From left to right: José Ángel Brandariz, Bernard Harcourt

On March 14th, the Law Faculty of the University of A Coruña hosted a talk, organised by the ECRIM research group, and given by Bernard Harcourt, Julius Kreeger Professor of Law and Political Science at the University of Chicago (USA) [www.bernardharcourt.com]. Prof. Harcourt lectured on “The Illusion of Free Markets: Laissez Faire and Mass Incarceration in the USA“. The talk was a sort of introduction to Prof. Harcourt’s new book, recently published by Harvard University Press: The Illusion of Free Markets. Punishment and the Myth of Natural Order. In this book, Bernard Harcourt traces the genealogy of neoliberal thought on social control, an approach which gained momentum in the last three decades, through the Law and Economics theoretical movement, closely tied to the University of Chicago.