Corporate & Securities Law

A great Chicago tradition

Students at the University of Chicago Law School may participate in a great tradition called the Greenberg seminar. The seminars are led by two professors, and the meetings take place in the homes of the professors. Food and drink are served. The seminar revolves around a theme, sometimes law related and sometimes not. I’ve led seminars like: “Capitalism: For and Against” (with Brian Leiter); “Utopias and Dystopias” (with Judge Richard Posner); and “Risk” (with Lee Fennell). Next year, I have the pleasure of leading a seminar with my colleague Aziz Huq on “Evil Markets.” The description is as follows:

If there is an orthodoxy at the University of Chicago, it is there are enormous welfare gains to be had from voluntary trade?the virtue of markets.  But not all markets are self-evidently welfare enhancing.  This Greenberg seminar looks at potentially ?bad? markets?sex, drugs, terrorism financing, corruption, and criminal gangs.  What happens when markets go bad?  What should we do to curtail the harms from those markets?  And what do we learn more generally about the operation and limitations of the market principle?  We will read work by journalists, sociologists, and even perhaps economists to try to answer these questions and more.

If anyone has read any good books on point, we’d welcome suggestions. And, of course, for prospective law students out there, come to Chicago and you can join us at a future Greenberg seminar.

Full post as published by Truth on the Market on August 13, 2010 (boomark / email).