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Symposium

When Nature is Worthless

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Under capitalism, the social domination of nature occurs through and is mediated by the commodity form. Certain portions of non-human nature can be valued, but only when they are transformed into commodities in the course of the capitalist production process. Other portions are not even commodifiable; the biological and physical processes subtending our. . .
Symposium

In the Shadow of Commodification

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While capitalism is typically said to commodify everything, much of what makes up our world isn’t commodified at all. It instead appears as a free gift: a social form that describes the condition of usefulness lacking value. The idea of the free gift can give us a deeper understanding of the environmental problems that plague contemporary capitalism. It. . .
Weekly Roundup

Weekly Roundup: Nov 14

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Vanessa Williamson on oligarchy and taxation, and Elle Rothermich on the commodification of hospice care. Plus, Kate Redburn on Skrmetti, LPE Night School on municipal power, Claire Kelloway on public grocery projects, Cassie Powell on private equity’s move into mobile home parks, Jacob Udell and Routhy Gourevitch on the multifamily rental. . .
Essay

Hospice Commodification and the Limits of Antitrust

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As hospice care is increasingly dominated by private equity firms, an antitrust response, while necessary, has the potential to normalize the language of the market as the default mode for discussing healthcare reform. Hospice demonstrates what is lost when healthcare is described as a mere economic exchange, and Medicare’s per diem hospice benefit harbors. . .
Essay

The Long Anti-Tax Tradition of American Oligarchy

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Throughout U.S. history, oligarchs have fettered the tax power of the state to ensure that the government would be too feeble to rein in their power. The Trump Administration’s capricious tariffs and mass firings at the Internal Revenue Service are the latest iteration of this long, anti-tax, anti-democratic tradition.
Weekly Roundup

Weekly Roundup: Nov 7

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Matthew Dimick on antitrust and the logic of capitalism, and G.S. Hans on legal clinics under political attack. Plus, a cool new fellowship at the Vanderbilt Policy Accelerator, Cea Weaver on the housing politics in New York City, the Debt Collective on the threat that municipal debt poses to Mamdani, Sam Moyn on making congress great again, Sandeep Dhaliwal. . .
Symposium

Marx, Antitrust, and the Logic of Capital

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Antitrust may promise to tame corporate power, but it leaves untouched the deeper logic of capitalism that compels production for profit’s sake. In this sense, antitrust is not voluntarist enough, choosing to fight capital with one hand tied behind its back. At the same time, however, antitrust places too much faith in law as a source of normative authority. . .
Weekly Roundup

Weekly Roundup: Oct 31

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James Goodwin on the rise of OIRA 2.0, Noah Zatz and Jerry Kang on retaliation lawsuits against DEI purges, and Veryl Pow and Mohini Mookim on prefigurative lawyering. Plus, registration and membership for the Association of Law and Political Economy, Lina Khan’s new substack, a new Roosevelt Report on effective governance, a measure of comeuppance for. . .
Symposium

Can DEI Workers Strike Back?

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Even as the Trump administration seeks to dismantle DEI in the name of “merit,” the law it distorts still harbors possibilities for resistance. Title VII prohibits retaliation against employees who oppose discrimination, and workers purged for their past DEI efforts should consider pursuing retaliation claims against their employers. Such lawsuits would. . .
Essay

The Rise of OIRA 2.0

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The Trump Administration’s use of individualized, firm-level waivers and exemptions marks a new frontier in presidential control of the administrative state. This strategy allows the administration to bypass the formal process for repealing regulations while turning deregulation itself into a tool for distributing political favors.
Weekly Roundup

Weekly Roundup: Oct 24

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James Tierney on Intel and American State Capitalism, David Abraham on Capitalism, Democracy, and Weimar Germany, and Rana Jaleel and Risa Lieberwitz on the weaponization of Title VI. Plus, Veena Dubal and Genevieve Lakier on why universities should reject Trump’s Compact, Oren Bracha on IP Law and the shortcomings of originalism and textualism, Chris. . .

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