Americans Elinor Ostrom and Oliver Williamson were awarded the 2009 Sveriges Riksbank Prizein Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel this morning for their work on “economic governance” in the commons and the firm, respectively. Their work is important insofar as it pioneered analysis of economic governance and institutional arrangements outside of competitive market settings. […]
Archive | October, 2009
Looking for an Easy Way to Produce a Delayed RSS Feed
We’d like to have an RSS feed that always contains our blog posts except those posted in the last 12 hours. We’d use it for our NewsTex syndication to Lexis-Nexis, so that we’d have several hours to correct errors and provide updates, before our posts are permanently archived there. Is there an easy way of […]
“White House Official Calls Gays Part of ‘Internet Left Fringe’,” Or Maybe Not
When you see an Instapundit link that says “White House official calls gays part of ‘Internet left fringe,” what do you think happened? A) A White House official called gays part of the “Internet left fringe.” B) A White House official called certain groups on the left that press for gay issues as part of […]
Rethinking the Supreme Court’s Website
One of the odd things about the website for the U.S. Supreme Court is that it’s not the place to go to get briefs, new opinions, and oral argument audio of the Court’s own cases. [See update velow.] If you’re one of the many Supreme Court geeks that needs to read the opinions as soon […]
J.W. Verret Guest-Blogging
I’m delighted to report that J.W. Verret, a law professor at George Mason University School of Law, will be guest-blogging this week about his new law review article, Treasury Inc.: How the Bailout Reshapes Corporate Theory and Practice. Prof. Verret has written extensively on corporate law topics, and was invited to testify before various House […]
The psychology of prizes
Obama’s Nobel Prize brought to mind a vaguely remembered line in a novel by Thomas Bernhard (I think it was Wittgenstein’s Nephew but only because that is the only novel of his I remember reading) to the effect that nothing is as humiliating as being given a prize. Bernhard was famously splenetic, as were the […]
More Soccer News:
Congrats to the US National Team, which punched its ticket to World Cup 2010 with a wonderful victory over Honduras last night (no small feat – the Hondurans were 8-0 in WC qualifying matches before their loss yesterday). But the real drama is down in South America, with the Argentines. Argentina is on any soccer […]
Important News from Honduras
The United States has advanced to the 2010 World Cup by defeating Honduras 3-2 in San Pedro Sulas.
An End to DNA Test Waivers?
The Washington Post reports the Justice Department is reviewing a Bush Administration policy that required some criminal defendants to agree to waive their right to DNA testing as a part of plea deals. The practice of using DNA waivers began several years ago as a response to the Innocence Protection Act of 2004, which allowed […]
Sunday Song Lyric
Hank Williams‘ “I’m So Lonesome, I Could Cry,” was the first Sunday Song Lyric. Appropriately so as Hank Williams is easily one of the greatest American song writers of all time. He died at only 29, and yet left one of the most impressive songbooks of any song writer. Bob Dylan (no song-writing slouch himself) […]
Fined for Inadequate Insurance
Wendy Williams and her husband liked their health insurance plan. The premium and annual deductibles made sense for them, and a more “gold-plated” plan was not worth the money. Yet Massachusetts’ health care regulators disagreed, and forced the Williams to pay a $1,000 fine if they wished to keep their insurance plan — a plan […]
Release the Koh Memorandum on Honduras
James Kirchik, writing in a recent issue of The New Republic, ponders the Administration continued insistence that there was a “coup” in Honduras. He concludes: In the immediate wake of Honduras’s constitutional crisis, it was understandable that the administration, caught by surprise, might jump the gun in its denunciation of the military action as a […]
Jobs Increase in Canada, Drop in US
Unlike in the US, employment is rising in Canada (as it is in Australia). It is hard to tell whether this difference is mainly because Canada benefits disproportionately from natural resources (and from its willingness to make use of them) or because the US’s stimulus program is damaging the long-term health of the US economy […]
How Might the Advent of E-Readers Affect the Creation and Distribution of Legal Textbooks?
I’m finishing up the The Future of Books Related to the Law? series, and I wanted to close by discussing what e-readers could do to the structure of the textbook publishing market. As before, I much welcome your comments, since I’m now editing my article on the subject (it will be coming out as the […]
Would an Act of Congress Be Required to Allow President Obama To Accept the Nobel Peace Prize?
[Note FURTHER UPDATE below.] J.P. Freire (Washington Examiner) asks this, in relation to the constitutional provision that reads (emphasis added), No Title of Nobility shall be granted by the United States: And no Person holding any Office of Profit or Trust under them, shall, without the Consent of the Congress, accept of any present, Emolument, […]