Methodological individualism underpins economic analysis. In his paper in this volume, however, Douglas Glen Whitman demonstrates that group selection can be reconciled with methodological individualism. This essay extends Whitman's analysis in two ways. First, it summarizes and restates the...

This essay reviews David A. Skeel, Jr., Debt's Dominion: A History of Bankruptcy Law in America. Although nominally a book about the history of bankruptcy law in America, Skeel's book is a comprehensive analysis of the past, present, and future of bankruptcy law in America. Skeel divides the...

This Essay examines Richard Posner's critique of F.A. Hayek's legal theory and contrasts the two thinkers' very different views of the nature of law, knowledge, and the rule of law. Posner conceives of law as a series of disparate rules and as purposive. He believes that a judge should examine...

The institution of bankruptcy law seeks to facilitate economic efficiency by enabling the reorganization of economically viable but financially distressed firms and facilitating the liquidation of economically failed firms. Does the U.S. Chapter 11 bankruptcy process perform this filtering...

This paper considers the evidence for and against the reverse Robin Hood hypothesis. Under the “reverse Robin Hood” hypothesis, credit-card companies rob from the poor users of cash and give to the rich users of credit cards. But there are problems with this story. Indeed, the reverse Robin...

Over the past 20 years the consumer payments system has been transformed as electronic payments such as debit and credit cards have rapidly displaced legacy payment systems, especially checks. At the same time, this growth in the use of electronic payments has triggered increasing government...

The state action doctrine was born in an era of exceptional confidence in government, with governmental entities widely regarded as unbiased and conscientious defenders of the public interest. Over time, however, more cautious and skeptical theories of government began to gain sway. In...

In 'The Nature of Constitutions,'Mark Grady & Michael McGuire provide a model of the evolution and purposes of constitutions as arising to minimize appropriation by dominants of subordinates. This Comment builds on Grady & McGuire's article in three ways. First, it supplements their analysis by...

This article is a contribution to the symposium “Hyperpartisanship and the Law,” sponsored by the Georgetown Journal of Law and Public Policy. The article considers the implications of direct election of United States Senators via partisan elections for the Constitution. As originally...

The following article adapts and consolidates two comment letters submitted last spring by a group of twenty-two professors of finance and law on the SEC’s proposed climate change disclosure rules. The professors reiterate their recommendation that the SEC withdraw its proposal as legally...