Kenneth Glenn Dau-Schmidt

Protecting Families in a Global Economy

The globalization of the economy has placed tremendous pressure on the modern family. Throughout the developed world, marriage rates are declining, birth and fertility rates are falling, real wages are flat or declining, and hours of family external labor supplied are rising. Finding a spouse and raising children can be inconsistent with the demands of careers in the global economy of the new information age. Globalization of the economy tends to encourage individualism and mobility, in direct opposition to family relationships. Moreover, the extensive period of training that is necessary to compete in the global economy interferes with marriage and childrearing and increases the costs of raising children. Finally, the global economy has resulted in increased demand for flexible labor, requiring many lower- and middle-class families to increase time spent in the paid workforce, often with few or no additional benefits.

Law and Economics: Empirical Dimensions

This article surveys the importance of empirical work in the economic analysis of law. It describes the history of economics as a positive science and then explains how the positivist approach has in recent years led to an increased emphasis on empirical scholarship within the field of law and economics.

On Game Theory and the Law

Preface Introduction: Understanding Strategic Behavior Bibliographic Notes Simultaneous Decisionmaking and the Normal Form Game The Normal Form Game Using Different Games to Compare Legal Regimes The Nash Equilibrium Civil Liability, Accident Law, and Strategic Behavior Legal Rules and the Idea of Strict Dominance Collective Action Problems and the Two-by-Two Game The Problem of Multiple Nash Equilibria Summary Bibliographic Notes Dynamic Interaction and the Extensive Form Game The Extensive Form Game and Backwards Induction A Dynamic Model of Preemption and Strategic Commitment Subgame Perfection Summary Bibliographic Notes Information Revelation, Disclosure Laws, and Renegotiation Incorporating Beliefs into the Solution Concept The Perfect Bayesian Equilibrium Solution Concept Verifiable Information, Voluntary Disclosure, and the Unraveling Result Disclosure Laws and the Limits of Unraveling Observable Information, Norms, and the Problem of Renegotiation Optimal Incentives and the Need for Renegotiation Limiting the Ability of Parties to Renegotiate Summary Bibliographic Notes Signaling, Screening, and Nonverifiable Information Signaling and Screening Modeling Nonverifiable Information Signals and the Effects of Legal Rules Information Revelation and Contract Default Rules Screening and the Role of Legal Rules Summary Bibliographic Notes Reputation and Repeated Games Backwards Induction and Its Limits Infinitely Repeated Games, Tacit Collusion, and Folk Theorems Reputation, Predation, and Cooperation Summary Bibliographic Notes Collective Action, Embedded Games, and the Limits of Simple Models Collective Action and the Role of Law Embedded Games Understanding the Structure of Large Games Collective Action and Private Information Collective Action Problems in Sequential Decisionmaking Herd Behavior Summary Bibliographic Notes Noncooperative Bargaining Modeling the Division of Gains from Trade Legal Rules as Exit Options Bargaining and Corporate Reorganizations Collective Bargaining and Exit Options Summary Bibliographic Notes Bargaining and Information Basic Models of the Litigation Process Modeling Separate Trials for Liability and Damages Information and Selection Bias Discovery Rules and Verifiable Information Summary Bibliographic Notes Conclusion: Information and the Limits of Law Notes References Glossary Index

The Employment and Economic Advancement of African-Americans in the Twentieth Century

The African American experience in the American economy in the Twentieth Century has been a story of many successes, and more than a few unfulfilled promises. Brought in chains to the poorest region of the United States to do the least desirable work, and purposely denied education in order to preserve their subjugation, African Americans began the Twentieth Century on the lowest rung of the American economic ladder doing predominantly low-skilled, low-wage agricultural labor in the poorest region of our country. However, over the course of the century, African Americans were able to overcome express and implicit discrimination to climb the economic ladder and achieve success in new regions and new occupations and professions. African Americans still suffer many disadvantages that diminish their economic success, particularly males and particularly in education, but certainly in comparison with the previous three centuries, the Twentieth Century marked important advancements in African American economic opportunity and success.In this essay, we will examine how African Americans achieved the economic progress they made during the Twentieth Century. We do this by examining their progress along four vectors of economic opportunity - geographical distribution, labor force participation, occupational distribution, and educational attainment - and then examine the resulting improvement in relative economic rewards. We will also examine the impact that the Civil Rights Movement, the Civil Rights Act and affirmative action policies have had on this progress. We will see that, from an economic perspective, the story of African American success in the Twentieth Century is one of overcoming discrimination by moving from a situation of relatively constrained economic opportunities, to gain access to, and success in, an ever larger and more rewarding set of opportunities across the country. It is hoped that the recounting of the success of African Americans in achieving greater economic success by using the law and their own initiative to gain access to new geographic, occupational, and educational opportunities will serve as an inspirational and educational lesson for India’s Dalits in their own struggle for equal opportunities.