Hybrid journal (It can contain Open Access articles) ISSN (Print) 1465-7252 - ISSN (Online) 1465-7260 Published by Oxford University Press[419 journals]
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Authors:Crystal Wong H. Pages: 255 - 306 Abstract: AbstractSince the 1990s, many U.S. states have enacted or lengthened the waiting periods required for parties to divorce with the goal of strengthening marriage or at least discouraging divorce. I use the length of time by which some states have shortened their waiting periods to analyze how such waiting periods affect remarriage rates. I find that when the waiting period is shortened to 1.5 years or less, remarriage rates decrease for relatively young people but increase for older people. To the extent that remarriage is pivotal for older women impoverished by divorce to recover economically and emotionally, my results suggest that—though longer waiting periods might preserve some marriages—a prolonged period might reduce the welfare of older divorced women by hampering their remarriage prospects. PubDate: Tue, 12 Oct 2021 00:00:00 GMT DOI: 10.1093/aler/ahab007 Issue No:Vol. 23, No. 2 (2021)
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Authors:Baumann F; Friehe T. Pages: 307 - 347 Abstract: AbstractThis article explores the performance of strict liability and negligence when agents initially have imperfect information about what care options exist to influence expected accidental harm. A technology that establishes a basic level of care is commonly known in our framework, but whether a superior one exists is uncertain. Injurers and/or victims can engage in a costly search to find out. For this setup, we show that strict liability can induce lower social costs than negligence when the superior care technology’s existence is moderately likely and agents’ search costs are high, a combination likely to apply to new and complex activities. Instead, negligence is socially preferred when the superior care technology’s existence is either very likely or very unlikely, or when search costs are low, configurations likely to apply to well-established activities. PubDate: Tue, 09 Nov 2021 00:00:00 GMT DOI: 10.1093/aler/ahab009 Issue No:Vol. 23, No. 2 (2021)
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Authors:Chang Y; Hubbard W. Pages: 348 - 394 Abstract: AbstractLaw and economics theorists have long advanced theories of litigation and settlement, including the canonical Landes–Posner–Gould (LPG) and Priest and Klein (PK) models. Famously, PK predict that, as settlement rates rise, plaintiff win rates approach 50%. So far, though, empirical testing of these models has been hampered by two major limitations: first, these models make clear predictions about the effect of case stakes on settlement rates and plaintiff win rates, but lack of reliable data on stakes means these predictions have gone untested. Second, most of the studies have used data from the United States, a high-settlement, high-litigation-costs setting, and the generalizability of these models to other institutional settings has been less explored. We use a novel data set of Taiwanese court data to test previously untested predictions of the LPG and PK models and explore the extent to which these models apply to a low-settlement, low-litigation-cost setting. We find strong support for the predictions of the LPG model that we test but at best weak support for the 50% hypothesis of the PK model, consistent with recent research suggesting that the hypothesis will have limited applicability in a low-settlement, low-litigation-cost environment. These results suggest directions for research and provide guidance to policy on the role that stakes play in the filing and settlement of claims. PubDate: Thu, 07 Oct 2021 00:00:00 GMT DOI: 10.1093/aler/ahab008 Issue No:Vol. 23, No. 2 (2021)
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Authors:Curtis Q. Pages: 395 - 431 Abstract: AbstractShareholder derivative litigation is often critiqued as costly to firms Special litigation committees have been devised as a means to dismiss low-value lawsuits and reduce unwanted litigation. This article presents a formal model which operationalizes the most common critiques of shareholder derivative litigation including meritless suits, value-decreasing suits, and self-interested plaintiffs’ attorneys who do not internalize the costs of litigation. Within this framework, allowing even an unbiased special litigation committee with superior information about suit quality to dismiss litigation may nevertheless decrease the value of the firm because it undercuts the firm’s ability to commit ex ante to an aggressive litigation stance regarding fiduciary breaches. Whether this is the case turns on firm-specific variables, such as transparency, the risk of management distraction caused by litigation, and sensitivity to small-scale managerial malfeasance, suggesting that a private-ordering approach to derivative litigation may be desirable. PubDate: Wed, 24 Nov 2021 00:00:00 GMT DOI: 10.1093/aler/ahab010 Issue No:Vol. 23, No. 2 (2021)
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Authors:Mungan M. Pages: 432 - 480 Abstract: AbstractThis article considers the possibility of simultaneously reducing crime, prison sentences, and the tax burden of financing the criminal justice system by introducing rewards, which operate by increasing quality of life outside of prison. Specifically, it proposes a procedure wherein a part of the imprisonment budget is redirected towards financing rewards. The feasibility of this procedure depends on how effectively the marginal imprisonment sentence reduces crime, the crime rate, the effectiveness of rewards, and how accurately the government can direct rewards towards individuals who are most responsive to such policies. A related welfare analysis reveals an advantage of rewards: they operate by transferring or creating wealth, whereas imprisonment destroys wealth. Thus, the conditions under which rewards are optimal are broader than those under which they can be used to jointly reduce crime, sentences, and taxes. With an exogenous [resp. endogenous] budget for law enforcement, it is optimal to use rewards when the imprisonment elasticity of crime is small [resp. the marginal cost of public funds is not high]. These conditions hold, implying that using rewards is optimal, in numerical examples generated by using estimates for key values from the empirical literature. PubDate: Tue, 09 Nov 2021 00:00:00 GMT DOI: 10.1093/aler/ahab011 Issue No:Vol. 23, No. 2 (2021)
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Authors:Polinsky A; Shavell S. Pages: 481 - 519 Abstract: AbstractThe prison time actually served by a convicted criminal depends to a significant degree on decisions made by the state during the course of imprisonment—notably, on whether to grant parole. We study a model of the adjustment of sentences assuming that the state’s objective is the optimal deterrence of crime. In the model, the state can lower or raise a criminal’s initial sentence on the basis of deterrence-relevant information obtained during imprisonment. Our focus on sentence adjustment as a means of promoting deterrence stands in contrast to the usual emphasis in sentence adjustment policy on avoiding recidivism. PubDate: Mon, 11 Oct 2021 00:00:00 GMT DOI: 10.1093/aler/ahab004 Issue No:Vol. 23, No. 2 (2021)
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Authors:Salm M; Vollaard B. Pages: 520 - 561 Abstract: AbstractWe study how residents form beliefs about the prevalence of crime in their neighborhood. We document the process of learning about local crime for a uniquely long period of 10 years after taking up residence. Our analysis is based on four successive waves of a large crime survey in the Netherlands matched with administrative register data for the complete history of places of residence between 1995 and 2011. We find that beliefs of residents are much more favorable shortly after their move into the neighborhood than they are longer after their move. The adjustments in beliefs only level off after many years. A large part of this adjustment in the years after a move can be explained by the accumulation of direct experiences with crime. Our findings show that victimization of crime is more than the outcome of a calculated risk; it is a costly form of learning about crime. PubDate: Thu, 02 Dec 2021 00:00:00 GMT DOI: 10.1093/aler/ahab012 Issue No:Vol. 23, No. 2 (2021)
Hybrid journal (It can contain Open Access articles)
[419 journals]
