On the cover: Vibrant autumn color enhances the setting for reading on the Law Quadrangle. Cover ... more On the cover: Vibrant autumn color enhances the setting for reading on the Law Quadrangle. Cover photo by Philip Dattilo.
Page 1. Electronic copy of this paper is available at: http://ssrn.com/abstract=777504 Diversity ... more Page 1. Electronic copy of this paper is available at: http://ssrn.com/abstract=777504 Diversity among Elite American Law Firms A Signal of Quality and Prestige Laura Nyantung Beny University of Michigan Law School 625 South ...
This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Harvard Law School at NELLCO Legal... more This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Harvard Law School at NELLCO Legal Scholarship Repository. It has been accepted for
This is a remarkable book. It offers a complex and nuanced analysis of South Sudan\u27s prolonged... more This is a remarkable book. It offers a complex and nuanced analysis of South Sudan\u27s prolonged and troubled march to political liberation—first from Anglo‐Egyptian colonialism in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, then from hegemonic Arab rule in post‐independence Sudan [1956‐2011], and now from South Sudan\u27s internal political and economic contradictions
Professors Nielsen and Albiston revisit the 1978 article, The Public Interest Law Industry, by Jo... more Professors Nielsen and Albiston revisit the 1978 article, The Public Interest Law Industry, by Joel F. Handler, Betsy Ginsberg, and Arthur Snow, which presents an empirical study of the public interest law ( PIL ) industry in the mid-1970s. At that time, there were only eighty-six PIL firms or public interest law organizations ( PILOs ) in existence in the United States. Then, PILOs tended to be small, had relatively small operating budgets, received most of their funds from private sources, and tended to focus most of their effort in a single substantive area, among other characteristics noted by Professors Nielsen and Albiston. However, there have been significant changes in the legal, political, social, and economic landscape since the mid-1970s, so one would expect PILOs to have changed significantly as well. Nielsen and Albiston\u27s study is therefore a timely and important empirical reassessment of PILOs. The primary goals of their study are to understand how PILOs have chang...
This is a commentary by Professor Beny on Professors Nielsen's and Albiston's empirial st... more This is a commentary by Professor Beny on Professors Nielsen's and Albiston's empirial study, "The Organizational Environment of Public Interest Practice: 1975-2000," 84 N.C. L. REV. 102, 116 (2006). Both Nielsen's and Albiston's empirical study and Professor Beny's commentary were presented at the University of North Carolina Law Review Symposium, Empirical Studies of the Legal Profession: What Do We Know About Lawyers' Lives? at the University of North Carolina School of Law, October 2005.
Among the many fine contributions of Maimonidean scholarship, this new monograph stands out for i... more Among the many fine contributions of Maimonidean scholarship, this new monograph stands out for its fresh approach and promises to make a lasting impact on the field. In keeping with a growing scholarly trend, Mark Cohen's book situates Maimonides's work within the context of Egyptian and Mediterranean societies. But unlike those studies that examine Maimonides's writings within the framework of Arab thought or Islamic law, Maimonides and the Merchants focuses on the intersection of law and reality in the Mishneh Torah, arguing that Maimonides subtly yet substantively updated the Jewish legal apparatus in order to accommodate economic norms current among medieval Mediterranean traders, Jewish and non-Jewish alike. Cohen draws from a wealth of Genizah documents, Gaonic responsa, and Islamic legal texts to illustrate the nature of the mercantile system that prevailed from at least the tenth century, known in some Gaonic sources as the "custom of the merchants" (hukm al-tujjâr). A key element of this system, generally known in Arabic as qirâd, was defined by its partnership structure, according to which a "passive" partner supplied the primary capital for the joint venture while an "active" partner supplied the labor in the form of travel and trade. The Arab qirâd bore some resemblance to a commercial partnership known in the Talmud as isqa, yet the qirâd differed in that only the silent partner bore any risk for financial loss. This was a distinct advantage in attracting active partners in a commercial network dominated by long-distance trade and, as such, was adopted by most Jewish traders between the tenth and thirteenth centuries, notwithstanding its deviation from Talmudic law. Another perceived advantage to this system was its relatively informal character, allowing partners to make arrangements on the basis of trust and business ties, without requiring contracts to formalize these far-flung and often fluctuating relationships. Both the system of Mediterranean trade and Maimonides's first-hand knowledge of it are well documented and have been known to scholars for decades. Yet Cohen is the first to leverage these historical data in order to examine how they served as a catalyst for legal change. He frames his study with the theoretical question posed by Alan Watson, as to whether legal codes may serve to update the law by closing the gap between conservative legal systems and shifting involvement in conversations about public health, medicine, and scientific motherhood that have been extensively demonstrated in the Arabic press of the era.
In December 2013, civil conflict erupted between the Government of the Republic of South Sudan an... more In December 2013, civil conflict erupted between the Government of the Republic of South Sudan and opposition forces due to political infighting among the country’s political and military elites. On March 3, 2015, the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) adopted Resolution 2206 pursuant to its powers under Article 41 of Chapter VII of the Charter of the United Nations. Resolution 2206 provides for targeted sanctions against specific individuals and entities deemed “responsible for or complicit in, or [as] having engaged in, directly or indirectly, actions or policies that threaten the peace, security or stability of South Sudan.” The stated purpose of the targeted sanctions, which consist of a travel ban and asset freeze for designated individuals and entities, is to “support the search for an inclusive and sustainable peace in South Sudan.”
This innovative sustainability case on Ethiopia's National Adaptation Programme of Action was cre... more This innovative sustainability case on Ethiopia's National Adaptation Programme of Action was created through collaboration among professionals, scholars, students and media design professionals under the auspices of the Michigan Sustainability Case (MSC) initiative. It comprises a terse narrative about a decision maker, multimedia sources including a podcast that link to and enrich the text, and an engaged learning exercise that walks users through the potential and constraints of emerging cost-benefit analysis methods for climate adaptation planning. It challenges learners to address the emerging impacts of climate change by systematically analyzing the challenges faced by Ethiopia's central government in allocating limited financial, technical and administrative resources to mitigate these impacts on its most vulnerable communities. The case not only introduces audiences to climate change risks and vulnerabilities in Ethiopia, but also interweaves those contextual factors with broader technical information, to strengthen understanding of the specific governance challenge at hand. The case thus demonstrates MSC's pedagogical commitment to making ecological, economic, cultural and political context clearer in the development of effective environmental policies. Likewise, the MSC approach deliberately demonstrates to students the challenges of decision-making with imperfect information.
This essay is the introductory chapter to the book, "Sudan's Killing Fields," edite... more This essay is the introductory chapter to the book, "Sudan's Killing Fields," edited by Laura Nyantung Beny and Sondra Hale (Red Sea Press, Forthcoming).
Under Resolution 1325,1 the Security Council, for the first time, established a comprehensive fra... more Under Resolution 1325,1 the Security Council, for the first time, established a comprehensive framework to provide greater protection to women during armed conflict and to increase the participation of women in peacekeeping and peace-building exercises at all levels. Security Council ...
Accession to the East African Community ("EAC") offers many potential benefits for the ... more Accession to the East African Community ("EAC") offers many potential benefits for the Republic of South Sudan. For instance, access to ports in Kenya and regional transportation corridors could increase the competitiveness of South Sudanese products. EAC membership could also open up new regional and international markets for South Sudanese products and strengthen South Sudan's negotiating position vis-a-vis non-EAC countries. Moreover, EAC membership may result in knowledge transfer between EAC partner states and increased regional investment. This in turn could promote the development of better domestic infrastructure and generate significant welfare gains. South Sudanese participation in non-economic EAC cooperation programs could also enhance regional security, food security, and natural resource management.But EAC membership could also have detrimental effects. EAC members are expected to implement a variety of economic and non-economic programs, not all of which may be in South Sudan's interest. For instance, EAC policies like common external tariffs ("CETs") and common investment rules could constrain South Sudan's ability to implement trade and investment promotion policies. In addition, EAC membership may hurt South Sudanese consumers and entrepreneurs through elevated CETs on consumer goods and exposure to regional competition. Additionally, continued use of non-tariff barriers and political resistance in EAC partner states may prevent full realization of the potential positive benefits of EAC membership. Lastly, as seen in the case of the EAC-EU Economic Partnership Agreement, EAC membership could require South Sudan to make trade concessions to non-EAC countries.As South Sudan appears committed to pursuing EAC membership, it is now necessary to develop a considered negotiation strategy to maximize the potential benefits of integration and mitigate its negative effects. As demonstrated by the Rwanda case study in Part III, this strategy can be implemented through a multi-step process that focuses on determining the positive and negative impact of EAC membership on South Sudan's development and economy, educating local stakeholders, strengthening vulnerable sectors, and mitigating the negative effects of integration.
U.S. stocks trade on an increasing number of structurally diverse and competitive stock markets. ... more U.S. stocks trade on an increasing number of structurally diverse and competitive stock markets. However, there is concern about the type of competition that has emerged and its implications for investor protection and market efficiency. For instance, the increasing challenge posed to the principal stock exchanges (like the NYSE) by alternative markets raises concerns about excessive order flow fragmentation and its implications for stock price efficiency and liquidity. The controversial practice of payment for order flow (POF), whereby dealers pay brokers to route customers' orders to them whether or not such routing results in the best price for the customer, also causes concern because it significantly reduces investors' choice over where their trades will occur. The paper considers these and other contemporary issues (like market transparency and collusion in dealer markets) in considerable detail. It also provides a useful survey of the financial economics literature on these topics. The paper argues that the current regulatory framework (the National Market System) inadequately addresses the above concerns. In light of technological and regulatory changes over the past two decades, the theoretical framework upon which the present regulatory system is based is no longer appropriate. In particular, recent developments cast doubt on the view that the primary exchanges are natural monopolies. Therefore, I propose a fundamentally different approach to the regulation of U.S. secondary trading markets: a genuinely competitive regime that gives issuers and, derivatively, investors a genuine choice over where their shares will trade.
This article investigates the determinants of insider trading regulation across countries. The ma... more This article investigates the determinants of insider trading regulation across countries. The main finding, based on data from a cross section of countries between 1980 and 1999, is that a country’s political system – not its legal or financial system – provides the first-order explanation of its proclivity to regulate insider trading. Specifically, more democratic political systems enacted and enforced insider trading laws earlier than less democratic political systems, controlling for wealth, financial development, legal origin, and other relevant factors. In addition, left-leaning governments were relative latecomers to insider trading legislation and enforcement relative to right-leaning and centrist governments, controlling for the same factors. The article’s findings are consistent with the political theory of capital market development and inconsistent with the legal origins theory of capital market development. They also challenge theoretical claims that insider trading restrictions are market-inhibiting because the kinds of governments that appear more prone to regulate insider trading are precisely the governments that are generally thought to pursue market-promoting policies.
hedge funds. Through a complex network of business and personal relationships and information sha... more hedge funds. Through a complex network of business and personal relationships and information sharing, the Galleon scheme yielded more than $49 million in illegal profits or loss avoidance. The USA Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) aggressively pursued the alleged culprits in a variety of civil and criminal proceedings. Along the way, they have issued stern remarks in the press, presumably both to warn would-be offenders and to feed populist sentiment. Furthermore, USA authorities claim to have many more insider trading enforcement actions in the pipeline: "The current investigation-which traces its roots to an SEC inquiry in 2007 and FBI agents gaining court approval to use wiretaps to snare targets-has resulted in 66 people being charged with insider trading and related crimes, and 57 convictions, the largest crackdown on insider trading in modern law enforcement history." 5 According to federal law enforcement officials, cases have been "scheduled out" for the next 5 years and it is likely that "hundreds" of individuals will be charged in the coming years, including another hedge fund industry player of similar stature to Mr. Rajaratnam. SAC Capital and Citadel Investments are two of the large hedge funds that have been issued subpoenas in the current investigation. 6
This article characterizes insider trading as an agency problem in firms that have a controlling ... more This article characterizes insider trading as an agency problem in firms that have a controlling shareholder. Using a standard agency model of corporate value diversion through insider trading by the controlling shareholder, I derive testable hypotheses about the relationship between corporate value and insider trading laws among such firms. The article tests these hypotheses using firm-level cross-sectional data from twenty-seven developed countries. The results show that stringent insider trading laws and enforcement are associated with greater corporate valuation among the sample firms in common law countries, a result that is consistent with the claim that insider trading laws mitigate agency costs. In contrast, I find that insider trading laws and enforcement are generally insignificant to corporate value among the sample firms in civil law countries. I find no support, however, for the claim that insider trading laws exacerbate agency costs and thus no support for the deregulatory position. These results are robust to controlling for a variety of potentially relevant factors and suggest that the
On the cover: Vibrant autumn color enhances the setting for reading on the Law Quadrangle. Cover ... more On the cover: Vibrant autumn color enhances the setting for reading on the Law Quadrangle. Cover photo by Philip Dattilo.
Page 1. Electronic copy of this paper is available at: http://ssrn.com/abstract=777504 Diversity ... more Page 1. Electronic copy of this paper is available at: http://ssrn.com/abstract=777504 Diversity among Elite American Law Firms A Signal of Quality and Prestige Laura Nyantung Beny University of Michigan Law School 625 South ...
This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Harvard Law School at NELLCO Legal... more This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Harvard Law School at NELLCO Legal Scholarship Repository. It has been accepted for
This is a remarkable book. It offers a complex and nuanced analysis of South Sudan\u27s prolonged... more This is a remarkable book. It offers a complex and nuanced analysis of South Sudan\u27s prolonged and troubled march to political liberation—first from Anglo‐Egyptian colonialism in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, then from hegemonic Arab rule in post‐independence Sudan [1956‐2011], and now from South Sudan\u27s internal political and economic contradictions
Professors Nielsen and Albiston revisit the 1978 article, The Public Interest Law Industry, by Jo... more Professors Nielsen and Albiston revisit the 1978 article, The Public Interest Law Industry, by Joel F. Handler, Betsy Ginsberg, and Arthur Snow, which presents an empirical study of the public interest law ( PIL ) industry in the mid-1970s. At that time, there were only eighty-six PIL firms or public interest law organizations ( PILOs ) in existence in the United States. Then, PILOs tended to be small, had relatively small operating budgets, received most of their funds from private sources, and tended to focus most of their effort in a single substantive area, among other characteristics noted by Professors Nielsen and Albiston. However, there have been significant changes in the legal, political, social, and economic landscape since the mid-1970s, so one would expect PILOs to have changed significantly as well. Nielsen and Albiston\u27s study is therefore a timely and important empirical reassessment of PILOs. The primary goals of their study are to understand how PILOs have chang...
This is a commentary by Professor Beny on Professors Nielsen's and Albiston's empirial st... more This is a commentary by Professor Beny on Professors Nielsen's and Albiston's empirial study, "The Organizational Environment of Public Interest Practice: 1975-2000," 84 N.C. L. REV. 102, 116 (2006). Both Nielsen's and Albiston's empirical study and Professor Beny's commentary were presented at the University of North Carolina Law Review Symposium, Empirical Studies of the Legal Profession: What Do We Know About Lawyers' Lives? at the University of North Carolina School of Law, October 2005.
Among the many fine contributions of Maimonidean scholarship, this new monograph stands out for i... more Among the many fine contributions of Maimonidean scholarship, this new monograph stands out for its fresh approach and promises to make a lasting impact on the field. In keeping with a growing scholarly trend, Mark Cohen's book situates Maimonides's work within the context of Egyptian and Mediterranean societies. But unlike those studies that examine Maimonides's writings within the framework of Arab thought or Islamic law, Maimonides and the Merchants focuses on the intersection of law and reality in the Mishneh Torah, arguing that Maimonides subtly yet substantively updated the Jewish legal apparatus in order to accommodate economic norms current among medieval Mediterranean traders, Jewish and non-Jewish alike. Cohen draws from a wealth of Genizah documents, Gaonic responsa, and Islamic legal texts to illustrate the nature of the mercantile system that prevailed from at least the tenth century, known in some Gaonic sources as the "custom of the merchants" (hukm al-tujjâr). A key element of this system, generally known in Arabic as qirâd, was defined by its partnership structure, according to which a "passive" partner supplied the primary capital for the joint venture while an "active" partner supplied the labor in the form of travel and trade. The Arab qirâd bore some resemblance to a commercial partnership known in the Talmud as isqa, yet the qirâd differed in that only the silent partner bore any risk for financial loss. This was a distinct advantage in attracting active partners in a commercial network dominated by long-distance trade and, as such, was adopted by most Jewish traders between the tenth and thirteenth centuries, notwithstanding its deviation from Talmudic law. Another perceived advantage to this system was its relatively informal character, allowing partners to make arrangements on the basis of trust and business ties, without requiring contracts to formalize these far-flung and often fluctuating relationships. Both the system of Mediterranean trade and Maimonides's first-hand knowledge of it are well documented and have been known to scholars for decades. Yet Cohen is the first to leverage these historical data in order to examine how they served as a catalyst for legal change. He frames his study with the theoretical question posed by Alan Watson, as to whether legal codes may serve to update the law by closing the gap between conservative legal systems and shifting involvement in conversations about public health, medicine, and scientific motherhood that have been extensively demonstrated in the Arabic press of the era.
In December 2013, civil conflict erupted between the Government of the Republic of South Sudan an... more In December 2013, civil conflict erupted between the Government of the Republic of South Sudan and opposition forces due to political infighting among the country’s political and military elites. On March 3, 2015, the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) adopted Resolution 2206 pursuant to its powers under Article 41 of Chapter VII of the Charter of the United Nations. Resolution 2206 provides for targeted sanctions against specific individuals and entities deemed “responsible for or complicit in, or [as] having engaged in, directly or indirectly, actions or policies that threaten the peace, security or stability of South Sudan.” The stated purpose of the targeted sanctions, which consist of a travel ban and asset freeze for designated individuals and entities, is to “support the search for an inclusive and sustainable peace in South Sudan.”
This innovative sustainability case on Ethiopia's National Adaptation Programme of Action was cre... more This innovative sustainability case on Ethiopia's National Adaptation Programme of Action was created through collaboration among professionals, scholars, students and media design professionals under the auspices of the Michigan Sustainability Case (MSC) initiative. It comprises a terse narrative about a decision maker, multimedia sources including a podcast that link to and enrich the text, and an engaged learning exercise that walks users through the potential and constraints of emerging cost-benefit analysis methods for climate adaptation planning. It challenges learners to address the emerging impacts of climate change by systematically analyzing the challenges faced by Ethiopia's central government in allocating limited financial, technical and administrative resources to mitigate these impacts on its most vulnerable communities. The case not only introduces audiences to climate change risks and vulnerabilities in Ethiopia, but also interweaves those contextual factors with broader technical information, to strengthen understanding of the specific governance challenge at hand. The case thus demonstrates MSC's pedagogical commitment to making ecological, economic, cultural and political context clearer in the development of effective environmental policies. Likewise, the MSC approach deliberately demonstrates to students the challenges of decision-making with imperfect information.
This essay is the introductory chapter to the book, "Sudan's Killing Fields," edite... more This essay is the introductory chapter to the book, "Sudan's Killing Fields," edited by Laura Nyantung Beny and Sondra Hale (Red Sea Press, Forthcoming).
Under Resolution 1325,1 the Security Council, for the first time, established a comprehensive fra... more Under Resolution 1325,1 the Security Council, for the first time, established a comprehensive framework to provide greater protection to women during armed conflict and to increase the participation of women in peacekeeping and peace-building exercises at all levels. Security Council ...
Accession to the East African Community ("EAC") offers many potential benefits for the ... more Accession to the East African Community ("EAC") offers many potential benefits for the Republic of South Sudan. For instance, access to ports in Kenya and regional transportation corridors could increase the competitiveness of South Sudanese products. EAC membership could also open up new regional and international markets for South Sudanese products and strengthen South Sudan's negotiating position vis-a-vis non-EAC countries. Moreover, EAC membership may result in knowledge transfer between EAC partner states and increased regional investment. This in turn could promote the development of better domestic infrastructure and generate significant welfare gains. South Sudanese participation in non-economic EAC cooperation programs could also enhance regional security, food security, and natural resource management.But EAC membership could also have detrimental effects. EAC members are expected to implement a variety of economic and non-economic programs, not all of which may be in South Sudan's interest. For instance, EAC policies like common external tariffs ("CETs") and common investment rules could constrain South Sudan's ability to implement trade and investment promotion policies. In addition, EAC membership may hurt South Sudanese consumers and entrepreneurs through elevated CETs on consumer goods and exposure to regional competition. Additionally, continued use of non-tariff barriers and political resistance in EAC partner states may prevent full realization of the potential positive benefits of EAC membership. Lastly, as seen in the case of the EAC-EU Economic Partnership Agreement, EAC membership could require South Sudan to make trade concessions to non-EAC countries.As South Sudan appears committed to pursuing EAC membership, it is now necessary to develop a considered negotiation strategy to maximize the potential benefits of integration and mitigate its negative effects. As demonstrated by the Rwanda case study in Part III, this strategy can be implemented through a multi-step process that focuses on determining the positive and negative impact of EAC membership on South Sudan's development and economy, educating local stakeholders, strengthening vulnerable sectors, and mitigating the negative effects of integration.
U.S. stocks trade on an increasing number of structurally diverse and competitive stock markets. ... more U.S. stocks trade on an increasing number of structurally diverse and competitive stock markets. However, there is concern about the type of competition that has emerged and its implications for investor protection and market efficiency. For instance, the increasing challenge posed to the principal stock exchanges (like the NYSE) by alternative markets raises concerns about excessive order flow fragmentation and its implications for stock price efficiency and liquidity. The controversial practice of payment for order flow (POF), whereby dealers pay brokers to route customers' orders to them whether or not such routing results in the best price for the customer, also causes concern because it significantly reduces investors' choice over where their trades will occur. The paper considers these and other contemporary issues (like market transparency and collusion in dealer markets) in considerable detail. It also provides a useful survey of the financial economics literature on these topics. The paper argues that the current regulatory framework (the National Market System) inadequately addresses the above concerns. In light of technological and regulatory changes over the past two decades, the theoretical framework upon which the present regulatory system is based is no longer appropriate. In particular, recent developments cast doubt on the view that the primary exchanges are natural monopolies. Therefore, I propose a fundamentally different approach to the regulation of U.S. secondary trading markets: a genuinely competitive regime that gives issuers and, derivatively, investors a genuine choice over where their shares will trade.
This article investigates the determinants of insider trading regulation across countries. The ma... more This article investigates the determinants of insider trading regulation across countries. The main finding, based on data from a cross section of countries between 1980 and 1999, is that a country’s political system – not its legal or financial system – provides the first-order explanation of its proclivity to regulate insider trading. Specifically, more democratic political systems enacted and enforced insider trading laws earlier than less democratic political systems, controlling for wealth, financial development, legal origin, and other relevant factors. In addition, left-leaning governments were relative latecomers to insider trading legislation and enforcement relative to right-leaning and centrist governments, controlling for the same factors. The article’s findings are consistent with the political theory of capital market development and inconsistent with the legal origins theory of capital market development. They also challenge theoretical claims that insider trading restrictions are market-inhibiting because the kinds of governments that appear more prone to regulate insider trading are precisely the governments that are generally thought to pursue market-promoting policies.
hedge funds. Through a complex network of business and personal relationships and information sha... more hedge funds. Through a complex network of business and personal relationships and information sharing, the Galleon scheme yielded more than $49 million in illegal profits or loss avoidance. The USA Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) aggressively pursued the alleged culprits in a variety of civil and criminal proceedings. Along the way, they have issued stern remarks in the press, presumably both to warn would-be offenders and to feed populist sentiment. Furthermore, USA authorities claim to have many more insider trading enforcement actions in the pipeline: "The current investigation-which traces its roots to an SEC inquiry in 2007 and FBI agents gaining court approval to use wiretaps to snare targets-has resulted in 66 people being charged with insider trading and related crimes, and 57 convictions, the largest crackdown on insider trading in modern law enforcement history." 5 According to federal law enforcement officials, cases have been "scheduled out" for the next 5 years and it is likely that "hundreds" of individuals will be charged in the coming years, including another hedge fund industry player of similar stature to Mr. Rajaratnam. SAC Capital and Citadel Investments are two of the large hedge funds that have been issued subpoenas in the current investigation. 6
This article characterizes insider trading as an agency problem in firms that have a controlling ... more This article characterizes insider trading as an agency problem in firms that have a controlling shareholder. Using a standard agency model of corporate value diversion through insider trading by the controlling shareholder, I derive testable hypotheses about the relationship between corporate value and insider trading laws among such firms. The article tests these hypotheses using firm-level cross-sectional data from twenty-seven developed countries. The results show that stringent insider trading laws and enforcement are associated with greater corporate valuation among the sample firms in common law countries, a result that is consistent with the claim that insider trading laws mitigate agency costs. In contrast, I find that insider trading laws and enforcement are generally insignificant to corporate value among the sample firms in civil law countries. I find no support, however, for the claim that insider trading laws exacerbate agency costs and thus no support for the deregulatory position. These results are robust to controlling for a variety of potentially relevant factors and suggest that the
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