Challenges Working with Presidential Bioethics Commissions

Attitudes Toward Delegation to Presidential Commissions

We examine attitudes of the pubic toward delegation to presidential commissions. In four survey experiments across a range of contexts, we compare the public response to the creation of a commission to that of a direct presidential action. We find that there is no significant difference in the approval garnered for taking action alone or delegating the decision to a presidential commission. Thi...

Bioethics commissions: town meetings with a "blue, blue ribbon"

The Presidential Bioethics Commission: pedagogical materials and bioethics education.

Purchasing IPOs with Commissions

We find direct evidence that institutions churn stocks, increase commissions per share and pay unusually high commissions on trades in order to send abnormally high commissions to lead underwriters of upcoming IPOs. These excess commission payments are a particularly effective way for transient investors to receive lucrative IPO allocations. Our results suggest that the underwriter’s concern fo...

Purchasing IPOs with Commissions

We find direct evidence that institutions increase round-trip stock trades, increase average commissions per share, and pay unusually high commissions on some trades in order to send abnormally high commissions to the lead underwriters of profitable initial public offerings (IPOs). These excess commission payments are a particularly effective way for transient investors to receive lucrative IPO...