It was the Summer of '17

Time to check in, what with, oh, a year passing since the previous post. Should I chronicle the slew of missed deadlines, or focus on the odd past success or the ambitious agenda for the weeks ahead? Perhaps a smattering of all...

Loose ends to tie up:

(1) complete "Vice Policy in Russia: Alcohol, Tobacco, Gambling," which I presented in November, 2016, but do not yet have a complete draft ready to post on ssrn.com; my new due date on this one: July 1, 2017 [as a side note, let me mention that I intend to upgrade my very poor Russian this summer];

(2) revise and post on ssrn.com "Selling Hope, Casino-Style." I have a complete draft, and presented it twice (in March and April, 2017); time to put on the finishing touches. Due date: July 8, 2017;

(3) revise the Parthenon Marbles paper -- I have never been happy with the last few pages. Due date: July 15, 2017;

(4) possibly revise, and maybe seek to publish, the cocaine regulation paper. Due date: July 22, 2017.

(5) take a look at my paper with Randy Beard, "Compensated Live Kidney Donations," and think about revising it or submitting it somewhere. I sort of like this paper, but like most of my papers, can't think of any obvious outlet for it. Due date: July 29, 2017.

So much for loose ends? As for my ambitious agenda on the reading front, this summer I hope to read up on animal welfare and policy. First in the queue is Can Animals Be Moral?, by Mark Rowlands. (One year ago, incidentally, I committed on this blog to reading Narconomics, by Tom Wainwright, and this is a case of the odd success.) And as for the research/writing agenda, well, I'll try to make some headway on my behavioral economics stuff...

Parthenon Marbles, etc., Update

The delayed revision of the Parthenon Marbles paper was "completed" some time ago, though perhaps there will be more revisions in the future? At any rate, the current version is available here. And I did meet my reading goal of Jonathan Haidt's The Righteous Mind, which is one of the best social science books I have read in quite awhile; only sorry I didn't read it a few years ago. Here's a short article by Cass Sunstein applying Haidt's ideas to the Republican National Convention of July, 2016.

For the future, well, I must buckle down for a (new) paper on Russian vice policy (alcohol, tobacco, gambling), but events related to that endeavor will be chronicled on the sister blog. I would like to make a reading commitment here, though: how about Narconomics, by Tom Wainwright? I'll also think about further revisions to the Parthenon Marbles paper,  and possibly look into submitting it to some perfectly innocent, unsuspecting journal.

Mann Act Book Review and One Missed Deadline...

...or at least one that I am willing to acknowledge. But I will start with something completed, as foreshadowed in my previous nDrafts post: a book review of Policing Sexuality: The Mann Act and the Making of the FBI by Jessica R. Pliley, available here. Further, the short paper on regulating cocaine has been completed, as has been the referee report on a paper concerning addiction. Oh, and yes, my reading commitment has been fulfilled, with The Parthenon Enigma, by Joan Breton Connelly, added to the "books promiscuously read" pile. OK, so I did manage to take care of a few loose ends in the last couple months.

As for the missed deadline, that refers to the revised version of a paper about the Parthenon Marbles at the British Museum. The new (missed?) deadline is April 18. I'd also like to begin to at least muse over the paper for this fall on vice policy in Russia, and hmmm, what to read, what to read? How about The Righteous Mind, by Jonathan Haidt?

Loose Ends Revisited, and Next Steps

Some 8 months ago I noted the status of a few "loose ends;" I thought I would take this opportunity to update those, and to indicate some plans for the next, uh, 8 months or so.

The loose ends, and the updates:

(1) reading a book on prostitution policy and writing a review of it; this is complete and the review should appear forthwith;
(2) revising markedly a second kidney compensation paper; this is complete.
(3) writing a paper on the Parthenon Marbles at the British Museum; this is complete, and
(4) preparing a paper on vice policy for a conference in Russia; this is complete. A Russian language version of the paper should soon be available(!).

The next few weeks involve revising the Parthenon Marbles paper; I hope to post updates on Five Drafts. In this same time period I have to write a referee report for a paper concerning addiction --  I only mention it here as a personal reminder and spur to action. I also intend, over the next few months, to write another Russia-related vice paper, this time covering alcohol, tobacco, and gambling. There will probably also be a second paper (topic yet unknown) to employ some of my time in these next 8 months, and there are rumblings of the next book. When the book project materializes, I will post more here; the other projects are likely to be discussed or lamented on Five Drafts.

Oh my goodness, I almost forgot -- in the next few weeks, I hope to produce a short paper on regulating cocaine. 

I am always game for trying to commit to reading a book or two, too; right now, let me make that commitment to The Parthenon Enigma, by Joan Breton Connelly -- I already am well into it, so I am feeling confident. 

Law and Econ Project, Update XII

The schedule for revisions to the Law and Econ manuscript now looks like this. (I have to intersperse them with my work on a new kidney paper.) By the end of July, I want to have new versions of each of the Chapters. I am working on Chapter Two now. (This is a different Chapter Two from two years ago, as the end bits of Chapter One were siphoned off to form the basis of the new Chapter Two. So now there are six chapters.) I also want to complete the Glossary, which I currently am only about one-third of the way through. I want to print the end of July version, and then, by August 15, have produced a new complete draft. Finally, at the end of August, a third version should appear, one that I hope to submit to the unnamed university press publisher as the "final" version. Did I mention that the working title has evolved into Concepts in Law and Economics: A Guide for the Curious?

As for book reading related to the Law and Econ project, I have made lots of progress but not finished the nutshell series book on Law and Economics mentioned in the previous post. One book I did finish and found both helpful and fascinating is Bentham: A Guide for the Perplexed, by Philip Schofield, though the similarity of our subtitles is a coincidence. This book motivated me to visit Jeremy in person a couple weeks ago.

In early August I am slated to deliver two lectures related to the material in the book. I already am getting nervous over the prospect of preparing Power Point slides. I usually don't employ such slides, but the audience will involve some non-native English speakers, and I have found slides to be useful in similar settings in the past. But preparing the lectures might help me revise the manuscript, too, or at least I can hope.

Law and Econ Project, Update XI, and a Contract

Well, here's some news: unnamed university press would like to publish the Law and Econ tome. And as I would like them to publish it, we have a meeting of the minds, and a signed contract. My goal is to send the "final" version, one I am happy with, on September 1, 2014 -- no snickering from those who recall some past (passed) deadlines. Lots of revisions to go, and as I mentioned before, I will start with the suggestions of the four reviewers. As I am looking over the current version, I see some holes that require completely new material, and that always takes some time. So I have a hard time laying out a schedule of revisions. But first I will go through the manuscript, without referencing the review comments (though even I remember some of them). Then I will start making the changes that I have identified, in concert with trying to address the reviewers' concerns. I have already looked over about 40% of the manuscript, and I hope to complete this first step, the remaining 60%, this week, let's say, by Saturday, April 19. Then, just two weeks or so later, on Sunday, May 4, I would like to have a new draft, with reviewer comments accounted for, in hand.Oh, here's a thought, I will have that version bound, to ease the next round of reading and revising.

In committing to reading, hmmm, well, I have never read the nutshell series book on Law and Economics, though I have started it. Now seems like a good time to take that on!

Law and Econ Project, Update X, etc.

OK, there has been a 16-month hiatus in posting. Does that mean there has been a 16-month hiatus in progress on the Law and Econ draft? Discriminating folks like myself are unwilling to reveal that sort of sensitive information.

But where do things stand? Well, I sent a revised -- yes, so there, there was "progress," I knew you would get it out of me -- manuscript to unnamed university press in October of 2013, and have received back three helpful sets of comments, with a fourth one in the pipeline, it seems. Irrespective of the manuscript's fate at unnamed university press, I feel like a few months of revisions are ahead of me -- even with my low standards, the manuscript isn't quite where I would like it to be right now. As for the nature of those revisions, I think for the first pass I will follow the advice of the anonymous reviewers. The hope is that the "continuous improvement" project will result in a tighter, more coherent manuscript. Right now I am happy with many of the individual sections, but not with the overall package. Perhaps I'll save more details for a follow-up post.

One part of the LandE project that has been upgraded, I think, is that concerning selling kidneys -- actually, multiple sections of the manuscript involve kidney sales, oddly enough. These revisions owe a lot to my friend Randy Beard, an expert on organ procurement, who kindly co-authored a symposium paper with me; a less-than-final version of the paper is here, in pdf format.

Back when this blog was "active" I used it to mention books that I was intending to read -- books both related and unrelated to the Law and Econ project. I am happy to report that in 2012 I really did finish reading The Knockoff Economy by Raustiala and Sprigman. Subsequently, I read three of the Oxford Introductions to American Law (Contracts, Property, and Torts, in that order -- I liked Torts the best), though I could do with a refresher on much (or all) of the material. The books that are in the pipeline by and large I am not willing to commit to reading at this point, even to the limited extent to which mentioning them on a blog is committing. Some of my reading continues to be devoted to behavioral economics, which I am slated to teach for the third time in the spring.

Today's return to nDrafts was motivated by a return to Five Drafts, a return that was itself motivated by a need to produce a vice policy paper in the next couple of months. And I have other blog projects that require attention, oh yes they do...

Well, it is good to be back with my online to-do list, even though it is hard to say why.

Law and Econ Project, Update VII

Now my worries, that in the absence of an externally-imposed deadline this commitment blog isn't a big help, are growing. But we press on. April 4 brought a new, bound version of the manuscript, this one even with a (half-baked) "Conclusions" chapter. The Table of Contents has not (otherwise) changed, though there was some upgrading of all of the chapters. Still haven't heard back from that university press that I sent the even worse draft to -- not a good sign.

I did indeed give the related talk on April 1, and that went pretty well. Afterwards, I wrote up a short talk (maybe 15 minutes) entitled "The Museum of Law of Economics," which I have had fun with. I hope to move that talk, as well as the new draft, into the "continuous improvement" mode. I don't much care for the current "Conclusions" to the draft manuscript, and may start that afresh as part of the improvement. For that matter, I don't like the Conclusions to the Museum talk, either. Conclusions are the bane of my existence.

Finished reading Willpower, which was easy reading and helpful for my Behavioral Econ class. Intended reading that I hope will be helpful for the L&E project includes Museums Matter, by James Cuno; How Judges Think, by Richard Posner; The Upside of Irrationality, by Dan Ariely (more for Behavioral Econ than for L&E); and possibly Loot, by Sharon Waxman. I have started reading all of them, but only Cuno and Ariely are on the front burners right now.

So, what to promise in a not-very-committed way? Next week, to have: (1) finished reading Museums Matter; (2) revised the first two chapters of the L&E manuscript; and (3) to have produced a new version of "The Museum of Law and Economics." Onwards...

Law and Econ Project, Update VI

Hmmm, well, there was a December 11 deadline....

I missed the deadline, but progress has been made, oh yes. The current draft is in the continuous revision phase. There is still no draft of the Conclusions, and no draft of the Glossary. The next revisions are slated for Chapters 4 and 5. I will shortly post the draft Table of Contents so we can see where things stand.

I prepared a prospectus and e-mailed it to a university press. The editor responded enthusiastically, and asked for the entire manuscript. I sent it, but haven't heard back - maybe the draft needs some more of that "continuous revision" before it is ready for distribution?

As for my reading plan, I managed to finish Adam Smith: An Enlightened Life, by Nicholas Phillipson -- it is superb. I abandoned for the nonce This is Your Country on Drugs, by Ryan Grim (2010), and managed to read only small portions of The Collapse of American Criminal Justice, by William J. Stuntz (2011). The Daniel Kahneman book, Thinking, Fast and Slow (2011), filled my time, and helped me decide to offer a course in behavioral economics next quarter. My current reading plan centers on Willpower: Rediscovering the Greatest Human Strength, by Roy F. Baumeister and John Tierney -- should be useful for that behavioral econ class.

As for LandE revisions, I intend to input some upgrades to Chapters 4 and 5 in the nest week or so. Hoping to get those Conclusions under way, too. I intend another bound version at that point. Scheduled to give a talk related to the manuscript on April 1, so want to prepare something for that, too.

Reading this Week

I eventually used the Five Drafts project to commit to reading as well as to writing, and I will try to extend that feature to nDrafts, too. For this week, my Law and Econ reading goal is to get at least halfway into American Property, by Stuart Banner (Harvard University Press, 2011). I have some other academic reading that is not related to the Law and Econ Work in Progress, but I am not ready to commit to that just yet.