Law and Political Economy Blog - LPE Project - Page 34

Symposium

Reconstituting Political and Economic Democracy for the 21st Century

By Jennifer Klein

Building worker and union power across the various sectors of the 21st century economy requires both scaling up from our dysfunctional firm-based system of collective bargaining, as well as scaling down to the community level to enable greater self-determination over persistent assaults to decent daily conditions of living.

Symposium

Dobbs, Anti-Oligarchy, and the Problem of History

By Amanda Shanor

To understand this precarious constitutional moment, we must look back not only to our forgotten anti-oligarchic tradition, but also to the strategies, practices, and ideas that led to earlier moments of retrenchment.

Essay

How Agencies Should Respond to West Virginia v. EPA

By Todd Phillips, Daniel E. Walters

Each year, the Supreme Court hears roughly 65 merits cases. The administrative state, meanwhile, issues thousands of rules. Given this institutional reality, along with the inherent vagueness of the so-called major questions doctrine, the worst mistake an agency can make is to clip its own wings.

Essay

The Role of Courts in American Political Economy

By Brian Highsmith, Kathleen Thelen

By studying American courts from a comparative perspective, an important truth emerges: our judiciary is not simply compositionally conservative, at particular moments in history, but structurally conservative, as an institution.

Weekly Roundup

Weekly Roundup: July 1, 2022

By LPE Editors

An emerging shadow legal system in eviction court, six reactions to Viking River Cruises v. Moriana, and the importance of reforming regressive property tax regimes. What can’t we do? Plus, a CFP for a conference on Commodification and the Law, Blake Emerson on West Virginia v. EPA, and even more on the Anti-Oligarchy Constitution.

Symposium

Property Commodification as a Municipal Strategy, Property Tax Reform as an Imperative

By Laura Wolf-Powers

Hyper-commodified property – imbued with value by public infrastructure, developed at its “highest and best use” from an income generation perspective, and then taxed – is in theory a boon for municipal governments. In reality, urban fiscal and land use policies become caught up in cycles of price appreciation and rent-seeking. To reverse this spiral,. . .

Rapid Roundtable

Six Reactions to Viking River v. Moriana

By Myriam Gilles, David Seligman, Andrew Elmore, Rachel Deutsch, Molly Coleman, Luke Norris

Six friends of the blog offer their initial impressions of the Supreme Court’s recent decision about California’s Private Attorney General Act (PAGA)

Essay

How Civil Probation is Rewriting Eviction Law

By Nicole Summers

When tenants head to eviction court, they often sign settlements that allow them to remain in their home so long as they abide by certain conditions. If they violate any of the conditions, they can be evicted through an expedited, alternative legal process, in which they have few procedural or substantive rights. This system of “civil probation,” overlooked. . .

Weekly Roundup

Weekly Roundup: June 24, 2022

By LPE Editors

A critique of recents changes in the subsidized childcare market, a look at courtrooms where no one knows the law, and a case for de-collateralizing the housing market. Plus, jobs, events, and summer academies.

Symposium

Collateral Cities

By Elora Lee Raymond

Under financialized capitalism, corporate investors value homes not solely or primarily for rental income, or even as assets that can be bought and sold—but rather because they serve as collateral. Three episodes of institutional change in housing markets underscore the importance of not only decommodifying land and housing, but decollateralizing it.. . .

Essay

Courtrooms Where No One Knows the Law

By Sara Sternberg Greene

Many cases that have a profound effect on poor families, such as whether they will lose their home to eviction or whether a parent will go to jail, are argued in courtrooms where no one, not even the judge, knows the law.

Essay

Formalizing Childcare Through Subsidies: A Distributional Critique

By Yiran Zhang

U.S. childcare policy increasingly drives resources into large, formal centers under the banner of “quality assurance.” This trend has devastating impacts on home-based providers and the working families they serve.

Weekly Roundup

Weekly Roundup: June 17, 2022

By LPE Editors

The increasing use of criminal penalties against climate activists, the importance of bankruptcy to American households, and an anti-monopoly open course for the pure at heart. Plus, a new summer academy in NYC on Law, Organizing, and Power Building.

Announcement

Hot Anti-Monopoly Summer

By LPE Editors

With our new and improved Anti-Monopoly and Regulated Industries Academy, you can watch lecture videos, access readings, and track your progress from the comfort of your own home. Or the beach.

Essay

Bankruptcy as Social Safety Net

By Pamela Foohey

By paying greater attention to who files bankruptcy, we can learn a great deal about the social and economic disparities that plague our society. By reforming and expanding access to bankruptcy, we can chip away at some of these disparities.

LPE Blog