Law and Political Economy Blog - LPE Project - Page 2

Weekly Roundup: Dec. 6

By Editors

Alexander Hertel-Fernandez on workplace surveillance, Luke Herrine on midcentury meatpacking competition, Eamonn Coburn on abusive labor practices as unfair competition, Alex Gourevitch and Christopher Muller on race, labor exploitation, and incarceration, and the Critical Legal Collective on DEI Statements. Plus, Harvard LPE is looking for a new director, a. . .

Essay

Why Academic Freedom Needs DEI

By The Critical (Legal) Collective

Far from posing a threat to academic freedom, DEI Statements offer a common-sense tool to obtain information intrinsic to faculty merit.

Essay

“Business Goes To The Wage Cutter”: Abusive Labor Practices And Unfair Competition

By Eamon Coburn

Antitrust enforcers have recently begun to treat abusive labor practices — such as worker misclassification and noncompete agreements — as unfair methods of competition. But this approach is not new. Since the early twentieth century, labor advocates, legislators, and judges have all recognized that when employers mistreat their workers to obtain cost. . .

Essay

Did More Competition Make Meatpacking Fairer?

By Luke Herrine

According to a common antimonopoly narrative, prior to the merger wave of the 1980s, antitrust enforcement kept the meatpacking industry competitive and relatively decentralized — a situation that enhanced farmers’ autonomy and bargaining power. Yet a closer look at the historical record reveals that this fierce midcentury competition also undermined. . .

Essay

Your Boss is Probably Spying on You: New Data on Workplace Surveillance

By Alexander Hertel-Fernandez

New research reveals that more than two-thirds of U.S. workers are subject to electronic monitoring, and that more intensive productivity monitoring is associated with higher levels of anxiety, needing to work at unsafe speeds, and a higher likelihood of serious injury.

Weekly Roundup

Weekly Roundup: November 22

By Editors

Tara Pincock on meager price-fixing enforcement, Andrea Cann Chandrasekher on consumer redlining, and Alvin Velazquez on bankruptcy proceedings in Puerto Rico. Plus, the History & Political Economy joins the ranks of the blog army, a new paper on the labor consequences of insurer mergers, Lenore Palladino and Harrison Karlewicz on the myth that shareholders. . .

Essay

How Bankruptcy Prioritizes Property Rights Over Public Good

By Alvin Velazquez

After a recent First Circuit decision, private creditors’ bankruptcy rights pose an existential threat to the only electric utility in Puerto Rico. As this outcome shows, we need a new approach to balancing the interests at stake in bankruptcy proceedings — one that protects private property, but not at the expense of undermining major public goods.. . .

Essay

Is Anyone Afraid of Breaking The Price-Fixing Laws Anymore?

By Tara Pincock

The DOJ’s price-fixing suit against RealPage, which has uncovered brazen collusion among competing landlords across the United States, is a welcome departure from decades of hands-off antitrust enforcement. Yet with prices going up in industry after industry, and so few price-fixing cases brought in recent years, it appears many businesses have determined. . .

Weekly Roundup

Weekly Roundup: November 15

By Editors

Amy Kapczynski & Luke Herrine with some light election reading, Keith Orejel on the economic foundations of our modern urban-rural political divide, and Jacob Hamburger on how democrats should respond to the “migrant crisis.” Plus, Karen Tani’s new HLR Foreword, Jeffrey N. Gordon on the impending crypto financial crisis, a student note. . .

Essay

How Should Democrats Respond to the “Migrant Crisis”?

By Jacob Hamburger

In the wake of their recent defeat, Democrats’ natural tendency will be to concede the issue of immigration to Republicans and embrace cruelty-lite versions of their opponents’ positions — a strategy that is bound to fail. Instead, Democrats need to offer their own agenda for immigration and internal migration. To do so, they should look to. . .

Essay

What We’re Reading About the Election

By Amy Kapczynski, Luke Herrine

The articles, blogs, exit polls, charts, tweets, and skeets that have been helping us make sense of the 2024 election.

Symposium

Popular Lawyers Resisting the Right-Wing Agenda in Argentina

By Diego Morales, Florencia Ini, Catalina Seinhart

Javier Milei aims to dismantle the welfare state and eradicate left-wing social movements. To what extent can the law stop him?

Announcement

(Some of) the Best New LPE and LPE-Adjacent Scholarship

By Editors

With the fall 2024 submission season in the books and our Twitter feeds abuzz with placement announcements, the LPE Blog highlights some of the most exciting forthcoming LPE and LPE-adjacent articles. Covering tech, labor, housing, admin law, family law, consumer protection, legal theory, local government law, and so much more, this scouting report is. . .

Weekly Roundup

Weekly Roundup: November 1

By Editors

Eight experts on Palestinian liberation and international law, Luke Herrine on the little-noticed revolution in Consumer Protection, Alex Gourevitch on the anti-democratic power of the entrepreneurial elite, and Brandon Weiss and Michael Karam on the prospects for major housing regulations in a post-Chevron world. Plus, a call for legal volunteers around. . .

Essay

Are Major Housing Regulations Possible in a Post-Chevron World?

By Brandon Weiss, Michael Karam

Faced with increasingly dire housing challenges, tenants and organizers have called on federal administrative agencies to impose rent regulations, curb discriminatory screening practices, and limit the grounds for eviction. But will such regulations survive in a post-Chevron world? And, if not, might they nevertheless serve long-term fair housing goals?

LPE Blog

LPE Masthead