The University of Chicago Law School will host the 2026 Donald M. Ephraim Prize in Law and Economics Lecture, featuring this year's recipient, Abhay Aneja, Professor of Law at UC Berkeley School of Law.

About the Speaker

Abhay Aneja's scholarship examines how legal and political institutions shape economic development and social inequality. Trained as both a lawyer and a quantitative social scientist, he uses empirical methods to study the relationship between legal systems, political institutions, and human welfare across domestic and comparative settings. His research spans discrimination, crime, administrative law, election law, and comparative law, including influential work on the long-term effects of federal civil service segregation under Woodrow Wilson.

About the Prize

Established through the generous support of Donald M. Ephraim, '55, the Ephraim Prize is awarded biennially to an outstanding early-career scholar whose work has made a significant contribution to the field of law and economics. Aneja joins previous honorees Jacob Goldin (2024) and Megan T. Stevenson (2023, inaugural recipient).