 2018
There has been a great deal of discussion of the welfare effects of digital goods, including social media. The discussion...
July 28, 2018
There has been a great deal of discussion of the welfare effects of digital goods, including social media. The discussion...
Impact of Driverless Cars on Insurance Not as Dire as Predicted
July 28, 2018
“We do not expect revenues for auto insurance companies to experience a sudden decline as a result of autonomous vehicles,” Alejandro Zamorano, an analyst at Bloomberg New Energy Finance, wrote Thursday in a report. “Instead we expect a gradual shift in the type of auto insurance products as well as new revenue sources for insurance companies.” That assessment contrasts with previous dire predictions for the industry. A Morgan Stanley report in 2016, entitled “Are Auto Insurers on the Road...
July 28, 2018
“We do not expect revenues for auto insurance companies to experience a sudden decline as a result of autonomous vehicles,” Alejandro Zamorano, an analyst at Bloomberg New Energy Finance, wrote Thursday in a report. “Instead we expect a gradual shift in the type of auto insurance products as well as new revenue sources for insurance companies.” That assessment contrasts with previous dire predictions for the industry. A Morgan Stanley report in 2016, entitled “Are Auto Insurers on the Road...
Heuristics and Public Policy: Decision Making Under Bounded Rationality
July 27, 2018
How do human beings make decisions when, as the evidence indicates, the assumptions of the Bayesian rationality approach in economics do not hold? Do human beings optimize, or can they? Several decades of research have shown that people possess a toolkit of heuristics to make decisions under certainty, risk, subjective uncertainty, and true uncertainty (or Knightian uncertainty). We outline recent advances in knowledge about the use of heuristics and departures from Bayesian rationality, with particular...
July 27, 2018
How do human beings make decisions when, as the evidence indicates, the assumptions of the Bayesian rationality approach in economics do not hold? Do human beings optimize, or can they? Several decades of research have shown that people possess a toolkit of heuristics to make decisions under certainty, risk, subjective uncertainty, and true uncertainty (or Knightian uncertainty). We outline recent advances in knowledge about the use of heuristics and departures from Bayesian rationality, with particular...
Supreme Court Grants Cert Addressing Delegation of Arbitrability
July 27, 2018
Upon reconvening in October 2018, the Supreme Court will take up an interesting question involving the familiar rules of First Options v. Kaplan: Who is to decide whether a claim is subject to arbitration — a court or the arbitrator? The peculiar facts giving rise to that concern in Archer and White Sales Inc. v. Henry Schein Inc. broaden, rather than limit, the case’s interest. Archer, a distributor and seller of dental equipment, brought a suit against Schein, a manufacturer, alleging...
July 27, 2018
Upon reconvening in October 2018, the Supreme Court will take up an interesting question involving the familiar rules of First Options v. Kaplan: Who is to decide whether a claim is subject to arbitration — a court or the arbitrator? The peculiar facts giving rise to that concern in Archer and White Sales Inc. v. Henry Schein Inc. broaden, rather than limit, the case’s interest. Archer, a distributor and seller of dental equipment, brought a suit against Schein, a manufacturer, alleging...
How Does a “Deemed Effective” Date Affect a Non-Compete?
July 26, 2018
A recent case out of New York, Niznick v. Sybron Canada Holdings, Inc., 650726/2018, illustrates how ambiguity can crop up anywhere, sometimes no matter how careful you are; it's difficult to plan for every eventuality. The parties had a contract that included a non-competition clause that prohibited competition for five years after Niznick ceased to own any units in the company. Sybron tried to exercise an option to purchase Niznick's units in the company in 2014, but Niznick disputed the validity...
July 26, 2018
A recent case out of New York, Niznick v. Sybron Canada Holdings, Inc., 650726/2018, illustrates how ambiguity can crop up anywhere, sometimes no matter how careful you are; it's difficult to plan for every eventuality. The parties had a contract that included a non-competition clause that prohibited competition for five years after Niznick ceased to own any units in the company. Sybron tried to exercise an option to purchase Niznick's units in the company in 2014, but Niznick disputed the validity...
Reconciling Fault Lines in Arbitration and Redefining Arbitration Through the Broader Lens of Procedure
July 26, 2018
Imre S. Szalai, Judge John D. Wessel Distinguished Professor of Social Justice at Loyola University New Orleans College of Law, has authored “Reconciling Fault Lines in Arbitration and Redefining Arbitration Through the Broader Lens of Procedure,” 18 Nev. L.J. 511 (2018); Loyola University New Orleans College of Law Research Paper No. 2018-07. In his publication, Professor Szalai examines what he describes as the United States Supreme Court’s often inconsistent treatment of arbitration...
July 26, 2018
Imre S. Szalai, Judge John D. Wessel Distinguished Professor of Social Justice at Loyola University New Orleans College of Law, has authored “Reconciling Fault Lines in Arbitration and Redefining Arbitration Through the Broader Lens of Procedure,” 18 Nev. L.J. 511 (2018); Loyola University New Orleans College of Law Research Paper No. 2018-07. In his publication, Professor Szalai examines what he describes as the United States Supreme Court’s often inconsistent treatment of arbitration...
