Chicago’s Best Ideas began in the 2002-2003 academic year in honor of the University of Chicago Law School’s Centennial. This lecture series highlights the wide-ranging intellectual interests and innovations of the Law School faculty.”

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Submissions from 2023

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Carrots, Nudges, and Sticks, Saul Levmore

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The (informal) Law and Economics of Slums, Anup Malani

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Sophonisba Breckinridge: Lawyer and activist, Martha C. Nussbaum

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The Limits of Antitrust, Randal Picker

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Torts, Taxes, and Trading, David Weisbach

Submissions from 2022

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Personalized Law: Different Rules for Different People, Omri Ben-Shahar

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Common Law Constitutionalism, Curtis A. Bradley

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“Law AND”, Emily Buss

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Are Property Rights Really So Good?, Saul Levmore

Submissions from 2021

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Corruption, Equality, and Campaign Finance Reform in the Second Gilded Age, Genevieve Lakier

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Legal Evolution, Saul Levmore

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"Superstars and the Law", Thomas J. Miles

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Ernst Freund and the Founding of the Law School, Martha Nussbaum

Submissions from 2020

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Realism versus Formalism in Commercial Law: Lisa Bernstein’s Challenge to Llewellyn’s Legacy, Omri Ben-Shahar

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The Bound Executive? Revisiting Posner’s Theory of Emergency Governance in Light of COVID-19, Tom Ginsburg

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Maybe Tax Havens Aren't So Bad After All, Daniel Hemel

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The Trust Revolution: How the Digitization of Trust Will Revolutionize Business & Government, M Todd Henderson

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The Nature of the Firm and the Size of Law Schools and Other Organizations, Saul Levmore

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Addressing Income Inequality, Anup Malani and David A. Weisbach

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Easterbrook and Fischel: The Corporate Contract, Adriana Z. Robertson

Submissions from 2019

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Addictive Law, Saul Levmore

Submissions from 2018

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Cultivating an Incest Taboo in the Workplace, Mary Anne Case

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If Common Law Was Efficient, Why Did It Decline?, Saul Levmore

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The Radical Utilitarians, Martha C. Nussbaum

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Interpreting Contracts via Surveys and Experiments, Lior Jacob Strahilevitz

Submissions from 2017

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A Different Kind of Supreme Court? Empirical Study of the Supreme Court of India, William H. J. Hubbard

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Is Law a Force for Good, or a Source of Trouble?, Saul Levmore

Submissions from 2016

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Carrots and Sticks in Law (and Life), Saul Levmore

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Deference Mistakes, Jonathan Masur

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Long Long Lives: Should We Want Them?, Martha Craven Nussbaum

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Freedom of Conscience and the Civil Liberties Path Not Taken, Laura M. Weinrib

Submissions from 2015

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Is Originalism Our Law?, William Baude

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The Unintended Effects of Access Justice Laws, Omri Ben-Shahar

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Reasonable and Unreasonable Expectations in Property Law and Beyond, Richard A. Epstein

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Abolish Securities Regulation (and Replace It With a Market), M. Todd Henderson

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Hobby Lobby and the Psychology of Corporate Rights, Aziz Huq

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The Shadow Powers of Article I, Alison LaCroix

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What Do Lawmakers Do?, Saul Levmore

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Understanding Judicial Decision-Making: Review, Recent Results, and an Agenda, Anup Malani

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How Law Works Expressively, Richard H. McAdams

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The Courts of Appeals' Last Sentencing Rebellion, Alison Siegler

Submissions from 2014

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Court Reform in the Juvenile Justice System, Emily Buss

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Why We Know Very Little About the Effectiveness of International Law, and How Experiments Might Help to Change That, Adam S. Chilton

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Temporary Law: The Case of Smoking Bans, Tom Ginsburg, Jonathan S. Masur, and Richard H. McAdams

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Do Judges Follow the Law?, M. Todd Henderson

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How Does Law Work? Concentration and Distribution Strategies, Saul Levmore

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Personalizing Default Rules and Disclosure with Big Data, Lior Jacob Strahilevitz

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Does the Constitution Always Mean What It Says?, David A. Strauss

Submissions from 2013

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A History of Public Utility Regulation in the Supreme Court, Richard A. Epstein

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An International Court for Constitutional Law, Tom Ginsburg

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What Good Is Article V? : A Defense of Our Rigid and Inflexible Constitution, Aziz Huq

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Why Tolerate Religion?, Brian Leiter

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Coase's Legacy, Saul Levmore

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Well-Being Analysis vs. Cost Benefit, Jonathan S. Masur

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What is Anger and Why Should We Care?, Martha C. Nussbaum

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The South After Shelby County, Nicholas Stephanopoulos

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When Contraception Was a Crime, Geoffrey R. Stone

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Campaign Finance First Principles, David A. Strauss

Submissions from 2012

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No Contract, Omri Ben-Shahar

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The Brussels Effect: The Rise of a Regulatory Superstate in Europe, Anu Bradford

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Ronald Coase's Theory of the Firm and the Family, Mary Anne Case

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Property in Housing, Lee Anne Fennell

Forum Choice for Terrorist Suspects, Aziz Huq

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The Lost History of Spending Power, Alison L. LaCroix

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Intermediation and Intervention, Saul Levmore

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Teaching Patriotism, Martha Nussbaum

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Understanding Supreme Court Confirmations, Geoffrey R. Stone

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Free Speech When Constitutionalism Was Unpopular, Laura M. Weinrib

Submissions from 2011

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You're Telling Me It's Wrong to Do to Prisoners What the Army Does to Its Own Soldiers?, Mary Anne Case

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Clinical Trials on Trial: How Should the FDA Do Its Job?, Richard A. Epstein

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Race in the Obama Era: Observations From Eight Square Blocks of Chicago's South Side, Craig B. Futterman

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The Illusion of Free Markets: Laissez Faire and Mass Incarceration, Bernard E. Harcourt

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Ponzi Schemes and Law's Domain, Saul Levmore

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Contract Law, Transactions Costs and the Boundary of the Firm, Anup Malani

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The True Cost of Patents, Anup Malani and Jonathan Masur

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Tiebreakers, Adam M. Samaha

Submissions from 2010

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What the Law Should (and Should Not) Learn from Child Development Research, Emily Buss

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Is There a Corporate Governance Clientele Effect?, Alicia Davis

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Partial Constitutional Amendments, Rosalind Dixon

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Can the United States Survive Health Care Reform?, Richard A. Epstein

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Unsafe Harbors, M. Todd Henderson

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From the Wheel to Open Source Software: Growth and Property Rights, Saul Levmore

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Is it Possible to Interpret Statutes "Objectively?", Anup Malani

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Creating Capabilities: The Human Development Approach, Martha Craven Nussbaum

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The Mortgage Meltdown and Its Aftermath, Michael H. Schill

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OT 1972: A year With Justice Brennan, Geoffrey R. Stone

Submissions from 2009

The Two Chinas and the Problem of Global Warming, Daniel Abebe and Jonathan Masur

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Eero Saarinen's Law School, Douglas G. Baird

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One-Way Contracts, Omri Ben-Shahar

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The Coming Meltdown in Labor Relations, Richard A. Epstein

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Neoliberal Penality: A Genealogy of Excess, Bernard E. Harcourt

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The Nanny Corporation, M. Todd Henderson

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What's the Right Drinking Age? And Other Problems of the Slippery Slope, Saul Levmore

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Constitutions and Capabilities, Martha Nussbaum and Diane P. Wood

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Obama's Supreme Court, Geoffrey R. Stone

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Reading the Qur'an in Kuala Lumpur, Madhavi Sunder

Submissions from 2008

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Feminist Fundamentalism, Mary Anne Case

Why Evangelical Protestants Are Right When They Say That State Recognition of Same-Sex Marriage Threatens Their Marriages and What the Law Should Do About It, Mary Anne Case

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Is the Administrative State Consistent with the Rule of Law?, Richard A. Epstein

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Risk Reversals, Lee Anne Fennell