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The LPE Project

@lpeproject.bsky.social
6.9K followers 90 following 83 posts

Legal scholars, students, & practitioners working to expose & transform law's role in the perpetuation of economic, racial, & gender inequality. & check out our Blog: @lpeblog.bsky.social

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katharinapistor.bsky.social @katharinapistor.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
My response to Yochai Benkler‘s take on transforming capitalism. Sadly, we cannot count on the state
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LPE Blog @lpeblog.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Today, @katharinapistor.bsky.social argues that any program of transformative change must reckon with the fact that capitalists have largely succeeded in de-legitimizing existing institutions, including the state itself.
lpeproject.org
The New Institutional Political Economy of Capitalism
In recent decades, capitalists have largely succeeded in undermining the state's capacity to act, leaving it too weak to carry out social democratic reforms even with a favorable government in place.
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Madison Condon @madisoncondon.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
"transformative change must start with private law, as it is the body of law that empowers holders of capital to build their wealth and wield power over others." - Katharina Pistor seems like the dual class share broligarchs should be making this fairly obvious to people
lpeproject.org
The New Institutional Political Economy of Capitalism
In recent decades, capitalists have largely succeeded in undermining the state's capacity to act, leaving it too weak to carry out social democratic reforms even with a favorable government in place.
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LPE Blog @lpeblog.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
"Across the world, insulin manufacturers have been shifting their production lines to GLP-1s, after entirely discontinuing some insulin products that were widely used and still profitable – just less profitable than GLP-1s."
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LPE Blog @lpeblog.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
Today, Marc Shkurovich explains why every US politician running on single-payer or universal healthcare should also be talking about public pharma.
lpeproject.org
The Time for Public Pharma is Now
To make medicines more affordable, policymakers are increasingly turning to price controls and out-of-pocket caps. These measures, while lowering costs, leave decisions about which drugs to…
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Death Panel @deathpanel.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
In our latest, we speak with Nate Holdren @nhold.bsky.social about how the concept of “gerontocracy” points us away from structural conditions while at the same time reinforcing dominant ideas about disposability www.patreon.com/deathpanelpo...
patreon.com
On “Gerontocracy,” Part 2: Age and Capitalist Disposability w/ Nate Holdren (09/28/26) | The Death Panel
Beatrice speaks with Nate Holdren about how the concept of “gerontocracy” points us away from structural conditions while at the same time r
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NYC Policy Forum @nycpolicyforum.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
We're pleased to share that @ambakak.bsky.social co-ED of @ainowinstitute.bsky.social will join @hellodcwp.bsky.social Commissioner @saalevine.bsky.social to discuss local AI governance with writer @edwardongwesojr.com next week. RSVP at governing-ai-for-nyc-workers-and-consumers.eventbrite.com
governing-ai-for-nyc-workers-and-consumers.eventbrite.com
Governing AI for Workers and Consumers: NYC's Public Approach
Dive into what NYC can do to advance affordability for working families during the rise of AI and corporate consolidation.
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LPE Blog @lpeblog.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
The week that was: Jed Purdy discusses law’s role in capitalism, while @meganwachspress.bsky.social explores how the data center boom risks privatizing the power grid. Plus, the hottest podcast episodes, essays, and law review articles from around the web.
lpeproject.org
Weekly Roundup: Sept. 25
Jed Purdy discusses law’s role in capitalism, while Megan Wachspress explores how the data center boom risks privatizing the power grid. Plus, Beatrice Adler-Bolton and Gabe Winant on gerontocracy…
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James Brandt @jamesbrandt.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
"it is a tell that an invitation to tech companies to bring their own power cedes our own." An insightful post about how tech companies are exploiting a public resource at the expense of the global climate and electric customers.
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Megan Wachspress @meganwachspress.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
For @lpeblog.bsky.social I wrote about why "bring your own power" is a false solution to the problem of datacenter energy demand and why municipalization (public ownership and control) of regional transmission organizations is necessary to protect ratepayers and accelerate decarbonization.
lpeproject.org
The Neoliberal Grid is in Crisis
To protect customers from rising electricity prices, public officials are urging data center developers to supply their own power. But this approach risks privatizing the power grid…
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LPE Blog @lpeblog.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
To protect customers from rising electricity prices, public officials are urging data center developers to supply their own power. Yet as @meganwachspress.bsky.social argues, this approach risks privatizing our shared electrical infrastructure.
lpeproject.org
The Neoliberal Grid is in Crisis
To protect customers from rising electricity prices, public officials are urging data center developers to supply their own power. But this approach risks privatizing the power grid…
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Death Panel @deathpanel.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
In our latest, we speak with Gabriel Winant @gabrielwinant.bsky.social about the idea popular in some circles that we live in a “gerontocracy” and whether and how age could be understood to act as a mediator of class www.patreon.com/deathpanelpo...
patreon.com
On "Gerontocracy" w/ Gabriel Winant (09/21/26) | The Death Panel
Beatrice speaks with Gabriel Winant about the idea popular in some circles that we live in a “gerontocracy” and whether and how age could be
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LPE Blog @lpeblog.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
The week that was: Yochai Benkler on law's role within capitalism, Matt Dimick on capital and law as social forms, and Matthew Lawrence on admin law after transsubstantivity. Plus, two hot new books 🔥📚, a public pharma event 🧪, and pieces on housing 🏠, tech workers 👩‍💻, and dollar hegemony 💵 🌎.
lpeproject.org
Weekly Roundup: Sept. 18
Yochai Benkler on the dynamics of capitalism and law's role within it, Matthew Dimick on capital and law as social forms, and Matthew Lawrence on administrative law after transsubstantivity. Plus…
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LPE Blog @lpeblog.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
What should administrative law look like after the critique of transsubstantivity? How can it be make sensitive to context without sacrificing important cross-cutting procedural values? Today, @mblawrence.bsky.social shares insights from his recent work on institutional design and drug scheduling.
lpeproject.org
Doing Applied Administrative Law
Administrative law is often described as “transsubstantive”: in understanding, evaluating, and articulating the rules governing federal agency action across public health, environmental regulation…
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Matthew Lawrence @handle.invalid · 17/09/2026
Delighted to have a post today in @lpeblog.bsky.social talking applied admin law, transsubstantivity, and drug scheduling. lpeproject.org/blog/doing-a...
lpeproject.org
Law and Political Economy Blog - LPE Project
Our blog begins from the observation that democratic political processes have lost control over fundamental decisions about how resources are allocated in our society.
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Corinne Blalock @corinneblalock.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
Seventeen new public bathrooms is amazing, but let's be honest, it's not enough. Don't miss @rickweinmeyer.bsky.social's excellent piece at @nycpolicyforum.bsky.social about what it would really take to meet the bathroom needs of New York City! nycpolicyforum.substack.com/p/give-new-y...
nycpolicyforum.substack.com
Give New Yorkers a Place to Go
New York City has long failed to provide enough public toilets. The Mamdani administration has the tools to change that.
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LPE Blog @lpeblog.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
Where do profits come from? And how does law legitimate capitalism? To make progress on these questions, Matthew Dimick argues, we must dig deeper into the nature of capital and the idea of the legal form.
lpeproject.org
Capital and Law as Social Forms
Where do profits come from? And how does law legitimate capitalism? To make progress on these questions, we must dig deeper into the nature of capital and the idea of the legal form.
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Amy Kapczynski @akapczynski.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
this is going to be so great. what are ppl cooking up??
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The LPE Project @lpeproject.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
A sneak peak at the 2048 democratic party platform:
What are the implications of this social theory of law in capitalism for transformative reform? First, because market dependence for subsistence is foundational to capitalism, meaningful decommodification of access to basic needs and goods—Freedom from Want—is a precondition to transformative reform. Second, because capitalism continuously recreates and intensifies relations of racialized, gendered, and other forms of atavistic status subordination as part of its class structure, no social democratic transformation can occur without sustained elimination of the most pervasive modes of status subordination—racialization, gendering, and immigration status. Third, because law structures power in social relations of production, transformation requires partial socialization of labor, knowledge, credit, and infrastructure markets to enable democratic governance over the path capitalism takes.
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LPE Blog @lpeblog.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
Today, Yochai Benkler analyzes the role of law in structuring and legitimating the social relations of production in capitalism.
lpeproject.org
A Social Theory of Law in Capitalism
Understanding law's role in producing the imperatives of capitalism and the relative power of those who occupy different roles in production allows us to identify reforms capable of transforming the…
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LPE Blog @lpeblog.bsky.social · 13/09/2026
Slightly wonkier and less well produced: Is this what it means to feel seen? 🥹 Also, check out Luke on @moreperfectunion.bsky.social's awesome new episode! www.youtube.com/watch?v=YKAD...
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LPE Blog @lpeblog.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
The week in review: Sameer Ashar on the transformation of the U.S. immigration system, Luke Herrine on the history of multilevel marketing, and a CFP for the second annual ALPE conference. Plus, new student groups, job postings, and hot LPE items from around the web 🧵
lpeproject.org
Weekly Roundup: Sept. 11
Sameer Ashar on the potential transformation of the U.S. immigration system, Luke Herrine on the history of multilevel marketing and right-wing movement building, and a CFP for the second annual ALPE…
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LPE Blog @lpeblog.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
💯 "An MLM, then, is an especially effective institution for creating social hierarchies that channel money upward while creating an acceptance of—and a willingness to fight for—that hierarchy among even those on its lowest levels."
lpeproject.org
Big Little Lies
What the history of multilevel marketing can teach us about our political moment.
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LPE Blog @lpeblog.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
Spread the news: the Association of Law and Political Economy (@a-lpe.bsky.social) invites proposals for its second annual meeting, to be held on June 9-10, 2027, in Boston, MA.
lpeproject.org
CFP: Second Annual Association of Law and Political Economy Conference
The Association of Law and Political Economy invites proposals for its second annual meeting, to be held on June 9-10, 2027, in Boston, MA.
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LPE Blog @lpeblog.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
“What Read’s book shows is that in the United States grifting and demagoguery have long gone hand in hand. And the Republican Party has increasingly become a vehicle for both.”
lpeproject.org
Big Little Lies
What the history of multilevel marketing can teach us about our political moment — and potential ways out of it.
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Association of Law and Political Economy @a-lpe.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
Friends! We are thrilled to announce the Call for Proposals for our next annual meeting in Boston, MA, June 9-10, 2027. Please consider submitting a panel, roundtable, or individual paper proposal! lawandpoliticaleconomy.org?page_id=63
lawandpoliticaleconomy.org
Conference - Association of Law & Political Economy
2027 Annual ALPE Meeting June 9-10, 2027, Boston, MA We are thrilled to announce the Call for Proposals for the Association of Law and Political Economy’s 2027 annual meeting. We will meet in Boston, ...
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James Brandt @jamesbrandt.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
"A reconstruction that is truly oriented toward renewing our democracy will require a serious and sustained effort to hold grifters accountable and to make grifting much more difficult moving forward. A society that tolerates too many conmen undermines its democratic foundations."
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LPE Blog @lpeblog.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
Today, @lookheron.bsky.social reviews Bridget Read's "Little Bosses Everywhere," a history of multilevel marketing. As the GOP coalition has increasingly become a vehicle for grifting, he argues, any post-MAGA reconstruction has to go after commercial fraud and deception.
lpeproject.org
Big Little Lies
What the history of multilevel marketing can teach us about our political moment — and potential ways out of it.
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Luke Herrine @lookheron.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
I thought @bridgetgillard.bsky.social’s book on MLMs was great to think with on how right wing movement building is intertwined with grifting in the US. And I couldn’t help but think in terms of consumer protection. My (long) review: lpeproject.org/blog/big-lit...
lpeproject.org
Big Little Lies
What the history of multilevel marketing can teach us about our political moment — and potential ways out of it.
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LPE Blog @lpeblog.bsky.social · 07/09/2026
What can the kafala system tell us about the potential transformation of U.S. immigration policy? Today, @sameer-ashar.bsky.social argues that it offers a powerful lens for understanding the Trump administration’s effort to make migrant workers more vulnerable to state and employer power.
lpeproject.org
American Kafala
Under the kafala system, tens of millions of migrant workers across the Levant and Gulf have their legal residency tied to a single employer, leaving them vulnerable to exploitation and state control.
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Sameer Ashar @sameer-ashar.bsky.social · 07/09/2026
Reflections on labor/migration regimes, thinking toward immigration enforcement abolition. Thanks to @jamesbrandt.bsky.social for his work.
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James Brandt @jamesbrandt.bsky.social · 07/09/2026
On why the Trump administration is targeting international students, the Haitian community in Ohio, and other migrants with legal status.
If the administration’s goal is to reduce the number of immigrants in the country, these initiatives are somewhat counter-intuitive, as the targeted communities are not the most vulnerable migrants lacking legal status, while many undocumented people continue to labor in fields and meatpacking plants in red states across the country. The goal of these efforts, then, should not be seen as attempting to limit immigration entirely. Rather, they are efforts to render migrants more vulnerable. The attack on student visa holders, for instance, can be understood as an effort to prevent the expansion and stabilization of a class of educated migrants with access to higher-wage jobs. In other cases, the attack represents an effort to prevent admission with paths to legal status or to eliminate the contingent, pre-citizen statuses that have been granted by the state. These efforts, which overwhelmingly focus on black and brown migrants, lead to deportation, sometimes in contravention of law, and expand the migrant precariat.
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LPE Blog @lpeblog.bsky.social · 03/09/2026
Samuel Moyn, Gabriel Winant, and Nate Holdren tussled over the relationship between age and class. Sam: lpeproject.org/blog/age-and... Gabe: lpeproject.org/blog/cradle-... Nate: lpeproject.org/blog/what-ro...
lpeproject.org
Age and the Lure of Class Reductionism
Gerontocracy in America has elicited a common refrain from critics: that class, not age, is the real problem. Yet this kind of class reductionism has largely been rejected when it comes to gender and…
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LPE Blog @lpeblog.bsky.social · 03/09/2026
Amy Kapczynski, Luke Herrine, Madison Condon, & Matthew Bodie weighed in on the recent LPE vs. Law and Economics debate. Amy: lpeproject.org/blog/two-dog... Luke & Madison: lpeproject.org/blog/the-eco... Matt: lpeproject.org/blog/twiligh...
lpeproject.org
Two Dogmas of LPE Critics
Is LPE scholarship anti-empirical? Has contemporary law and economics become a neutral social science? Don't believe everything you hear in Chicago.
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LPE Blog @lpeblog.bsky.social · 03/09/2026
The Blog returns to action on Monday. Until then, here are a few summer favorites you may have missed while you were busy touching grass. 🧵
Monet's 1866 Woman in the Garden
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The LPE Project @lpeproject.bsky.social · 01/09/2026
Hoping to introduce your students to LPE? No better place to start than this pair of blog posts.
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Lisa Washington @slwashington.bsky.social · 27/08/2026
My paper “Intimate State Power: The Carceral State through the Family Regulation Frame” is now forthcoming in the N.Y.U. Law Review. I’m looking forward to revising over the next few months so feel free to reach out! You can find the draft here: papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....
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Sandeep @sandeepinbk.bsky.social · 27/08/2026
ICYMI, now comes “Highly Recommended”!
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Death Panel @deathpanel.bsky.social · 24/08/2026
In our latest, we speak with R.H. Lossin about how the US targeted IWW’s political education around industrial sabotage in the early 20th century, and how those acts of repression continue to shape how certain demands are dismissed as “too radical” today www.patreon.com/deathpanelpo...
patreon.com
Property, Sabotage and the Origins of Anti-Left Repression w/ R.H. Lossin (08/24/26) | The Death Panel
Beatrice speaks with R.H. Lossin about how early criminal syndicalism laws were weaponized against the IWW in the early 20th century to crim
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Death Panel @deathpanel.bsky.social · 24/08/2026
Read R.H. Lossin’s piece in LPE blog @lpeblog.bsky.social here: lpeproject.org/blog/propert...
lpeproject.org
Property, Sabotage, and the Origins of Anti-Left Repression
Between 1917 and 1921, twenty-one states passed criminal syndicalism laws. These laws, which were intended to help eliminate the Industrial Workers of the World, have largely faded from public memory.
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Sandeep @sandeepinbk.bsky.social · 20/08/2026
The problems which animated his thought, of multiracial democracy and of the global color line, remain relevant as ever. Excited to share and engage w community on this - p.s. still searching for a law review home!
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Sandeep @sandeepinbk.bsky.social · 20/08/2026
New draft paper from me up on ssrn: ‘THE LEGAL REALISM OF W.E.B. DU BOIS’ - tracing Du Bois’s underexamined legal thought, from his 1896 dissertation on the slave trade through to his and the NAACP’s 1947 Appeal to the World papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....
papers.ssrn.com
The Legal Realism of W.E.B. Du Bois
The great writer, activist, and scholar W.E.B. Du Bois saw his career unfold alongside the development of Legal Realism, an intellectual movement whose rapid ri
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Corinne Blalock @corinneblalock.bsky.social · 27/07/2026
I mean, read everything Gabe writes, but especially the things he writes for the LPE blog 👀 This piece does an excellent job laying out why we can't just sub in any identity category to Stuart Hall's famous formulation & the stakes of what it means to say something is a mediator of class
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LPE Blog @lpeblog.bsky.social · 27/07/2026
Today, @gabrielwinant.bsky.social explains why a clear picture of how age mediates class would reveal not gerontocracy, but capitalism and the fractionated class system it produces.
lpeproject.org
Cradle to the Grave
As Sam Moyn has recently argued, "class reductionism" fails to explain differentiation along the generational gradient — a pattern clearly visible in economics, politics, and ideology.
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Alex Hertel-Fernandez @awhf.bsky.social · 27/07/2026
Our annual @cape-team.bsky.social research conference on American Political Economy starts today at noon! Come join us for a discussion on new frontiers in APE scholarship, climate politics, and identity and symbolic politics and its intersection with political economy!
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Luke Herrine @lookheron.bsky.social · 24/07/2026
For @nycpolicyforum.bsky.social, I interviewed Michael Sant'Ambrogio and Glen Staszewski, two of the leading experts on participatory administration, on what lessons the Mamadni admin can learn from federal experiments. open.substack.com/pub/nycpolic...
open.substack.com
Democracy Between Elections
A conversation with Michael Sant’Ambrogio and Glen Staszewski about how to increase public participation in government rulemaking.
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LPE Blog @lpeblog.bsky.social · 24/07/2026
(Two) weeks in review: Madison Condon and Luke Herrine on the economics that Law & Economics ignores, Jeremy Bearer-Friend and Sarah Polcz on taxing AI equity, Matt Bodie on the persistence of shareholder primacy, and Diana Reddy on theorizing discrimination for the bad jobs economy.
lpeproject.org
Weekly Roundup: July 24
Madison Condon and Luke Herrine on the economics that Law & Economics ignores, Jeremy Bearer-Friend and Sarah Polcz on why we should tax AI equity, Matt Bodie on the persistence of shareholder primacy...
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LPE Blog @lpeblog.bsky.social · 22/07/2026
Today, Diana Reddy argues that by focusing on diversity at the top, rather than conditions at the bottom, discrimination law has failed the workers who need it most.
lpeproject.org
Theorizing Discrimination for the Bad Jobs Economy
Employment discrimination law is primarily concerned with exclusion from good jobs. Yet this leaves unaddressed a corresponding problem: employers seeking out marginalized workers in order to reduce…
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