University of Pennsylvania Symposium

On September 29, the Penn Economic History Forum held a symposium on my new book, The Corporation and the Twentieth Century.  The event was well attended, with commentators, both in-person and online, including Brian Cheffins (Cambridge University), Alexander Field (Santa Clara University), Patrick Fridenson (Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales), Naomi Lamoreaux (Yale and Michigan), and Laura Phillips Sawyer (Georgia).  I am grateful to my friend Dan Raff for organizing the event.

Another Wall Street Journal Op-ed

On October 20, I published another op-ed in the Wall Street Journal. I argued that contrary to a widespread meme in antitrust circles, there is little evidence that great antitrust cases of the twentieth century had the salutary effects claimed for them. Markets were in fact shaped by the capabilities and constraints of the firms involved, and they would have evolved in much the same ways had the antitrust suits never been filed. In many cases, antitrust verdicts merely called for actions that firms like IBM were already planning to take.

Goodstein-Langer Award

Richard N. Langlois at 2023 UConn Honors Medals Ceremony

I was thrilled recently to receive the Goodstein-Langer Award for Honors Advising during the Honors Program's annual medals ceremony.  The award is named after the late Dr. Lynne Goodstein, the long-time head of the Honors Program, with whom I long worked closely, and her husband, Dr. Peter Langer -- with whom, I discovered, I share the home town of Thompson, Connecticut.

This honor means an enormous amount to me, and I want to thank -- and shout out to -- the many, many Honors students I have had the pleasure of working with for most of my 40 years at UConn.