The SSRN Blog

Here are the latest announcements from SSRN:

Announcing ERN Editor’s Choice eJournal

We are pleased to announce the following Economics Research Network (ERN) Editor’s Choice eJournal — Behavioral & Experimental Economics (Editor’s Choice).

Behavioral & Experimental Economics (Editor’s Choice)
View Papers: http://www.ssrn.com/link/Behav-Exp-Econ-Editors-Choice.html
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Editor: Victor Ricciardi, Social Science Research Network (SSRN)

Description: The Behavioral & Experimental Economics Editor’s Choice abstracting eJournal distributes working papers and accepted paper abstracts that the Editor chooses to emphasize based on their own discretion or criteria. This eJournal allows the Editor to highlight papers that he or she believes are important for the profession. These papers may be distributed in this Editor’s Choice eJournal either before or after they appear in the regular all-inclusive eJournal. The Editor may choose to write an introduction to an issue that identifies a special collection of papers the Editor finds of interest, and he or she from time to time, may provide commentary on individual papers noting their special interest.

Here are the latest announcements from SSRN:

Announcing New FEN Editor’s Choice eJournals

We are pleased to announce the following Financial Economics Network (FEN) Editor’s Choice eJournals — Finance Educator: Courses, Cases & Teaching (Editor’s Choice), and History of Finance (Editor’s Choice).

Finance Educator: Courses, Cases & Teaching (Editor’s Choice)
View Papers: http://www.ssrn.com/link/FEN-Educator-Editors-Choice.html
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Editors: Benjamin C. Esty, Harvard Business School, Michael J. Schill, University of Virginia - Darden Graduate School of Business Administration, and Kent L. Womack, Dartmouth College - Tuck School of Business

Description: The Finance Educator: Courses, Cases & Teaching Editor’s Choice abstracting eJournal distributes working papers and accepted paper abstracts that the Editor chooses to emphasize based on their own discretion or criteria. This eJournal allows the Editor to highlight papers that he or she believes are important for the profession. These papers may be distributed in this Editor’s Choice eJournal either before or after they appear in the regular all-inclusive eJournal. The Editor may choose to write an introduction to an issue that identifies a special collection of papers the Editor finds of interest, and he or she from time to time, may provide commentary on individual papers noting their special interest.

History of Finance (Editor’s Choice)
View Papers: http://www.ssrn.com/link/History-Finance-Editors-Choice.html
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Editor: Victor Ricciardi, Social Science Research Network (SSRN)

Description: History of Finance Editor’s Choice abstracting eJournal distributes working papers and accepted paper abstracts that the Editor chooses to emphasize based on their own discretion or criteria. This eJournal allows the Editor to highlight papers that he or she believes are important for the profession. These papers may be distributed in this Editor’s Choice eJournal either before or after they appear in the regular all-inclusive eJournal. The Editor may choose to write an introduction to an issue that identifies a special collection of papers the Editor finds of interest, and he or she from time to time, may provide commentary on individual papers noting their special interest.

Announcing New ERN Research Paper Series Journals

We are pleased to announce that NYU Wagner School of Public Service has started an ERN Public Policy Centers Research Papers series, and Norwegian School of Economics & Business Administration Department of Economics has started an Economics Departments Research Papers series within the Economics Research Network (ERN).

NYU WAGNER SCHOOL OF PUBLIC SERVICE
View Papers: http://www.ssrn.com/link/NYU-Wagner-PUB.html
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The challenges of public service in the 21st century require thoughtful, innovative research programs designed to maximize both scholarly and public impact.

Wagner School faculty strive to produce and disseminate research that changes the way in which people frame, understand, analyze, manage, and act on public issues and policies of vital importance.

NORWEGIAN SCHOOL OF ECONOMICS AND BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION DEPARTMENT OF ECONOMICS
View Papers: http://www.ssrn.com/link/Norwegian-Economics-DEPT.html

At NHH, the Norwegian School of Economics and Business Administration, the first chairs in economics were created at its foundation in 1936. The Department of Economics itself was not established until 1951/52. From the beginning, a broad range of research interests were represented, and from the outset academic research has occupied a central place in the activities of the Department. Since the late 1960s, its members have been very active contributors to international economics journals. Many of them have also taken a strong interest in matters of economic policy, sometimes as members or experts on government committees, and sometimes as contributors to public debate about current economic issues.

Announcing ARN Editor’s Choice eJournals

We are pleased to announce the following Accounting Research Network (ARN) Editor’s Choice eJournals — Accounting Educator: Courses, Cases & Teaching (Editor’s Choice), Behavioral & Experimental Accounting (Editor’s Choice), Financial Accounting (Editor’s Choice), History of Accounting (Editor’s Choice), and Managerial Accounting (Editor’s Choice).

Accounting Educator: Courses, Cases & Teaching (Editor’s Choice)
View Papers: http://www.ssrn.com/link/ARN-Educator-Editors-Choice.html
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Editor: Ross L. Watts, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) - Sloan School of Management

Description: The Accounting Educator: Courses, Cases & Teaching Editor’s Choice abstracting eJournal distributes working papers and accepted paper abstracts that the Editor chooses to emphasize based on their own discretion or criteria. This eJournal allows the Editor to highlight papers that he or she believes are important for the profession. These papers may be distributed in this Editor’s Choice eJournal either before or after they appear in the regular all-inclusive eJournal. The Editor may choose to write an introduction to an issue that identifies a special collection of papers the Editor finds of interest, and he or she from time to time, may provide commentary on individual papers noting their special interest.

Behavioral & Experimental Accounting (Editor’s Choice)
View Papers: http://www.ssrn.com/link/Beh-Exp-Accounting-Editors-Choice.html
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Editor: Victor Ricciardi, Social Science Research Network (SSRN)

Description: The Behavioral & Experimental Accounting Editor’s Choice abstracting eJournal distributes working papers and accepted paper abstracts that the Editor chooses to emphasize based on their own discretion or criteria. This eJournal allows the Editor to highlight papers that he or she believes are important for the profession. These papers may be distributed in this Editor’s Choice eJournal either before or after they appear in the regular all-inclusive eJournal. The Editor may choose to write an introduction to an issue that identifies a special collection of papers the Editor finds of interest, and he or she from time to time, may provide commentary on individual papers noting their special interest.

Financial Accounting (Editor’s Choice)
View Papers: http://www.ssrn.com/link/Financial-Accounting-Editors-Choice.html
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Editor: Ross L. Watts, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) - Sloan School of Management

Description: The Financial Accounting Editor’s Choice abstracting eJournal distributes working papers and accepted paper abstracts that the Editor chooses to emphasize based on their own discretion or criteria. This eJournal allows the Editor to highlight papers that he or she believes are important for the profession. These papers may be distributed in this Editor’s Choice eJournal either before or after they appear in the regular all-inclusive eJournal. The Editor may choose to write an introduction to an issue that identifies a special collection of papers the Editor finds of interest, and he or she from time to time, may provide commentary on individual papers noting their special interest.

History of Accounting (Editor’s Choice)
View Papers: http://www.ssrn.com/link/History-Acctg-Editors-Choice.html
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Editor: Victor Ricciardi, Social Science Research Network (SSRN)

Description: The History of Accounting Editor’s Choice abstracting eJournal distributes working papers and accepted paper abstracts that the Editor chooses to emphasize based on their own discretion or criteria. This eJournal allows the Editor to highlight papers that he or she believes are important for the profession. These papers may be distributed in this Editor’s Choice eJournal either before or after they appear in the regular all-inclusive eJournal. The Editor may choose to write an introduction to an issue that identifies a special collection of papers the Editor finds of interest, and he or she from time to time, may provide commentary on individual papers noting their special interest.

Managerial Accounting (Editor’s Choice)
View Papers: http://www.ssrn.com/link/Managerial-Acctg-Editors-Choice.html
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Editor: Ross L. Watts, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) - Sloan School of Management

Description: The Managerial Accounting Editor’s Choice abstracting eJournal distributes working papers and accepted paper abstracts that the Editor chooses to emphasize based on their own discretion or criteria. This eJournal allows the Editor to highlight papers that he or she believes are important for the profession. These papers may be distributed in this Editor’s Choice eJournal either before or after they appear in the regular all-inclusive eJournal. The Editor may choose to write an introduction to an issue that identifies a special collection of papers the Editor finds of interest, and he or she from time to time, may provide commentary on individual papers noting their special interest.

Here are the top 5 papers downloaded from the SSRN eLibrary for the week ending November 27, 2009:

1. Mamas Don’t Let Your Babies Grow Up To Be…Lawyers
by Herwig J. Schlunk (Vanderbilt University School of Law)

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

3. Underwater and Not Walking Away: Shame, Fear and the Social Management of the Housing Crisis
by Brent T. White (University of Arizona - James E. Rogers College of Law)

4. Why Jack Balkin is Disgusting
by Andrew Koppelman (Northwestern University School of Law)

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 November 20, 2009:

1. Mamas Don’t Let Your Babies Grow Up To Be…Lawyers
by Herwig J. Schlunk (Vanderbilt University School of Law)

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

3. Equity Risk Premiums (ERP): Determinants, Estimation and Implications - A Post-Crisis Update
by Aswath Damodaran (New York University - Department of Finance)

4. A Brief Defense of the Written Description Requirement
by Michael Risch (West Virginia University College of Law)

5. Valuing Young, Start-Up and Growth Companies: Estimation Issues and Valuation Challenges
by Aswath Damodaran (New York University - Department of Finance)

Here are the latest announcements from SSRN:

Announcing 4 New Sponsored LSN Subject Matter eJournals

We are pleased to announce four new Legal Scholarship Network (LSN) Sponsored Subject Matter eJournals under Law, Brain & Behavior Journals. Law & Evolution, Law & Neuroscience, Law & Prosociality, and Law, Cognition, & Decisionmaking, are sponsored by Indiana University Maurer School of Law and by the UCLA School of Law at the University of California, Los Angeles.

LAW, BRAIN & BEHAVIOR JOURNALS
Law is concerned with organizing and constraining human behavior. As a result, some model of human behavior, implicit or explicit, underlies legal principles and analysis. Papers in LAW, BRAIN & BEHAVIOR employ conceptual and empirical findings from various disciplines, including neuroscience, evolutionary biology, and experimental psychology, to shed light on how we can best understand law and and use it to guide human behavior in desirable directions.

LAW & EVOLUTION
View Papers: http://www.ssrn.com/link/Law-Evolution.html
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Editor: Jeffrey Evans Stake, Robert A. Lucas Chair of Law, Indiana University Maurer School of Law

Description: This journal distributes working and accepted paper abstracts with a focus on the intersection of law and evolution in a number of domains. First and foremost, evolutionary psychology and biology provide a model of human behavior that can be helpful in understanding legal rules, critiquing them, and suggesting reforms. Second, understanding the evolution of the biological world is important for constructing legal regimes to address a wide variety of issues, from the environment to medicine. Third, ideas can and often do replicate, becoming “memes,” and their evolution has implications for the law, both because many areas of the law deal with ideas and because laws and legal institutions are themselves evolving replicators. This journal accepts working papers, essays, published articles, experimental and research reports, and other scholarly treatments of topics within the intersection of LAW AND EVOLUTION.

LAW & NEUROSCIENCE
View Papers: http://www.ssrn.com/link/Law-Neuroscience.html
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Editor: Oliver Goodenough, Professor, Vermont Law School, Fellow, Berkman Center for Internet & Society

Description: This journal distributes working and accepted paper abstracts with a focus on law and the emerging science of the brain sharing a basic preoccupation: understanding the nature of human thought and action. Law has been had an implicit science of mind; cognitive neuroscience is an explicit version. A sustained academic dialog between these disciplines will lead to advances on each side of the conversation. In particular we desire to increase access to, as well as understanding of, human action. By access we mean an actionable pathway to improving human action. Law will be enriched with better models of thought and behavior and with a tool-kit of applications and interventions for such difficult problems as addiction, mental health, and legal procedure itself. Cognitive science will benefit from the challenge of tackling problems whose solutions could have significant consequences for justice and social welfare. The abstracting journal LAW AND NEUROSCIENCE provides a forum for conducting this exchange. It will accept working papers, essays, published articles, experimental and research reports, and other scholarly treatments of topics at the intersection of law, neuroscience and related disciplines, such as cognitive psychology, economics, and behavioral biology.

LAW & PROSOCIALITY
View Papers: http://www.ssrn.com/link/Law-Prosociality.html
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Editor: Lynn Stout, Professor of Law, University of California, Los Angeles - School of Law

Description: This journal distributes working and accepted paper abstracts covering various aspects of the many interactions between law and prosocial behavior. Extensive empirical evidence demonstrates that rather than always maximizing their own material self-interest, people often behave prosocially by sacrificing their own material welfare in order to help, and sometimes in order to harm, other people. For example, people often follow legal rules, obey social norms, and show both trust and trustworthiness, even when external sanctions are weak or absent. Papers in LAW AND PROSOCIALITY use data and evidence gathered from neuroscience, experimental and behavioral economics and psychology, and other life and social sciences to shed light on the empirical phenomenon of prosocial behavior and to examine how prosocial behavior depends on, reinforces, and interacts with law and public policy. Legal scholars, behavioral economists, psychologists, policy experts, and other researchers and scholars are encouraged to submit papers that investigate the empirical phenomenon of prosocial behaviors, including behaviors like trust, altruism, cooperation, and altruistic punishment, and their relation to law and social order.

LAW, COGNITION, & DECISIONMAKING
View Papers: http://www.ssrn.com/link/Law-Cognition-Decisionmaking.html
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Editor: Russell Korobkin, Professor of Law, University of California, Los Angeles - School of Law

Description: This journal distributes working and accepted paper abstracts at the intersection of research on behavioral decisionmaking and law. Evaluations of existing or potential legal policy require an understanding of how law affects behavior, and an understanding of behavior in turn requires insight into how individuals process information and make decisions. Papers in LAW, COGNITION, and DECISIONMAKING use knowledge of how humans process information to render judgments, form preferences, and make choices for the purpose of informing descriptive and normative analysis of law.

Announcing Expansion of ERN Microeconomics Subject Matter eJournal

We are pleased to announce the expansion of Economics Research Network (ERN) Microeconomics: Information, Specific Knowledge, & Uncertainty into the following eJournals:

MICROECONOMICS: ASYMMETRIC & PRIVATE INFORMATION
View Papers: http://www.ssrn.com/link/Micro-Asymmetric-Private.html
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Description: This journal distributes working and accepted paper abstracts of empirical and theoretical papers on microeconomic aspects of information including the analysis of decisions in transactions where the costs of information transfer result in one party having different information than the other. Included in this topic are studies in which the cost of transferring or creating information lead to information asymmetries in principal-agent problems. The topics in this journal include topics D82, D83, D86 and D87 from Section D8 of the JEL classification system.

MICROECONOMICS: DECISION-MAKING UNDER RISK & UNCERTAINTY
View Papers: http://www.ssrn.com/link/Micro-Decision-Making.html
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Description: This journal distributes working and accepted paper abstracts of empirical and theoretical papers on microeconomic aspects of the analysis of economic actors making decisions facing different levels of risk and uncertainty. Included in this topic are models based on probability, and utility theories. The topics in this journal include topics D81 from Section D8 of the JEL classification system.

MICROECONOMICS: SEARCH; LEARNING; INFORMATION COSTS & SPECIFIC KNOWLEDGE; EXPECTATION & SPECULATION
View Papers: http://www.ssrn.com/link/Micro-Search-Learning.html
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Description: This journal distributes working and accepted paper abstracts of empirical and theoretical papers on microeconomic aspects of the role played by the costs of information transfer, learning, and searching, in decision-making under uncertainty and risk. The analysis of the role played by expectations and speculation in reaching decisions in the context of costly information and uncertainty is also included in this topic. The topics in this journal include topics D83 and D84 from Section D8 of the JEL classification system.

Announcing Paris December 2009 Finance International Meeting AFFI - EUROFIDAI on SSRN

In cooperation with the Paris Finance International Meeting AFFI - EUROFIDAI, the Financial Economics Network (FEN) is pleased to announce the Paris December 2009 Finance International Meeting Online Proceedings. These proceedings are available to all users at no charge and contain abstracts of the meeting’s papers with links to the full text within the SSRN eLibrary.

The annual Paris Finance International Meeting is organized by AFFI (French Finance Association) and EUROFIDAI (European Financial Data Institute), and jointly sponsored by CDC Institute for Economic Research, CNRS, Fondation Banque de France pour la Recherche en Economie Monetaire, Financiere et Bancaire and Ministere de l’Enseignement Superieur et de la Recherche and Pôle universitaire Léonard de Vinci.

The latest research in all areas of finance is included in the meeting. Program chair is Patrice Fontaine.

This abstracting eJournal provides a data warehouse for all abstracts and papers presented at the December 2009 Meeting. Abstracts of the papers will also be published in subject-specific journals within FEN and, where appropriate, in the journals of our sister networks.

View Papers: http://www.ssrn.com/link/Paris-2009-AFFI-EUROFIDAI.html
Subscribe: http://hq.ssrn.com/jourInvite.cfm?link=Paris-2009-AFFI-EUROFIDAI
Conference URL: http://www.en.affi.asso.fr/200-december-2009.htm

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)

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
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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
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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
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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
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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 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.

We count the number of times a paper has been downloaded and rank them within different categories. These rankings include the Top Ten downloaded papers for All Time and for papers distributed in a SSRN email journal in the previous 60 days for each category. Top Ten Lists are available for all SSRN abstracting journals and for each of its subject networks on the Browse by Journal List. To view a Top Ten List, expand a network and click on the Top button.

The “Weekly Top 5 Papers” that are posted on SSRNblog each week are the overall top 5 downloaded papers for that given week.

Our abstracting eJournals contain abstracts and links to full text papers in a given topic and are delivered right to your inbox! Our sponsored eJournals and Research Paper Series are free to all users. Many Universities and Institutions have site subscriptions. Users that are properly affiliated with those Universities and Institutions can subscribe without cost to eJournals in certain networks. Our users may also request a 60 day trial to any of our networks.

To subscribe, you will need to be logged into your User Account at http://hq.ssrn.com/

Please view the video demonstration above for complete and specific instructions. If you still need help, please feel free to contact AuthorSupport@SSRN.com, 585.442.8170, or toll free 877-SSRNHELP (877.777.6435).

For answers to other FAQs, please visit SSRN’s FAQ: http://ssrn.com/update/general/ssrn_faq.html

And don’t forget to submit your questions to Blog@ssrn.com for “FAQ Tuesdays”.

We would like to begin addressing many of SSRN’s users’ Frequently Asked Questions(FAQs) via our blog. Each Tuesday, we will be addressing a new question. Please feel free to submit your questions via the “comments” below any posts, or email questions to Blog@ssrn.com.

The FAQ for this week is: How can I have my own paper included in the SSRN eLibrary?

We invite you to submit abstracts from your own papers for inclusion in our eLibrary.

You will need the following information:

• Abstract
• Names, contact information, and affiliations for all co-authors not in the SSRN database
• Journal citation (for accepted and forthcoming papers)
• Permission from copyright holder, if not yourself
• The email and postal addresses, phone and fax numbers, and the affiliation of the contact author
• Electronic version of the paper in PDF format (you can create a PDF by downloading a free utility during the submission process or by visiting the Adobe website).
• You will need to be logged into your User Account at http://hq.ssrn.com/

Please view the video demonstration above for complete and specific instructions. If you still need help, please feel free to contact AuthorSupport@SSRN.com, 585.442.8170, or toll free 877-SSRNHELP (877.777.6435). To submit is free, and we encourage all authors to submit their research.

For answers to other FAQs, please visit SSRN’s FAQ: http://ssrn.com/update/general/ssrn_faq.html

And don’t forget to start submitting your questions for “FAQ Tuesdays”.

Do you want to know what other users that have your same interests are reading? The Social Science Research Network’s database has a “recommendation functionality” (a.k.a “People who downloaded this paper also downloaded…”) that will tell you just this.  Our recommendation function gives a user a list of papers that have been downloaded by other users. This list will appear on a public abstract page to the right of the abstract. The list contains up to 10 recommended papers that have been downloaded by other users that have also downloaded the paper on that public abstract page. This function may list more content that is relevant to our users than what is listed in just a regular search.

Here is the latest announcement from SSRN:

Announcing Third Singapore International Conference on Finance 2009 Abstracting eJournal

In cooperation with the Saw Centre for Financial Studies, the Financial Economics Network (FEN) is pleased to announce the Third Singapore International Conference on Finance 2009 Abstracting eJournal. This abstracting eJournal is available to all users at no charge and contains abstracts of the meeting’s papers with links to the full text within the SSRN eLibrary.

View papers: http://www.ssrn.com/link/Singapore-2009.html
Subscribe: http://hq.ssrn.com/jourInvite.cfm?link=Singapore-2009

The Third Singapore International Conference on Finance is an international conference that brings together high quality papers on corporate finance, asset pricing, corporate governance, institutional trading and banking. The conference presents an excellent opportunity for practitioners and researchers in financial institutions and universities to discuss and exchange ideas on the latest developments in the field of finance. This abstracting eJournal provides a data warehouse for all abstracts and papers presented at the conference. Abstracts of the papers will also be published in subject-specific journals within FEN and, where appropriate, in the journals of our sister networks. (View full announcement)

Here are the latest announcements from SSRN:

NYU-POLY Gerstein Fisher Research Center for Finance and Risk Engineering Joins FEN Research Paper Series

We are pleased to announce that NYU-POLY Gerstein Fisher Research Center for Finance and Risk Engineering has started a Research Paper Series within the Financial Economics Network (FEN).

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

The Gerstein Fisher Research Center for Finance and Risk Engineering undertakes theoretical and applied research rooted in the fundamental principles of economics, finance and risk engineering. The Center is interdisciplinary and seeks to bridge a gap between theory and practice. Its research projects are currently focused in four areas, spanning: Personal Finance - a finance that cares for the individual; Risk Engineering and Finance; Finance and Risk Management of the Unlikely; and Alternative Finance. (View full announcement)

Announcing Two New LSN Subject Matter eJournals

We are pleased to announce two new Legal Scholarship Network (LSN) Subject Matter eJournals under Environmental & Natural Resources Law Journals — Climate Change Law & Policy and International Environmental Law.

CLIMATE CHANGE LAW & POLICY

Editors: Daniel A. Farber, University of California, Berkeley - School of Law and Patrick A. Parenteau, Vermont Law School

View Papers: http://www.ssrn.com/link/Climate-Change-Law-Policy.html

Subscribe: http://hq.ssrn.com/jourInvite.cfm?link=Climate-Change-Law-Policy

First Issue: http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/sample_issues/1397282_CMBO.html

Description: Climate Change Law and Policy distributes abstracts of articles dealing with all aspects of environmental law and policy research relating to climate change.

INTERNATIONAL ENVIRONMENTAL LAW

Editors: David D. Caron, University of California, Berkeley - School of Law and Tseming Yang, Vermont Law School

View Papers: http://www.ssrn.com/link/Intl-Environmental-Law.html

Subscribe: http://hq.ssrn.com/jourInvite.cfm?link=Intl-Environmental-Law

First Issue: http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/sample_issues/1397291_CMBO.html

Description: International Environmental Law distributes abstracts of articles dealing with research in the field of law and policy regarding international environmental and global challenges whether approached at a private, national, regional or global level. (View full announcement)

Here are the latest announcements from SSRN:

Bancaria Joins FEN Partners in Publishing

We are pleased to announce that Bancaria has joined our Partners in Publishing within the Financial Economics Network (FEN).

View Papers: http://www.ssrn.com/link/Bancaria.html

Bancaria is the journal of the Italian Banking Association published by Bancaria Editrice. Over the last 80 years Bancaria contributed to the awareness and in-depth examination of national and international banking and financial system dynamics. Today it is one of the more acknowledged and widespread Italian financial journals. (View full announcement)

Mannheim Research Institute for the Economics of Aging (MEA) Joins ERN Research Paper Series

We are pleased to announce that Mannheim Research Institute for the Economics of Aging (MEA) has started a Research Paper Series within the Economics Research Network (ERN).

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

The Mannheim Research Institute for the Economics of Aging (MEA) Research Paper Series focuses on selected micro- and macroeconomic aspects of demographic change. It contains research results from research scientists, doctoral students and visiting scholars at MEA. The papers are published electronically by the institution and available online. (View full announcement)

Journal of CENTRUM Cathedra Joins MRN Partners in Publishing

We are pleased to announce that Journal of CENTRUM Cathedra has joined our Partners in Publishing within the Management Research Network (MRN).

View Papers: http://www.ssrn.com/link/Journal-of-CENTRUM-Cathedra.html
Subscribe: http://ow.ly/kkxF

The Journal of CENTRUM Cathedra (JCC) is the official academic journal of CENTRUM Catolica, the Business School of the Pontificia Universidad Catolica del Peru. The mission of the JCC is to disseminate knowledge generated by academic and doctoral research conducted at CENTRUM Catolica and other universities in the areas of global strategic management. (View full announcement)

Announcing 2009 CAAA Annual Conference Abstracting eJournal

In cooperation with the Canadian Academic Accounting Association, the Accounting Research Network (ARN) is pleased to announce the 2009 CAAA Annual Conference Abstracting eJournal. This abstracting eJournal is available to all users at no charge and contains abstracts of the meeting’s papers with links to the full text within the SSRN eLibrary.

The Canadian Academic Accounting Association (CAAA) is an organization of accounting educators, professional accountants, and others who are involved in, or concerned about, research and education in accounting and related areas. The CAAA’s mission is to promote excellence in accounting research and education in Canada. This abstracting eJournal provides a data warehouse for all abstracts and papers presented at the conference. Abstracts of the papers will also be published in subject-specific journals within ARN and, where appropriate, in the journals of our sister networks.

You can browse all 2009 CAAA Annual Conference abstracts in the SSRN database by clicking on the following link. There are currently more than 35 such papers in the system. You may wish to bookmark it in your browser. (View full announcement)

View papers: http://www.ssrn.com/link/CAAA-2009.html
Subscribe: http://hq.ssrn.com/jourInvite.cfm?link=CAAA-2009
First Issue: http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/sample_issues/1162496_CMBO.html

Last month, we beta tested abstract “commenting” functionality on all abstracts in our Cognitive Science Network (CSN). With the initial success and positive feedback, we added the functionality to all abstracts in our Entrepreneurship Research and Policy Network (ERPN). This feature expands the possibilities and conversations based on scholarly research in the SSRN eLibrary. We will add commenting to all abstract pages later this year.

What’s next? - SSRN status updates or Super Poke - we don’t know but we are having fun.

Here is the latest announcement from SSRN:

Loyola University Chicago School of Law Joins LSN Research Paper Series

We are pleased to announce that Loyola University Chicago School of Law has started a Public Law and Legal Theory Research Paper Series within the Legal Scholarship Network (LSN).

View Papers: http://www.ssrn.com/link/Loyola-U-PUB.html
Subscribe: http://hq.ssrn.com/jourInvite.cfm?link=Loyola-U-PUB
First Issue: http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/sample_issues/1410172_CMBO.html

Founded in 1908, Loyola University Chicago School of Law is a community of engaged scholars and students inspired by the Jesuit tradition of academic excellence, intellectual openness, and a commitment to justice and the rule of law. The articles and papers in its Research Paper Series serve that tradition by contributing to a deeper understanding of law, legal institutions, and legal theory through faculty research and scholarship. (View full announcement)

CSN commenting Box

As part of “narrowing the distance” between authors and readers, we are beta testing “commenting” on all public abstract pages in our Cognitive Science Network.  As I said in a previous post, “…as scholarly research has moved from a model of scarcity to one of information overabundance, content is no longer king. The conversation that surrounds the content is king…” The commenting functionality launched this week allows our readers to leave comments for the author and other readers on the abstract’s web page.  We hope this functionality provides a simple forum for hundreds of conversations based on scholarly research in the SSRN eLibrary.  Commenting will be available on all public abstract pages later this year.

When I look at the SSRN Community, I am excited and motivated by the challenges and possibilities in front of us.  We need to be innovative and responsive to the changing needs of our community, but have to deal with the harsh realities of a terrible economy and limited development resources. However, I hope we use these challenges to become more innovative. My simple definition of innovation is the creation of new things by being exposed to a broader and deeper set of existing things.  Innovation is critical to SSRN’s future.  In fact, we need to be innovative about being innovative.

Tom Koulopoulos’ new book, The Innovation Zone discusses re-innovating innovation and provides “Seven Lessons of Innovation.”  Koulopoulos states the basic tenet that we all need to understand, “Invention is NOT innovation.  Innovation creates value.  Invention just creates more stuff.”  Innovating often sounds hard or based on luck, but Koulopoulos says it is achievable with some basic building blocks.

One of the challenges we currently face is providing personalization to our users. We would like to develop SSRN so that each user can obtain the content they want in a way they want. However, personalization is difficult with the broad spectrum of users we serve - from non-academics and undergraduates to some of the smartest scholars in the world, including several Nobel Laureates.  Add to this the diverse technological capabilities of our users, and the challenge of personalization becomes even greater. However, Koulopoulos views personalization as an opportunity for innovation (and I think a great opportunity for SSRN):

“Personalization is where innovation takes on a new dimension that simply has no parallel in today’s market. We may talk about ‘markets of one’ but we’ve hardly delivered on the vision. When we do, innovation will finally be driven by the market.” (Excerpt: ‘The Innovation Zone’)

We discuss innovation a lot at SSRN and I believe that we are a pretty innovative company.  Unfortunately, we will need to be extremely innovative to be successful.  Several copies of The Innovation Zone just arrived from Amazon for our development team.  I think it will help refine our process and make SSRN better for everyone.

Gregg Gordon (President/CEO) and Diane Baltadonis (Director of Sales & Marketing) will be attending the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB) International Conference and Annual Meeting, April 26-28 in Orlando, FL.

Gregg will be presenting a session entitled “The Future of Scholarly Publishing”, which will offer insight into trends, technologies and advances associated with scholarly publishing.

Session: A2
Date: Monday, April 27, 2009
Time: 10:30am to 12pm

Description: The senior executives of two independent commercial publishing organizations present their views on the industry, its trends and likely direction. The scholarly publishing industry both mirrors, and shapes, the business school industry, and many of the same pressures and influences play on both — the relevance/rigor debate; role in wider society; globalization; impact of technology; and others. From different standpoints, the presenters will explain some of the workings of the industry, the factors which are shaping it, and what the future for publishers, scholars and students of business might hold.

Presenters: Gregory J. Gordon, president, Social Science Electronic Publishing, and John Peters, chief executive officer, Emerald Publishing

Additionally, Gregg and Diane will be available throughout the conference to speak with individuals regarding SSRN and its services. If you would like to set up a meeting, please email Diane_Baltadonis@ssrn.com.