Lord Mervyn King, Alan Greenspan Professor of Economics, New York University Stern School of Business and former Governor, Bank of England, “Uncertainty, Probability and the Law.”

David S. Scharfstein, Edmund Cogswell Converse Professor of Finance and Banking and Chair of Doctoral Programs, Harvard Business School, “Pension Policy and the Financial System.”

Marianne Bertrand, Chris P. Dialynas Distinguished Service Professor of Economics, the University of Chicago Booth School of Business, “Breaking the Glass Ceiling: Board Quotas in Norway.”

Hon. Leo E. Strine, Jr., Chief Justice, Delaware Supreme Court, “Corporate Power Ratchet: The Courts’ Role in Eroding ‘We the People’s’ Ability To Constrain Our Corporate Creations.”

Jeremy Stein, Moise Y. Safra Professor of Economics, Harvard University, “The Federal Reserve’s Balance Sheet and its Financial Stability Objectives.”

Daron Acemoglu, Elizabeth and James Killian Professor of Economics, MIT, “The Value of Political Connections in Turbulent Times: Evidence from the United States.”

Jean Tirole, Scientific Director, The Institut d’Economie Industrielle and Chairman, Toulouse School of Economics, “The Future of Eurozone Regulatory Institutions.”

Stephen A. Ross, Franco Modigliani Professor of Financial Economics, MIT Economics Department and MIT Sloan School of Management, “Regression to the Max: The Use and Abuse of Financial Theory in Legal Disputes and Regulation.”

Kenneth S. Rogoff, Thomas D. Cabot Professor of Public Policy, Department of Economics, Harvard University, “Sovereign Bankruptcy: Is This Time Different?”

Kenneth R. French, The Carl E. and Catherine M. Heidt Professor of Finance, Tuck School of Business, Dartmouth College, “Perspectives on Financial Regulation.”

Steven N. Kaplan, Neubauer Family Professor of Entrepreneurship and Finance, University of Chicago Booth School of Business, “Are U.S. CEOs Overpaid?”

Reinier Kraakman ‘79, Ezra Ripley Thayer Professor of Law, Harvard Law School, “Exit, Voice, and Liability: Legal Dimensions of Organizational Structure.”

Daniel Fischel, Professor of Law and Business, Northwestern University School of Law, “Markets and Scandals: Enron and Beyond.”  A grant from the Milton and Miriam Handler Foundation provided additional financial support for the lecture.

Paul Mahoney ‘84, Brokaw Professor of Corporate Law and Albert C. BeVier Research Professor, University of Virginia School of Law, “Did the SEC Improve Corporate Disclosure? Evidence from the 1930s.” A grant from the Milton and Miriam Handler Foundation provided additional financial support for the lecture.

The Inaugural Winter Lecture took place at the Law School on December 5, 2005, when the Hon. Frank H. Easterbrook, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit and formerly Lee and Brena Freeman Professor of Law at the University of Chicago Law School, delivered a lecture entitled “The Race for the Bottom in Corporate Governance.”

As Judge Easterbrook summarized his Lecture, it is a tribute to Judge Winter’s famous essay in the late 1970s demolishing William Cary’s thesis that state law would produce a “race to the bottom” in enabling managers to exploit investors. Judge Winter observed that states compete for corporations (and corporations for capital); and in competition Adam Smith’s invisible hand produces benefits for all. The race is to the top. Recent developments in corporate law, however, are designed to eliminate competition by federalizing the rule of decision and by hampering international efforts to reallocate capital. Will this less-competitive regime, exemplified by Sarbanes-Oxley, lead a real race for the bottom? What is the public-choice dynamic of national corporate law?