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SSRN, Rochester, NY (2026)

09/19/2026

The Crisis of the Tax State Revisited: Artificial Intelligence, Business Conflict, and Digital Fiscal Capacity by Jacob Edenhofer and Ben Ansell.

The paper's central concept is digital fiscal capacity: the legal, administrative, and technical ability of governments to identify, value, and tax AI-generated returns. This challenge is particularly important because many AI-related profits arise from intangible assets, data, algorithms, and intellectual property, making them more difficult to measure and tax than traditional sources of income.

A key insight is that without sufficient digital fiscal capacity, governments may resort to broader capital taxes that unintentionally place a heavier burden on conventional firms rather than AI-intensive businesses. By contrast, stronger fiscal capacity would allow policymakers to more precisely target AI-related rents and economic gains.

The paper also shifts attention to a less-discussed political conflict: not simply voters versus corporations, but conflicts within the business community itself. As AI firms benefit from technological change while traditional firms face different tax burdens and competitive pressures, disagreements among businesses may become increasingly important in shaping future tax policy.

The authors argue that investment in digital fiscal capacity will depend on several factors, including the speed of AI adoption, the decline of labor-tax revenues, rising inequality, and the relative political influence of AI firms versus conventional businesses.

Read: http://spkl.io/61837r2UX

09/19/2026

Antitrust Remedies for Tech Monopoly by Herbert Hovenkamp.

When technology companies are found to possess unlawful monopoly power, what remedies actually improve competition?

In this concise but important article, Herbert Hovenkamp examines one of the central debates in modern antitrust policy: whether breaking up large technology firms is the most effective remedy for monopolization.

The paper notes that U.S. courts have become increasingly reluctant to impose structural remedies, such as corporate breakups, in monopolization cases. While divestitures are often used after unlawful mergers, monopolization cases present a different challenge. For internally developed businesses and technologies, identifying clear "fault lines" along which a company can be separated is often extremely difficult.

According to Hovenkamp, the ultimate test of any antitrust remedy is whether it improves competitive conditions. A remedy should increase output, reduce prices, enhance quality, remove restrictions on innovation, or otherwise strengthen competition. If it fails to achieve those outcomes, it cannot be considered successful.

The paper argues that these difficulties are especially acute in digital markets. Many digital platforms, networks, and software ecosystems derive value from integration, scale, and interoperability. Attempting to split them apart can reduce functionality, diminish consumer value, or undermine competitiveness.

Read: http://spkl.io/61877r2Lb

09/19/2026

Directional Irreversibility in Economic Time Series: Identification and Nonregular Inference by Arka Bandyopadhyay.

The author introduces a directional index that compares how strongly residuals depend on explanatory variables under alternative causal models. Under specific assumptions, including additive-noise conditions and causal sufficiency, the sign of this index can identify the underlying direction of causality.

A major contribution of the paper is showing that statistical inference in this setting is nonregular, meaning that standard large-sample inference techniques do not always apply. The analysis identifies different statistical regimes with distinct convergence rates and develops inference procedures that remain valid across them, including sample-splitting approaches and dependence-preserving bootstrap methods.

The paper also clarifies important limitations. Certain environments, including linear-Gaussian systems and settings with latent confounding, restrict the ability of the method to identify causal direction.

Simulation results support the theoretical predictions, and empirical applications involving macroeconomic shocks illustrate both the practical usefulness of the approach and the circumstances in which causal direction remains difficult to detect.

Read: http://spkl.io/61867r226

09/18/2026

Partisan Values and Financial Misconduct by James O'Donovan and Anthony B. Rice.

Do personal political values influence professional misconduct in financial services?

This paper uses self-declared voter-registration party affiliations to examine the relationship between political identity and misconduct among U.S. financial advisers. By comparing advisers working in the same branch at the same time, the authors isolate differences that cannot easily be attributed to local workplace conditions alone.

The study finds that Republican-affiliated advisers are 9.6% more likely to have a misconduct disclosure, relative to the average misconduct rate. The authors report that this difference is not explained by observable factors such as experience, professional qualifications, client sorting, or whether the adviser's preferred party holds local political power.

A key contribution of the paper is its focus on the role of the workplace environment. The partisan misconduct gap is strongest in branches where advisers are surrounded primarily by political co-partisans and in branches with prior histories of misconduct. In politically mixed branches, by contrast, the gap is close to zero.

The paper also finds similar patterns in labor-market outcomes. Advisers who are politically aligned with coworkers are less likely to leave after misconduct incidents, and advisers with misconduct records are more likely to join firms where managers share their political affiliation.

Read: http://spkl.io/61897rxU7

09/18/2026

Digital Money, Default Risk, and Financial Information: An Experiment on Europe by Alessandro Castagnetti, Alessandra Cillo, Giuseppe Gurrado, and Donato Masciandaro.

As central banks explore digital currencies and private firms expand digital-money offerings, a critical question emerges: How do consumers perceive the risks of different digital-money issuers?
This paper examines how information about default risk influences household preferences among three forms of digital money: central bank digital currencies (CBDCs), commercial-bank digital money, and non-bank private digital money.

Using a randomized survey experiment involving 800 participants across France, Germany, and Italy, the authors study how people update their beliefs after receiving information about the relative risks associated with different issuers.

The findings suggest that financial information matters. Participants became less concerned about the default risk of central-bank-issued digital money, maintained broadly similar views regarding commercial-bank issuers, and became more concerned about the risk of non-bank private issuers after receiving information treatments.

These belief changes translated into behavioral effects. Participants became less likely to choose non-bank private digital money relative to both CBDCs and commercial-bank alternatives. The results also reveal that consumers demand compensation for bearing issuer risk, requiring higher interest-rate incentives to hold forms of digital money perceived as less secure.

A key insight is the emergence of a clear hierarchy of trust:
-Central bank digital money is viewed as the safest.
-Commercial-bank digital money requires a risk premium relative to a CBDC.
-Non-bank private digital money requires an even larger premium.

Read: http://spkl.io/61807rxQI

09/18/2026

Turning Geopolitical Risk into Sustained Transformation: A Four-Pillar Approach to Saudi Arabia's Long Push for Diversification by Malan Rietveld, Michael Lepech, Khalid Alsweilem, Ashby Monk, and Piotr Moncarz.

How can geopolitical disruption become a catalyst for long-term economic transformation?

Using the aftermath of the Hormuz Crisis of 2026 as a focal point, this paper examines how Saudi Arabia can strengthen its economic resilience and advance its diversification agenda beyond Vision 2030. Rather than focusing solely on risks, the authors explore how geopolitical shocks can accelerate structural reforms and strategic investment.

The paper identifies four interconnected pillars for long-term transformation:

1. Logistics and Trade Corridors
Saudi Arabia's geographic position, scale, and infrastructure investments create opportunities to become a central hub for regional and intercontinental trade networks. The authors argue that new logistics corridors could strengthen economic resilience while reducing vulnerability to regional disruptions.

2. Megascale Energy Development
The paper highlights significant potential in large-scale energy systems, particularly through the combination of solar, geothermal, nuclear, and green hydrogen projects. Diversified energy infrastructure could support both domestic growth and future export opportunities.

3. Foreign Direct Investment and Long-Term Capital
A key theme is the attraction of global capital through partnerships with institutional investors, sovereign wealth funds, and private-sector joint ventures. The authors also discuss repositioning existing initiatives, including the Shareek program, to encourage greater foreign participation in Saudi private-sector growth.

4. Fiscal and Financial-Sector Development
The paper emphasizes the importance of financial-market development, capital allocation, and fiscal policy reforms that can support investment needs while maintaining long-term economic stability.

Read: http://spkl.io/61847rxwk

09/18/2026

The Price and Platform of Entry: Rental Application Fees, Security Deposits, Digital Rent Payments, and Landlord Practices in U.S. Rental Housing by Sakib Shahriar Arnob.

What barriers do renters face before they even move in?

Using data from the 2024 Rental Housing Finance Survey, representing nearly 19 million U.S. rental properties, this paper examines application fees, security deposits, digital payment options, and property-management practices across different types of landlords and management structures.

The study provides a national snapshot of entry costs and rental-payment systems. Among properties with usable responses:

-47.8% charge application fees of at least $50.
-13.8% charge application fees of $100 or more.
-15.3% require security deposits greater than one month's rent.
-48.6% offer digital payment methods such as online portals, mobile apps, card payments, or third-party platforms.

A key focus of the paper is the role of property management. After controlling for factors such as rent levels, property size, ownership structure, subsidies, and concessions, properties operated by management companies are more likely to offer digital payment options than owner-managed properties.

At the same time, the evidence regarding differences in application fees and security-deposit practices is less definitive. The author cautions against strong causal interpretations, noting that many management-related comparisons lose statistical significance after adjustments for multiple testing.

Read: http://spkl.io/61867rxpj

09/18/2026

Factor Time by Boone Bowles, Adam V. Reed, Matthew C. Ringgenberg, and Jake Thornock.

Asset-pricing research typically constructs factor portfolios using accounting information that may be months old by the time portfolios are formed. This paper asks a simple but consequential question: Does timing matter?

The authors distinguish between "stale" factors, built using traditional annual portfolio assignments, and "fresh" factors, constructed each month using the most recently available financial statements. While fresh factors modestly improve asset pricing on their own, the paper's most important finding is that the change generated by updating factor assignments contains distinct pricing information beyond either approach alone.

This result suggests that stock returns contain two separate components:
-A slow-moving component tied to persistent fundamental risk.
-A fast-moving component that reflects the arrival and incorporation of new information.

When these timing effects are incorporated into factor models, the consequences are substantial. The authors show that doing so can:

-Improve factor-model performance.
-Reallocate measured abnormal returns.
-Reverse the interpretation of thousands of event-study cumulative abnormal returns (CARs).
-Reclassify 14.7% of top-decile mutual funds when evaluating performance.

The paper challenges a long-standing assumption embedded in many empirical-finance studies: that factor classifications remain sufficiently accurate between annual updates. Instead, the findings suggest that the timing of information incorporation is itself an important source of variation in asset returns.

Read: http://spkl.io/61817rx3f

09/17/2026

Generative AI as an Epistemic Technology: Rethinking Governance of Organizational Knowledge Infrastructures by Ian P. McCarthy, Tim Hannigan, and Joel A. C. Baum.

The authors contend that the primary risks of generative AI are not limited to inaccurate outputs. Instead, the deeper danger arises when AI-generated propositions are mistakenly treated as verified knowledge before responsibility, validation, and provenance have been established. What begins as a human-AI interaction can evolve into an organizational problem as unverified claims circulate, gain legitimacy, and become embedded in institutional memory.

Using the concept of epistemic networks (epinets) and the example of AI-supported strategic planning, the paper examines how these risks emerge across four distinct modes of AI-enabled work:

-Authenticated work, where human verification remains central.
-Automated work, where AI performs predefined knowledge tasks.
-Augmented work, where humans and AI collaborate.
-Autonomous work, where AI increasingly acts without direct human intervention.

A key contribution of the paper is its distinction between dyadic risks (arising at the level of human-AI interaction) and network risks (arising as information spreads through organizational systems). The authors argue that governance efforts should focus not only on model behavior but also on the broader epistemic infrastructure: the practices, technologies, processes, and organizational structures through which knowledge is produced and maintained.

Rather than treating AI governance solely as a question of compliance or risk management, the paper frames it as a challenge of knowledge stewardship. Organizations must ensure that AI-generated claims are appropriately qualified, traceable, contestable, and open to correction before they become accepted organizational knowledge.

Read: http://spkl.io/61827r82s

09/17/2026

School Vaccine Mandates and Religious Exemptions by Richard H. Hughes IV, Kyla Perrotta, and Dorit Rubinstein Reiss.

Should states be constitutionally required to provide religious exemptions from school vaccine mandates?
This paper examines that question in the context of evolving religious-freedom jurisprudence and recent litigation surrounding school immunization requirements. The authors trace the long history of school vaccine mandates in the United States, noting that such mandates have been a central public-health tool for preventing outbreaks of vaccine-preventable diseases.

The paper focuses on legal developments following the Supreme Court's decision in Mahmoud v. Taylor and the subsequent Second Circuit ruling addressing whether that reasoning requires states to provide religious exemptions from school vaccination requirements. The authors argue that it does not.

A central theme of the paper is the distinction between curriculum objections and public-health mandates. According to the authors, vaccine requirements serve a fundamentally different function because they are designed to reduce the risk of infectious disease transmission and protect community health.

The article also reviews evidence suggesting that stronger vaccine mandates are associated with lower outbreak risk and argues that religious exemptions can be difficult to administer because they are often invoked for reasons that are not strictly religious. The authors further distinguish religious exemptions from medical exemptions, emphasizing that the latter serve different purposes and are grounded in documented health risks to individual students.

Read: http://spkl.io/61867r84k

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