The Political Economy of Fraud on the Market provides a wide-ranging criticism of and thoughtful reforms for securities class actions….However, both their critique of contemporary class actions and their model of the reforms they propose leave unexamined a good many matters relevant to both the criticism and reform of securities class actions….Bratton and Wachter earn high marks for being less passionate and much more thoughtful than others in the chorus calling for reform; indeed, their observations are among the most thoughtful to be found in this area. Nonetheless, their analysis is incomplete in many important areas, and in addition to the lacunae in their analysis, they commit an even more fundamental error by taking the narrow view that securities class actions have only a private and not a public mission.
Volume 160 Issue 1 2012 Response