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...that support atrocities. Proponents of Darfur divestment argue that such “financial pressure” on companies that support the Sudanese government can help alter its political stances. While divestment is similar to traditional boycotting of products, classic economic theory predicts that it will have absolutely no effect. Unlike goods and services, whose prices can be affected by changes in demand, the price of a financial asset is determined by its expected returns. If a firm forgoes a profitable investment, then another firm will take advantage of that investment instead. In today’s world of highly...
...What this means is that divestment merely transfers the profits gained from one investor to another. As long as someone is willing to invest in a given company, no divestment will have any effect. Therefore, divestment campaigns only hurt the investors they go after, such as Harvard’s endowment or Cambridge’s pension fund, and cannot cause real change. This conclusion is backed up by empirical studies. An August study from the Center for Retirement Research at Boston College surveyed the academic literature and found that such “social investing?...
...divestment campaigns is not to hurt the targeted companies but to raise awareness, send a message, or ensure that our money in particular is not directly involved with companies that support genocide. But if that is true, then advocates are being disingenuous when they claim their campaigns can effect real change. HDAG claims that “institutions can influence the Government of Sudan” by divesting in companies such as PetroChina. Such a claim implies that divestment puts financial pressure on these companies, or can cause change itself. This idea is not only misleading, but also is harmful...
Perhaps more importantly, though, is the effect of DRM on fair uses of electronic media. Electronic copyright enforcement through software is a problem, because software is “stupid.” Fair use, in particular, is a complex set of laws that is meant to be interpreted by judges; to attempt to regulate fair use with a piece of software is quixotic and shortsighted. There’s still no way to loan Amazon e-books to friends, borrow them from libraries, photocopy sections of them for a class, or sell a used copy, rights which have...
...case concerns a Florida statute that went into effect on Jan. 1, 2006, which requires election officials to match information provided on voter registration applications - such as name, address, date of birth, Social Security number, and driver's license number - against data in official records before an individual can be registered to vote. The problem is that even a simple error such as a typo can keep a legitimate voter off the registration rolls. Compounding that issue is the state's large number of citizens with Haitian or Hispanic names that are either hyphenated or use multiple surnames. Opponents...