Commentary by faculty and affiliates of the Duke Law Global Financial Markets Center
Since 2008, researchers have identified 335 human diseases as having emerged in the period between 1960 and 2004, their names running the gamut from Avian flu to Zika. Furthermore, since 2003, the world has faced a series of medical challenges, such as the outbreaks of SARS, MERS, and Ebola, that have required immediate global action […]
Shareholders and debtholders of a firm often have conflicting objectives. The root of shareholder-debtholder conflict is the different nature of cash-flow claims they are each entitled to. The actual power possessed by shareholders depends upon the specific rules of corporate governance. For example, when governance discipline reserves more power for shareholders, the firm’s owners can more easily replace the board […]
Sustainability-focused funds have seen an incredible boost in popularity since the proliferation of ESG roughly a decade ago. ESG—short for environmental, social, and governance—is a company-wide ethos aimed at implementing responsible policies based on these three factors. Sustainable (or ESG) funds select their constituent investments based on a firm-level analysis of these factors. At the […]
The result of corporate debt renegotiations between debtors and creditors is of great importance for aggregate productivity and employment, as it defines the distressed companies that can survive. From a policy perspective, it is desirable to have in place a bankruptcy system that facilitates renegotiations and allows companies—which create value for workers, costumers, and creditors—to […]
Securities markets are among the most heavily regulated sectors of the economy in developed nations, reflecting their central role in financing businesses and helping households to save for retirement, schooling, and health care, among other things. The costs and benefits of securities laws may accordingly have substantial welfare consequences. My recent paper, “The Economics of Securities […]
During the past two decades, U.S. industries have been dramatically shaped by horizontal mergers. The deal value of an average horizontal merger has risen from $48.4 million in 1995 to $504 million in 2016 (See Figure 1). Over the years, academic studies have addressed the issue of whether horizontal mergers reduce industry competition. It is […]
One of the most debated topics in corporate law is that of understanding where the boundary lies between justice and shareholder limited liability. Although contrasting with corporate creditors’ interests, the shareholder’s right to enjoy limited liability is the cornerstone of the economic and social development of a country. It is for this reason that countries […]
In the face of the COVID-19 pandemic, drastic measures have been taken to reduce infection rates and prevent the economic recession from becoming a global depression. Meanwhile, corporations have been confronted with the challenge of designing special business strategies to deal with the pandemic’s economic and social consequences. To produce value in conditions of financial duress, many […]
From lending to payment processing, the core functions of banks are increasingly performed by financial technology (fintech) firms. But U.S. law has struggled to accommodate the rise of fintech. To catch up to the market, state and federal officials have undertaken a diverse array of regulatory initiatives. Numerous regulators have relied on the prevailing paradigm […]
In October 2020, the UK Financial Conduct Authority (‘FCA’) imposed a ban on the selling of cryptocurrency-related derivatives (‘crypto derivatives’) to retail investors. The FCA implemented this ban after concluding that cryptocurrency as a reference asset in any derivatives product is opaque, complex, and unreliable. In Europe, the European Securities and Markets Authority (‘ESMA’) has taken a […]