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Reputation Failure: The Limits of Market Discipline in Consumer Markets
Get PDFMany believe that consumersourced reputational information about products would increasingly replace topdown regulation Instead of protecting consumers through coercive laws reputational information gleaned from the wisdom of the crowd would guide consumer decision making There is now a growing pressure to deregulate in diverse fields such as contracts products liability consumer protection and occupational licensingbrbrThis Article presents a common failure mode of systems of reputation Reputation Failure By spotlighting the publicgood nature of reviews rankings and even gossip this Article shows the mismatch between the private incentives consumers have to create reputational information and its social value As a result of this divergence reputational information is beset by participation selection and social desirability biases that systematically distort it The Article argues that these distortions are inherent to most systems of reputation and that they make reputation far less reliable than traditionally understoodbrbrThe limits of reputation highlight the centrality of the law to the future of the marketplace Proper legal institutions can deal not only with the symptoms of reputation failure ” consumer mistakes ” but improve the flow and quality of reputational information thus correcting reputation failures before they arise The Article offers a general framework and explores a number of strategies A more robust system of reputation can preserve consumer autonomy without sacrificing consumer welfar
Presidential Laws and the Missing Interpretive Theory
Get PDFThere is something missing in interpretive theory Recent controversies ”involving for example the first travel ban and funding for sanctuary cities ”demonstrate that presidential laws executive orders proclamations and other directives raise important questions of meaning Yet while there is a rich literature on statutory interpretation and a growing one on regulatory interpretation there is no theory about how to discern the meaning of presidential directives Courts for their part have repeatedly assumed that presidential directives should be treated just like statutes But that cannot be right Theories of interpretation depend on both constitutional law and institutional setting For statutes the relevant law comes from Article I and the procedures governing Congress For presidential directives the starting point must be Article II This Article contends that Article II and the distinct institutional setting of the presidency point toward textualism Article II particularly the Opinions Clause gives the President considerable power to structure the process by which he issues directives Drawing on various sources ”including the author\u27s interviews with officials from the Trump Obama and other administrations ”this Article offers a window into that process Since at least the 1930s presidents have invited agency officials to draft negotiate over and redraft presidential directives The final directive signed by the President may not reflect his ideal position instead presidents often issue compromise directives that reflect their subordinates\u27 recommendations This Article argues that courts respect that structure and hold presidents accountable for any mistakes by adhering closely to the text Thus whatever one thinks about honoring the textual compromises that come from Congress there are independent and important reasons to hew strictly to the text that comes from the White House Notably this analysis has important implications not only for interpretive theory but also for broader questions about the constitutional separation of powers In an era of everexpanding presidential power presidents have at times and surprisingly allowed themselves to be constrained by their own administratio
Betrayal in black
No full textIn a fictional Michigan town, a man is pulled over by the local police. The man wonders: What did I do wrong? The officer asks for I.D. The driver mentions he legally carries a gun. The officer panics-confusion reigns- shots ring out. An innocent man lays bleeding to death and the incident is captured on video. The shooting becomes the national headline-the dead man is black-the shooter is white. Protestors on both sides of the racial divide take to the streets while a widow struggles to make sense of senseless tragedy. She turns to high-profile trial lawyer, Zachary Blake. Together, they dare to fight city hall. How far will the police go to protect the status quo? -- From the author Mark M. Bello\u27s personal websitehttps://scholarship.law.ua.edu/harper_lee_prize_books_2020/1002/thumbnail.jp
Occasional Publications of the Bounds Law Library, Number Nine: Law and Miscellaneous Works: The Lives and Careers of Joel White and Amand Pfister, Booksellers and Publishers
Get PDFOccasional Publications of the Bounds Law Library, Number Nine follows Amand Pfister and Joel White, booksellers and publishers, through their careers in 19th century Alabama. It includes images of their printed catalogs and other pertinent documents.https://scholarship.law.ua.edu/occasional_publications/1008/thumbnail.jp
Community Consequences of Airbnb
Get PDFShort-term rental accommodations account for more than 20% of the United States lodging market, with annual sales now greater than those of nearly all legacy hotel brands. The rise of companies like Airbnb has created a booming market that provides affordable short-term rentals for travelers and new income for those with an extra couch, spare room, or even an unused home. However, while individual hosts and guests may benefit economically, the use of short-term rentals produces significant consequences for the surrounding community. Airbnb proliferation causes fewer affordable housing options, higher average asking rents, and erosion of neighborhood social capital. Due to discrimination among users on Airbnb\u27s platform, many of the benefits of short-term rental accommodations accrue to white hosts and guests, locking communities of color out of potential income and equity streams. These issues raise a question at the core of property law: which stick in the bundle is implicated by a short-term rental accommodation? Current regulations attempt to walk the line between protecting property rights and mitigating externalities created by short-term rental accommodations and borne by the local community. In doing so, the law fails to adequately address consequences resulting from the vast increase in short-term rental accommodations. This Article assesses the benefits and costs of short-term rental accommodations and analyzes how current statutory approaches amplify or diminish these effects. After examining the legal, economic, and social interests of multiple short-term rental accommodation stakeholders, including hosts, guests, the local community, and platform operators, it argues that current policies are fragmented, inconsistently applied, and ineffective. Instead, the law must be reformed to better secure access to affordable housing stock, prevent hotelization of residential neighborhoods, create meaningful opportunities for diverse users to share economic gains, and eliminate pathways to discriminate on homesharing platforms like Airbnb
Consumer Activism: From the Informed Minority to the Crusading Minority Twenty-Fifth Annual Clifford Symposium on Tort Law and Social Policy: Rising Stars: A New Generation of Scholars Looks at Civil Justice: Articles & Essays
Get PDFAin\u27t no sunshine on death row
No full textA sequel to Sweet tea with lemon.; Lincoln Garrett is a well known attorney who defends inmates on Texas\u27 death row. He is diligently working to save his client, Silas Burton Hadaway, from a lethal injection.He locates and contacts Silas\u27 mother who hasn\u27t seen her son in thirty years. Beulah makes the journey from Alabama to Texas in hopes that Garrett and she can learn the truth: Did Silas murder the five members of the Foley family or was the testimony a lie.https://scholarship.law.ua.edu/harper_lee_prize_books_2020/1000/thumbnail.jp