Author Archive | Todd Zywicki

I have just posted new book chapter, co-authored with Jeremy Kidd, on SSRN: “Does Increased Litigation Increase Justice in a Second Best World?” Here’s the Abstract: Taking as given the claims of tort reform proponents, that increased tort liability in the past few decades has had deleterious effects on American productivity, consumer safety, etc., we […]

Among the reasons why I’ve argued that price controls on payment card interchange fees are not necessary is because of the potential for competition among different payment systems.  So its not just that Visa and MasterCard compete in debit cards (of course, AmEx, Discover, and store-brand cards compete on credit cards and there are a […]

The House Financial Services Committee is holding a hearing tomorrow on the Durbin Amendment price controls on debit card interchange fees.  Here’s the web page.  Only some of the testimony is up there now, but I assume more will be posted as the day goes on. Meanwhile, the Washington Times had two timely pieces today […]

says Jonathan Haidt, referring to the membership at the Society for Personality and Social Psychology’s recent conference: “Anywhere in the world that social psychologists see women or minorities underrepresented by a factor of two or three, our minds jump to discrimination as the explanation,” said Dr. Haidt, who called himself a longtime liberal turned centrist. […]

Interesting post by Larry Ribstein on the demise of Howrey and its impending “merger” with Winston.

Pawnshops have grown rapidly during the credit crunch and have started lending further up the income ladder from their traditional base–and will continue to grow I expect as regulation of credit cards and interchange fees drives more people out of mainstream financial institutions: Pawnshop respectability surged when the economy faltered, noted the National Pawnbrokers Association’s […]

High School and College Students might be interested in the Summer Seminars hosted by the Foundation for Economic Education especially for those interested in learning more about Austrian economics.  Info is here.

for “the self defense of themselves and others.”  Here’s the bill. The measure is known as an act “to provide for an individual mandate to adult citizens to provide for the self defense of themselves and others.” Rep. Hal Wick, R-Sioux Falls, is sponsoring the bill and knows it will be killed.  But he said […]

Check out the information here if you are interested.

Wow, who could have possibly predicted that the Credit CARD Act’s rules that limit non-interest fees and the ability to raise interest rates when a borrower’s risk changes would result in “record high” interest rates (other than me, of course, when I testified to the Senate Banking Committee in 2009 that the act would result […]

I mentioned a few weeks back that Josh Wright and I had authored an amicus brief in support of cert in the case of Wine Country Gift Baskets.com v. Steen.  For those who are interested, in the brief we cite a brand new working paper by Jerry Ellig and Alan Wiseman on the positive impact […]

Minnesota is considering allowing easier access to its bar for those licensed in other states.  Anthony Sanders of the Institute for Justice is in favor of the idea.

He says law school is looking more and more like a bad deal.

I have an essay in tomorrow’s Washington Times, available on the website tonight, “Roar of the Lion Father,” a review essay on Anthony Esolen’s new book Ten Ways to Destroy the Imagination of Your Child.  The comparisons are all mine, not his.

I did a post-oral argument podcast of the Stern v. Marshall oral argument for the Federalist Society.  You can get it here if you are interested.  The argument itself turned out to be a pretty technical discussion about the relevant provisions of 28 U.S.C. and the impact of the issue on 7th Amendment rights.  The […]