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,...
Latest news
Antitrust and Competition
Antitrust and Rule by Judges
The early-1980s Posner-Stigler memorandum to incoming president Reagan’s transition team is interesting for a host of reasons, but most of all in...
Antitrust and Competition
Should the European Union Require Tech Firms to Adopt a Common Charger?
According to a new European Commission directive expected to be approved in the next few months, tech firms will have to use...
News
Chart of the Week: Economists Don’t Think Congress Should Make Price Gouging Illegal
Most economists disagree with a new bill in the US that would set limits on "unconscionably excessive prices," according to a recent...
Antitrust and Competition
Neoliberal Economists Are Giving Biden Bad Advice on Inflation
To spare the economy from the pain of further interest rate hikes, the President should aggressively pursue anticompetitive conduct by companies in...
Antitrust and Competition
How Would the Big Tech Self-Preferencing Bill Affect Users?
The Senate looks to be nearing a vote on the American Innovation and Choice Online Act, which would prohibit gatekeeping digital platforms...
News
New eBook Revisits George Stigler’s Theory of Regulatory Capture 50 Years Later
To mark the 50-year anniversary of George Stigler’s seminal piece, “The Theory of Economic Regulation” we are publishing a new eBook examining...
News
Firms Gerrymander Ownership of Polluting Plants to Reap Public and Regulatory Benefits
New research has discovered that many companies who appear to sell, or ‘divest,’ their toxic plants, actually retain relationships with their buyers....