The Law and Markets Seminar

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This seminar is a component of the Duke Project on Law and Markets. The Law and Markets project seeks to engage foundational questions concerning the intersection of law and markets.  For example, what are (or should be) the limits of markets? To what extent, and how, should the legal system address market-driven inequalities in income, wealth, or access to goods and services (such as health care and education, among others)? When does the law substitute for or correct imperfect markets?  Correspondingly, when can market forces compensate for an absence of effective legal rules or remedies? And what are the conditions under which market enforcement and legal enforcement act as complements, rather than substitutes? 

The Law and Markets Project will explore these and other questions, with the hope that a broad consideration of these topics yields insights about the relationship between law and the marketplace. Class meetings will include both discussion sessions, in which the class engages relevant background reading, and workshop sessions, in which speakers present papers or discuss a body of work related to law and markets.

The seminar will meet six times each semester and students must enroll for both semesters. Grading will be based on a combination of the quality of reaction papers responsive to class readings and participation in class discussions. Enrollment in the seminar is limited to 12 students.

Credits 2