Michael L. Wachter
William B. and Mary Barb Johnson Professor of Law and Economics, Co-Director, Inst. for Law & Economics

Michael Wachter is a prominent cross-disciplinary scholar in the fields of law and economics, with his current research focusing on topics of corporate law, corporate finance, and labor law and economics.
Since 1970, when he joined the Penn faculty, he has held full professorships in three of Penn’s schools: Arts and Sciences, where he has been professor of economics since 1976; the Wharton School, where he was professor of management, 1980-92; and the Law School, where he became professor of law and economics in 1984. In that year he also took on the directorship of the Institute for Law and Economics. Under his leadership, ILE has grown to become a nationally recognized center at the intersection of law and business which brings together at roundtables and conferences eminent law and finance scholars, judges, lawyers, private equity and hedge fund managers, and general counsels of major public corporations to discuss cutting edge issues in corporate governance and corporate finance.
Wachter served as Deputy Provost of the University of Pennsylvania from July 1995 to January 1998, and as Interim Provost from January to December 1998. His current research focuses on corporate governance and topics in the intersection of corporate law and finance.
Articles and Book Chapters
Adolf Berle, E. Merrick Dodd and the New American Corporatism of 1932, in RESEARCH HANDBOOK ON THE HISTORY OF CORPORATE LAW (Harwell Wells ed., Edward Elgar 2018) (with William B. Bratton).
Bankers and Chancellors, 93 TEX. L. REV. 1 (2014) (with William W. Bratton)
The Case Against Shareholder Empowerment, 158 U. PA. L. REV. 653 (2010) (with William W. Bratton).
The Rise and Decline of Unions, 30 REG. 23 (2007).
Labor Unions: A Corporatist Institution in a Competitive World, 155 U. PA. L. REV. 581 (2007).
Corporate Control Transactions, 152 U. PA. L. REV. 463 (2003) (with Edward B. Rock).
More publications can be found here.
Working Papers
Finding the Right Balance in Appraisal Litigation: Deal Price, Deal Process, and Synergies, BUS. LAW. (forthcoming, 2018) (with Lawrence A. Hamermesh). (forthcoming 2018)
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Why Defer to Managers? A Strong-Form Efficiency Model. (with Richard Kihlstrom) ILE Working Paper 05-19 (2005).
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Research Areas
- Corporate Law
- Corporate Finance
- Labor Law
- Law and Economics
Positions
Penn Law - William B. and Mary Barb Johnson Professor of Law & Economics (1993- ); Professor of Management (1984-93)
U.S. Postal Service - Consultant (1980- )
Penn - Interim Provost (1998); Deputy Provost (1995-98); Faculty Assistant to the President (1975-79)
Commissioner, Minimum Wage Study Commission, Congressional Commission - established by Public Law 95-151, 95th Congress (1978-81)
Courses
- Corporate Law
- Corporate Finance
- Corporate Theory Seminar