Law and Political Economy Blog - LPE Project - Page 2

Essay

Students for Fair Admissions and the Threat of Decentralism

By Jonathan D. Glater

By misstating the holding of SFFA in a recent dear colleague letter, the Department of Education has created a gap between what the law requires and the agency’s interpretation of the law. This gap, in addition to inviting anticipatory overcompliance, risks giving rise to inconsistent policies at different colleges and universities.

Essay

State Capitalist Mutations Under Trump 2.0

By Ilias Alami

Legal scholars must grapple with the emergence of a new state capitalism — defined by expanded modalities of statist intervention, growing state-held capital, and intensifying geoeconomic rivalries.

Weekly Roundup

Weekly Roundup: June 20

By Editors

William Boyd on the history and future of renewable energy ownership, Renee Tapp on the affordable housing crisis as an antitrust issue, and Nathan Schneider on building collective worker power in the tech industry. Plus, an upcoming event on DOGE and austerity, Lenore Palladino and Harrison Karlewicz on the risk of private credit funds, David Super on. . .

Essay

Tech’s Turn to Trump was a Labor Story, and the Response Should be Too

By Nathan Schneider

Tech elite’s turn towards far-right politics should be understood as part of a broader effort to suppress collective power and worker activism. Organized labor is crucial to challenging the influence tech oligarchs wield across society and within the tech industry.

Essay

Prices and Supply, and How Landlords Control Them

By Renee Tapp

Attempts to solve the affordable housing crisis rely on a flawed understanding of housing economics and landlord business practices. In reality, landlords are colluding to manipulate the market. Antitrust law could be the answer.

Symposium

The Tax Struggle and Renewable Power

By William Boyd

As the Trump administration moves to roll back clean energy tax credits, the real question isn’t whether renewable energy will survive, but who will own and control the infrastructure that powers America’s future.

Weekly Roundup

Weekly Roundup: June 13

By Editors

Shelley Welton discusses the political hurdles facing modern public power movements, and Jed Britton-Purdy interviews Shitong Qiao about neighborhood democratization in urban China. Plus, a save the date for the inaugural Association of Law and Political Economy conference, the first LPE NYC happy hour of the summer, an upcoming ACS panel on building worker. . .

Interview

The Authoritarian Commons: An Interview with Shitong Qiao

By Jedediah Britton-Purdy

In the United States, homeowners’ associations are often a symbol of petty authoritarianism or suburban conformity. Yet in China these same organizations have become laboratories of democracy for millions of people. Jed Britton-Purdy interviews Shitong Qiao about how these associations form, why the Chinese government tolerates them, and whether they. . .

Symposium

Yardsticking It to the Man, Then and Now

By Shelley Welton

In Democracy in Power, Sandeep Vaheesan argues that New Deal rural electrification efforts can serve as a model for public power in today’s energy system. There are, however, important differences between the political economy of rural electrification and that of today’s climate crisis. Understanding these distinctions can help us be clear-eyed about. . .

Weekly Roundup

Weekly Roundup: June 6

By Editors

Sandeep Vaheesan and Brett Christophers kick off a symposium on Democracy in Power, while the Blog’s editorial staff share some of their favorite housing posts from over the years. Plus, Søren Mau on Citizen Marx, Lev Menand and Benjamin Dinovelli on the Supreme Court’s Federal Reserve shenanigans, Benjamin Braun & Cédric. . .

Symposium

From the Vault: LPE & Housing

By Editors

A collection of our favorite posts about the legal underpinnings of today’s housing crisis, and about what might be done to restore a conception of housing as shelter, not commodity. Featuring Angela Harris, Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor, David Stein, Kathryn Sabbeth, Duncan Kennedy, Karl Klare, Tara Raghuveer, and more!

Symposium

Democratic Abundance

By Sandeep Vaheesan

What can the history of publicly-governed electrical utilities in the twentieth century teach us about today’s struggle for an accountable power sector? Sandeep Vaheesan kicks of a symposium on his new book, Democracy in Power, by tracing the history of electrification during the New Deal and offering a blueprint for a publicly-led path to. . .

Essay

Housing Justice and the Administrative State After Chevron

By Jade A. Craig

Recent Supreme Court decisions threaten to undermine administrative efforts to achieve housing justice, including the mandate to affirmatively further fair housing and a loan program that provides affordable rural rental housing to disadvantaged families.

Essay

Agencies Outflanked

By Jonathan D. Glater

Four Supreme Court decisions concerning the power of the administrative state have left agencies increasingly vulnerable to attack. Each decision is significant on its own, but together they underscore the precarious position of agency action today.

Weekly Roundup

Weekly Roundup: May 23

By Editors

Dan Farbman on abolitionist lessons for the present crisis, along with a round-up of some of the best new LPE and LPE-adjacent scholarship. Plus, a CFP on the law and political economy of contemporary authoritarian rule, Allison Tait revisits Henry Hansmann on endowments, Jed Purdy discusses Ecology and Democracy in a World on Fire, Talha Syed calls for. . .

LPE Blog