The Story of the Schechter Brothers

For students in my Constitution & the Economy course, you might be interested in learning more of the story behind the Schechter opinion. STEVE HORWITZ tells about this story, and he suggests an interesting economic story is involved as well:

". . . there’s a terrific dissertation waiting to be written that explores the Laws of Kashrut as a set of informal institutions that serve as a non-governmental health code. It would be a project complementary to Lisa Bernstein’s work on the informal norms of the diamond industry. That story is only made better by the role the NRA played in overriding the, arguably superior, private sector arrangements within the Jewish community. The NRA’s attempt at cartelizing and planning all of these industries destroyed the indigenous institutions that functioned better."