Roberts suggested that he believes Hobby Lobby and Conestoga Wood can bring forth claims of religious freedom, saying courts have held that “corporations can bring racial discrimination claims as corporations” and that “those cases involve construction of the term ‘person.’” — John Roberts Offers Conservatives A Way Out Of Birth Control Dilemma, Sahil Kapur, TPM, […]
Turns out Alito isn’t the only justice who conflates the Securities Exchange Act with state-law corporate-structure statutes. Roberts does, too! (Unless, that is, racial-minority-owned corporations are denied access to restaurants and hotels when traveling. Or something.)
Institutionalist Economics did not come up short
I am confused about something Paul Krugman wrote today in his post Dare to be Silly. What he wrote seems… silly. “Before I turn to Syll’s critique, let me summarize my understanding of one of the great turning points in the practice of economics – the turn away from institutional economics in the 1940s and […]
Silver vs Academic Election Forecasters
In a recent post, I mentioned a blog post by Nate Silver which I hadn’t managed to google. It is here Models Based on ‘Fundamentals’ Have Failed at Predicting Presidential Elections I think this is a serious effort worthy of publication in a top political science journal (not that anyone asked me). Silver attempted to […]
My early take on the ACA-contraception-mandate-case argument: Alito conflates the Securities Exchange Act with state-law corporate-structure statutes (yikes); Kennedy really, really wants to give corporations the full complement of human constitutional rights; and Scalia really, really needs to limit this ruling to an interpretation of the Religious Freedom Restoration Act.
When [U.S. Solicitor General Donald] Verrilli said the Court has never found a right to exercise religion for corporations, Alito wondered if there was something wrong with the corporate form that it would not be accorded religion freedom rights. Did Verrilli agree, Alito said, with a lower court’s view that the only reason for a […]
Open thread March 25, 2014
The OTHER big ACA case being argued today (albeit not at the Supreme Court) concerns the statute’s alleged Disestablishment Clause
Obamacare faces two separate court challenges on Tuesday, but only one could deliver a major knockout blow to the law. The case getting the most attention is tomorrow’s Supreme Court challenge to the health care law’s requirement for employers to provide birth control to their workers. At the same time Tuesday morning, the District of […]
What to look for in tomorrow’s Supreme Court arguments in the Hobby Lobby/Conestoga Wood ACA-contraception-coverage cases
[The] conception of corporate personhood has profound and beneficial economic consequences. It means that the obligations the law imposes on the corporation, such as liability for harms caused by the firm’s operations, are not generally extended to the shareholders. Limited liability protects the owners’ personal assets, which ordinarily can’t be taken to pay the debts […]
Down with r!… Up with the Fed rate!… yells a protestor
Thomas Piketty’s Capital in the 21st Century shows us where society is going. Paul Krugman summarizes this future using Piketty’s term, Patrimonial Capitalism, where inherited wealth gains economic power and where hard work returns less money than inheritance. The basic equation underlying patrimonial capitalism is… r – g. r is the investment return to capital. […]
Tapering and the Emerging Markets
by Joseph Joyce Tapering and the Emerging Markets The response of the exchange rates of emerging markets and their equity markets to the Federal Reserve’s “taper,” i.e., reduction in asset purchases, continues to draw comment (see, for example, here). Most analysts agree that these economies are in better shape to deal with capital outflows than […]