Rate regulated public utilities own and operate one-third of U.S generators and nearly all the transmission and distribution system. These firms receive special regulatory treatment because they are protected from competition and subject to rate caps. In the past decade, they also have been at...

A common justification for shareholder primacy is that shareholders' financial interests give them an incentive to pursue projects that increase social welfare. This alignment of interests occurs because shareholders hold a residual claim on firm value: Because they receive only what remains...

Cass Sunstein is the leading advocate of "nudges" – small policy interventions that yield major impacts because of behavioral quirks in the way that people process information. Such interventions form the core of Sunstein's philosophy of "libertarian paternalism," which seeks to improve on...

Devised in the aftermath of the most severe financial crisis since the Great Depression, the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (Dodd-Frank) was enacted to reduce risk, increase transparency, and promote market integrity. Since Dodd-Frank was signed into law in 2010, the...

In markets with significant scale economies and network effects, scholars and policymakers often tout open access and interoperability requirements as superior to both regulated monopoly and the break-up of dominant firms. In theory, by compelling firms to coordinate to develop common...

Bankruptcy has a tort problem. Chapter 11 predictably subordinates the claims of tort and other involuntary creditors to those of financial lenders, a fact which encourages firms to rely excessively on secured debt and discount the interests of those they might incidentally harm. For this...

This Article proposes reforms to bankruptcy law’s venue rules. These reforms would expand venue choice, reduce opportunistic venue shopping, and account for the rise of global forum shopping. To date, the leading proposals to reform venue selection rules for bankruptcy cases have ignored...

Scott Hempling’s Regulating Mergers and Acquisitions of U.S. Electric Utilities provides a comprehensive history of electric utility mergers in the United States since the 1980s. Hempling documents the dramatic consolidation the industry has seen in the past fifty years, and he convincingly...

In view of the decline in gain sharing by corporations with American workers over the last forty years, advocates for American workers have expressed growing interest in allowing workers to elect representatives to corporate boards. Board level representation rights have gained appeal because...

In Basic Inc. v. Levinson, the Supreme Court held that under certain circumstances, plaintiffs in securities fraud cases could use a rebuttable presumption to make the required showing that they had relied on the defendant's misrepresentations. Under Basic, a person transacting in a security...