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LPE Originals

REDD+ as the Stranger-King

In theory, REDD+ is designed to be a win-win: it brings capital to economically struggling communities while ensuring that forests worldwide are protected for the good of the global community. Yet as theory of the Stranger King makes apparent, some colonialist approaches are softer and gentler than others — colonizing as invitees, rather than by force.

LPE Originals

The Contested Boundaries of Just Transitions Law

During the past decade the concept of a “just transition” has expanded far beyond its roots in the labor movement’s concern for protecting displaced fossil fuel workers. Should we welcome this expansion of the concept? Or will this generic use of ‘just transition’ undermine ​its usefulness as a framing device to guide policy and discourse?

LPE Originals

Municipal Debt: Illuminating Old Puzzles, Forcing New Questions

Municipal financing schemes have often distributed the benefits of spending along race and class lines, yet federal programs have a similarly mixed track record. How, then, can we safeguard public investment to secure just outcomes? The answer may reside in the details of agency and program design.

LPE Originals

The Labor Justice System

President Biden’s recent Executive Order on Promoting Competition brought much-needed attention to labor market concentration, employer collusion, and abusive employment contracts. Nevertheless, more action is needed to address systemic sources of employer power.

LPE Originals

The “Value of a Statistical Life”: Reflections from the Pandemic

Economists who insist that the “value of a statistical life” can be determined solely by looking at the preferences of individual economic agents in a market overstate their case and miss crucial alternatives. The pandemic has shown that democratic determinations of value for non-market goods (like human life) deserve greater consideration.