The SSRN Blog

Here are the top 5 papers downloaded from the SSRN eLibrary for the week ending October 30, 2009:

1. Common Errors in the Interpretation of the Ideas of The Black Swan and Associated Papers
by Nassim Nicholas Taleb (NYU Poly - Department of Finance and Risk Engineering)

2. Frames from the Framers: How America’s Revolutionaries Imagined Intellectual Property
by Lewis Hyde (Harvard University - Berkman Center for Internet & Society)

3. A Quantitative Approach to Tactical Asset Allocation
by Mebane T. Faber (Cambria Investment Management)

4. ‘I’ve Got Nothing to Hide’ and Other Misunderstandings of Privacy
by Daniel J. Solove (George Washington University Law School)

5. Governance Matters VIII: Aggregate and Individual Governance Indicators, 1996-2008
by Daniel Kaufmann (The Brookings Institution) and Aart Kraay (World Bank - Development Research Group (DECRG)) and Massimo Mastruzzi (World Bank Institute)

Not to sound boastful but I was wonderfully surprised to see that SSRN was number one on the current  Ranking Web of World Repositories. The ranking is an initiative of the Cybermetrics Lab, a research group belonging to the Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC), the largest public research body in Spain and includes a very impressive list of repositories from around the world.  I know and greatly respect many of the other repositories.

Thank all of you for your continued support of SSRN!

Here are the latest announcements from SSRN:

Erasmus Law Review Upgrades Its LSN Partners in Publishing Journal

We are pleased to announce that Erasmus Law Review has upgraded its Partners in Publishing Journal within the Legal Scholarship Network (LSN), which includes, but is not limited to, a customized abstracting eJournal distributed to SSRN subscribers.

View Papers: http://www.ssrn.com/link/Erasmus-Law-Review.html
Subscribe: http://hq.ssrn.com/jourInvite.cfm?link=Erasmus-Law-Review

The Erasmus Law Review seeks to foster independent critical scholarship as relevant to the discipline of law.

The Board of Editors encourages the submission of legally relevant manuscripts by legal scholars and practitioners as well as those versed in other disciplines relevant to law, such as criminology, sociology, political science and economics.

The Erasmus Law Review intends to issue calls for papers on specific topics, topics will be posted on the website of the journal. All articles which the board in principle intends to publish will be submitted to peer-review.

Business History Review Joins MRN Partners in Publishing Journals

We are pleased to announce that the Harvard Business School, Business History Review has joined our Partners in Publishing Journals within the Management Research Network (MRN).

BUSINESS HISTORY REVIEW

View Papers: http://www.ssrn.com/link/Business-History-Review.html

Business History Review is a quarterly publication of original research by historians, economists, sociologists, and scholars of business administration. BHR’s ongoing mission, from its 1926 inception as the Bulletin of the Business Historical Society, is to encourage and aid the study of the evolution of business in all periods and all countries.

China Academy of Financial Research (CAFR) Joins Finance Research Centers Papers

We are pleased to announce that China Academy of Financial Research (CAFR) has started a Finance Research Centers Papers series within the Financial Economics Network (FEN).

CHINA ACADEMY OF FINANCIAL RESEARCH (CAFR)

View Papers: http://www.ssrn.com/link/CAFR-RES.html

CAFR is the China Academy of Financial Research. The role of the CAFR is modeled after the NBER in the US and the CEPR in Europe.

CAFR Research Paper Series aims at promoting high-quality theoretical and applied research in financial economics. The Series also aims at promoting high-quality research on China’s economy and financial markets. The Series features contributions both by CAFR Research Fellows and by a network of external researchers.

Announcing New ERN Research Paper Series Journals

We are pleased to announce that Universidad de los Andes Department of Economics and George Mason University Department of Economics have each started an Economics Departments Research Paper Series; George Mason University School of Public Policy Faculty Research has started an ERN Public Policy Centers Research Paper Series, within the Economics Research Network (ERN).

UNIVERSIDAD DE LOS ANDES DEPARTMENT OF ECONOMICS

View Papers: http://www.ssrn.com/link/U-Andes-Economics.html
Subscribe: http://hq.ssrn.com/jourInvite.cfm?link=U-Andes-Economics

The Documentos CEDE Working Papers Series aims to advance the Department of Economics at Universidad de los Andes as an outstanding center for research on Economics. The series reflects the interest of our faculty on a wide array of economic issues and on applied economic research. Documentos CEDE provides our faculty and students with an opportunity to disseminate their research and exchange ideas with policy makers and the academic community.

GEORGE MASON UNIVERSITY DEPARTMENT OF ECONOMICS

View Papers: http://www.ssrn.com/link/George-Mason-Economics.html
Subscribe: http://hq.ssrn.com/jourInvite.cfm?link=George-Mason-Economics

The Department of Economics at George Mason University (GMU) is distinguished by its excellence in Austrian economics, experimental economics and public choice. Its intellectual contribution to these fields is exemplified by two Nobel prizes awarded to Mason professors James Buchanan (public choice) and Vernon Smith (experimental economics). Complementing its tradition of academic excellence is the department’s Washington DC location, which leaves it unique in its ability to draw direct attention to its extensive outreach and policy research programs. The Working Paper Series (WPS) aims to further enhance the academic strength of the department by promoting the rapid dissemination of research, facilitate the exchange of ideas with other researchers, and stimulate intellectual exchange and communication throughout the scholarly community.

GEORGE MASON UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF PUBLIC POLICY FACULTY RESEARCH

View Papers: http://www.ssrn.com/link/GMU-Faculty-PUB.html
Subscribe: http://hq.ssrn.com/jourInvite.cfm?link=GMU-Faculty-PUB

The School of Public Policy (SPP) at George Mason University is at the crossroads - both geographically and intellectually - of government, non-profit organizations and private industry. The SPP Faculty Research Paper Series exhibits a cross-section of the faculty research output. Founded in 1990, today SPP has 70 full-time teaching and research faculty from more than a dozen academic fields, including political science, economics, geography, sociology, anthropology, business, engineering, history, law, medicine, education, and urban planning. Currently offering five Master’s degrees and a Ph.D. in Public Policy, SPP now attracts almost 1,000 students from the U.S. and abroad and has one of the largest doctoral programs in public policy in the US.

Announcing the 2009 IACM Meetings Abstracting eJournal

In cooperation with the International Association for Conflict Management (IACM), the Negotiations Research Network (NEG) is pleased to announce the 2009 IACM Meetings Abstracting eJournal. This abstracting journal is available to all users at no charge and contains abstracts of the meetings papers with links to the full text within the SSRN eLibrary.

You can browse all IACM 2009 Meeting abstracts in the SSRN database by clicking on the following link. There are currently 63 such papers in the system. You may wish to bookmark it in your browser.

View Papers: http://www.ssrn.com/link/IACM-2009.html
Conference URL: http://www.iacm-conflict.org

HOW TO SUBSCRIBE
You can subscribe at no cost to the IACM 2009 Meeting abstracting journal by clicking on the following link:

http://hq.ssrn.com/jourInvite.cfm?link=IACM-2009

This link uses browser cookies to store the name of the eJournal while you log in. You will need to enable cookies on your browser to use the link above or to access the SSRN HeadQuarters. If cookies are not enabled, you will not be able to subscribe to SSRN eJournals or to log into the HeadQuarters. If you have any questions please call 877-SSRNHelp (toll free 877.777.6435 within the United States or 00+1+585+4428170 outside of the United States).

Participants of this year’s conference will be subscribed to the abstracting journal. In addition, subscribers to the IACM 2008 Meetings abstracting journal will automatically receive this year’s journal as well.

Stetson University College of Law Joins LSN Research Paper Series

We are pleased to announce that Stetson University College of Law has started a Research Paper Series within the Legal Scholarship Network (LSN).

Stetson University College of Law

View Papers: http://www.ssrn.com/link/Stetson-U-LEG.html
Subscribe: http://hq.ssrn.com/jourInvite.cfm?link=Stetson-U-LEG

Stetson University College of Law, located in Gulfport and Tampa, Florida, is a dynamic scholarly community with a vibrant faculty and student body who strive to have a meaningful and far-reaching impact on the law, the profession, and society. To further this mission, the Stetson University College of Law Legal Studies Research eJournal contains abstracts, works-in-progress, and published articles and essays written by members of the College of Law faculty on a wide variety of legal and law-related topics.

Here are the top 5 papers downloaded from the SSRN eLibrary for the week ending October 23, 2009:

1. A Quantitative Approach to Tactical Asset Allocation
by Mebane T. Faber (Cambria Investment Management)

2. Technical Analysis Around the World
by Ben R. Marshall (Massey University - College of Business - Department of Economics and Finance) and Rochester H. Cahan (Macquarie Capital (USA)) and Jared Cahan (Macquarie Bank Ltd)

3. The Determinants of Music Piracy in a Sample of College Students
by Marc F. Bellemare (Duke University - Sanford School of Public Policy; Duke University - Department of Economics) and Andrew M. Holmberg (Department of Justice)

4. ‘This Right is Not Allowed by Governments that are Afraid of the People’: The Public Meaning of the Second Amendment When the Fourteenth Amendment was Ratified
by Clayton E. Cramer and Nicholas James Johnson (Fordham University - School of Law) and George A. Mocsary (United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit)

5. Governance Matters VIII: Aggregate and Individual Governance Indicators, 1996-2008
by Daniel Kaufmann (The Brookings Institution) and Aart Kraay (World Bank - Development Research Group (DECRG)) and Massimo Mastruzzi (World Bank Institute)

Here are the latest announcements from SSRN:

Announcing the CELS 2009: 4th Annual Conference on Empirical Legal Studies Online Proceedings

In cooperation with the Society of Empirical Legal Studies, the Legal Scholarship Network (LSN) is pleased to announce the CELS 2009: 4th Annual Conference on Empirical Legal Studies online proceedings. The proceedings are available to all users at no charge and contain abstracts of publicly available papers to be presented at the conference with links to the full text in the SSRN eLibrary.

CELS 2009: 4th Annual Conference on Empirical Legal Studies features original empirical and experimental legal scholarship by leading scholars from a diverse range of fields.

You can browse all abstracts for publicly available papers to be presented at CELS 2009 in the SSRN database at
http://www.ssrn.com/link/CELS-2009.html.

You may also visit the CELS 2009 conference website at
http://lawweb.usc.edu/cels/.

Announcing the 2009 Canadian Law & Economics Association (CLEA) Annual Conference Abstracting eJournal

In cooperation with the Canadian Law and Economics Association (CLEA), the Legal Scholarship Network (LSN) is pleased to announce the 2009 Canadian Law and Economics Association (CLEA) Annual Conference Abstracting eJournal. This abstracting journal is available to all users at no charge and contains abstracts of the meetings papers with links to the full text within the SSRN eLibrary.

The 2009 CLEA Conference included papers on all areas of Law and Economics. In addition, there were a number of panels focusing on specific topics.

You can browse abstracts and download the full text of all papers given at the 2009 CLEA Conference in the SSRN database by clicking on the following link. There are currently 33 such papers in the system. You may wish to bookmark it in your browser.

View Papers: http://www.ssrn.com/link/CLEA-2009.html
Conference URL: http://www.canlecon.org/

HOW TO SUBSCRIBE
You can subscribe at no cost to the 2009 CLEA Conference abstracting journal by clicking on the following link:

http://hq.ssrn.com/jourInvite.cfm?link=CLEA-2009

This link uses browser cookies to store the name of the journal while you login. You will need to enable cookies on your browser to use the link above or to access the SSRN HeadQuarters. If cookies are not enabled, you will not be able to subscribe to SSRN journals or to login to the HeadQuarters. If you have any questions please call 877-SSRNHelp (877.777.6435).

Participants of this year’s conference will be subscribed to the abstracting journal. In addition, subscribers to the 2008 CLEA Conference Abstracting journal will automatically receive this year’s journal as well.

Announcing the American Finance Association 2010 Meetings Abstracting eJournal

In cooperation with the American Finance Association (AFA), the Financial Economics Network (FEN) is pleased to announce the American Finance Association Annual 2010 Meetings Abstracting eJournal. This abstracting journal is available to all users at no charge and contains abstracts of the meetings papers with links to the full text within the SSRN eLibrary.

You can browse abstracts and download the full text of all papers given at the AFA 2010 Annual Meetings in the SSRN database by clicking on the following link. There are currently more than 100 such papers in the system. You may wish to bookmark it in your browser.

View Papers: http://www.ssrn.com/link/AFA-2010-Atlanta.html
Conference URL: http://www.afajof.org/association/annualconf.asp

HOW TO SUBSCRIBE
You can subscribe at no cost to the AFA 2010 Annual Meetings abstracting journal by clicking on the following link:

http://hq.ssrn.com/jourInvite.cfm?link=AFA-2010-Atlanta

This link uses browser cookies to store the name of the eJournal while you log in. You will need to enable cookies on your browser to use the link above or to access the SSRN HeadQuarters. If cookies are not enabled, you will not be able to subscribe to SSRN eJournals or to log into the HeadQuarters. If you have any questions please call 877-SSRNHelp (toll free 877.777.6435 within the United States or 00+1+585+4428170 outside of the United States).

Participants of this year’s conference will be subscribed to the abstracting journal. In addition, subscribers to the AFA 2009 Annual Meetings abstracting journal will automatically receive this year’s journal as well.

Here are the top 5 papers downloaded from the SSRN eLibrary for the week ending October 16, 2009:

1. Trust and Delegation
by Stephen J. Brown (NYU Stern School of Business) and William N. Goetzmann (Yale School of Management - International Center for Finance; National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER)) and Bing Liang (University of Massachusetts at Amherst - Department of Finance & Operations Management; Shanghai Jiao Tong University (SJTU) - China Academy of Financial Research) and Christopher Schwarz (University of California at Irvine)

2. Specific Knowledge and Divisional Performance Measurement
by Michael C. Jensen (Harvard Business School; Social Science Electronic Publishing (SSEP), Inc.) and William H. Meckling (University of Rochester Simon School (Deceased))

3. A Quantitative Approach to Tactical Asset Allocation
by Mebane T. Faber (Cambria Investment Management)

4. Theory of the Firm: Managerial Behavior, Agency Costs and Ownership Structure
by Michael C. Jensen (Harvard Business School; Social Science Electronic Publishing (SSEP), Inc.) and William H. Meckling (University of Rochester Simon School (Deceased))

5. Governance Matters VIII: Aggregate and Individual Governance Indicators, 1996-2008
by Daniel Kaufmann (The Brookings Institution) and Aart Kraay (World Bank - Development Research Group (DECRG)) and Massimo Mastruzzi (World Bank Institute)

Here are the top 5 papers downloaded from the SSRN eLibrary for the week ending October 9, 2009:

1. A Quantitative Approach to Tactical Asset Allocation
by Mebane T. Faber (Cambria Investment Management)

2. Americans Reject Tailored Advertising and Three Activities that Enable It
by Joseph Turow (University of Pennsylvania - Annenberg School for Communication) and Jennifer King (Berkeley Center for Law & Technology; University of California, Berkeley - School of Law) and Chris Jay Hoofnagle (University of California, Berkeley - School of Law, Berkeley Center for Law & Technology) and Amy Bleakley (Annenberg Public Policy Center) and Michael Hennessy (Annenberg Public Policy Center)

3. Shareholder Value Creation of 136 Spanish Companies in January-September 2009 (Spanish)
by Pablo Fernandez (University of Navarra - IESE Business School)

4. Theory of the Firm: Managerial Behavior, Agency Costs and Ownership Structure
by Michael C. Jensen (Harvard Business School; Social Science Electronic Publishing (SSEP), Inc.) and William H. Meckling (University of Rochester Simon School (Deceased))

5. Predictive Signals and Asset Allocation
by Hui Ou-Yang (Nomura International, Hong Kong) and Zhen Wei (Nomura International, Hong Kong) and Haochuan Zhang (China Life Asset Management Company)

Here are the top 5 papers downloaded from the SSRN eLibrary for the week ending October 2, 2009:

1. A Quantitative Approach to Tactical Asset Allocation
by Mebane T. Faber (Cambria Investment Management)

2. Patent Claim Construction: A Modern Synthesis and Structured Framework
by Peter S. Menell (University of California, Berkeley - School of Law) and Matthew D. Powers (Weil Gotshal & Manges LLP) and Steven C. Carlson (Fish & Richardson P.C.)

3. How Do Hedge Fund Clones Manage the Real World?
by Nils Tuchschmid (Haute école de gestion de Genève) and Erik Wallerstein (Geneva School of Business Administration) and Sassan Zaker (Julius Baer Bank)

4. Americans Reject Tailored Advertising and Three Activities that Enable It
by Joseph Turow (University of Pennsylvania - Annenberg School for Communication) and Jennifer King (Berkeley Center for Law & Technology; University of California, Berkeley - School of Law) and Chris Jay Hoofnagle (Berkeley Center for Law & Technology; University of California, Berkeley - School of Law) and Amy Bleakley (Annenberg Public Policy Center) and Michael Hennessy (Annenberg Public Policy Center)

5. Theory of the Firm: Managerial Behavior, Agency Costs and Ownership Structure
by Michael C. Jensen (Harvard Business School; The Monitor Company; Social Science Electronic Publishing, Inc.) and William H. Meckling (University of Rochester Simon School [deceased])