This is a moment in which there is new and widespread interest in challenging the underlying assumptions and ideas that have shaped law, economic policy, political economy, and economic worldview in American society over the last several decades. The prevailing “neoliberal consensus”—that markets are self-correcting and efficient, that government action is futile at best, and that society should be analyzed primarily in terms of individual preference-maximization—has helped fuel a policy agenda and overarching political narrative that has concentrated economic and political power at the top. In spite of its many failures, this worldview has been remarkably durable and resilient in shaping legal discourse and policymaking.
The Anti-Monopoly and Regulated Industries Summer Academy (AMRI Summer Academy) provided participants with a nine-week crash course in political economy, anti-monopoly, public utility, and regulated industries, drawing on cutting-edge scholarship in law, economics, and social science. It offered participants an understanding of the unique challenges of 21st century capitalism and a broader sense of the legal and institutional tools that can be leveraged to tackle the kinds of concentrated corporate power that are manifest today, from Big Tech to new monopoly power in sectors like energy, pharma, agriculture, and more.
AMRI Academy Faculty included: Kate Andrias (Univ. of Michigan Law), Mehrsa Baradaran (UC Irvine School of Law), Amy Kapczynski (Yale Law), Suresh Naidu (Columbia University), William Novak (Univ. of Michigan Law), Saule Omarova (Cornell Law), Frank Pasquale (Brooklyn Law), Sanjukta Paul (Wayne State University Law School), Dania Rahendra (Athena Coalition), Sabeel Rahman (Demos & Brooklyn Law School), Morgan Ricks (Vanderbilt University Law School), and Zephyr Teachout (Fordham University School of Law)
June 9: “Contemporary Problems in Anti-Monopoly and Regulated Industries I: Framing the Problem” with Sabeel Rahman and Suresh Naidu
June 16: “Contemporary Problems in Anti-Monopoly and Regulated Industries II: How We Got Here” with Amy Kapczynski
June 23: “The Progressive Tradition of Anti-Monopoly and Regulation” with William Novak
June 30: “Unpacking the Anti-Monopoly Toolkit I: Regulated Industries, Public Utilities, and Public Options” with William Novak and Sabeel Rahman
July 7: “Unpacking the Anti-Monopoly Toolkit II: Antitrust and Competition”
July 14: “Applications I: Health Care and Insurance” with Frank Pasquale
July 21: “Applications II: Banking and Finance” with Mehrsa Baradaran, Saule Omarova, and Morgan Ricks
July 28: “Applications III: Labor and Anti-Monopoly” with Kate Andrias and Sanjukta Paul
August 4: “Policy and Politics” with Dania Rajendra and Zephyr Teachout
Additional Resources: Complete Reading List