The Center for Law and Economic Studies’ basic mandate is to develop interdisciplinary research and teaching programs in order to shed new light on the “fundamental economic and legal problems of the modern industrial society.”
The center, founded in 1975, now sponsors an extensive program of research, teaching, and public discussion of law and economic issues. It has taken the lead in developing new interdisciplinary courses and seminars at Columbia. The center has supported many major research projects, which have included participants from law, economics, business, and other disciplines. In addition, the center provides regular support for research by Columbia faculty members. The first major project was on industrial concentration; subsequent projects have included corporate takeovers, regulation of electric power, and corporate governance.
Publications from 2020
Working Paper: How to Help Small Businesses Survive COVID-19, Todd Baker and Kathryn Judge
Working Paper: Stress Testing During Times of War, Kathryn Judge
Working Paper: Why the Fed Should Issue a Policy Framework for Credit Policy, Kathryn Judge
Publications from 2019
Working Paper: Board 3.0 – An Introduction, Ronald J. Gilson and Jeffrey N. Gordon
Working Paper: The Data Standardization Challenge, Kathryn Judge and Richard Berner
Publications from 2016
Working Paper: After The Golden Victory: Still Lost at Sea, Victor P. Goldberg
Publications from 2015
Working Paper: A Crib Sheet for Contracts Profs, Victor P. Goldberg
Publications from 2014
Working Paper: Fee-Shifting Bylaw and Charter Provisions: Can They Apply in Federal Court? – The Case for Preemption, John C. Coffee Jr.
Working Paper: Market Efficiency after the Financial Crisis: It's Still a Matter of Information Costs, Ronald J. Gilson and Reinier Kraakman
Working Paper: Merger Control Procedures and Institutions: A Comparison of the EU and US Practice, William E. Kovacic, Petros C. Mavroidis, and Damien J. Neven
Working Paper: Tax and Corporate Governance: The Influence of Tax on Managerial Agency Costs, David M. Schizer
Working Paper: Text and Context: Contract Interpretation as Contract Design, Ronald J. Gilson, Charles F. Sabel, and Robert E. Scott
Working Paper: Trusting the Courts: Redressing the State Court Funding Crisis, Michael J. Graetz
Publications from 2013
Working Paper: Idiosyncratic Risk During Economic Downturns: Implications for the Use of Event Studies in Securities Litigation, Edward G. Fox, Merritt B. Fox, and Ronald J. Gilson
Working Paper: Protecting Reliance, Victor P. Goldberg
Working Paper: Protecting Reliance, Victor P. Goldberg
Working Paper: The Agency Costs of Agency Capitalism: Activist Investors and the Revaluation of Governance Rights, Ronald J. Gilson and Jeffrey N. Gordon
Publications from 2012
Working Paper: A Precedent Built on Sand: NorCon v. Niagara Mohawk, Victor P. Goldberg
Working Paper: I Like to Pay Taxes: Taxpayer Support for Government Spending and the Efficiency of the Tax System, David M. Schizer and Yair Listokin
Working Paper: Law by Non Sequitur: NorCon v. Niagara Mohawk, Victor P. Goldberg
Working Paper: The New Class Action Landscape: Trends and Developments in Class Certification and Related Topics, John C. Coffee Jr. and Alexandra D. Lahav
Working Paper: The Political Economy of Dodd-Frank: Why Financial Reform Tends to be Frustrated and Systemic Risk Perpetuated, John C. Coffee Jr.
Publications from 2011
Working Paper: Anticompetitive Regulation in the Payment of Card Industry, Ronald J. Mann
Working Paper: Dodd-Frank for Bankruptcy Lawyers, Douglas G. Baird and Edward R. Morrison
Working Paper: Introduction: The Three and a Half Minute Transaction: Boilerplate and the Limits of Contract Design, Mitu Gulati and Robert E. Scott
Working Paper: Rethinking the Laws of Good Faith Purchase, Alan Schwartz and Robert E. Scott
Working Paper: Rethinking the Laws of Good Faith Purchase, Alan Schwartz and Robert E. Scott
Working Paper: Traynor (Drennan) v. Hand (Baird): Much Ado About (Almost) Nothing, Victor P. Goldberg
Working Paper: Virtue Ethics and Efficient Breach, Avery W. Katz
Publications from 2010
Working Paper: Bail-Ins Versus Bail-Outs: Using Contingent Capital to Mitigate Systemic Risk, John C. Coffee Jr.
Working Paper: Dispersed Ownership: The Theories, the Evidence, and the Enduring Tension Between "Lumpers" and "Splitters", John C. Coffee Jr.
Working Paper: Ratings Reform: The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly, John C. Coffee Jr.
Working Paper: Reforming the Taxation of Derivatives – An Overview, Alex Raskolnikov
Working Paper: Subsidizing the Press, David M. Schizer
Publications from 2009
Working Paper: A Proposed Petroleum Fuel Price Stabilization Plan, David M. Schizer and Thomas W. Merrill
Working Paper: Chrysler, GM and the Future of Chapter 11, Edward R. Morrison
Working Paper: Contract Interpretation Redux, Alan Schwartz and Robert E. Scott
Working Paper: Enhancing Investor Protection and the Regulation of Securities Markets, John C. Coffee Jr.
Working Paper: Excuse Doctrine: The Eisenberg Uncertainty Principle, Victor P. Goldberg
Working Paper: Into the Void: Governing Finance in Central & Eastern Europe, Katharina Pistor
Working Paper: Litigation Governance: Taking Accountability Seriously, John C. Coffee Jr.
Working Paper: Locating Innovation: The Endogeneity of Technology, Organizational Structure and Financial Contracting, Ronald J. Gilson
Working Paper: The Empagran Exception: Between Illinois Brick and a Hard Place, Victor P. Goldberg
Publications from 2008
Working Paper: Bargaining Around Bankruptcy: Small Business Workouts and State Law, Edward R. Morrison
Working Paper: Creditor Control and Conflict in Chapter 11, Kenneth M. Ayotte and Edward R. Morrison
Working Paper: In (Partial) Defense of Strict Liability in Contract, Robert E. Scott
Working Paper: Market Damages, Efficient Contracting and the Economic Waste Fallacy, Alan Schwartz and Robert E. Scott
Working Paper: Redesigning the SEC: Does the Treasury Have a Better Idea?, John C. Coffee Jr. and Hillary A. Sale
Working Paper: Sovereign Wealth Funds and Corporate Governance: A Minimalist Response to the New Merchantilism, Ronald J. Gilson and Curtis J. Milhaupt
Working Paper: Subsidizing Charitable Contributions: Incentives, Information, and the Private Pursuit of Public Goals, David M. Schizer
Publications from 2007
Working Paper: Controlling Family Shareholders in Developing Countries: Anchoring Relational Exchange, Ronald J. Gilson
Working Paper: Deconstructing Equity: Public Ownership, Agency Costs, and Complete Capital Markets, Ronald J. Gilson and Charles K. Whitehead
Publications from 2006
Working Paper: Bankruptcy Decisionmaking: An Empirical Study of Continuation Bias in Small-Business Bankruptcies, Edward R. Morrison
Working Paper: Enlisting the Tax Bar, David M. Schizer
Working Paper: Financial Contracts and the New Bankruptcy Code: Insulating Markets from Bankrupt Debtors and Bankruptcy Judges, Edward R. Morrison and Joerg Riegel
Working Paper: Hoffman v. Red Owl Stores and the Myth of Precontractual Reliance, Robert E. Scott
Working Paper: Reforming the Securities Class Action: An Essay on Deterrence and its Implementation, John C. Coffee Jr.
Working Paper: The Law and Economics of Preliminary Agreements, Alan Schwartz and Robert E. Scott
Publications from 2005
Working Paper: A Theory of Corporate Scandals: Why the U.S. and Europe Differ, John C. Coffee Jr.
Working Paper: Causation by Presumption? Why the Supreme Court Should Reject Phantom Losses and Reverse Broudo, John C. Coffee Jr.
Working Paper: Controlling Shareholders and Corporate Governance: Complicating the Comparative Taxonomy, Ronald J. Gilson
Working Paper: Reading Wood v. Lucy, Lady Duff-Gordon with Help from the Kewpie Dolls, Victor P. Goldberg
Working Paper: Risk Management in Long-Term Contracts, Victor P. Goldberg
Working Paper: Separation and the Function of Corporation Law, Ronald J. Gilson
Working Paper: Serial Entrepreneurs and Small Business Bankruptcies, Douglas G. Baird and Edward R. Morrison
Publications from 2004
Working Paper: Balance in the Taxation of Derivative Securities: An Agenda for Reform, David M. Schizer
Working Paper: Choice as Regulatory Reform: The Case of Japanese Corporate Governance, Ronald J. Gilson and Curtis J. Milhaupt
Working Paper: Self-Enforcing International Agreements and the Limits of Coercion, Robert E. Scott and Paul B. Stephan
Working Paper: The Efficient Design of Option Contracts: Principles and Applications, Avery W. Katz
Working Paper: The Poison Pill in Japan: The Missing Infrastructure, Ronald J. Gilson
Working Paper: The Relative Costs of Incorporating Trade Usage into Domestic Versus International Sales Contracts, Avery W. Katz
Working Paper: Understanding Macs: Moral Hazard in Acquisitions, Ronald J. Gilson and Alan Schwartz
Publications from 2003
Working Paper: Innovation in Corporate Law, Katharina Pistor, Yoram Keinan, Jan Kleinheisterkamp, and Mark D. West
Working Paper: The Attorney as Gatekeeper: An Agenda for the SEC, John C. Coffee Jr.
Working Paper: The Economics of Form and Substance in Contract Interpretation, Avery W. Katz
Working Paper: What Caused Enron?: A Capsule Social and Economic History of the 1990's, John C. Coffee Jr.
Publications from 2002
Working Paper: Free Riding on Hot Wheels, Victor P. Goldberg
Working Paper: Incomplete Law – A Conceptual and Analytical Framework and its Application to the Evolution of Financial Market Regulation, Katharina Pistor and Chenggang Xu
Working Paper: Racing Towards the Top?: The Impact of Cross-Listings and Stock Market Competition on International Corporate Governance, John C. Coffee Jr.
Working Paper: The Rise and Fall of Article 2, Robert E. Scott
Working Paper: Trade, Law, and Product Complexity, Daniel Berkowitz, Johannes Moenius, and Katharina Pistor
Working Paper: Understanding Enron: "It's About the Gatekeepers, Stupid", John C. Coffee Jr.
Working Paper: Understanding Venture Capital Structure: A Tax Explanation for Convertible Preferred Stock, Ronald J. Gilson and David M. Schizer
Publications from 2001
Working Paper: Competition Among Securities Markets: A Path Dependent Perspective, John C. Coffee Jr.
Working Paper: Frictions as a Constraint on Tax Planning, David M. Schizer
Working Paper: The Acquiescent Gatekeeper: Reputational Intermediaries, Auditor Independence and the Governance of Accounting, John C. Coffee Jr.
Publications from 2000
Working Paper: Convergence and its Critics: What are the Preconditions to the Separation of Ownership and Control?, John C. Coffee Jr.
Working Paper: Discretion in Long-Term Open Quantity Contracts: Reining in Good Faith, Victor P. Goldberg
Working Paper: Economic Reasoning and the Framing of Contract Law: Sale of an Asset of Uncertain Value, Victor P. Goldberg
Working Paper: Globalizing Corporate Governance: Convergence of Form or Function, Ronald J. Gilson
Working Paper: Sales and Elections as Methods for Transferring Corporate Control, Ronald J. Gilson and Alan Schwartz
Working Paper: Sticks and Snakes: Derivatives and Curtailing Aggressive Tax Planning, David M. Schizer
Working Paper: Unocal Fifteen Years Later (and What We Can Do About It), Ronald J. Gilson
Publications from 1999
Working Paper: Does Venture Capital Require an Active Stock Market?, Ronald J. Gilson and Bernard S. Black
Working Paper: Executives and Hedging: The Fragile Legal Foundation of Incentive Compatibility, David M. Schizer
Working Paper: Privatization and Corporate Governance: The Lessons from Securities Market Failure, John C. Coffee Jr.
Working Paper: The Future as History: The Prospects for Global Convergence in Corporate Governance and Its Implications, John C. Coffee Jr.
Publications from 1998
Working Paper: Bloomer Girl Revisited or How to Frame an Unmade Picture, Victor P. Goldberg
Working Paper: In Search of Best Efforts: Reinterpreting Bloor v. Falstaff, Victor P. Goldberg
Publications from 1997
Working Paper: An Economic Analysis of the Guaranty Contract, Avery W. Katz