Infinite Lexicographic Products

We generalize the lexicographic product of first-order structures by presenting a framework for constructions which, in a sense, mimic iterating the lexicographic product infinitely and not necessarily countably many times. We then define dense substructures in infinite products and show that any countable product of countable transitive homogeneous structures has a unique countable dense substructure, up to isomorphism. Furthermore, this dense substructure is transitive, homogeneous and elementarily embeds into the product. This result is then utilized to construct a rigid elementarily indivisible structure.Comment: 20 pages, 3 figure

The Boundary of the Firm in a Model of Trade Within a Hierarchy

In this paper I present a theory of the boundary of the firm that accounts for some important characteristics of real-world multidivisional firms: Operative decisions are in the hands of middle managers who are rewarded with incentive contracts based on the performance of their units; Managers' decisions are subject to approval and intervention by the top management of the firm; and managers are better informed regarding the affairs of their divisions than their superiors in the firm's hierarchy. In this setup, the integration of a producer of an intermediate input and its buyer as separate divisions within a single firm is unambiguously desirable, as long as the choice of trading partners can be credibly delegated to the divisions' managers. I show that this is satisfied not only under the assumption of full commitment by the general office of the firm, but also interestingly, if it has no commitment power at all. At the time of trade, the uninformed general office prefers to delegate the choice of trading partners to the divisions whose decision is ex-post optimal. An explanation of the boundaries of the firm emerges only if we assume that the general office retains some limited commitment power. The general office may then mandate internal trade in order to encourage the divisions to specialize towards one another before the trade. In the context examined, I show that the general office faces a 'time-consistency' problem. It tends to mandate internal trades in more instances than would have been optimal with full commitment, adversely affecting the levels of investment taken by the divisions' managers. Whenever such inconsistency arises, it may be optimal to have the trade conducted between independent, non-integrated parties.

Differentiating Legislative from Nonlegislative Rules: An Empirical and Qualitative Analysis

The elusive distinction between legislative rules and nonlegislative rules has frustrated courts, motivated voluminous scholarly debate, and ushered in a flood of litigation against administrative agencies. In the absence of U.S. Supreme Court guidance on the proper demarcating line, circuit courts have adopted various tests to ascertain a rule’s proper classification. This Note analyzes all 241 cases in which a circuit court has used one or more of the enunciated tests to differentiate legislative from nonlegislative rules. These opinions come from every one of the thirteen circuits and span the period of the early 1950s through 2018. This Note identifies six different tests that courts have employed in this effort and offers a qualitative and empirical analysis of each. The qualitative analysis explains the underlying premise of the tests, articulates their merits and shortcomings, and considers how courts have applied them to particular disputes. The empirical portion of this Note uses regression analysis to ascertain how using or rejecting one or more of the tests affects a court’s determination of whether the rule is legislative or nonlegislative. This Note classifies the different tests into two categories: public-focused tests and agency-focused tests. These two categories are defined by a principle that permeates administrative law jurisprudence: achieving a proper balance between efficient agency rulemaking and maintaining a proper check against unconstrained agency action. These two categories thus defined, this Note proposes a balanced approach that incorporates elements of both categories to identify and refine the proper test