Ian Ayres
Encyclopedia
Ian Ayres is an American academic who is the William K. Townsend
Professor at the Yale Law School
and a Professor at the Yale School of Management
.
), a controversial piece detailing the consequences of his checking the "African- American" box for race on his PSAT, which led to consideration for academic awards. Ian Ayres graduated Summa Cum Laude in 1981 from Yale University
with a dual degree in Russian Studies and Economics. He then received his J.D. at Yale Law School
in 1986, where he was an editor of the Yale Law Journal
. He received his Ph.D. in Economics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology
in 1988. Throughout his career, Ayres has been committed to social justice and has been involved in public interest law. In a post-conviction petition, Ayres was successful in vacating the death sentence for his client.
Ayres has taught at Northwestern University School of Law
, the University of Virginia School of Law
, the Moscow State Institute of International Relations Cardoza Law Institute, the University of Iowa College of Law
, the University of Illinois College of Law, Stanford Law School
, the University of Toronto Law School, and Yale University
.
Since 1994, Ayres has served as the William K. Townsend Professor at the Yale Law School
and is Professor at the Yale School of Management
. He teaches Antitrust, Civil Rights, Commercial Law, Contracts, Corporations, Corporate Finance, Law and Economics, Property, and Quantitative Methods. In 2006, Ayres was elected a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences
, and also currently serves as a Research Associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research
and as the Editor of the Journal of Law, Economics and Organization. Ayres has previously served as a research fellow of the American Bar Foundation
and has clerked for the Honorable James K. Logan of the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals.
Ayres has published 8 books and over 100 articles in law reviews and magazines on a variety of subjects, and has been ranked as one of the 250 most prolific and most-cited legal scholars of his generation.
In 2007, Ayres co-founded StickK
, a web startup enabling users to enter commitment contracts to reach personal goals.
, David Leonhardt
of the New York Times "came across two sentences about a doctor in Atlanta that were nearly identical to two sentences I wrote in this newspaper last year." From another author in Fast Company
Ayres "reproduces the exact words, without quotation marks." Leonhardt was particularly disturbed that "many readers will surely assume that Ayres witnessed some events" that he did not. The Yale Daily News found nine passages, some more than a paragraph long, where Ayres used the exact words of other authors without quotation marks. In reference to Ayres' case and another one at Southern Illinois University, Inside Higher Ed
said "Both men simply stuck passages from other writers into their text when it suited them, and gave either minimal or no attribution. In some of the passages in question, neither used quotation marks, even when they quoted at length, verbatim."
After some controversy over three weeks, Ayres did say "...I should have used quotation marks to set it apart from my text. I apologize for these errors...." He and his publisher promised to correct future printings. Critics were not satisfied with his explanation that he had simply made a mistake. Inside Higher Ed
noted that the same behavior by students is "severely sanctioned." Professors at other universities were quite critical of Ayres' explanation and pointed out that the method used by the Yale Daily News to discover plagiarized passages was unlikely to catch them all.
Ian Ayres’ two most well-known articles are:
William Kneeland Townsend
William Kneeland Townsend was a federal judge in the United States.A native of New Haven, Connecticut, Townsend attended both Yale College, where he was a member of Skull and Bones, and Yale Law School. He worked for several years as a lawyer in private practice in New Haven, including as an...
Professor at the Yale Law School
Yale Law School
Yale Law School, or YLS, is the law school of Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Established in 1824, it offers the J.D., LL.M., J.S.D. and M.S.L. degrees in law. It also hosts visiting scholars, visiting researchers and a number of legal research centers...
and a Professor at the Yale School of Management
Yale School of Management
The Yale School of Management is the graduate business school of Yale University and is located on Hillhouse Avenue in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. The School offers Master of Business Administration and Ph.D. degree programs. As of January 2011, 454 students were enrolled in its MBA...
.
Biography
Ian Ayres grew up in Kansas City and graduated from the Pembroke-Country Day School in 1977. He played varsity basketball, ran cross country, and served as executive editor of the Hilltop, the high school newspaper. Ayres wrote an op-ed piece his senior year called "Black Like Me" (named for the 1961 book of the same nameBlack Like Me
Black Like Me is a non-fiction book by journalist John Howard Griffin first published in 1961. Griffin was a white native of Mansfield, Texas and the book describes his six-week experience travelling on Greyhound buses throughout the racially segregated states of Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama...
), a controversial piece detailing the consequences of his checking the "African- American" box for race on his PSAT, which led to consideration for academic awards. Ian Ayres graduated Summa Cum Laude in 1981 from Yale University
Yale University
Yale University is a private, Ivy League university located in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701 in the Colony of Connecticut, the university is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States...
with a dual degree in Russian Studies and Economics. He then received his J.D. at Yale Law School
Yale Law School
Yale Law School, or YLS, is the law school of Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Established in 1824, it offers the J.D., LL.M., J.S.D. and M.S.L. degrees in law. It also hosts visiting scholars, visiting researchers and a number of legal research centers...
in 1986, where he was an editor of the Yale Law Journal
Yale Law Journal
The Yale Law Journal is a student-run law review affiliated with the Yale Law School. Published continuously since 1891, it is the most widely known of the eight law reviews published by students at Yale Law School...
. He received his Ph.D. in Economics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology is a private research university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts. MIT has five schools and one college, containing a total of 32 academic departments, with a strong emphasis on scientific and technological education and research.Founded in 1861 in...
in 1988. Throughout his career, Ayres has been committed to social justice and has been involved in public interest law. In a post-conviction petition, Ayres was successful in vacating the death sentence for his client.
Ayres has taught at Northwestern University School of Law
Northwestern University School of Law
The Northwestern University School of Law is a private American law school in Chicago, Illinois. The law school was founded in 1859 as the Union College of Law of the Old University of Chicago. The first law school established in Chicago, it became jointly controlled by Northwestern University in...
, the University of Virginia School of Law
University of Virginia School of Law
The University of Virginia School of Law was founded in Charlottesville in 1819 by Thomas Jefferson as one of the original subjects taught at his "academical village," the University of Virginia. The law school maintains an enrollment of approximately 1,100 students in its initial degree program...
, the Moscow State Institute of International Relations Cardoza Law Institute, the University of Iowa College of Law
University of Iowa College of Law
The University of Iowa College of Law is one of the eleven professional graduate schools at the University of Iowa, located in Iowa City, Iowa. Founded in 1865, it is the oldest law school in continuous operation west of the Mississippi River. The law school was ranked as the 27th best law school...
, the University of Illinois College of Law, Stanford Law School
Stanford Law School
Stanford Law School is a graduate school at Stanford University located in the area known as the Silicon Valley, near Palo Alto, California in the United States. The Law School was established in 1893 when former President Benjamin Harrison joined the faculty as the first professor of law...
, the University of Toronto Law School, and Yale University
Yale University
Yale University is a private, Ivy League university located in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701 in the Colony of Connecticut, the university is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States...
.
Since 1994, Ayres has served as the William K. Townsend Professor at the Yale Law School
Yale Law School
Yale Law School, or YLS, is the law school of Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Established in 1824, it offers the J.D., LL.M., J.S.D. and M.S.L. degrees in law. It also hosts visiting scholars, visiting researchers and a number of legal research centers...
and is Professor at the Yale School of Management
Yale School of Management
The Yale School of Management is the graduate business school of Yale University and is located on Hillhouse Avenue in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. The School offers Master of Business Administration and Ph.D. degree programs. As of January 2011, 454 students were enrolled in its MBA...
. He teaches Antitrust, Civil Rights, Commercial Law, Contracts, Corporations, Corporate Finance, Law and Economics, Property, and Quantitative Methods. In 2006, Ayres was elected a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences
American Academy of Arts and Sciences
The American Academy of Arts and Sciences is an independent policy research center that conducts multidisciplinary studies of complex and emerging problems. The Academy’s elected members are leaders in the academic disciplines, the arts, business, and public affairs.James Bowdoin, John Adams, and...
, and also currently serves as a Research Associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research
National Bureau of Economic Research
The National Bureau of Economic Research is an American private nonprofit research organization "committed to undertaking and disseminating unbiased economic research among public policymakers, business professionals, and the academic community." The NBER is well known for providing start and end...
and as the Editor of the Journal of Law, Economics and Organization. Ayres has previously served as a research fellow of the American Bar Foundation
American Bar Foundation
Established in 1952, the ' is an independent, nonprofit national research institute located in Chicago, Illinois committed to objective empirical research on law and legal institutions...
and has clerked for the Honorable James K. Logan of the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals.
Ayres has published 8 books and over 100 articles in law reviews and magazines on a variety of subjects, and has been ranked as one of the 250 most prolific and most-cited legal scholars of his generation.
In 2007, Ayres co-founded StickK
StickK
stickK.com is an American Internet start-up company that enables users to make commitment contracts in order to reach their personal goals.- Service :...
, a web startup enabling users to enter commitment contracts to reach personal goals.
Controversy
Reading Ayres' 2007 book Super CrunchersSuper Crunchers
Super Crunchers: Why Thinking-by-Numbers Is the New Way to be Smart is a book written by Ian Ayres, a law professor at Yale Law School about how number analysis, such as multiple regression analysis affects all areas of life, often in unexpected ways....
, David Leonhardt
David Leonhardt
David Leonhardt is the Washington bureau chief of The New York Times. He joined The Times in 1999 and wrote the "Economics Scene" column, and for the Times Sunday Magazine. Before coming to The Times, he wrote for Business Week and The Washington Post...
of the New York Times "came across two sentences about a doctor in Atlanta that were nearly identical to two sentences I wrote in this newspaper last year." From another author in Fast Company
Fast Company (magazine)
Fast Company is a full-color business magazine that releases 10 issues per year and reports on topics including innovation, digital media, technology, change management, leadership, design, and social responsibility...
Ayres "reproduces the exact words, without quotation marks." Leonhardt was particularly disturbed that "many readers will surely assume that Ayres witnessed some events" that he did not. The Yale Daily News found nine passages, some more than a paragraph long, where Ayres used the exact words of other authors without quotation marks. In reference to Ayres' case and another one at Southern Illinois University, Inside Higher Ed
Inside Higher Ed
Inside Higher Ed is a daily online publication focused on college and university topics, based in Washington, D.C., USA.The publication was founded in 2004 by Kathlene Collins, formerly a business manager for The Chronicle of Higher Education, and two former top editors of The Chronicle, Scott...
said "Both men simply stuck passages from other writers into their text when it suited them, and gave either minimal or no attribution. In some of the passages in question, neither used quotation marks, even when they quoted at length, verbatim."
After some controversy over three weeks, Ayres did say "...I should have used quotation marks to set it apart from my text. I apologize for these errors...." He and his publisher promised to correct future printings. Critics were not satisfied with his explanation that he had simply made a mistake. Inside Higher Ed
Inside Higher Ed
Inside Higher Ed is a daily online publication focused on college and university topics, based in Washington, D.C., USA.The publication was founded in 2004 by Kathlene Collins, formerly a business manager for The Chronicle of Higher Education, and two former top editors of The Chronicle, Scott...
noted that the same behavior by students is "severely sanctioned." Professors at other universities were quite critical of Ayres' explanation and pointed out that the method used by the Yale Daily News to discover plagiarized passages was unlikely to catch them all.
Publications
Ian Ayres’ books include:- The $500 Diet: Weight Loss for People Who Are Committed to Change(Kindle Singles, 2011)
- Carrots and Sticks (Bantam, 2010, ISBN 0553807633)
- LifeCycle investing: A New, Safe, and Audacious Way to Improve the Performance of Your Retirement Portfolio, with Barry Nalebuff (Basic Books, 2010, ISBN 0465018297)
- Studies in Contract Law, with Richard E. Speidel (Foundation Press, 2008, ISBN 1599412551)
- Super Crunchers: Why Thinking-By-Numbers is the New Way To Be Smart (Bantam, 2007, ISBN 0553805401)
- Straightforward: How to Mobilize Heterosexual Support for Gay Rights, with Jennifer Gerarda Brown (Princeton University Press, 2005, ISBN 0691121346)
- Optional Law: The Structure of Legal Entitlements (University of Chicago Press, 2005, ISBN 0226033465)
- Insincere Promises: The Law of Misrepresented Intent, with Gregory Klass (Yale University Press, 2005, ISBN 0300106750)
- Why Not?: How to Use Everyday Ingenuity to Solve Problems Big and Small, with Barry NalebuffBarry NalebuffBarry Nalebuff is Milton Steinbach Professor of Management at Yale School of Management. He is an expert in business strategy and game theory, as well as many other topics.-Education:Graduated Highschool at Belmont Hill School...
(Harvard Business School Press, 2003, ISBN 1591391539)
- Voting with Dollars: A New Paradigm for Campaign Finance, with Bruce AckermanBruce AckermanBruce Arnold Ackerman is an American constitutional law scholar. He is a Sterling Professor at Yale Law School and one of the most frequently cited legal academics in the United States....
(Yale University Press, 2002, ISBN 0300092628)
- Pervasive Prejudice?: Non-Traditional Evidence of Race and Gender Discrimination (University of Chicago Press, 2001, ISBN 0226033511)
Ian Ayres’ two most well-known articles are:
- “Fair Driving: Gender and Race Discrimination in Retail Car Negotiations”, 104 Harvard Law Review 817 (1991)
- “Filling Gaps in Incomplete Contracts: An Economic Theory of Default Rules”, with Robert Gertner, 99 Yale Law Journal 87 (1989)
External links
- Ian Ayres' Homepage
- Ian Ayres' Resume
- Why Not? How to Use Everday Ingenuity to Solve Problems Big and Small, with Ian Ayres and Barry Nalebuff
- Information regarding Straightforward: How to Mobilize Heterosexual Support for Gay Rights, by Ian Ayres and Jennifer Gerarda Brown
- Fair Employment Mark
- Ayres uncovers hidden bias in racial stats in the Harvard Law RecordHarvard Law RecordThe Harvard Law Record is an independent, biweekly student-edited newspaper based at Harvard Law School. Founded in 1946, it is the oldest law school newspaper in the United States.-Characteristics:...