Earlier this week, the University of Chicago announced a new minor in Law and Political Economy. Yes, really. And, yes, the good kind of political economy!

New Englanders! @quinnslobodian.com and I have a couple of events coming up next week for our new book Muskism. Wed, April 22, 7pm, at Harvard Bookstore in Cambridge, with @jasonbjackson.bsky.social Thurs, April 23, 7pm, at Riffraff Bookstore in Providence, with @madisoncondon.bsky.social

Looking forward to this Zoom discussion of my @harvardpress.bsky.social book “Traders, Speculators, and Captains of Industry” hosted by the Law and Political Economy Collective this Friday (4/10) at 3pm ET. Join us! www.politicaleconomylaw.org/content.aspx...

I'm in The Blog today on the turmoil in higher education finance. 🧵 The Trump Admin is simultaneously trying to get things back to normal (pre-COVID status quo, but more punitive) and to dismantle the whole system (selling off the portfolio, closing Dept of Ed) lpeproject.org/blog/the-stu...

Can’t wait for @jasonbjackson.bsky.social book launch Wednesday - register here calendar.mit.edu/event/jason-...

📆 Weds. 4/1 @ 7PM: We join the CBMHRJ in welcoming Khiara M. Bridges in store for a discussion of her new book, "Expecting Inequity: How the Maternal Health Crisis Affects Even the Wealthiest Black Americans", in conversation with Ndidiamaka Amutah-Onukagha. Learn more: buff.ly/UZkFWQO

Today, Noam Maggor (@maggor.bsky.social) concludes our symposium on @jasonbjackson.bsky.social's *Traders, Speculators, and Captains of Industry.* Although rooted in Indian history, he argues, the book’s thoroughly global-comparative mode of analysis allows it to resonate far beyond South Asia.

Today, @jeenashahesq.bsky.social argues that Trump’s contradictory treatment of Hernández and Maduro reveals the consistency of U.S. foreign policy: the War on Drugs serves as a flexible tool for maintaining global capitalism’s necessary periphery.

Today, @abalasub.bsky.social continues our symposium on *Traders, Speculators, and Captains of Industry.* Given that Indian firms spend virtually nothing on R&D, he asks, how we should understand the modernity of so-called “modern Indian capitalists”?

Commenting on Timothy Mitchell’s new book on Thursday with Chris Desan at Harvard. Register here to join: sts.hks.harvard.edu/events/lectu...

Thank you to the most brilliant @veenadubal.bsky.social for being my conversation partner about my book on the @lpeblog.bsky.social and to the masterful @jamesbrandt.bsky.social for his support. lpeproject.org/blog/how-fem... @bulaw.bsky.social

Today, @veenadubal.bsky.social and @azizaahmed.bsky.social discuss the feminist lawyers and activists who secured recognition of the AIDS epidemic’s impact on women, the CDC’s willful ignorance around the disease’s reach, and the adverse public health consequences of carceral feminism.

Really appreciate Amy Cohen’s response to my book, esp the connection to Melinda Cooper’s “patrimonial capitalism’s,” moralized distinction btwn firms that are privately held or founder-controlled thru complex legal structures (eg tech) & the publicly traded corporation of managerial capitalism.

Very honored to see a review of my book in @thelancetinfdis.bsky.social ! www.thelancet.com/authored-by/...

This is in 90 minutes. Apparently there are 400 (?!) people signed up meaning we have a few spots left till we hit the limit... 👇👇👇

Still available for law reviews! Otherwise going to have to rework it for a peer reviewed sociology journal or something.

This afternoon! Would love to see you there. 😉

In conversation with @laprofelgp.bsky.social and Chandra Mohanty, Labyrinth Book Store, Princeton NJ March 26th @ 6 PM

"What looms now on the horizon is perhaps a post-moral turn that no longer asks its privileged market actors to represent their interests as about advancing a shared future."

Today, Amy Cohen continues our symposium on @jasonbjackson.bsky.social's *Traders, Speculators, and Captains of Industry,* considering what his framework might tell us about the recent return of patrimonial capitalism in the United States.

How are policymakers outside the US thinking about US tech firms?? @jasonbjackson.bsky.social's FASCINATING new book helped me to understand the kinds of moral schemas that post-colonial nations are using to shape foreign investment policy. lpeproject.org/blog/moral-o...

Check out the @lpeblog.bsky.social symposium on @jasonbjackson.bsky.social ‘s new book lpeproject.org/blog/moral-o...

Really honored to have my new @harvardpress.bsky.social book be part of an @lpeblog.bsky.social symposium! I am deeply grateful to @lpeproject.bsky.social colleagues for the opportunity, and to my respondents @maggor.bsky.social, @abalasub.bsky.social & Amy Cohen for engaging with my work. 🙏

Today, @jasonbjackson.bsky.social kicks off a symposium on his new book, *Traders, Speculators, and Captains of Industry: How Capitalist Legitimacy Shaped Foreign Investment Policy in India.* Economic policymaking, he argues, is best understood as a state-led project of moral ordering of capital.

I will be in conversation w/ the AMAZING Adom Getachew, Pratap Bhanu Mehta, & Camille Robcis, w/ Kate Redburn moderating, on my new book, *The Future That Was*, at Columbia Law School on March 24th at 6 PM. (thanks to Madhav Khosla for the invite) Register here: docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...

Born #onthisday in 1868, the US sociologist + civil rights activist W. E. B. Du Bois. Celebrate with a look at the stunning hand-drawn "infographics" he made with his students, depicting conditions of African-American life in 1900: publicdomainreview.org/collection/w... #otd #BlackHistoryMonth

First was a great talk by @jasonbjackson.bsky.social on how Indian and foreign business leaders and policymakers navigated decades of changing foreign investment policies at @watsonschoolbrown.bsky.social www.youtube.com/watch?v=OtNR... (2/8)

Looking forward to tomorrow’s @brown.edu event on my new @harvardpress.bsky.social book “Traders, Speculators, and Captains of Industry,” esp the discussion w/ @mkblyth.bsky.social , @itihaasnaama.bsky.social , & @pheller.bsky.social! events.brown.edu/ccsa/event/3...

The Dig you’ve been waiting for to understand the political economy of AI as it becomes fulcrum of global contests and conflicts over economic and military dominance. My interview w/ @nsrnicek.bsky.social on his book Silicon Empires: The Fight for the Future of AI www.thedigradio.com/podcast/sili...

Corporations are extracting billions from America’s safety net and their payday is about to be supercharged by new rules. I lay out how programs like Medicaid have become vulnerable to corporate capture and what we need to build to stop it. @lpeblog.bsky.social lpeproject.org/blog/the-mea...

Excited for this talk on my new book “Traders, Speculators, and Captains of Industry” (@HarvardPress.bsky.social), hosted by the UC Berkeley Inst. for South Asia Studies w/discussants @marionf.bsky.social & David Singh Grewal & moderator Sai Balakrishnan. Livestream www.facebook.com/ISASatUCBerk...

A very interesting open access book by @jasonbjackson.bsky.social engaging a puzzle: why did India restrict FDI in auto manufacturing but allowed multinationals in oil, while Brazil welcomed foreign auto companies but prohibited FDI in oil?

If reading more is a 2026 resolution, let our upcoming Virtual Warehouse Sale get you started! We're throwing open our online doors at HBSWarehouseSale.com from Jan.16-18; the warehouse is full of thousands of new books at 40-80% off their list price, and remember when a title sell out, it's gone!

Today, our ten most read posts of 2025! What good is policy-adjacent scholarship? Does the 1st Amendment protect the economic infrastructure of speech? Can Trump grant Texas 40 Senators through executive order? Our brilliant authors answered these and other questions during this annus horribilis.

1/2 🧵 🚨 Just in time for the holidays! We’re thrilled to share ROAPE Special Issue 186, Vol. 52, celebrating the centenary of Frantz Fanon’s radical life, work and legacy 🎄🔥 Editorial: #Fanon100: Class Struggle and the Future of African Liberation buff.ly/gASaoZD

2/2 🧵 ✨ The entire Frantz Fanon special issue is available to read and download for free — the perfect festive deep dive 🎄🔥 👉 buff.ly/6ZACRRN 💡 You can also suscribe to support #ROAPE as an fully open-access journal. #Fanon100 #AfricanLiberation #Decolonisation

It was an honor to be interviewed in-depth by @lalehkhalili.bsky.social @proteanmag.com A key theme: how to analyze “extractive frontiers” from a world-systemic perspective attentive to both the structures of colonialism and capitalism—and to socio-ecological struggle proteanmag.com/2025/12/22/e...

I wrote a book that I hope helps people think about the relationship between law, science, social movements, &political economy. It tells the story of how feminists transformed the response to AIDS to ensure better access to healthcare. Avail for preorder! www.cambridge.org/core/books/r...

I’m happy to share that my book “Traders, Speculators and Captains of Industry: How Capitalist Legitimacy Shaped Foreign Investment Policy in India,” published by @harvardpress.bsky.social is out!

Thea Riofrancos on lithium mining and the contradictions of “green capitalism”

fresh audio product: • Thea Riofrancos @triofrancos.bsky.social , author of Extraction, on the complexities of lithium • Alyssa Battistoni @alybatt.bsky.social, author of Free Gifts, on the weird relationship between capitalism and Nature www.leftbusinessobserver.com/Radio.html#S...

Today, @rohangrey.bsky.social kicks off a series on the law and political economy of cryptocurrency, by considering the Left's missed opportunities and explaining how it can reclaim control over the future of money.

Really enjoyed sharing thoughts on Aditi Dey’s & Charli Muller’s excellent papers!

We are thrilled to host our fourth annual grantee conference – Two, Three, Many Developmentalisms – today and tomorrow at @bupardeeschool.bsky.social.

Very excited that we have made this announcement as an LPE community!

Friends - important update on the new LPE Association conference! Moved to Feb 5-7, which will give us all a little more time to plan. Get those paper and panel ideas going, friends, and see you in Richmond!

LPE friends - CONFERENCE UPDATE!! ⏰☎️ Planning is still underway for the first annual LPE conference, launching a new LPE Association, but we're pushing the dates to FEBRUARY 5-7, 2026. We'll be putting out a CFP by August with information about how and what to submit. Until then, save the new date!