Just when you thought the global financial crisis was subsiding, with returns to growth in most leading economies, including the US, Europe, China, etc., we have a counter-indicator. The Financial Times reports today that McDonald’s is closing its three outlets in Iceland, citing the difficult economic environment: Iceland edged further towards the margins of the global […]
Author Archive | Kenneth Anderson
Market Discipline? What Market Discipline?
By Kenneth Anderson on October 26, 2009 3:57 pm in Economy, Finance, Financial Crisis, Proposed Legislation, Regulation
The New York Times reports that Congress and the administration might soon reach some kind of view on legislation for addressing “too big to fail” institutions. Off the table is Paul Volker’s proposal to re-establish some line between commercial banking and proprietary trading – some updated Glass-Steagall demarcation. On the table is the Treasury’s proposal […]
Arguing for Corporate Liability Under the Alien Tort Statute, a Bullet Point List
If I were to sit down and sketch out in a single sentence or two each the current approaches (”theories” is way too strong for what I mean here) arguing for corporate liability in the Alien Tort Statute, what would they be? I give it a shot as bullet points below; I welcome any additions, […]
Borgen on Bilder on Mining He-3 on the Moon
My Opinio Juris colleague Chris Borgen has a post up commenting on a new paper by Richard Bilder on SSRN on legal issues involved in mining for Helium 3 on the Moon. The paper, which I’ve just read while on a plane, is fascinating, and Chris provides an excellent introduction to it (go there if […]
Dividing Financial Institutions into Utilities and Casinos?
One proposal for addressing too big to fail, or to systemically interconnected to fail, among financial institutions is to separate out the proprietary trading and other “casino” activities from the “utilities” business of commercial banking with the public. In some ways (not all) it is a revival of the Glass-Steagall approach. Paul Volker has urged […]
Professor Volokh, Was Your Job Saved by the Stimulus?
Interesting article in the Financial Times (Thursday, October 22, 2009) by Sarah O’Connor, “Colleges confused over which jobs have been saved by the extra cash.” Marcia Smith, associate vice-chancellor for research administration at UCLA, who leads a UCLA administrative team handling its stimulus awards received guidance from the UC Office of the President saying she […]
Nineteen Eighty-Fat
… As Mickey Kaus puts it. This kind of thing is enough to remind me why, despite the fact that I consider it a beginning point rather than necessarily always the end point, I am fundamentally a libertarian. We have ways of making you stress-free: Someone should write the fictionalized dystopian nightmare of mandatory “wellness” programs […]
Raiding Strategies with Predators
By Kenneth Anderson on October 18, 2009 1:43 pm in Counter-Terrorism Policy, International Law, Israel
Patrick Cronin over at Facebook points to a new review essay from Edward Luttwak in the latest Times Literary Supplement, but unfortunately not up online. (I subscribe but apparently Patrick gets this stuff a lot faster than I do.) However, Patrick posted a couple of paragraphs. Luttwak reviews David Kilcullen’s widely noticed book among several […]
Two Views of Preemptive War
My Opinio Juris colleague Julian Ku noted there a few days ago that Bloomberg had reported that the Obama administration is considering plans to modify or end the Bush doctrine on preemptive use of military force: The Pentagon is reviewing the Bush administration’s doctrine of preemptive military strikes with an eye to modifying or possibly […]
Peter Berkowitz on Academics and Free Speech
By Kenneth Anderson on October 17, 2009 7:27 pm in Freedom of Speech, Freedom of Speech at Colleges and Universities
Peter Berkowitz takes up the argument over Yale and, by extension, the rest of the American academy, concerning Yale University Press’s shameful censorship of a book on the Muhammed cartoons – with his usual careful argumentation and coherence. Kudos to Peter; here in the WSJ.
Gardasil Vaccinations for Boys?
By Kenneth Anderson on October 17, 2009 5:12 pm in Collective Action Problems, Libertarianism, Paternalism
If the boys don’t stand to benefit from the vaccine, then are we making boys into The Island? Well, that’s an awfully inflammatory way to start out, I grant you. Here’s another inflammatory way to start out … would forcing boys to be vaccinated against their will but without any medical benefit to them, with […]
Are Books the New Magazines?
According to Tina Brown, they are – in an interview in today’s Financial Times about her website, The Daily Beast. This is an elliptical addition to Eugene’s posts about e-books and new legal book technologies. I’m sure many legal academics, myself included, have wondered how, along the way in the last couple of years, things […]
Speculating on the Future of the Alien Tort Statute in a Multipolar World
Harvard Law School is hosting in a couple of weeks what is certain to be a very interesting small conference on the Alien Tort Statute. I was lucky enough to be one of the invitees, addressing the issue of corporate liability under the ATS. I address the issue of corporate liability under the ATS, but […]
Satellite War and Bombing the Moon
I’m pleased to note that Glenn Reynolds and I have a new short opinion piece up at Forbes.com,”Bombing the Moon.” It takes the hook of the LCROSS mission last week to shift gears from explosions on the Moon to … orbital war on satellites. We applaud an Obama administration initiative to try and get ahead […]
A Transaction Tax on Financial Transactions?
The Wall Street Journal has a new story from over the weekend on Democratic proposals, in Congress and the administration and from outside groups, to impose a tax on financial transactions (John D. McKinnon, Democrats Weigh Tax on Financial Transactions, WSJ, October 10, 2009): Taxing financial transactions on Wall Street is gathering support in high places. […]