Merritt B. Fox

Does Common Ownership Really Prompt Managers to Compete Less?

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How common ownership affects competition is a source of acute disagreement among scholars and policymakers, with some who believe common ownership depresses competition seeking antitrust law reforms that would significantly constrain how investment funds operate. Neglected in this vigorous debate, however, is a careful analysis of how firm managers – the persons who in the first instance actually make the decisions that determine an industry’s competitiveness – would act differently in the presence of common ownership.

We conduct that necessary analysis in a new article, available here, in which we combine lessons from corporate governance scholarship and industrial organization … Read more

Columbia’s Program in the Law and Economics of Capital Markets Anticipates Hiring a Post-Doctoral Research Fellow

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Columbia Law School and Columbia Business School’s Program in the Law and Economics of Capital Markets is seeking a full-time Capital Markets Research Fellow. The appointment is anticipated to run from July 1, 2020, to June 30, 2022.

This position is for a person who expects to begin a law school teaching career at the start of the 2022-23 academic year and who desires an interim position that would help the person prepare for such a career by offering the time and facilities needed to do serious research and to develop further expertise.  A candidate should have an exceptional academic … Read more

The Social Functions of the Stock Market: A Primer

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A stock market is a key feature found in any economy with a substantial private sector.  For example, in the United States, we see the New York Stock Exchange and Nasdaq, in the U.K, the London Stock Exchange, and in Brazil, B3.  While some commentators suggest that a stock market is primarily simply a place for useless speculation, a well-functioning stock market does in fact serve a number of important social purposes.  It facilitates firms selling shares to raise funds for new investment by assuring potential purchasers that they can easily resell their shares when they wish to.  The shares … Read more

New York Attorney General Overreaches in Climate-Change Complaint Against Exxon

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The New York Attorney General (“NYAG”) recently filed a complaint against ExxonMobil alleging that the company violated the Martin Act, New York State’s securities law, by making material misstatements concerning how it was accounting for the possibility of increasingly stringent climate-change regulations in the future.[1]  Exxon publicly projected costs arising from the regulation of carbon emissions that, for OECD countries, would reach $60 per ton of CO2  by 2030 and $80 per ton by 2040, with similar regulations in non-OECD countries also starting to impose costs by 2030.  The complaint alleges that in making many of its investment … Read more

Video: The Biggest Issues Facing Securities Markets in the 21st Century

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An esteemed panel of regulators, scholars, and lawyers gathered at Columbia Law School on March 29 to discuss Securities Market Issues for the 21st Century, a new e-book on the most important areas of inquiry for securities regulation and the financial markets. The book marks the culmination of the first phase in a multi-year New Special Study of the securities markets being conducted by the Program in the Law and Economics of Capital Markets, a joint initiative of Columbia Law School and Columbia Business School. The study is the first of its kind in more than five decades … Read more

Columbia’s Program in the Law and Economics of Capital Markets Is Hiring Post-Doc Research Fellow

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Columbia Law School and Columbia Business School’s Program in the Law and Economics of Capital Markets is now accepting applications for their Post-Doctoral Research Fellow.  This position is intended for a person who expects to begin a law school teaching career at the start of the 2020-21 academic year and who desires an interim position that would help the person prepare for such a career by offering the time and facilities needed to do serious research and to develop further expertise.  A candidate should have an exceptional academic record from a major law school and have at least three years … Read more

Columbia Launches New Special Study of Securities Markets

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Over the last three decades, U.S. and global securities markets have undergone tremendous change, driven by globalization, advances in information technology, and regulatory choices at the federal and international levels. The days of adventuresome floor trading and concerns of safeguarding ink-and-paper securities have given way to electronic order books within a multi-venue exchange system and to concerns about safeguarding interconnected global trade networks lead by SIFI’s. Artificial intelligence systems and distributed ledger technologies on the horizon have further potential to disrupt the landscape.

Markets today are dramatically different from those of 30 or 50 years ago, and a new comprehensive … Read more