Week in review: @lookheron.bsky.social on neoliberalism and authoritarianism in higher ed, Beau Baumann on losing and regaining administrative legitimacy, and Matthew Dimick on the dreaded double distortion argument against predistribution.

Plus, the best of LPE from around the web! 🧵👇

By engaging with "legal areas where distribution matters most, such as the minimum wage, collective bargaining, antitrust, intellectual property, and housing regulation.... we discover unique, even idiosyncratic, reasons why legal rules can redistribute more cheaply than the tax system."

Today, Matthew Dimick explains why one of the most famous arguments against addressing inequality through predistribution fails on its own terms.

"Opponents of MAGA have faltered, chanting 'expertise' like a spell that’s lost its magic. Knowledge-based authority was a historically contingent mode of governing authority that no longer resonates. This is evident in figures like RFK Jr., whose anti-vaccine stance rejects science outright."

ICYMI, I did a blog post today at @lpeproject.bsky.social that’s really about the death of a 20 c mode of liberal/progressive politics. It’s about the need, as a first-order objective, to relegitimize the state around a representational legitimacy.

This piece by @beaubaumann.bsky.social is really good and focusing on all the right questions. lpeproject.org/blog/rebuild...

I’m back up in @lpeblog.bsky.social today

…

as an antagonist to @beaubaumann.bsky.social in this generative post about thinking bigger in our rebuilding ambitions

lpeproject.org/blog/rebuild...

My shelter buddy Nico has been waiting for someone to adopt him for 219 days.

I made a short video to help advertise him to New Mexico residents. If you want to do a small kindness today, consider liking or sharing the Reddit post, so that it reaches more people.

Critics are calling it "heartwarming," "a portrait of an absolute good boy," and "somewhat derivative of the Royal Tenenbaums."

I refuse to read either of these articles, but I really, really hope they are related to one another:

OMG I'M SOBBING 😭

SOMEONE ADOPT NICO!

My shelter buddy Nico has been waiting for someone to adopt him for 219 days.

I made a short video to help advertise him to New Mexico residents. If you want to do a small kindness today, consider liking or sharing the Reddit post, so that it reaches more people.

"by pushing 'market logic' into higher education, these reforms have made the rich richer and the poor poorer... It seems to me that this increasingly unequal system did a great deal of harm to higher education’s standing in our society, opening the door to right-wing attacks."

In which I explore how changes in state-level public higher ed governance during the neoliberal era opened space for more recent authoritarian crackdowns.

lpeproject.org/blog/the-neo...

Week in review: Steffen Seitz on conspiracy law and social movements, Darryl Li on the weaponization of campus antisemitism investigations, and Erik Peinert on the staying power of the antimonopoly movement.

Plus, the best of LPE from around the web in the 🧵👇

As @akapczynski.bsky.social wrote last January, "we’ll now see arguments that clinics should stop any kind of public interest work that might make a 'statement.' This, of course, would be a violation of the academic freedom, while also undermining important ways that our schools serve the public."

It's an EXCITING few weeks for LPE NYC with 2 events on the political economy of NYC!

First up is an event on Oct 15th in Brooklyn on what it means to make NYC housing affordable with @ceaweaver.bsky.social, Gianpaolo Baiocchi, & Joanne Grell!!

lpeproject.org/events/makin...

Today, @erikpeinert.bsky.social explains why, despite recent set-backs, the antimonopoly movement will prove difficult to dislodge over the short run.

"at least a quarter of the investigations originated from people with no relationship to the schools in question. For example, a single right-wing journalist has instigated at least 15 such inquests." 🤯

"When it comes to speech critical of Israel, both Democratic and Republican administrations have allowed federal civil rights enforcement to be driven by the equivalent of a YouTube comments section."

Don't miss this great post by Darryl Li, analyzing the abuse of antisemitism investigations.

One reason to support @aaup.org in this case is that they are not Harvard the institution, even as they are defending Harvard faculty and student rights. AAUP will not stop if the administration and Harvard leadership come to an agreement that still undercuts those rights.

Okay, this seems even worse: "at least a quarter of the investigations originated from people with no relationship to the schools in question. For example, a single right-wing journalist has instigated at least 15 such inquests."

"the Department of Education opened 25 antisemitism investigations of postsecondary educational institutions in the last two months of 2023 – more than all previous years combined. In 2024, that figure would climb to 38 investigations, and 2025 is on pace to be another record-breaking year."

Today, Darryl Li examines the alarming rise in campus antisemitism investigations—inquests that are often sparked by outside complaints, lack concrete evidence, and lay the groundwork for future crackdowns and grievances.