The John M. Olin Center for Law, Economics, and Business
John M. Olin Prizes
This is a $1,000 prize awarded for an outstanding paper written by an HLS student analyzing a legal topic from an economic perspective. Students wishing to be considered for this award must first obtain a statement evaluating their paper from a professor under whom it is written. Then they should submit their papers by email to Karl Coleman, Administrative Director, at kcoleman@law.harvard.edu by April 30th. Generally, the prize is awarded in May and there are anywhere from one to three prize-winning papers each year. For further information, please contact Professor Steven Shavell.
Below you will find a list of our recent Olin Prize recipients. Years highlighted in blue can be clicked to link to a winning paper from that particular year.
2012 (1)- "Transparency and Media Scrutiny in the Regulatory Process," by Laurence Tai.
2012 (2) - "Antitrust Laws in Developing Countries: An Empirical Analysis of the Reasons and Effects of Enforecement and Non-Enforcement," by Dina Waked.
2011- "Committee on Capital Market Regulation: Financial Regulation, Systemic Risk, and the Audit of Financial Contagion," by Adam M. Jenkins.
2010 - "Providing a Pigouvian Subsidy to Insurers for Success in Reducing Traffic," by Noam Noked.
2009 - "The Global Cross-Section of Crime and Punishment," by Holger Spamann.
2008 (1) - "Insiders and Outsiders: Does Forbidding Sexual Harassment Exacerbate Gender Inequality?" (formerly "The Effects of Sexual Harassment Law on Gender Inequality"), by Daniel L. Chen & Jasmin Sethi.
2008 (2) - "Mechanisms of Secrecy," by Daniel Epps.
2007 - "An Economic Analysis of Advanced Tax Rulings: Threat Commitment and Precedential Effect," by Yehonatan Givati.
2006 (1) - "A Law and Economics Look at Contracts Against Public Policy," by Michael Chu; subsequently published in Harvard Law Review, Vol. 119, No. 5, March 2006, pages 1445-1466.
2006 (2) - "The Problem of Shareholder Preference Divergence," by Kenneth S. Reinker.
2006 (3) - "The Myth of 'Rebalancing' Retaliation in WTO Dispute Settlement Practice," by Holger Spamann; subsequently published in Journal of International Economic Law, Vol. 9, 2006, pages 31-79.
2005 (1) - "The Impact of Corporate Law on Headquarters Choice," by David Steven Ascher.
2005 (2) - "Classified Boards and Firm Value," by Michael Denver Frakes.
2005 (3) - "Reexaming the 'Public Use' Requirement in Eminent Domain: A Theory Based on Secret Buying Agents and the Potential for Corruption," by Daniel Bruce Kelly.
2004 (1) - "Delaware's Compensation: Price Consideration in the Market for Corporate Law," by Michal Barzuza.
2004 (2) - "An Economic Analysis of Contract Assignability," by Jared George Kramer.
2003 (1) - "Credible Coercion: An Economic Analysis of Duress Doctrine in Contract Law," by Oren Bar-Gill & Omri Ben-Shahar.
2003 (2) - "Court of Public Opinion: Government Accountability and Judicial Independence," by Matthew Caleb Stephenson.
2002 (1) - "Anonymity and Crime: A Duration Analysis of Wanted Fugitives," by Thomas J. Miles.
2002 (2) - "Technology Suppression Through Anticompetitive Non Use of Patents and Antitrust Laws," by Ziv M. Preis.
2002 (3) - "The Fable of Entry: Bounded Rationality, Market Discipline, and Legal Policy," by Avishalom Tor.
2001 - "The Limited Failure of Mens Rea," by Assaf Hamdani.
2000 (1) - "Myths in Criminology: Why Legalized Abortion Does Not Explain the Dramatic Reduction in Crime Between 1991 and 1998. A Critique of Legalized Abortion and Crime," by Jeffrey M. Hill.
2000 (2) - "Threats to Sue and Cost Divisibility Under Asymmetric Information," by Alon Klement.
2000 (3) - "Monogamy, Polygamy, and Female Repression," by James Spindler.