Date: November 4, 2025 (Tuesday)

Time: 1:30pm – 2:30pm

Venue: Room 624, 6/F Cheng Yu Tung Tower, The University of Hong Kong

Speaker: Felix Chang, Robert J. Watkins/Procter & Gamble Professor of Law, The Ohio State University

This paper analyzes trusts from a law and economics perspective. It begins with John Langbein’s work on contractarian foundations and Robert Sitkoff’s agency costs theory—two frameworks that highlight the relational nature of trusts. The paper then explores Henry Hansmann and Ugo Mattei’s thesis that the trust’s major contribution has been its ability to partition assets into separate pools. This paper concludes with the macroeconomic turn in trust scholarship, which interrogates how trusts exacerbate inequality. Two themes emerge from this survey. First, the early law and economics writings were often an odd fit because they grafted arguments from elsewhere and overlooked the distinctive features of trusts. Second, the arc of economic analysis of trust law has moved from microeconomics, focused on discrete and narrow sets of relationships, to macroeconomics, which envisions trusts as an input into the broader economy. This has attuned T&E scholars with the headiest economic conversations of our day around wealth inequality. Further, in viewing trusts as an economic input, it has tapped into a wider array of issues, such as intergenerational mobility, jurisdictional competition, and social stability.

Felix B. Chang is the Robert J. Watkins/Procter & Gamble Professor of Law at the Ohio State University Moritz College of Law. He teaches and writes on antitrust, financial regulation, and trusts & estates. His research focuses on the ability of infrastructures to suppress competition in the financial markets as well as the relationship between inheritance law and wealth inequality. His current work, supported by a Fulbright scholar grant, looks at the competition between Singapore and Hong Kong to manage private Chinese wealth. Prior to joining Ohio State, Professor Chang was the Associate Dean for Faculty and Research at the University of Cincinnati College of Law, where he also served as Co-Director of the Corporate Law Center. In addition, he has been a visiting professor or visiting scholar at the University of Hong Kong, National Taiwan University, Singapore Management University, and the University of Graz. Professor Chang received his BA from Yale University and his JD from the University of Michigan Law School.

Moderator: Lusina Ho, Harold Hsiao-Wo Lee Professor in Trust and Equity, The University of Hong Kong Faculty of Law

To register, please visit https://hkuems1.hku.hk/hkuems/ec_regform.aspx?guest=Y&UEID=103125.

For inquiries, please contact Ms. Grace Chan at  / 3917 4727.