Foreword: Introduction to Decentralization and Development
Foreward: Introduction to Decentralization and Development By Shitong Qiao & Richard A. Epstein Available here.
Continue ReadingNote: Punishing the Pettifogger’s Practice: Applying the Sanction Power of 28 U.S.C. § 1927 to Law Firms
Note: Punishing the Pettifogger’s Practice: Applying the Sanction Power of 28 U.S.C. § 1927 to Law Firms By Joseph T. Janochoski. Full text here. The federal statute 28 U.S.C. § 1927 permits litigants to seek repayment of, and courts to sanction in the form of, “the excess costs, expenses, and attorneys’ fees reasonably incurred” as…
Continue ReadingNote: Left To Languish: The Importance of Expanding the Due Process Rights of Immigration Detainees
Note: Left To Languish: The Importance of Expanding the Due Process Rights of Immigration Detainees By Maisie A. Baldwin. Full text here. Modern immigration detention in the United States is nearly indistinguishable from criminal detention—and often, the same facilities are used to house immigration and criminal detainees side by side. Detainees in both systems may…
Continue ReadingRights-Weakening Federalism
Rights-Weakening Federalism By Shitong Qiao. Full text here. This Article examines whether federalism protects land rights in China from two dimensions. I first compare national law with local institutions of eminent domain, revealing that local governments take much more land than the national government approves, frequently violating, tweaking, and challenging national law. I next examine…
Continue ReadingFoot Voting, Decentralization, and Development
Foot Voting, Decentralization, and Development By Ilya Somin. Full text here. We can enhance development by making it easier for people to “vote with their feet” between jurisdictions. Foot voting is, in several crucial respects, a better mechanism of political decision-making than ballot-box voting. Foot voters generally have better incentives to acquire relevant knowledge—and use…
Continue ReadingData and Decentralization: Measuring the Performance of Legal Institutions in Multilevel Systems of Governance
Data and Decentralization: Measuring the Performance of Legal Institutions in Multilevel Systems of Governance By Kevin E. Davis. Full text here. Most countries rely on multiple levels of government, and many important legal institutions are subnational in scope. There are now several indicators that purport to measure the performance of legal institutions, but they tend…
Continue ReadingBinding Leviathan: Credible Commitment in an Authoritarian Regime
Binding Leviathan: Credible Commitment in an Authoritarian Regime By Roderick M. Hills, Jr. & Shitong Qiao. Full text here. The problem of credible commitment dogs every government, whether democratic or authoritarian. Authoritarian bureaucracies face special credible commitment problems. Fear that local officials will build up a local power base has historically induced the leadership of…
Continue ReadingTaobao, Federalism, and the Emergence of Law, Chinese Style
Taobao, Federalism, and the Emergence of Law, Chinese Style By Lizhi Liu & Barry R. Weingast. Full text here. All developing countries face the problem of how to build the legal and institutional infrastructure (for example, securing property rights and the rule of law) necessary to support efficient markets. The historic path for the West…
Continue ReadingDecentralized and Anomalous Interpretation of Chinese Private Law: Understanding a Bureaucratic and Political Judicial System
Decentralized and Anomalous Interpretation of Chinese Private Law: Understanding a Bureaucratic and Political Judicial System By Yun-chien Chang & Ke Xu. Full text here. China developed without clear entitlements, creating the China Puzzle for law and development theorists. But fundamental statutes regarding contract, torts, and property have now been enacted. Will clear delineation of private…
Continue ReadingPositive and Negative Externalities in Real Estate Development
Positive and Negative Externalities in Real Estate Development By, Richard A. Epstein. Full text here. In this Article, I offer a unified framework for dealing with positive and negative externalities in real estate transactions. The initial move starts in an imagined world in which a single person owns all real estate, which is then sold…
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