A Cryptographic Escrow for Treaty Declarations and Step-by-Step Verification

The verification of arms-control and disarmament agreements requires states to provide declarations, including information on sensitive military sites and assets. There are important cases, however, where negotiations of these agreements are impeded because states are reluctant to provide any such data, because of concerns about prematurely handing over militarily significant information. To address this challenge, we present a cryptographic escrow that allows a state to make a complete declaration of sites and assets at the outset and commit to its content, but only reveal the sensitive information therein sequentially. Combined with an inspection regime, our escrow allows for step-by-step verification of the correctness and completeness of the initial declaration so that the information release and inspections keep pace with parallel diplomatic and political processes. We apply this approach to the possible denuclearization of North Korea. Such approach can be applied, however, to any agreement requiring the sharing of sensitive information.Comment: 14 pages, 4 figure

The Refund Booth: Using the Principle of Symmetric Information to Improve Campaign Finance Regulation

On March 22, 2006, Professor of Law, Ian Ayres of Yale Law School, delivered the Georgetown Law Center’s twenty-sixth Annual Philip A. Hart Memorial Lecture: The Refund Booth: Using the Principle of Symmetric Information to Improve Campaign Finance Regulation. The article, The Secret Refund Booth, was co-authored with Professor Bruce Ackerman of Yale University. Ian Ayres is a lawyer and an economist. He is the William K. Townsend Professor of Law and Anne Urowsky Professorial Fellow in Law at Yale Law School and a Professor at Yale\u27s School of Management. He is the editor of the Journal of Law, Economics and Organization. Professor Ayres is a regular commentator on public radio’s Marketplace and a columnist for Forbes magazine and regularly writes opeds for The New York Times. He received his B.A. (majoring in Russian studies and economics) and J.D. from Yale and his Ph.D in economics from M.I.T. Professor Ayres clerked for the Honorable James K. Logan of the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals. He has previously taught at Illinois, Northwestern, Stanford, and Virginia law schools and has been a research fellow of the American Bar Foundation. Professor Ayres has published eight books and over 100 articles on a wide range of topics

Contracts Ex Machina

Smart contracts are self-executing digital transactions using decentralized cryptographic mechanisms for enforcement. They were theorized more than twenty years ago, but the recent development of Bitcoin and blockchain technologies has rekindled excitement about their potential among technologists and industry. Startup companies and major enterprises alike are now developing smart contract solutions for an array of markets, purporting to offer a digital bypass around traditional contract law. For legal scholars, smart contracts pose a significant question: Do smart contracts offer a superior solution to the problems that contract law addresses? In this article, we aim to understand both the potential and the limitations of smart contracts. We conclude that smart contracts offer novel possibilities, may significantly alter the commercial world, and will demand new legal responses. But smart contracts will not displace contract law. Understanding why not brings into focus the essential role of contract law as a remedial institution. In this way, smart contracts actually illuminate the role of contract law more than they obviate it

Identifying the Potential for Results-Based Financing for Sanitation

Results-based financing (RBF) covers a number of financial tools in which funding is contingent on achieving specified outcomes. RBF has been used across various sectors of international development to some success and this paper explores the potential for applying it to sanitation. In doing so, the author considers the presence of misaligned incentives in the sanitation sector, and then walks us through various points along the value chain at which RBF could be employed. Design and implementation of such strategies requires careful consideration of potential challenges, including how to avoid creating perverse incentives

Sector Wide Solutions for the Sports Shoe and Apparel Industry in Indonesia

This document sets out sector-wide solutions for the sports shoe and apparel industry in Indonesia. These solutions are put forward by Oxfam Australia, the Clean Clothes Campaign and a network of labor rights groups worldwide (which include consumer groups) who remain concerned about continued and pervasive labor rights violations in the supply chain of major buyers (retailers and brands) in Indonesia

Post-war Experiences with Developmental Central Banks: The Good, the Bad and the Hopeful

The current economic crisis, more than previous ones this past decade, has called into question the whole neo-liberal approach to financial management, including the approach the neo-liberal approach to central banking. Central banks focused on commodity inflation miss asset bubbles and credit crises, and with liberalized financial markets, they often lack the necessary tools to deal with these crises. Thus, academics and policy makers must seriously search for alternatives to the current neo-liberal models of financial management. This paper argues that one place to look for models is the history of developmental central banks and financial policies in both the developed and developing countries. Of course, there is not simple return to the past. But there are plenty of models and institutional structures to learn from. The cross-sectional data presented in this paper suggest that central bank developmental efforts to promote real investment does contribute to economic growth, but do not indicate other broad conclusions of success or failure. Much is to be learned from country case studies and the implementation of developmental tools in concrete circumstances.