Law and Political Economy

Organized by Professors Lee Epstein and Emerson Tiller, the Law and Political Economy Colloquium is part of a thriving interdisciplinary scholarship program at Northwestern University School of Law. In this colloquium, leading scholars from the fields of law, political science and economics present cutting edge scholarship on the law-making processes of courts, agencies, Congress and the President. Faculty and students alike attend the colloquium and discuss theoretical and methodological aspects of the work. Presenters receive valuable feedback and suggestions for how to expand or improve their research, and Northwestern Law students and faculty gain a broader understanding of the relation of politics to the study and practice of law.

Fall 2007

September 17
Daniel R. Pinello, Professor of Government, John Jay College of Criminal Justice, City University of New York
"Legislative Versus Judicial Strategies for Social Change: The Case of Same-Sex Marriage in New York State"

Optional Reading: Lee Epstein & Gary King, "The Rules of Inference," 69 University of Chicago Law Review 1 (2002). [.pdf]

September 24
Richard A. Posner, Judge, United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit; Senior Lecturer, University of Chicago Law School
"Judicial Behavior: A Statistical Study"

October 1
Tracey E. George, Professor of Law,Vanderbilt University Law School
"Supreme Court Panels?"

October 15
Adam Winkler, Acting Professor of Law, University of California, Los Angeles, School of Law
"Free Speech Federalism"

October 29
Sunita A. Parikh, Associate Professor of Political Science, and Alfred T. Darnell,Washington University
"Interbranch Bargaining and Judicial Review in India"

November 12
Jacob Gersen, Assistant Professor of Law, University of Chicago Law School
"The Emergence and Effects of Electoral Institutions"

December 3
Matthew Stephenson, Assistant Professor of Law, Harvard Law School
"Optimal Political Control of the Bureaucracy"