Anne L. Alstott
Jacquin D. Bierman Professor in Taxation
(on leave, fall 2022)
Anne Alstott is the Jacquin D. Bierman Professor at Yale Law School. She holds a secondary appointment as Professor, Yale Child Study Center, and is a Faculty Affiliate at the Yale Institution for Social and Policy Studies. From 2008 to 2011, she was the Manley O. Hudson Professor at the Harvard Law School.
FULL BIOGRAPHY
Contact Information
- Room M33
- 203-436-3528
- anne.alstott@yale.edu
Faculty Assistant
Eliana Serna
- J35
- 203-432-2198
- marilyn.serna@yale.edu
Education & Curriculum Vitae
J.D., Yale Law School, 1987
A.B., Georgetown University, 1984
Courses Taught
- Federal Income Taxation
- Family, State, and Market
- Corporate Taxation
Anne Alstott is the Jacquin D. Bierman Professor at Yale Law School. She holds a secondary appointment as Professor, Yale Child Study Center, and is a Faculty Affiliate at the Yale Institution for Social and Policy Studies. From 2008 to 2011, she was the Manley O. Hudson Professor at the Harvard Law School.
Professor Alstott studies public policy toward children and families and, more broadly, public policy over the life cycle. She is the author of a number of books, including The Public Option (with Ganesh Sitaraman, Harvard University Press, 2019), A New Deal for Old Age (Harvard University Press, 2016), No Exit: What Parents Owe Children and What Society Owes Parents (Oxford University Press, 2004), and The Stakeholder Society (with Bruce Ackerman, Yale University Press,1999).
Her articles have been published in the Harvard Law Review, the Yale Law Journal, the Columbia Law Review, and other journals. She has written or co-written pieces for The New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, the Huffington Post and Slate and has appeared on NPR's “Marketplace” and “On Point.”
Professor Alstott received a J.D. from the Yale Law School in 1987 and an A.B. in Economics, summa cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa (junior year), and with Departmental Honors, from Georgetown University in 1984 at age 20. She worked as an associate at Sullivan & Cromwell from 1987 to 1990 and as an Attorney-Advisor in the U.S. Treasury Department's Office of Tax Policy, Office of Tax Legislative Counsel, from 1990 to 1992.
She began her teaching career at Columbia University School of Law, where she taught from 1992 to 1996. She joined the Yale Law School faculty with tenure in 1997 and remained there until 2008, when she left to join the Harvard Law School faculty, again with tenure. In 2011, she returned to Yale.
Professor Alstott has won five teaching awards. In 1995, she won the Willis Reese Award for Excellence in Teaching at Columbia. In 1998, 2004, 2012, and 2017, she won the Yale Law Women’s Faculty Excellence Award.
Photo by Karissa van Tassel
Monday, February 13, 2023
Report Challenges Court Decision on PrEP and Public Health
A new report from a team of medical, public health, and legal experts challenges a federal court decision regarding Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis (PrEP), a highly effective biomedical measure for preventing HIV.
Sunday, January 22, 2023
LGBTQ Exceptionalism Is A Dangerous Double-Standard — A Commentary by Anne Alstott ’87 and Meredithe McNamara
Peste Magazine
Anne Alstott ’87 is the Jacquin D. Bierman Professor at Yale Law School.
Tuesday, October 18, 2022
Solomon Center Panel Examines Care for Trans and Nonbinary Patients
A panel co-hosted by the Solomon Center, “Care for Trans Patients: Legal and Policy Challenges Around Access to Gender-Affirming Care,” included the perspectives of attorneys, academics, and doctors.
Monday, August 29, 2022
Amicus Brief Filed to Defend Gender-Affirming Care in Alabama
Professors from Yale Law School, Yale School of Medicine, Yale Child Study Center, University of Alabama at Birmingham, and University of Texas Southwestern filed an amicus brief regarding Alabama's legislative ban on gender-affirming care for adolescents.
Thursday, August 25, 2022
Scientific Misinformation Is Criminalizing the Standard of Care for Transgender Youth — A Commentary by Anne Alstott ’87 et al.
JAMA Pediatrics
Anne Alstott is the Jacquin D. Bierman Professor at Yale Law School.
Tuesday, July 19, 2022
Academics Attack Florida Plan to Limit Transgender Treatment
AP
Jacquin D. Bierman Professor in Taxation Anne Alstott ’87 is one of the authors of a new expert analysis that refutes a Florida Medicaid agency report on transgender care.
Friday, July 15, 2022
'Pseudo-science': Yale review blasts Florida plan to deny trans treatment under Medicaid
Tallahassee Democrat
Jacquin D. Bierman Professor in Taxation Anne Alstott ’87 is one of the authors of a new expert analysis that refutes a Florida Medicaid agency report on transgender care.
Thursday, July 14, 2022
Florida report on transgender care flawed, politically motivated, Yale experts say
Tampa Bay Times
Jacquin D. Bierman Professor in Taxation Anne Alstott ’87 is quoted as one of the authors of a new expert analysis that refutes a Florida Medicaid agency report on transgender care.
Wednesday, July 13, 2022
Team of Experts Provides Critical Review of Florida Medical Report on Transgender Care
A new report from legal and medical experts refutes unscientific claims behind efforts to pursue state-level restrictions on transgender care in Florida.
Monday, June 13, 2022
Denying Trans Youth Gender-Affirming Care Is an Affront to Science and Medical Ethics — A Commentary by Christy Olezeski, Meredithe McNamara, and Anne Alstott
Los Angeles Times
Christy Olezeski is Director of the Yale Pediatric Gender Program and an Associate Professor at the Yale School of Medicine. Meredithe McNamara is an Assistant Professor at the Yale School of Medicine. Anne Alstott is the Jacquin D. Bierman Professor at Yale Law School.
Friday, May 13, 2022
Yale Medical, Legal Experts “Appalled” by Recent Actions Denying Gender-Affirming Care, Issue New Scientific Report
Connecticut Public Radio
A report on misleading scientific claims that inform laws regarding gender-affirming care co-authored by Jacquin D. Bierman Professor Anne L. Alstott ’87 is discussed.
Thursday, May 5, 2022
Doctors, Researchers Say AG Ken Paxton’s Opinion on Trans Health Care ‘Inaccurate and Misleading’
The Dallas Morning News
Jacquin D. Bierman Professor in Taxation Anne L. Alstott is among the researchers from Yale and UT Southwestern and Children’s Health who co-authored a report disputing claims by Texas and Alabama officials regarding medical care for transgender children.
Monday, May 2, 2022
New Report Refutes Flawed Science of Texas and Alabama Transgender Legal Actions
A major new report by legal and medical experts from the Yale Child Study Center, Yale School of Medicine, Yale Law School, and the University of Texas Southwestern analyzes in depth the misleading scientific claims that informed recent actions by Texas and Alabama to criminalize medical treatment for transgender youth.
Wednesday, July 21, 2021
Supporting Children and Families Through Law
Professor Anne L. Alstott ’87 has collaborated with the Yale Child Study Center on how the law might improve the mental health of children and parents through enhanced social welfare support and preventing family disruption.
Wednesday, July 21, 2021
An Interdisciplinary Look at Public Options
In their book Politics, Policy, and Public Options, Professor Anne Alstott ’87 and co-editor Ganesh Sitaraman assemble a collection of scholars from across disciplines to explore the theory of the public option.
Friday, June 11, 2021
Building a Law-and-Political-Economy Framework: Beyond the Twentieth-Century Synthesis
University of Virginia School of Law
Jacquin D. Bierman Professor of Law Anne Alstott ’87 and Professor of Law Amy Kapczynki ’03 were guests on podcast to discuss a Yale Law Journal article “Building a Law-and-Political-Economy Framework: Beyond the Twentieth-Century Synthesis.”
Friday, May 7, 2021
Foundations Lecture Series Held at Yale Law School
This spring, the newly launched Foundations Lecture Series featured lectures given by members of the Yale Law School faculty.
Monday, April 12, 2021
Alstott Delivers Pugh Lecture Today at San Diego On Child Care Reform After The Pandemic
TaxProf Blog
Jacquin D. Bierman Professor in Taxation Anne Alstott delivered the annual Richard Crawford Pugh Lecture on Tax Law & Policy at the University of San Diego School of Law on “Child Care Reform After the Pandemic: Towards a Public Option.”
Thursday, March 4, 2021
The Public Option Beyond Healthcare
On February 25, 2021, Anne Alstott, Jacquin D. Bierman Professor at the Yale Law School, spoke at the Rockefeller Center at Dartmouth on “The Public Option Beyond Healthcare,” a discussion focused on the potential that the public option has for transforming American civic life, offering solutions to a variety of problems, from housing shortages to inadequate childcare.
Sunday, May 10, 2020
Mothering in a Pandemic — A Commentary by Anne Alstott ’87
Boston Review
Anne Alstott ’87 is the Jacquin D. Bierman Professor at Yale Law School.
Tuesday, December 17, 2019
Is A Wealth Tax Constitutional?
NPR / Planet Money
Research by Sterling Professor of Law and Political Science Bruce Ackerman ’67 and Jacquin D. Bierman Professor Anne Alstott ’87 on the idea of a wealth tax is mentioned in Planet Money.
Monday, August 26, 2019
The Limits of Private Action: What the Past 40 Years Taught Us About the Perils of Unregulated Markets — A Commentary by Anne Alstott ’87 and Ganesh Sitaraman
Pro-Market
Anne Alstott ’87 is the Jacquin D. Bierman Professor in Taxation at Yale Law School. Ganesh Sitaraman is a Professor of Law at Vanderbilt Law School. This commentary is an excerpt from their book, The Public Option: How to Expand Freedom, Increase Opportunity, and Promote Equality.
Wednesday, August 7, 2019
The Power of the Public Option: A Q&A With Ganesh Sitaraman and Anne Alstott
The American Prospect
Jacquin D. Bierman Professor of Law Anne L. Alstott ’87 and coauthor Ganesh Sitaraman are interviewed about their new book.
Monday, August 5, 2019
A Public Option For Everything?
WGBH
Jacquin D. Bierman Professor of Law Anne L. Alstott ’87 and coauthor Ganesh Sitaraman are interviewed about their new book.
Thursday, August 1, 2019
What About Rochester?
Project Syndicate
The new book by Jacquin D. Bierman Professor Anne L. Alstott ’87 and Ganesh Sitaraman is discussed in an article on how to promote economic growth in mid-sized cities.
Thursday, July 11, 2019
When Millions Can’t Afford to Retire, the U.S. Needs a Better Option — A Commentary by Anne Alstott ’87 and Ganesh Sitaraman
The Atlantic
Anne Alstott ’87 is the Jacquin D. Bierman Professor at Yale Law School. Ganesh Sitaraman is a Professor of Law at Vanderbilt Law School.
Saturday, July 6, 2019
There Should Be a Public Option for Everything — A Commentary by Ganesh Sitaraman and Anne L. Alstott ’87
The New York Times
Ganesh Sitaraman is Professor of Law at Vanderbilt Law School. Anne Alstott ’87 is the Jacquin D. Bierman Professor at Yale Law School.
Saturday, July 6, 2019
There Should Be a Public Option for Everything — A Commentary by Anne L. Alstott '87 and Ganesh Sitaraman
The New York Times
Anne L. Alstott '87 is the Jacquin D. Bierman Professor in Taxation.
Thursday, June 27, 2019
Anne Alstott on the Benefits of Public Options
Jacquin D. Bierman Professor Anne Alstott ’87 and coauthor Ganesh Sitaraman argue in their new book that public options — like schools, libraries, and the postal service — are all around us and can be a solution to inequalities.
Monday, January 8, 2018
2018’s Best & Worst States to Raise a Family
WalletHub
Jacquin D. Bierman Professor in Taxation Anne Alstott ’87 was interviewed for a feature article about what makes a state “family friendly.”
Friday, November 24, 2017
Millennials need to worry about these 4 things - in addition to saving for retirement; There will be lots of surprises down the road
MarketWatch
Jacquin D. Bierman Professor in Taxation Anne Alstott ’87 is quoted in an article about financial challenges facing millennials.
Friday, January 13, 2017
Anne L. Alstott '87 on How the Trump Administration Could Affect Tax Policy
Yale Alumni Magazine
Anne L. Alstott ’87JD is the Jacquin D. Bierman Professor in Taxation at the Law School.
Monday, November 7, 2016
Should the Social Security retirement age be 76? Author says low-wage earners should collect earlier
MarketWatch
“A New Deal for Old Age,” the latest book by Jacquin D. Bierman Professor in Taxation Anne Alstott ’87, is the subject of an article about Social Security.
Monday, November 7, 2016
Should the Social Security retirement age be 76? Author says low-wage earners should collect earlier
MarketWatch
“A New Deal for Old Age,” the latest book by Jacquin D. Bierman Professor in Taxation Anne Alstott ’87, is the subject of an article about Social Security.
Friday, August 26, 2016
Yale Professor: Raise Retirement Age To 76
Financial Advisor
An article detailing some of the ideas put forth in A New Deal for Old Age: Toward a Progressive Retirement, a new book by Jacquin D. Bierman Professor in Taxation Anne Alstott ’87.
Tuesday, June 7, 2016
How Hillary Can Join the Revolution—A Commentary by Bruce Ackerman ’67 and Anne Alstott ’87
Huffington Post
Bruce Ackerman ’67 is Sterling Professor of Law and Anne Alstott ’87 is the Jacquin D. Bierman Professor in Taxation at Yale Law School.
Thursday, March 31, 2016
Alstott Publishes Book on Social Security
Anne L. Alstott ’87, Jacquin D. Bierman Professor in Taxation, is the author of the newly released book A New Deal for Old Age: Toward a Progressive Retirement (Harvard University Press). In the book, Alstott argues that Social Security, which was created in the 1930s, marks a major achievement that is worth preserving but is out of step with the realities of work and aging today.
Monday, March 7, 2016
The Source: Resetting And Rethinking Social Security
Texas Public Radio
Jacquin D. Bierman Professor in Taxation Anne Alstott ’87 was interviewed about the future of Social Security.
Monday, January 11, 2016
The Power of Tax Law
In her new book, Taxation in Six Concepts: A Student’s Guide, Professor Anne Alstott ’87 boils down the law of taxation to just six concepts—valuation, net income, realization, tax deferral, substance over form, and income-shifting—and uses them to unpack leading cases and real-world transactions.
Tuesday, November 10, 2015
Anne Alstott Publishes Student Guide on Taxation
Anne Alstott ’87, the Jacquin D. Bierman Professor in Taxation, is the author of Taxation in Six Concepts: A Student’s Guide (CCH Inc., 2015).
Monday, May 20, 2013
YLS 2013 Commencement: Graduates Encouraged to Use Law as Tool for Change
Yale Law School's 2013 Commencement Ceremonies were held on May 20, 2013 with addresses by Professor Anne L. Alstott, Dean Robert C. Post, and U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor.
Tuesday, November 15, 2011
Anne Alstott ’87 Named Jacquin D. Bierman Professor of Taxation
Anne L. Alstott ’87, a specialist in taxation and social policy, has been named the Jacquin D. Bierman Professor of Taxation at the Yale Law School.
Monday, June 27, 2011
Anne Alstott ’87, James Forman Jr. ’92, and David Singh Grewal ’02 Appointed to Law School Faculty
Anne Alstott ’87, James Forman Jr. ’92, and David Singh Grewal ’02 will join the Yale Law School faculty on July 1, 2011.
Books
The Public Option: How to Expand Freedom, Increase Opportunity, and Promote Equality (Harvard University Press, 2019) (with Ganesh Sitaraman).
A New Deal for Old Age: Toward a Progressive Retirement (Harvard University Press, 2016).
Taxation in Six Concepts: A Student's Guide (CCH, 2015).
No Exit: What Parents Owe Children and What Society Owes Parents (Oxford University Press, 2004).
The Stakeholder Society Yale University Press, 1999) (with Bruce Ackerman).
Academic Articles
McNamara M, Lepore C, Alstott A, Kamody R, Kuper L, Szilagyi N, Boulware S, Olezeski C. Scientific Misinformation and Gender Affirming Care: Tools for Providers on the Front Lines. J Adolesc Health. 2022 Jul 1:S1054-139X(22)00503-1. doi: 10.1016/j.jadohealth.2022.06.008. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 35787819.
Law and the Hundred-Year Life, 26 Elder L.J. 132 (2018).
The New Inequality of Old Age, 18 Theoretical Inquiries in Law 111 (2017).
A New Deal for Old Age, 97 B.U. L. Rev. 1933 (2016).
Neoliberalism in Family Law: Negative Liberty and Laissez-Faire Markets in the Minimal State, 77 L. & CONTEMP. PROBS. 25 (2015).
Featured in Cyra Choudhury, The Limited Vision of Neoliberal Family Law, JOTWELL (Feb. 18, 2015), at http://family.jotwell.com/the-limited-vision-of-neoliberal-family-law/
Gender Quotas for Corporate Boards: Options for Legal Design in the United States, 26 Pace Int'l L. Rev. 38 (2014).
Updating the Welfare State: Marriage, The Income Tax, and Social Security in the Age of the New Individualism, 66 Tax L. Rev. 695 (2013).
Featured in Michael Livingston, Taxation and the Family: The Next Generation, JOTWELL (June 3, 2013).
Marriages as Assets? Real Freedom and Relational Freedom, in ARGUING ABOUT JUSTICE (Axel Gosseries and Yannick Vanderborght eds., 2011).
“A Fine is Not A Price:” Insights for Law, in IDEOLOGY, PSYCHOLOGY, AND LAW (Jon D. Hanson ed., 2011).
Why the Earned Income Tax Credit Doesn’t Make Work Pay, 73 LAW & SOC. PROBS. 285 (2010).
Private Tragedies? Family Law As Social Insurance, 4 HARV. L. & POL’Y REV. 3 (2010).
Family Values, Inheritance Law, and Inheritance Taxation, 63 TAX L. REV. 123 (2009).
Featured in Bridget Crawford, A Good Time to Die: Family-Based Objections to Inheritance Taxation, JOTWELL (Feb. 8, 2010).
The Stakeholder Society, in INT’L ENCYC. OF CIVIL SOC. (Helmut K. Anheier and Stefan Toepler eds., 2009).
Family Values and the Law of Inheritance, 7 SOCIO-ECONOMIC REVIEW 145 (January 2009).
Is the Family At Odds With Equality? The Legal Implications of Equality for Children, 82 S. CAL. L. REV. 1 (2008).
Equal Opportunity and Inheritance Taxation, 121 HARV. L. REV. 469 (2007).
War, Taxes, and Income Redistribution in the Twenties: The 1924 Veterans' Bonus and the Defeat of the Mellon Plan, 59 TAX L. REV. 373 (2006).
Caretaker Resource Accounts for Parents, in THE CITIZEN’S STAKE: EXPLORING THE FUTURE OF UNIVERSAL ASSET POLICIES (Will Paxton and Stuart White eds., Policy Press (U.K.), 2006).
Why Stakeholding? (with Bruce Ackerman) in REDESIGNING DISTRIBUTION (Erik Olin Wright ed., Verso, 2006).
What Does a Fair Society Owe Children – and Their Parents?, 72 FORDHAM L. REV. (April 2004) (invitational symposium on Rawls and the Law).
Work vs. Freedom: A Liberal Challenge to Employment Subsidies, 108 YALE L.J. 967 (1999).
The Uneasy Liberal Case Against Income and Wealth Transfer Taxation: A Response to Professor McCaffery, 51 TAX L. REV. 363 (1996).
Tax Policy and Feminism: Competing Goals and Institutional Choices, 96 COLUM. L. REV. 2001¬¬ (1996).
Federalism and U.S. Social Welfare Policy: Fundamental Change and New Uncertainties, 2 COLUM. J. EURO. LAW 441 (1996).
The Earned Income Tax Credit and the Limitations of Tax-Based Welfare Reform, 108 HARV. L. REV. 533 (1995).
Alleviating Marriage Penalties in the Income Tax and the Earned Income Tax Credit, 66 TAX NOTES 1343 (Feb. 27, 1995).
The Earned Income Tax Credit and Some Fundamental Institutional Dilemmas of Tax-Transfer Integration, 47 NAT'L TAX J. 609 (1994).
Approaches to Corporate Integration: The Treasury Department Report, 45 NAT'L TAX J. 209 (1992) (with economist James Mackie).
Additional Publications
Remarks, Yale Law School Commencement 2013, Yale Law School Commencement Addresses. Paper 9., at http://digitalcommons.law.yale.edu/ylsca/9
What to Do About Inequality (response to David Grusky), Boston Review, March/April 2012, p. 27.
Democratizing Wall Street? (with Bruce Ackerman), Huffington Post, October 12, 2011.
Class Warfare? (with Bruce Ackerman), Huffington Post, September 27, 2011.
Why (and How) to Tax the Super-Rich (with Bruce Ackerman), Los Angeles Times, September 20, 2011.
Don’t Accept Injustice (response to Nancy Hirschmann) Boston Review, July 2, 2010.
Why Poor Kids Can’t Find A Dentist, Slate (May 29, 2007).
What We Owe To Parents, Boston Review (April/May 2004) (lead article in a New Democracy Forum with Robin West, Dorothy Roberts, Amy Wax, Richard Epstein, Eva Kittay, and Deborah Stone as commentators).
(A Basic Income is) Good for Women, in Delivering A Basic Income (Joshua Cohen and Joel Rogers eds., 2001).
Tony Blair’s Big Idea, N.Y. Times, May 6, 2001 (with B. Ackerman).
$80,000 and a Dream, The Am. Prospect, July 17, 2000 (with B. Ackerman).
Your Stake in America, 41 Az L. Rev. 249 (1999) (with B. Ackerman).