Robert Van Horn
Robert Van Horn is an associate Associate Professor of Economics at the University of Rhode Island. His research interests include: 1) the life and work of Aaron Director (a renowned Chicago economist who is considered the father of Chicago Law and Economics); 2) the role that business has played in the development of economics; 3) the history Chicago law and economics and neoliberalism; 4) best practices in teaching the history of economics; 5) the intellectual contributions of Milton Friedman; and 6) Nonviolence and economics. He received his Ph.D. from the University of Notre Dame, was a Postdoctoral Fellow at Duke University’s Center for the History of Political Economy, and has been a visiting professor at Brown University’s Economics Department. Before coming to URI, he taught at Holy Cross College and University of Notre Dame.
Aaron Director
Corporations and the Rise of the Chicago Law and Economics Movement
From its birth in 1946 onward, corporations made possible and crucially supported the rise of the Chicago law and economics movement. Aaron Director,...
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Antitrust and Competition
George Stigler on Henry Simons, “Crown Prince” of the Chicago School
To mark 75 years since the passing of Henry Simons, professor of Economics and Law at the University of Chicago, ProMarket is...
Commentary
Electoral College Reform: New Problems or Real Solutions?
Each electoral system creates specific incentives to (mis)allocate government resources. Would putting the National Popular Vote (NPV) in lieu of the Electoral...
Antitrust and Competition
When Do Users Benefit From Platform Mergers?
A new paper shows that platform mergers can harness network effects at the cost of reducing the platform differentiation that users value.
Economic History Series
Harold Demsetz and Israel Kirzner Understood That Competition Regulates Markets
Economists Harold Demsetz and Israel Kirzner challenged the prevailing orthodoxy in microeconomic analysis and public policy beginning with their respective work in...
Antitrust and Competition
The Covid-19 Pandemic Should Not Delay Actions to Prevent Anticompetitive Consolidation in US Health Care Markets
Harvard Business School professor Leemore Dafny lays out potential reforms to assist agencies in halting anticompetitive acquisitions and practices, and to preserve...
Antitrust and Competition
Who Benefits From Competitive State-Level Legislatures?
A new paper finds that when interparty competition in state legislatures is high, well-connected and influential incumbent firms are best able to...
Corporate Governance
No More “Mystery Meat”: Why We Need Better Corporate Governance Data
Three decades of finance, economics, and legal studies in corporate governance have been built substantially on data sets with nearly unknown provenance....
