Law & Political Economy

LPE project

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.
About The LPE Project Read the LPE Blog
Our Work

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 Learn

Engage

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 Engage

Events

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
Recent Updates
Weekly Roundup: May 26, 2023
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Weekly Roundup: May 26, 2023

Martha McCluskey on tax policy and climate change, Han Lu and Bernard Callegari on fighting back against the exploitation of formerly incarcerated workers, and Andrew Ross and Aiyuba Thomas on the past, present, and future of the prisoners' rights movement in Alabama. Plus, a new issue of the JLPE, a call for abstracts on courts and politics, a virtual book salon on the political economy of finance, and new articles by Kate Redburn, Liz Sepper, and James Nelson.

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Tax Policy for a Climate in Crisis

How can a Law and Political Economy approach guide the power of taxation toward democracy, justice, and a livable planet? As a start, it can help us reorient our understanding of the function of taxation.