Fall Update

In addition to my regular teaching duties and service commitments, this fall I will be presenting some of my ongoing research projects (in bold) at the following upcoming conferences:

“Betting on Conspiracies?” at the 2021 Annual Conference of the Central States Law Schools Association (CSLSA), to be held via Zoom on Sept. 24-26. (I will present my paper “Betting on Conspiracy Theories“, which I wrote earlier this year for a special symposium issue of the Journal of Law & Public Policy; in brief, I will propose an open betting market to adjudicate the truth values of conspiracy theories and fake news.)
“Lockdowns as Takings” at the LatCrit 2021 Biennial Conference, to be held in Denver, Colorado on Oct. 8-9. (I began writing this paper in the spring of 2020 and made significant additions and revisions to it this summer; in summary, I will explain why lockdown orders constitute a “taking” of property–specifically, a taking of the labor rights of “non-essential” workers. A draft of my takings paper is available here.)
“Adam Smith in Paris” at the 2021 Annual Conference of the International Adam Smith Society (IASS), to be held in Madison, Wisconsin on Oct. 14-16. (I will present my ongoing work on Adam Smith’s enigmatic private life (see here, for example), with a special focus on his ten-month residency in Paris from late-December 1765 to mid-October 1766.)
“The Chegg Conspiracy” at the 2021 Statewide Symposium of the Florida Undergraduate Research Association (FURA), to be held in Gainesville, Florida on Oct. 22-23, and at the 2021 Annual Conference of the Southeastern Academy of Legal Studies in Business (SEALSB), to be held in Savannah, Georgia on Nov. 11-13. (I will explore the buyer and seller sides of Chegg’s illicit market and propose that Chegg be criminally prosecuted for wire fraud. A draft of this short paper is available here.)
Lastly, I have been invited to contribute a chapter to the forthcoming book “Better Call Saul and Philosophy”. Along with the original “Breaking Bad” series, I am a huge fan of “Better Call Saul”, so I am thrilled to participate in this project. My chapter is tentatively titled “Breaking Bad Promises” and although it is not due until mid-November, I will be blogging about my contribution to this new book soon.