Design of multidimensional digital filters by spectral transformations

Imperial Users onl

Broadening the Right to Acquire Capital with the Earnings of Capital: The Missing Link to Sustainable Economic Recovery and Growth

This article presents a proposal to broaden the right to acquire capital with the earnings of capital as a means of promoting sustainable economic recovery and growth. It would open the markets for real and financial capital acquisition more fully and competitively to poor and working people (1) to distribute more broadly the earnings of capital and (2) to profitably employ more capital and labor. The article notes that both the recession and the strategies advanced to promote economic recovery may be viewed as responses to the prospect of inadequate present and future earning capacity of both consumers and producers (1) to purchase what can physically be produced and (2) to repay existent and anticipated debt obligations undertaken to stimulate the economy. To increase the prospects of sufficient, sustainable earning capacity, the approach advanced in this article is to extend to all people the same protections and benefits presently provided by government that facilitate market transactions whereby capital is acquired with the earnings of capital primarily for people in proportion to their wealth. Although in theory, all people in a market economy are able to acquire capital with the earnings of capital, reliable empirical data reveal that as a practical matter, the major determinant of the ability of individuals to acquire capital with the earnings of capital is the existing distribution of capital ownership. The theory of binary economic growth (on which the proposal advanced in this article is based) holds that the market return on capital depends not only on the wage rate, the scarcity of capital, its marginal productivity, and the interest rate, but also depends on the distribution of capital acquisition with the earnings of capital. The prospect of a broader distribution of capital acquisition with the earnings of capital carries with it the prospect of more broadly distributed earning capacity in future years, which in turn will provide the market incentives to profitably employ more capital and labor in earlier years. The idea that the broader distribution of capital acquisition with the earnings of capital will promote growth is not found in any of the widely accepted theories and models of economic growth such as those proposed by Schumpeter, Solow, Roemer, and Lucas. By opening to all people the institutions of corporate finance, banking, insurance, government loans and guaranties, and monetary policy (the very institutions presently relied upon by the Federal Government to stimulate the economy) the practical ability to acquire capital with the earnings of capital can be more broadly extended to all people, and a more level and competitive economic playing field can be established, with the result that greatly enhanced prospects for greater and more broadly distributed earning capacity and growth can be reasonably expected and realized by all

Systemic Poverty as a Cause of Recessions

This article argues that the failure to address and ameliorate systemic poverty is a major cause of recessions. Recessions occur (and sub-optimal employment and growth persist) when a critical mass of market participants come to believe that the distribution of future earning capacity is not sufficient to purchase what can be produced despite the physical and technological capacity to employ available labor and capital to produce more over the same period even at lower unit cost. The essence of systemic poverty is widespread inadequate earning capacity. In recessionary periods, with rising unemployment, the problem of inadequate earning capacity (which perennially plagues poor people even in good economic times) rises up through the middle class like rising flood waters. The mainstream approach to end recessions and to ameliorate poverty is to promote (1) capital acquisition mostly with the earnings of capital and primarily for well-capitalized people largely in proportion to their existing wealth and (2) primarily jobs and welfare for the rest of the population. This article argues that, poverty can be systemically reduced and recessions avoided if the same government-aided system of corporate finance that facilitates capital acquisition with the earnings of capital primarily in proportion to existing wealth is opened competitively to all people

Introduction to Socio-Economics: An Ethical Foundation for Law-Related Economic Analysis

This introductory Article to the Symposium Issue on Law and Socio-Economics (1) briefly explains the origin of the term “socio-economics,” (2) recounts the history of its formal introduction into legal education in 1997, (3) sets forth its underlying principles as a specific methodological approach to law-related economic analysis, (4) describes in greater detail some of its most important features, (5) compares the socio-economic approach to the narrower, neoclassical economic approach that dominates scholarship in “law and economics,” (6) explains the special connection between socio-economic principles and the ethical responsibilities of lawyers related to competence, candor, and the lawyer’s role as a client advocate and public citizen, and (7) briefly describes how each of the other Articles in this Symposium demonstrates the jurisprudential and social value of the socio-economic approach in particular contexts. This introductory Article concludes that a socio-economic approach to law-related economic analysis is superior to the dominant law and economics approach because a socio-economic approach better enables people to identify and secure their essential rights and responsibilities

The General Theory of Second Best - An Overview

The following introductory note provides a brief overview of the General Theory of Second Best. This theory is discussed in much greater detail in the essay that follows entitled, The General Theory of Second Best and Economic-Efficiency Analysis: The Theory, its Negative Corollaries, the Appropriate Response to It, and a Coda on the Economic Efficiency of Reducing Poverty and Income/Wealth Inequality written by Professor of law and economics Richard Markovits. This theory, which regrettably is generally ignored in law and economics literature, explains how there is no reason to believe that policy decisions considered in isolation that move a particular set of market relations to greater efficiency will increase rather than decrease the overall efficiency of an economy because the effect of such decisions may promote even greater inefficiencies in other sectors of the economy

What is Socioeconomics?

This Article introduces the essential foundation needed to introduce socioeconomics into any law school course competently. It provides a definition of socioeconomics and examines how socioeconomics relates to thinking like a lawyer

Why Working But Poor? The Need for Inclusive Capitalism

This Article addresses two questions: (1) What other solutions beyond those already tried can and should be employed to reduce poverty? and (2) What can legal scholars, lawyers, law schools, legal clinics, and law students do to reduce poverty? The answer to the first question is to establish an “inclusive capitalism” by democratizing “capital acquisition with the earnings of capital” based on the principles of binary economics. This democratization requires extending to poor and middle­class people competitive access to the same government­supported institutions of corporate finance, banking, insurance, reinsurance, and favorable tax and monetary policies that are presently available primarily to people and businesses to acquire capital with the future earnings of capital substantially in proportion to their existing wealth. With this democratization, participation in capital acquisition by the vast majority of poor and middle class people would no longer be limited as a practical matter to their meager or even negative net worth. This democratization would transform the existing system of corporate finance (that presently functions primarily to concentrate capital ownership) into an ownership­broadening system of corporate finance. It would require no taxes, redistribution, borrowing, or government command. Corporations would be free to continue to meet their capital requirements as before, but they would have an additional, ownership­broadening, potentially more profitable, market means to do so. This additional means could be voluntarily employed to: (1) reduce poverty, welfare dependence, and fear of poverty by substantially enhancing the earning capacity of poor and middle class people (by supplementing their labor income and any transfer payments they may receive increasingly with capital income); (2) reduce tax rates, taxes, and the need for government expenditures; (3) enhance the earning capacity of the participating companies, their shareholders, their employees, and their customers; (4) reduce unemployment, raise wages, and enhance working conditions; (5) enhance the value of equity investments and retirement plans; (6) reduce the risk of borrowing; (7) promote more sustainable, environmentally friendly growth, and (8) enhance the creditworthiness of national governments and their ability to raise revenue. The answer to the second question is for legal scholars, lawyers, law students, and individuals with responsibility for the curriculum of law schools and activities of legal clinics (1) first to learn and to teach (a) the underlying principles of inclusive capitalism based on binary economics, (b) how this democratization with the earnings of capital can be practically implemented, and (c) how this democratization is a necessary part of any systemic solution to poverty and (2) then to advocate, work for, and facilitate its implementation

Socioeconomics and Professional Responsibilities in Teaching Law-Related Economic Issues

The author argues that socioeconomics is essential to understanding the lawyer\u27s duties of competence and candor, and the duty to improve the law is thus critical to law teaching not only in professional responsibility courses but also in any course in which economic issues have substantial legal significance