Blog Archives
How Star Wars Illuminates Constitutional Law
October 25, 2015
Human beings often see coherence and planned design when neither exists. This is so in movies, literature, history, economics, and psychoanalysis – and constitutional law. Contrary to the repeated claims of George Lucas, its principal author, the Star Wars series was hardly planned in advance; it involved a great deal of improvisation and surprise, even to Lucas himself. Serendipity and happenstance, sometimes in the forms of eruptions of new thinking, play a pervasive and overlooked role in the creative...
October 25, 2015
Human beings often see coherence and planned design when neither exists. This is so in movies, literature, history, economics, and psychoanalysis – and constitutional law. Contrary to the repeated claims of George Lucas, its principal author, the Star Wars series was hardly planned in advance; it involved a great deal of improvisation and surprise, even to Lucas himself. Serendipity and happenstance, sometimes in the forms of eruptions of new thinking, play a pervasive and overlooked role in the creative...
Bankruptcy Rates Among NFL Players with Short-Lived Income Spikes
October 25, 2015
One of the central predictions of the life-cycle hypothesis is that individuals smooth consumption over their economic life cycle; thus, they save when income is high, in order to provide for when income is likely to be low, such as after retirement. We test this prediction in a group of people — players in the National Football League (NFL) — whose income profile does not just gradually rise then fall, as it does for most workers, but rather has a very large spike lasting only a few years. We collected...
October 25, 2015
One of the central predictions of the life-cycle hypothesis is that individuals smooth consumption over their economic life cycle; thus, they save when income is high, in order to provide for when income is likely to be low, such as after retirement. We test this prediction in a group of people — players in the National Football League (NFL) — whose income profile does not just gradually rise then fall, as it does for most workers, but rather has a very large spike lasting only a few years. We collected...
Half of Millennials Merge Finances Before Marriage
October 25, 2015
From CNBC: Millennials don't feel the need to put a ring on it in order to open a joint checking account or start racking up points on a shared cash-back credit card. For them, merging finances has become the norm in modern relationships, where couples are increasingly choosing to shack up sans an exchange of vows. The share of both men and women ages 25 to 34 living with a partner has more than doubled from 20 years ago, according to Census data — for men it went from 6.9% in 1995 to 14.7%...
October 25, 2015
From CNBC: Millennials don't feel the need to put a ring on it in order to open a joint checking account or start racking up points on a shared cash-back credit card. For them, merging finances has become the norm in modern relationships, where couples are increasingly choosing to shack up sans an exchange of vows. The share of both men and women ages 25 to 34 living with a partner has more than doubled from 20 years ago, according to Census data — for men it went from 6.9% in 1995 to 14.7%...
Disarming Employees: How American Employers are Using Mandatory Arbitration to Deprive Workers of Legal Protection
October 24, 2015
Employers’ imposition of mandatory arbitration constricts employees’ access to justice. The twenty percent of the American workforce covered by mandatory arbitration clauses file just 2,000 arbitration claims annually, a miniscule number even compared to the small number of employees who litigate claims individually or as part of a class action. Exploring how mandatory arbitration prevents employees from enforcing their rights the Article shows employees covered by mandatory arbitration clauses...
October 24, 2015
Employers’ imposition of mandatory arbitration constricts employees’ access to justice. The twenty percent of the American workforce covered by mandatory arbitration clauses file just 2,000 arbitration claims annually, a miniscule number even compared to the small number of employees who litigate claims individually or as part of a class action. Exploring how mandatory arbitration prevents employees from enforcing their rights the Article shows employees covered by mandatory arbitration clauses...
Litigation Investment Works!
October 24, 2015
Burford Capital Limited (LON:BUR) offers investors the opportunity to participate in the success of a leading finance and professional services firm focused on the growing global opportunities in litigation. By providing a range of specialised services to businesses and lawyers, Burford has established an impressive track record of generating superior financial returns. This record now allows investors to make meaningful conclusions about the effectiveness of the management team and its investment...
October 24, 2015
Burford Capital Limited (LON:BUR) offers investors the opportunity to participate in the success of a leading finance and professional services firm focused on the growing global opportunities in litigation. By providing a range of specialised services to businesses and lawyers, Burford has established an impressive track record of generating superior financial returns. This record now allows investors to make meaningful conclusions about the effectiveness of the management team and its investment...
What to Think About Machines That Think
October 24, 2015
Stephen Hawking recently made headlines by noting, "The development of full artificial intelligence could spell the end of the human race." Others, conversely, have trumpeted a new age of "superintelligence" in which smart devices will exponentially extend human capacities. No longer just a matter of science-fiction fantasy (2001, Blade Runner, The Terminator, Her, etc.), it is time to seriously consider the reality of intelligent technology, many forms of which are already being integrated into...
October 24, 2015
Stephen Hawking recently made headlines by noting, "The development of full artificial intelligence could spell the end of the human race." Others, conversely, have trumpeted a new age of "superintelligence" in which smart devices will exponentially extend human capacities. No longer just a matter of science-fiction fantasy (2001, Blade Runner, The Terminator, Her, etc.), it is time to seriously consider the reality of intelligent technology, many forms of which are already being integrated into...
The Economics of Plaintiff-Side Personal Injury Practice
October 23, 2015
Little is known about the economics of plaintiff-side law firms, which typically work on a contingency fee basis. We begin here to fill that gap. We report on the fees received by 124 plaintiff-side personal injury firms located in four states (Illinois, Texas, and two additional undisclosed states), and estimate the impact of various statutory fee caps on those firms. At all of the firms, cases with modest fees may help to keep the lights on, but occasional “blockbuster” cases account for an overwhelming...
October 23, 2015
Little is known about the economics of plaintiff-side law firms, which typically work on a contingency fee basis. We begin here to fill that gap. We report on the fees received by 124 plaintiff-side personal injury firms located in four states (Illinois, Texas, and two additional undisclosed states), and estimate the impact of various statutory fee caps on those firms. At all of the firms, cases with modest fees may help to keep the lights on, but occasional “blockbuster” cases account for an overwhelming...
What Makes Someone a Master Manipulator?
October 23, 2015
I’ll bet you’ve known a few master manipulators in your day, probably family members, acquaintances, or people at work. We’ve all seen celebrities and politicians who qualify. These are people who habitually engage in cunning, calculating, and conniving behavior. Master manipulators are Machiavellians, or “High Machs,” as I previously explained in this post. The fact that some people are rated as High Machs implies that others are characterized as Low Machs. Most of us are Low Machs,...
October 23, 2015
I’ll bet you’ve known a few master manipulators in your day, probably family members, acquaintances, or people at work. We’ve all seen celebrities and politicians who qualify. These are people who habitually engage in cunning, calculating, and conniving behavior. Master manipulators are Machiavellians, or “High Machs,” as I previously explained in this post. The fact that some people are rated as High Machs implies that others are characterized as Low Machs. Most of us are Low Machs,...
Mediating at the Fringe
October 23, 2015
"The best thing you can do is step aside and let others get on with it. . . .” This remark by a member of the audience took me rather by surprise. It came at the end of our third, and final, event at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in August, each entitled “Why Didn’t We Have This Conversation a Year Ago?” Over 200 people had crossed the threshold for our events, sub-titled “Mediating Conversations about Difficult Issues.” We had covered Theology Today with the title: “Can we take...
October 23, 2015
"The best thing you can do is step aside and let others get on with it. . . .” This remark by a member of the audience took me rather by surprise. It came at the end of our third, and final, event at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in August, each entitled “Why Didn’t We Have This Conversation a Year Ago?” Over 200 people had crossed the threshold for our events, sub-titled “Mediating Conversations about Difficult Issues.” We had covered Theology Today with the title: “Can we take...
Corporate Power Unbound: Investor-State Arbitration of IP Monopolies on Medicines
October 22, 2015
Northeastern University School of Law Professor Brook K. Baker and Katrina Geddes, Master in Public Policy Candidate at Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government, have written a thought provoking article entitled, “Corporate Power Unbound: Investor-State Arbitration of IP Monopolies on Medicines – Eli Lilly v. Canada and the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement,” Northeastern University School of Law Research Paper No. 242-2015. In their scholarly paper, the authors examine investor-state...
October 22, 2015
Northeastern University School of Law Professor Brook K. Baker and Katrina Geddes, Master in Public Policy Candidate at Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government, have written a thought provoking article entitled, “Corporate Power Unbound: Investor-State Arbitration of IP Monopolies on Medicines – Eli Lilly v. Canada and the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement,” Northeastern University School of Law Research Paper No. 242-2015. In their scholarly paper, the authors examine investor-state...
