Daniel Markovits
Guido Calabresi Professor of Law
(on leave, spring 2023)
Daniel Markovits is the Guido Calabresi Professor of Law at Yale Law School and the Founding Director of the Center for the Study of Private Law. Markovits publishes widely and in a range of disciplines, including law, philosophy, and economics.
FULL BIOGRAPHY
Contact Information
- Room 343
- 203-432-2371
- daniel.markovits@yale.edu
Faculty Assistant
Patricia Milardo
- 349
- 203-432-4991
- patricia.milardo@yale.edu
Education & Curriculum Vitae
J.D., Yale Law School, 2000
B.Phil./D.Phil. (Philosophy), University of Oxford, 1994/1999
M.Sc (Econometrics and Mathematical Economics), London School of Economics, 1992
B.A. (Mathematics), Yale University, 1991
Courses Taught
- Contracts
- Advanced Contracts
- Federal Income Taxation
- Law and Globalization
- The Theory & History of Toleration
- Meritocracy and Inequality
- Seminar in Private Law
Daniel Markovits is the Guido Calabresi Professor of Law at Yale Law School and the Founding Director of the Center for the Study of Private Law. Markovits publishes widely and in a range of disciplines, including law, philosophy, and economics. His writings have appeared in Science, The American Economic Review, The Yale Law Journal, PNAS, The New York Times, The Washington Post, Time, and The Atlantic. In 2021, Prospect Magazine named him to its list of the world’s top 50 thinkers.
His current book, The Meritocracy Trap (Penguin Press, 2019), develops a sustained attack on American meritocracy. The book places meritocracy at the center of rising economic inequality and social and political dysfunction. The book takes up the law, economics, and politics of human capital to identify the mechanisms through which meritocracy breeds inequality and to expose the burdens that meritocratic inequality imposes on all who fall within meritocracy’s orbit.
Markovits is also working on a new book, tentatively called The Good Life after the Age of Growth.
After earning a B.A. in Mathematics, summa cum laude from Yale University, Markovits received a British Marshall Scholarship to study in England, where he was awarded an M.Sc. in Econometrics and Mathematical Economics from the L.S.E. and a B.Phil. and D.Phil. in Philosophy from the University of Oxford. Markovits then returned to Yale to study law and, after clerking for the Honorable Guido Calabresi, joined the faculty at Yale.
Wednesday, January 11, 2023
What Does McKinsey Do Exactly?
CJAD
Guido Calabresi Professor of Law Daniel Markovits ’00 discusses the potential problems of governments relying on McKinsey & Company and other management consultant firms.
Monday, December 19, 2022
Professor Markovits Delivers Lecture in New Delhi
Professor Daniel Markovits ’00 delivered the 10th Distinguished Lecture at the UNESCO Mahatma Gandhi Institute of Education for Peace and Sustainable Development (MGIEP) in New Delhi on Dec. 8.
Monday, December 12, 2022
It’s a Scary Future in the U.S. in Terms of Inequality in Education, Says Daniel Markovits of Yale Law School
Financial Express
Guido Calabresi Professor of Law Daniel Markovits ’00 discusses how the U.S. education system fared during the pandemic and what it means for inequality.
Thursday, June 23, 2022
Learning Loss Doesn’t Begin to Describe What Happened — A Commentary by Daniel Markovits ’00 and Meira Levinson
The Atlantic
Daniel Markovits ’00 is Guido Calabresi Professor of Law at Yale Law School. Meira Levinson is the Juliana W. and William Foss Thompson Professor of Education and Society at the Harvard Graduate School of Education.
Tuesday, February 1, 2022
Seminar Explores Private Law and Public Justice
"Private Orderings and Public Justice" will explore how private law and the private arrangements that it enables and facilitates may promote or hamper public justice goals.
Tuesday, January 26, 2021
How to Pay for College (and Not Lose Your Shirt)
The New York Times
Guido Calabresi Professor of Law Daniel Markovits ’00 reviews The Price You Pay for College in The New York Times.
Friday, October 16, 2020
New Law School Workshop Explores Impact of COVID Across All Aspects of Law and Policy
The Solomon Center for Health Law and Policy has convened a weekly interdisciplinary workshop with leading experts from law, policy, economics, health, and governance to address issues related to all aspects of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Saturday, July 11, 2020
Is Meritocracy a Scam? Is the US Really a Meritocracy?
David Pakman Show
Guido Calabresi Professor of Law Daniel Markovits ’00 was the guest on the David Pakman Show, where he discussed his book, The Meritocracy Trap.
Tuesday, June 16, 2020
Black Lives Matter Might Just Save American Democracy — A Commentary by Oona Hathaway ’97 and Daniel Markovits ’00
Just Security
Oona Hathaway ’97 is the Gerard C. and Bernice Latrobe Smith Professor of International Law at Yale Law School. Daniel Markovits ’00 is the Guido Calabresi Professor of Law at Yale Law School.
Tuesday, April 21, 2020
A Wealth Tax Is the Logical Way to Support Coronavirus Relief — A Commentary by Daniel Markovits ’00
The New York Times
Daniel Markovits ’00 is Guido Calabresi Professor of Law at Yale Law School.
Monday, February 3, 2020
How McKinsey Destroyed the Middle Class — A Commentary by Daniel Markovits ’00
The Atlantic
Daniel Markovits ’00 is Guido Calabresi Professor of Law at Yale Law School.
Thursday, January 30, 2020
Arthur Ripstein Speaks on “A Wrong Personal to You”
At the Seminar in Private Law on January 28, 2020, Arthur Ripstein, Professor of Law and Philosophy and University Professor at the University of Toronto Faculty of Law, presented his paper “A Wrong Personal to You.”
Friday, January 24, 2020
Seminar in Private Law Focuses on Private Law and Inequality
The Seminar in Private Law for spring 2020 will devote itself the question of private law and inequality.
Thursday, January 9, 2020
How Meritocracy Worsens Inequality—and Makes Even the Rich Miserable
Yale Insights
Guido Calabresi Professor of Law Daniel Markovits ’00 spoke to Yale Insights about the ideas in his recent book, The Meritocracy Trap.
Tuesday, September 10, 2019
Professor Markovits on the Meritocracy Trap
Guido Calabresi Professor of Law Daniel Markovits ’00 discusses the problems with meritocracy in his new book The Meritocracy Trap.
Monday, September 9, 2019
The Meritocrat Who Wants to Unwind the Meritocracy
The New York Times
Guido Calabresi Professor of Law Daniel Markovits ’00 is interviewed in The New York Times about his new book The Meritocracy Trap: How America’s Foundational Myth Feeds Inequality, Dismantles the Middle Class and Devours the Elite.
Monday, August 19, 2019
How Life Became an Endless, Terrible Competition — A Commentary by Daniel Markovits '00
The Atlantic
Daniel Markovits ’00 is the Guido Calabresi Professor of Law at Yale Law School.
Wednesday, July 10, 2019
Seminar Returns to Argentina with Gender and Equality Focus
Legal scholars from Yale Law School and 14 countries convened in Buenos Aires in June for the 24th annual Seminario en Latinoamérica de Teoría Constitutional y Política, or SELA, this year addressing the topic of gender and equality.
Wednesday, April 10, 2019
Lisa Austin on Privacy, Social Identity, and Manipulation
At the Seminar in Private Law, Professor Lisa Austin, Chair in Law and Technology, Faculty of Law, University of Toronto, led the session titled “Privacy, Social Identity and Manipulation.”
Thursday, April 4, 2019
Sheila Jasanoff on the Subjects of Reason
At the Seminar in Private Law, Sheila Jasanoff, Pforzheimer Professor of Science and Technology Studies at the Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University, discussed her paper “Subjects of Reason: Goods, Markets and Competing Imaginaries of Global Governance.”
Tuesday, February 26, 2019
Brishen Rogers Discusses How Technology Really Changes Work
Brishen Rogers, an Associate Professor of Law at Temple University Beasley School of Law, spoke about the political economy of technology in the workplace at the Seminar in Private Law on February 26, 2019.
Tuesday, February 19, 2019
Julie Cohen Speaks on Her New Book “Between Truth and Power”
Professor of Law and Technology at Georgetown Law Center Julie Cohen discussed the relationship between law and new technologies at the Seminar in Private Law on February 19, 2019.
Monday, November 23, 2015
Doctoral Scholarship Conference Will Be Held December 4–5
The Fifth Annual Doctoral Scholarship Conference will be held at Yale Law School on December 4 and 5, 2015.
Monday, December 29, 2014
Ending excessive police force starts with new rules of engagement—A Commentary by Ian Ayres ’86 and Daniel Markovits ’00
The Washington Post
Ian Ayres ’86 is the William K. Townsend Professor of Law at Yale Law School and Daniel Markovits ’00 is the Guido Calabresi Professor of Law at Yale Law School.
Wednesday, September 3, 2014
Symposium to Explore the Impact of Money on Society
A symposium focusing on the power of money in society and social influences on its formation and use will take place at the Yale School of Management and Yale Law School on Friday, September 12.
Wednesday, February 22, 2012
Professor Daniel Markovits ’00 to Discuss Market Solidarity in Guido Calabresi Inaugural Lecture April 9
Daniel Markovits ’00 will present his inaugural lecture as the Guido Calabresi Professor of Law on April 9, 2012, speaking on “Market Solidarity.”
Friday, September 9, 2011
Professors Fish and Markovits Open Law and Religion Series with Debate on Democracy, Diversity, and Disagreement
Professors Stanley Fish and Daniel Markovits ’00 will debate “Democracy, Diversity, and Disagreement” on Sept. 14, 2011.
Friday, December 17, 2010
Yale Law Professors Establish Website to Encourage Tax Cut Givebacks
Yale Law School professors Daniel Markovits ’00 and Jacob Hacker have set up a website to encourage Americans who wish to do so to give back their tax cuts.
Wednesday, October 13, 2010
Chairs Conferred on YLS Professors Richard Brooks and Daniel Markovits ’00
Richard Brooks has been named the Leighton Homer Surbeck Professor of Law at Yale Law School, and Daniel Markovits ’00 has been named the Guido Calabresi Professor of Law.
Monday, October 12, 2009
SELA Participants Gather in Paraguay to Examine Law and Sexuality
Nearly 100 lawyers and legal scholars from North and South America gathered in Asunción, Paraguay, this past June for the 2009 SELA meeting.
Books
A Modern Legal Ethics: Adversary Advocacy in a Democratic Age (Princeton University Press, 2008)
Contract Law and Legal Methods (Foundation Press, 2012)
Contracts: Law, Theory, and Practice (Foundation Press, 2018) (with Gabriel Rauterberg)
The Meritocracy Trap (Penguin Press, 2019)
Articles
How Much Redistribution Should There Be?, 112 Yale Law Journal 2291 (2003)
Legal Ethics from the Lawyer’s Point of View, 15 Yale Journal of Law & the Humanities 209 (2004)
Contract and Collaboration, 113 Yale Law Journal 1417 (2004)
La Paradoja de la Violencia in LA Violencia: Seminario en Latinoamerica de Teoria Constitucioinal y Politica 2003 (2004)
The No Retraction Principle and the Morality of Negotiations, 152 University of Pennsylvania Law Review 1903 (2004)
Further Thoughts About Legal Ethics from the Lawyer’s Point of View, 16 Yale Journal of Law & the Humanities 85 (2004)
Quarantines and Distributive Justice, 33 Journal of Law Medicine & Ethics 323 (2005)
Democratic Disobedience, 114 Yale Law Journal 1897 (2005)
Adversary Advocacy and the Authority of Adjudication, 75 Fordham L. Rev. 1367 (2006) (symposium on the internal point of view in jurisprudence and legal ethics)
Making and Keeping Contracts, 92 Virginia L. Rev. 1325 (2006) (symposium on contemporary political philosophy and private law)
Three Thoughts Concerning “Just Linkage,” 39 Cornell Int’l L. J 655 (2006) (symposium on Global Justice: Poverty, Human Rights, and Responsibilities)
Comment: An Inexorable Trend?, Poder Executivo: Seminario en Latinoamerica de Teoria Constitucioinal y Politica 2006 (forthcoming 2007)
In Praise of the Supporting Cast, 116 Yale L.J. Pocket Part 272 (2007)
Individual Preferences for Giving (with Raymond Fisman and Shachar Kariv), 97 American Economic Review 1858 (2007)
Luck Egalitarianism and Political Solidarity, 9 Theoretical Inquiries in Law 271 (2008) (symposium issue on Moral and Legal Luck)
The Architecture of Integrity, in Reading Bernard Williams (Routledge) (2009)
Promise as an Arm’s Length Relation, in Promises and Agreements: Philosophical Essays (Oxford) (2010)
Arbitration's Arbitrage: Social Solidarity at the Nexus of Adjudication and Contract, 59 DePaul L. Rev. 431 (2010) (Clifford Symposium on Social Justice)
How (and How Not) to do Legal Ethics, 23 Georgetown Journal of Legal Ethics 1041 (2010)
Three Issues in Legal Ethics, 60 University of Toronto Law Review 1003 (2010)
Legal Ethics Rebound, 12 Legal Ethics 261 (2010)
Not Morality at All, and Certainly Not Morality as Regulative Ideal, 13 Legal Ethics (2010) (Forum on Philosophical Legal Ethics: Ethics, Morals, and Jurisprudence from the panel on jurisprudence of legal ethics at the fourth International Legal Ethics Congress)
Book Review of Max Bazerman and Ann Tenbrunsel, Blind Spots: Why We Fail to Do What’s Right and What to Do About It, 69 J. Econ. Lit. 52 (2011)
The Myth of Efficient Breach: New Defenses of the Expectation Interest, 97 Virginia Law Review 1939 (2011) (with Alan Schwartz)
The Expectation Remedy and the Promissory Basis of Contract, 45 Suffolk Law Review 799 (2012) (symposium in honor of the 30th anniversary of the publication of Contract as Promise) (with Alan Schwartz)
The Expectation Remedy Revisited, 98 Virginia Law Review 1093 (2012) (with Alan Schwartz)
A Problem Concerning Proportional Representation: Constitutional Politics and the Crisis of Democratic Legitimacy, EUI Working Paper 2012/55 (2012).
Lawyerly Fidelity in Sanford Levinson, Paul Woodruff, and Joel Parker, eds. LOYALTY: NOMOS LIV (2012)
What are Lawyers For?, 47 Akron L. Rev. 135 (2014) (keynote speech at Miller-Becker Ethics Symposium), republished in the journal of the German-American Lawyers’ Guild.
Good Faith as Contract’s Core Value in The Philosophical Foundations of Contract Law (OUP 2014).
Sharing Ex Ante and Sharing Ex Post: The Non-Contractual Basis of Fiduciary Relations in The Philosophical Foundations of Fiduciary Law (OUP 2014)
Ökonomische Ungleicheit, Ein Beitrag as den USA, PolarKreis 2014.
Authority, Recognition, and the Grounds of Promise, Jurisprudence: An International Journal of Legal and Political Thought, 6:2, 349-356 (2015) (symposium on David Owens, Shaping the Normative Landscape)
The Distributional Preferences of an Elite (with Raymond Fisman and Shachar Kariv), Science, 349, aab0096 (2015). DOI:10.1126/science.aab0096
Remembering Mr. Fairman, 77 Ohio State L.J. 513 (2016)
Civility, Rule-Following, and the Authority of Law, Columbia L. Rev. Sidebar (2016)
Good Faith Bargaining in the Shadow of a Form, in A Dyson, J Goudkamp and F Wilmot-Smith (eds), Defences in Contract (Oxford, Hart Publishing 2017)
(In)Efficient Breach of Contract in Francesco Parisi, ed., The Oxford Handbook of Law and Economics: Volume 2: Private and Commercial Law (with Alan Schwartz) (2017)
Hope and Fear for Democracy in America, 98 B.U. L. Rev. Online 1 (2018) (symposium on Ganesh Sitaraman, The Crisis of the Middle-Class Constitution)
Theories of the Common Law of Contract, in Edward N. Zalta, ed., The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Winter 2019 Edition)
Plural Values in Contract Law: Theory and Implementation, 20 Theoretical Inquiries L. 571 (with Alan Schwartz) (Symposium Issue on Hanoch Dagan and Michael Heller, The Choice Theory of Contracts) (2019)
Contract, in J. Tasioulas, ed., The Cambridge Companion to the Philosophy of Law (Cambridge, Cambridge University Press 2020)
Re-Thinking Remedies in Private Law (with Alan Schwartz) (working paper)
Market Solidarity: Price as Commensuration, Contract as Integration (working paper)
Promise Made Pure (working paper)
A New Theory of the Firm (working paper)