The Law and Political Economy (LPE) Project brings together a network of scholars, practitioners, and students working to develop innovative intellectual, pedagogical, and political interventions to advance the study of political economy and law. Our work is rooted in the insight that politics and the economy cannot be separated and that both are constructed in essential respects by law. We believe that developments over the last several decades in legal scholarship and policy helped to facilitate rising inequality and precarity, political alienation, the entrenchment of racial hierarchies and intersectional exploitation, and ecological and social catastrophe. We aim to help reverse these trends by supporting scholarly work that maps where we have gone wrong, and that develops ideas and proposals to democratize our political economy and build a more just, equal, and sustainable future.
LPE project
Learn
A variety of resources designed to help faculty and students learn more about LPE, including syllabi from LPE and LPE-related courses, primers on topics such as neoliberalism and legal realism, as well as videos from a number of events we have held over the last year.
Go to LearnEngage
Information about the amazing work being done by LPE student groups, as well as guidance on starting a student group on your own campus! A bureau of affiliated professors and practitioners designed to help faculty and students to bring LPE scholars to their campuses!
Go to EngageEvents
A compendium of upcoming (and past) events put on by the LPE Project, LPE student groups, and other organizations in the LPE ecosystem.
Go to Events
Facing the Limits
In Free Gifts, Alyssa Battistoni explores capitalism’s persistent failure to value the natural world. Yet the lesson of this exploration is much broader: that capitalism imposes fundamental limits on our collective freedom.
The Business of Arson: An Interview with Bench Ansfield
An examination of the wave of landlord perpetrated arson in the Bronx during the 1970s presents an untold story of racial capitalism and financialization. Andrew Anastasi interviews Bench Ansfield about their book, Born in Flames: The Business of Arson and the Remaking of the American City.
LPE 2.0: A New Association to Meet the Times
As the Trump administration attempts to suppress critical inquiry and operate outside of conventional legal boundaries, the work of LPE scholars, organizers, and practitioners has never been more important. Join us in building the Association of Law and Political Economy (ALPE), a new membership-based organization for LPE work.
Weekly Roundup: Dec 5
Madison Condon on climate change and externalities-thinking, Colleen Carrol on MAGA's attempt to outflank democrats on college affordability, and Alvin Velazquez and Christopher Hampson on what LPE and the Bible have in common. Plus, Zephyr Teachout on the rise of MLMs, Susannah Glickman and Nic Johnson on the political economy of Trump's second term, David Dayen on algorithmic pricing, an interview with Stuart Schrader on policing, Paul Kelleher on whether Coase can be reclaimed for LPE, a new report on the political economy of the US media system, and hot new articles on tax base fragmentation and the radical roots of the representative jury.