For workers at Sheri’s Ranch brothel in Nevada to unionize, Prof. @kimkrawiec.bsky.social says they’d have to be classified as employees and not independent contractors. @bloomberglaw.com

in honor of international women's day, the immortal, pathbreaking work of Maryam Mirzakhani (first woman to win the Fields Medal) on hyperbolic surfaces is carried on by Nalini Anantharaman, Laura Monk, and others www.quantamagazine.org/years-after-...

So sad #academicsky #econsky marketdesigner.blogspot.com/2026/03/big-...

I'm quoted in this Bloomberg article about the unionization efforts of sex workers at Sheri's Ranch, a licensed Nevada brothel

“In this cross-sectional study with an ITS analysis of 24 193 864 applications to 4315 residency programs for 5 years …we observed a statistically significant disparity in applications from both women and men in states with abortion restrictions following the Dobbs decision in 2022”

Thrilled to be in such company in The Oxford Handbook of the Philosophy of Work url: academic.oup.com/edited-volum...

Could someone please reset the "Hours without an embarrassing DOJ filing" clock to 0?

1/7🧵 New paper "Too Much Finance Redux" with Jean-Louis Arcand and Enrico Berkes — a follow-up to over a decade of work on whether financial deepening can go too far. Here's the story: @gvagrad.bsky.social

“We commend her fearlessness, leadership, and commitment to understanding what is lost and what is gained for everyone when opportunities for women contract or expand.” #econsky #academicsky #history #economichistory marketdesigner.blogspot.com/2026/03/clau...

Kurt Sweat and Alex Chan on Planet Money

NYT’s editorial on marijuana is notable for what it concedes: earlier optimism about dependence/harms was overstated, and “legalize and regulate” became mostly “legalize.” My take: the regulation agenda is promising—except for the tax piece, which needs harder analysis.

RIP Ed. His generosity made (and continues to make) a difference for many kidney patients. I’m personally grateful for his efforts to make the world a better place

Today’s Friday Frivolity is an occasion to recognize the contributions of Blog founder and KCON founder Frank Snyder by sharing his Hadley v. Baxandale song. Bob Dylan got the Nobel, but Frank has the Distinguished Service Award! www.contractsprofblog.com/2026/02/frid...

The NYT is right that marijuana is not harmless and deserves regulation. But if heavy users respond to higher taxes by returning to untaxed illicit supply, the result may be lower legal sales — not lower consumption.

Legalization without regulation was naïve. But regulation without attention to market structure risks a different mistake: recreating the illicit market legalization sought to displace. The NYT’s tax proposal doesn’t grapple with that risk.

In India, which already does the third most kidney transplants in the world (after the US and China), physicians and surgeons are making great progress on kidney exchange. #econsky #medicine marketdesigner.blogspot.com/2026/02/kidn...

Some states already tax cannabis at multiple levels: retail excise, cultivation, distributor, sales, and local taxes. In high-tax states, the key question isn’t just whether prices rise — it’s whether legal prices exceed illicit ones enough to trigger substitution.

Just when I thought I could no longer be surprised by people . . .

The NYT Editorial Board now supports stronger marijuana regulation — including much higher taxes. Some proposals (potency limits, medical claim crackdowns) make sense. But raising taxes raises a harder question: what happens if users switch back to the illicit market?

The great folks at Lawfare have published my views on the implications of Learning Resources, the tariffs case. More later on my substack. www.lawfaremedia.org/article/lear...

This was a very worthwhile conference! Appreciate all the good comments on my work in progress on adhesion contracts, #arbitration and otherwise

Nevada brothel workers are typically classified as independent contractors. But allegations of mandatory on-site stays, confiscated laptops, monitored communications, and restricted movement complicate that label. How does the law respond when courtesans seek to unionize as employees?

Super interesting.

Sex workers at Sheri’s Ranch in Pahrump have filed to unionize with CWA. A majority have signed cards—but to proceed they must establish that they are employees, not independent contractors. My latest post examines how classification doctrine shapes whether courtesans can organize.

WATCH: Following recent events in Minnesota, Profs. Rachel Harmon, @richschragger.bsky.social and @micahschwartzman.bsky.social ’05 examine legal issues with deploying federal immigration agents.

Even in a legal industry, taboo status shapes strategy. Organizers describe reluctance to “rock the boat” for fear critics will call for shutting brothels down altogether. That fragility affects how workers press claims about contracts, IP, and labor rights.

This is the only team allowed to beat UNC

Recent Nevada cases have already tested brothel classification, including challenges to reclassification of sex workers as employees. The Sheri’s Ranch campaign places those precedents in a live organizing context: can courtesans meet the employee threshold required for unionization?

Friends, I have created a Starter Pack of economics journals (and working paper series) active on Bluesky. Hope this is useful for academic, policy, and industry economists alike. #Econsky Please let me know if there are any that I missed!

🚨🚨🚨 @ucberkeleylaw.bsky.social is hiring an empirical pre-doc. We have a large group of quant-oriented legal scholars, and two other pre-docs currently working with us. Apply to be the third! aprecruit.berkeley.edu/JPF05264

Sex workers at a licensed Nevada brothel are seeking to unionize with Communications Workers of America. The central issue is classification: are courtesans employees or independent contractors, and what does that mean for their ability to organize under labor law?

"Frontier Airline is seeking to capitalize on Pepsi’s litigation-inducing ad campaign by featuring John Leonard himself on a new Super Bowl ad for Frontier."

Congrats to Georgetown! 🎈🍾

Governments can still get pushback marketdesigner.blogspot.com/2026/02/trum...

This week’s Taboo & Repugnant Roundup moves from a critique of how vice is framed in the WSJ, to a podcast conversation on patent law and taboo innovation, to recent workshops examining the supply of blood and organs through legal and economic lenses.

Cute

Getting a book out involves some tedium (e.g. trying to proofread the index) as well as many small excitements #econsky #academicsky marketdesigner.blogspot.com/2026/02/mora...

Profs. Rachel Harmon, @richschragger.bsky.social and @micahschwartzman.bsky.social ’05 will be panelists Tuesday for “The Crisis in Minnesota: Executive Power and Civil Liberties,” sponsored by #UVA’s Miller Center and #UVALaw’s Karsh Center for Law and Democracy.

The current roundup links a Wall Street Journal discussion of vice with a Taboo Trades episode on “Taboo Patents,” alongside updates from recent law & economics workshops examining regulation, legitimacy, and governance questions around blood and organs.

“Sex workers at one of Nevada’s legal brothels are unionizing with the Communications Workers of America (CWA), organizers told The Nevada Independent on Tuesday. If successful, it would be the first time brothel workers unionized in the U.S.”

New Taboo & Repugnant Roundup: media commentary on vice in the Wall Street Journal, a podcast exploration of patenting morally contested technologies with Gilden and Rajec, and reflections from recent scholarly workshops focused on blood and organs.

From “sad marriages” to queer pleasure, from illicit drugs to therapeutics: a rich discussion of how patent law registers shifting ideas about sexuality, health, and autonomy—without ever claiming to decide morality. www.buzzsprout.com/1227113/epis...

Hot off the presses, Dave Pozen’s and my new piece in @HarvLRev on what is broken in how we regulate marijuana, kratom, opioids, and other drugs—and how to fix it. Admin law meets public health meets LPE meets drug law meets harm reduction. Check it out! harvardlawreview.org/print/vol-13...

I’m beginning every panel I chair for the rest of my career with this frontal attack…

“Learning to separate the personal from the intellectual—to debate an issue without assuming malicious intentions on the other side—is one of the most virtuous and difficult achievements in science. The history of science is full of stories of those who failed to do so.”

The latest roundup brings together three conversations: how the WSJ frames vice and social harm; a Taboo Trades discussion of patent disclosures as records of taboo innovation (“Taboo Patents”); and recent academic workshops addressing legal and empirical questions about blood and organs.

Why is the patent system often “ahead” of social norms? This episode explores moral utility, Juicy Whip, and the PTO’s technocratic stance—revealing how taboo markets surface first through IP rather than legislation. www.buzzsprout.com/1227113/epis...

I've been on the move this week presenting at Univ of Minnesota’s Law & Rationality workshop, led by Claire Hill, and Vanderbilt’s Law & Business workshop, led by Morgan Ricks. Thanks to Claire and Morgan for the invites and for everyone who turned out to hear me talk about blood and organs.

This week’s Taboo & Repugnant Roundup opens with a close reading of a Wall Street Journal essay on vice and prohibition, features the Taboo Trades podcast episode “Taboo Patents” with Andrew Gilden and Sarah Rajec, and includes notes from recent law & economics workshops on blood and organs.

Patents as cultural artifacts: Gilden and Rajec read patent disclosures to show how inventors narrate sex, drugs, and abortion as legitimate, useful, and future-oriented—often decades before broader legal or political acceptance. www.buzzsprout.com/1227113/epis...