One theoretical way out of the Greece fiscal crisis for the Eurozone might be to apply standard Coase Theorem logic and find a way in which Germany could, under whatever face-saving language is necessary, bribe Greece to withdraw from the Euro. The intent would be to get Greece off the Euro so that it could […]
Author Archive | Kenneth Anderson
Union Marching in Different European Directions
This is a very fast note on the question of European political economy raised in my last post. It’s not intended to be exhaustive, and yes, it is pretty conclusory. My impression over many years as an international law professor who bridges the public and private law divides; not a specialist in EU law but […]
How Do California and Greece Compare?
(Update.) Thanks, Glenn, for the Instalanche! Let’s add this front page article in the Financial Times today, Tuesday, February 9, 2010, “Traders in Record Bet Against the Euro.” (You might also want to see my more general discussion in a post above on the directions of the EU regarding the unstable position of currency union […]
The Effects of Ownership on M&A
My class in private equity and venture capital doesn’t know it yet, but I think I might have them read Harvard Law School’s John Coates’ new empirical paper on the effects of ownership on M&A, or at least some important sections of it. I’ve just been through it and think it’s terrific, with robust implications […]
Legal Challenges in an Age of Robotics
Last fall I was on a great panel at Stanford Law School on robotics and the law. It had great people on it – Dan Siciliano, Paul Saffo, and Ryan Calo. Great discussion; one of the things it brought home to me, as someone who came to law-and-robotics issues from laws of war questions, was […]
Borrowing from Our Children? And Hegemony
I realized, talking in office hours with a couple of my law students, that they did not really understand what is meant by the phrase “borrowing from our children” – as we often hear it raised or referenced these days in budget, deficit, and other policy debates. These are bright students who have often taken […]
Saturdays with Stendhal 5
In honor of the DC snowstorm – it is still coming down! – this passage from On Love, Book 2, Chapter 50, Love in the United States: In the Winter, which as in Russia is the festive season of the country, young people of both sexes drive about night and day over the snow in […]
A Snow Removal Expert Comments on Snow Removal Costs
Jim N., in the comments to my post below on snow removal – sometimes it’s good for us academics to hear from a real-world expert, so thanks for commenting: As a non-lawyer, non-academic, snow removal company owner I am relishing this opportunity to be the “expert” for the first time ever on VC! Snow removal […]
Snow Removal Not Cheap
Maryland highway officials said they have spent about $50 million so far clearing and treating roads this winter. That’s almost twice the $26 million that had been budgeted. The Virginia Department of Transportation said it already spent the $79 million budgeted for statewide snow removal and was tapping into emergency maintenance funds. Once that $25 […]
The Break-Even Starting Lawyer Salary?
Above the Law has a very interesting post summarizing a talk given by the Dean of Northwestern Law School, David Van Zandt, at a PLI conference on law firm management – Dean Van Zandt talks about the model of law school education and tries to approximate the median starting salary for a lawyer to make […]
The Gitmo Rebellion
The title is actually from Nick Baumann’s article at Mother Jones. On Tuesday morning, Sens. Jim Webb (D-Va.) and Blanche Lincoln (D-Ark.) teamed up with Graham for a press conference to announce a bill that would block funding for Obama’s proposal to try 9/11 co-conspirators, including Khalid Sheikh Mohamed, in civilian courts. By expressing full […]
Golden California
The Times Literary Supplement has a nice cover review-essay on California – Golden California – and it is, happy to say, open access. It’s by Michael Saler and reviews two books, Imperial (on the Imperial Valley, by William Vollman) and Golden Dreams (part of California historian Kevin Starr’s multivolume series on California history). Although agreeing […]
Eric Holder Letter to Senators on Abdulmutallab
By Kenneth Anderson on February 3, 2010 6:12 pm in Counter-Terrorism Policy, Criminal Law, War on Terror
AG Eric Holder has released a letter to a group of Senators wanting an explanation for, among other things, the decision to Mirandize the Christmas Day bomber. I’ve read it quickly and guess I’d describe it as doubling down on the administration’s actions, rather than walking them back. Holder takes responsibility for the decision: I […]
The Amazon, Apple, Macmillan Kerfuffle
I have been trying to follow the story of the dustup among Amazon, Apple, and Macmillan on pricing on e-book readers, but have been distracted by other things. What interests me are the business models being pursued by the various parties here – and whose makes sense, whose doesn’t, and who is likely to survive […]
Interrogating the CIA
By Kenneth Anderson on January 31, 2010 11:02 pm in Counter-Terrorism Policy, International Human Rights Law, Targeted Killing, War on Terror
I just finished up the initial draft of an essay for the Weekly Standard on drone warfare, self defense, and the CIA, riffing off of my chapter in Ben Wittes’s book. One of my observations is that the Obama administration (and really the whole US government) seems to be remarkably sanguine about the other shoe […]