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Essay

Tax Policy for a Climate in Crisis

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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 understand that tax policy involves not only the power to redistribute market earnings, but also the power to transform market governance.
Weekly Roundup

Weekly Roundup: May 19, 2023

By LPE Editors

Joel Michaels on risk-weighting, Rebecca McLennan on the nineteenth-century roots of carceral labor, and Stephen Wilson, Minali Aggarwal, Jacqueline Groccia, and Lydia Villarong on why incarcerated people work. Plus, the hottest job in LPE Land is up for grabs, Saule Omarova and Ilmi Granoff discuss green banking, and Jed Britton-Purdy argues that the. . .
Symposium

Untangling the Nineteenth-Century Roots of Mass Incarceration

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Popular historical narratives often trace the origins of penal labor to the post-Civil War South. Yet as insightful and politically useful as this familiar story may be, it overlooks the vast system of forced penal servitude that took shape in the antebellum North. Untangling the nineteenth-century roots of mass incarceration and forced labor can help clarify. . .
Essay

Who Is Risk Taking For? Banking in the Shadow of SVB

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Silicon Valley Bank failed, in part, because it parked its cash in long-term U.S. government bonds. But why were Treasuries so attractive in the first place? One reason is that regulators assign the lowest possible risk-weight to U.S. government bonds. This favorable weighting does not, however, reflect a neutral assessment of actuarial risk. Rather, it. . .
Weekly Roundup

Weekly Roundup: May 12, 2023

By LPE Editors

Luke Herrine on the deep continuities of regulatory reform, Erin Hatton on the carceral state as a system of labor governance, and Ivan Kilgore on why incarcerated people should resist identifying as “workers.” Plus, Karen Tani on Thinking Like Guido Calabresi, Amna Akbar on the campaign against Cop City, a fun fact about the Supreme Court, and. . .
Symposium

Not Worker, But Chattel

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In this essay, the author draws on his experiences as an incarcerated organizer to argue for the importance of a Black abolitionist politic that resists both “work” and the adoption of the “worker” identity. Instead, the category of the slave-in-revolt is better suited to the project of abolitionist organizing.
Symposium

Labor and the Carceral State

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How can we understand mass incarceration as a system of labor governance? This post introduces our new symposium on “carceral labor” by offering an empirical and conceptual overview of the different ways in which the carceral state structures and compels work, both in and beyond the prison.
Weekly Roundup

Weekly Roundup: May 5, 2023

By LPE Editors

Sabeel Rahman on the Biden Administration’s overhaul of the regulatory review process, Yanbai Andrea Wang on the role of civil procedure in U.S.-China Relations, and Alex Wang on the benefits of empathy in comparative legal analysis. Plus, interviews with Julie Suk on her new book and Gabriel Winant on class composition in the 21st century, new essays. . .
Symposium

Analyzing China: The Role of Empathy in Comparative Law

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China has long been understood (and misunderstood) through the presuppositions and biases of the West. From canonical political philosophers, who have debated whether China represents an “oriental despotism,” to contemporary scholars who question the very existence of law in China, the study of the country is rife with analytical blind spots. But how. . .
Symposium

Civil Procedure in U.S.-China Relations

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In comparison with American courts, which increasingly adjudicate a narrow set of transnational cases, Chinese courts rarely forfeit authority over transnational cases. This development is reshaping the landscape of transnational litigation, as China’s appetite for taking on transnational cases calls attention to the advantages of exercising jurisdiction over. . .
Essay

Rewiring Regulatory Review

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Last month, the Biden Administration released a long-awaited overhaul of the regulatory review process. Although these changes are aimed at a highly technical and behind-the-scenes process, their importance is hard to overstate. From lowering the social discount rate, to providing a method for income weighting, to incorporating hard-to-quantify impacts into. . .

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Managing Editor James Brandt Editoral Board Zohra Ahmed Corinne Blalock Veena Dubal Luke Herrine Amy Kapczynski Caroline Parker Aziz Rana Kate Redburn Karen Tani Lisa Washington Noah Zatz Student Editors Liz Brown Chloe Miller Sohum Pal Elliot Setzer Eve Zelickson
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