Roberto Tallarita

The Price of Delaware Corporate Law Reform Early this year, within a matter of weeks, Delaware legislators proposed and enacted Senate Bill 21 (SB 21), a significant overhaul of the state’s ...

Over at @HarvardCorpGov there's a short summary of my new paper with Kenneth Khoo on the stock market response to SB 21 |The Price of Delaware Corporate Law Reform corpgov.law.harvard.edu/2025/08/04/t...

Tonight we’ll learn the fundamentals of scorekeeping

New working paper (with Kenneth Khoo) on the controversial Delaware corporate law reform (SB 21). We examine the market reaction to SB 21 through a series of event studies and we find that the market thinks the new rules are bad for investors.

papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....

Comments welcome!

I haven’t visited Henry in a while—five or six months. Sorry, Henry. But he’s doing well—just a bit grumpy these days. “Men talk of freedom! How many are free to think? free from fear, from perturbation, from prejudice?”

Yes! It's the light warning about the next tunnel. But congratulations on this well-deserved end of one tunnel!

Im here to tell you that a harpsichord solo can be exhilarating if Ian Watson is playing Brandenburg no. 5

Roberto Tallarita on LinkedIn: Regardless of its merits, the new Delaware bill (https://lnkd.in/ePt4FsaV)… Regardless of its merits, the new Delaware bill (https://lnkd.in/ePt4FsaV) is a radical repudiation of a method and an ethos. For better or worse, Delaware…

The new Delaware bill on controlling shareholders is the end of an era. www.linkedin.com/posts/robert...

When I make "Tallarita's Corporations Illustrated" publicly available, I'm sure this will be one of the most beloved illustrations

I don't know anything anymore about films, but I can't forget the epiphany of watching this when it came out, in a small theater in Rome, in Via delle Quattro Fontane. Lynch was pure, absolute cinema. www.youtube.com/watch?v=MTYz...

In one of my previous lives I was in love with cinema. I went to festivals and wrote reviews and critical essays for independent webzines. And it was mostly David Lynch's fault.

I like the debate on whether today's economists should read old economists, but a more interesting one is whether generals should travel to the battlefield with a small library of classics

If I had to found a new religion, it would be entirely based on Moby Dick. Its scripture would be the novel itself and its theologians would write endless commentaries on the moral, spiritual, and existential implications of random quotes of the Moby Dick bot

Many people don’t like the idea of a literary canon. I do like it, but if the editor of the NYT Book Review doesn’t read the canon, (sadly) there is no canon.

Then, if the topic permits, you should start with a “funny story.” Or, if the topic is too serious for this, with something sad, new, or terrible. Because, when one has already eaten too much, you refresh their appetite by giving them something bitterish or something sweet.

Fourth, sometimes readers are fatigued even before starting to read, like when you are trying to contribute to an already huge literature. In this case, you “should promise to speak more briefly than you were prepared to speak.”

And how do you show that the issues are important? If they concern all humanity, that particular audience, the interests of the republic, some illustrious people (yes, this applies to academic papers), or the immortal gods (this, unfortunately, doesn’t apply).

Third, there’s only one way to win the reader’s attention: show that the things you are going to say are important, novel, and incredible (magna, nova, incredibilia). Well, they don’t need to be truly “incredible” in our line of business, but they shouldn’t be obvious.

Uncertain cases (anceps genus causae): These are cases on which reasonable people disagree. The introduction should immediately tackle the disputed question.

Complicated cases (obscurum genere causae): If the issues are difficult to grasp, you should make the reader receptive by presenting an outline of the case (summam causae) briefly and in plain language (aperte et breviter).

Modest cases (humile genus causae): When the reader is likely to treat the topic dismissively, you must first explain why the issue is important and make the reader pay attention.

Difficult cases (admirabile genus causae): Especially when readers are intensely hostile (vehementer abalienati), these require a lot of circumspection. You should first try to win the goodwill of the readers, gradually and indirectly.

“Honorable cases” (honestum genus causae): They enjoy intuitive support from the readers and do not need much of an introduction. You can simply make your main points in a clear and straightforward way (perspicue et protinus).

Second, a key goal of the introduction is to bring the mind of the reader into the proper disposition to receive the rest. But the best way to do so depends on the kind of case you are about to make.

(Some of your economist friends will say that this piece of advice doesn’t apply to “true social scientists” like them. If they say so, tell them to read Deirdre McCloskey.)

First, when we think that our ideas can persuade others based on their objective “rightness” alone, we are almost certainly wrong. A wisdom that is “silent” or “inept at the use of language” (nec tacita nec inops dicendi sapientia) can’t accomplish much.

Note to self: Four things to keep in mind when revising the introduction of a paper, from Cicero, On Invention, Book I:

Rienzi: Overture Richard Wagner, Wiener Philharmoniker, Sir Georg Solti · Wagner: Orchestral Favourites · Song · 1994

Wagner gives you the necessary zest for cooking a 3-starters, 1-entree dinner open.spotify.com/track/3lwp8a...

I haven’t! I’ll make a note

This is also my Saturday recommendation. Bach is the GOAT

Violin Concerto No. 1 in A Minor, BWV 1041: II. Andante Johann Sebastian Bach, Hilary Hahn, Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, Jeffrey Kahane · J.S. Bach: Violin Concertos · Song · 2003

Any recording of Bach's Violin Concerto in A Minor that is less than 13 minutes is illegally fast. This is my favorite: open.spotify.com/track/3gBp7z...