In the 1980s, George Priest published two seminal articles on the intellectual history of strict liability for injuries caused by defective products. First, he demonstrated that the states’ remarkably quick acceptance of such liability starting in the mid-1960s reflected the consensus among prominent legal thinkers of the wisdom of “enterprise liability” theory, which had been […]

This article is a modest response to George Priest’s lament that academics should pay more attention to capitalism as an institution. Fundamental to contract and property, which George described as forming the bedrock of capitalism, is the counterintuitive ability of participants to exercise a modicum of self-restraint, in what Tocqueville called “self-interest rightly understood” (SIRU). […]

George L. Priest’s research included a deep insight into the legal basis of capitalism. From his perspective, capitalism emerges from the rule of law and constitutional democracy, as property rights and competition require a limited government. The United States Constitution enabled the success of the United States’ economy by concentrating on limiting power. Priest’s work […]

Evidence in recent years points to a fraying of criminal antitrust enforcement. Aggregate criminal penalties have fallen dramatically, and a series of recent acquittals has reduced Department of Justice (DOJ) win rates in (Sherman Antitrust Act) Section 1 cases from previously stratospheric levels. An obvious explanation is that the overall strength of the federal enforcement […]

Like many scholars who, over the course of long careers, have focused on various dimensions of international law—in my case, principally international trade law and the institutional dimensions of economic and social development in developing countries—it is difficult not to be depressed about the current fractious state of geopolitical relations. In the brief comments that […]

Unlike other forms of insurance, such as auto, life, or commercial general liability, health insurance in the United States covers many risks that do not meet traditional criteria for insurability. A large margin of health care that we view as essential—including preventive care, care for preexisting conditions, and elective care—departs from actuarial principles of confining […]