At the Blog
On Monday, Edie Conekin-Tooze argued that the rise of kinship diversion, though often framed as a humane alternative to foster care, advanced the neoliberal dismantling of the welfare state and revived poor-law notions of family responsibility.
On Tuesday, we re-published an open letter from seventy-two University of Minnesota Law faculty addressing the federal government’s ongoing campaign of fear, intimidation, and violence against Minnesotans.
And on Wednesday, Luke Farrell explained how complex eligibility requirements have turned America’s safety net into a lucrative revenue stream for monopolistic private contractors.
In LPE Land
In the Boston Review, Aslı Bâli and Aziz Rana examine the deep roots of the emerging Trump Doctrine.
In Democracy, Sandeep Vaheesan and Brian Callaci discuss the importance of building democratic state capacity.
At the Roosevelt Institute, Luke Herrine has a new report on the institutional foundations of free speech at public universities.
A great summer opportunity for law students: join the Open Markets Institute’s legal team as a Louis Brandeis Law and Political Economy Fellow. The two fellows will work on amicus briefs, comment letters to federal and state agencies, academic research, and popular writing on assorted topics in antitrust law and competition policy.
Are you an advanced grad student, post-doc, or junior faculty studying American Political Economy? If so, consider applying to CAPE’s 7th Annual Summer Academy at UC Berkeley. Applications due Feb 28.
On Monday, Feb 9, join NYU LPE (in-person or online) for a panel on the AI industry’s explosive demands for computing infrastructure. Featuring Advait Arun, Eliza Martin, Nandan Kumar Jha, and Pat Garofalo.
Cool CfP alert: Carceral Political Economy Conference. Taking place at the New School, March 27-28. All are welcome to attend, and grad students are invited to present complete or in-progress work. Abstracts due Feb 6.
Cool CfP alert: Capitalism Moving Beyond Neoliberalism. Proposals for individual papers and thematic panels for the IIPPE 16th Annual Conference in Political Economy are due Feb 15.
Cool CfP alert: Goffmanian Political Economy. Taking place at SSHA conference, Atlanta, Nov. 19-22, 2026. Proposals due Feb 1.
Cool new paper alert: Samuel Bagenstos on “Slush Funds” and Congress’s Power of the Purse.
Cool new paper alert #2: Michael Banerjee on Land-Grant Universities.
