The Coase-Sandor Institute for Law and Economics at the University of Chicago is hosting a one-day symposium on Lee Fennell’s forthcoming book, Slices and Lumps: Division and Aggregation in Law and Life (University of Chicago Press, 2019) The symposium will take place on Friday, November 8, 2019, at the University of Chicago Law School. The contributions to the symposium will be published in a symposium edition of the University of Chicago Law Review Online.

In Slices and Lumps, Fennell argues that underappreciated problems of configuration profoundly shape law, policy, and everyday life. From “lumpy goods” like bridges and highways that are valuable only when complete, to resources and assets that become more useful when artfully subdivided, human well-being depends on assembling useful lumps and carving out useful slices.  Challenges of aggregation and division are ubiquitous, appearing not only in high-profile issues like eminent domain and the sharing economy, but also in a wide range of collective action problems and personal decisions.  The book addresses configuration challenges in personal and public finance, work, markets, housing, and cities, as well as cliffs and bundles that arise in property, tort, criminal law, and regulatory policy. 

The symposium contributors will address various aspects of this book, including problems of aggregation or divisibility that arise in particular areas of law or policy; economic, psychological, ethical, or other theoretical perspectives on lumpy or indivisible goods; and how changes—social, economic, legal, technological, or environmental—might impact configuration challenges going forward.

Breakfast and lunch will be provided.

For accessibility-related accommodations or questions about this event, contact Norma R. de Yagcier at ndeyagci@uchicago.edu.

Participating Faculty