Some readers of Credit Slips will be at the convention of the Association of American Law Schools in Washington ( I will not). Those
who are will be well requited to drop by and give an ear to Professor
Rashmi Dyal-Chand (Northeastern) as she presents her paper, “Human Worth as Collateral,” the winner of this year’s scholarly papers competition. Students
of mine will tell you the topic has become something of a hobby-horse
of mine (although I may not have anything useful to say about it). Professor
Dyal-Chand makes an ambitious foray into the field, examining “two
modern examples…at geographical, economic and cultural
extremes”—middle-class First  World consumer lending and Third World micro-lending. I
have a lot of concerns about this paper which aren’t well enough
thought out yet for prime time—suffice to say I think she may be
conflating human-capital lending with character lending, and perhaps
underrating the extent to which lenders understand what they were doing
in this area.  But no matter; it is a brave beginning on a topic whose time is, perhaps, overdue. I’m sorry I won’t be around to listen to the discussion. Professor Dyal-Chand will present Thursday (January 4) from 4 to 545p, in the Hoover Room on the Mezzanine Level of the Marriott  Wardman Park.