About

Jordan Barry is the Vice Dean for Faculty and Academic Affairs at USC Gould School of Law and holds the position of John B. Milliken Professor of Law and Taxation. His research spans a variety of topics related to business law, tax law, and law and economics. His work has been published in prominent academic publications such as the Stanford Law Review, Virginia Law Review, Journal of Political Economy, Southern California Law Review, and University of Pennsylvania Law Review, and has been discussed in media outlets including The New Yorker, Bloomberg, NPR Marketplace, the Los Angeles Times, and the Times of India. Barry's teaching covers a broad range of subjects including corporate finance, contracts, tax, tax policy, and law and economics. Prior to his current role, he was a professor at the University of San Diego School of Law, where he directed the Center for Corporate and Securities Law and co-directed the graduate tax program. He has also taught at the University of Michigan Law School and UC Berkeley School of Law. Barry has received multiple awards for his teaching and scholarship, including the Thorsnes Prize for Excellence in Teaching, the Herzog Endowed Scholar designation, and the Kaye and Richard Woltman Professor in Finance. His article 'Regulatory Entrepreneurship,' co-authored with Elizabeth Pollman, was named among the Top 10 Corporate and Securities Law Articles of 2017. Before becoming a law professor, Barry practiced law at Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson in New York and clerked for the Honorable Jay Bybee of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. He is a graduate of Cornell University and Stanford Law School, where he served as Managing Editor of the Stanford Law Review.

Research topics

• Business
• Microeconomics
• Political Science
• Economics
• Psychology
• Industrial organization
• Clinical psychology
• Law
• Law and economics
• Finance
• Psychiatry
• Monetary economics
• Marketing

Selected publications

• Examining cognition in action: laboratory-based attentional control tasks predict performance on combat-relevant tasks in an augmented reality training environment

  Frontiers in Psychology · 2025-05-05 · 1 citations

  articleOpen access

  Introduction: There is growing interest in understanding how individual differences in cognitive abilities contribute to military performance. Laboratory-based cognitive tasks, which are well-suited for assessing specific cognitive capacities, offer a controlled and efficient approach for evaluating these differences. If performance on such tasks corresponds with operationally relevant performance, these measures could serve as valuable tools for evaluation, selection, and targeted training interventions to enhance military readiness. Here, we examined associations between performance on laboratory tasks of attentional control and operationally relevant tasks in an augmented reality military training environment. Methods: = 356) completed two laboratory-based tasks of attentional control and a series of operationally relevant drills, requiring attentional control. Results: Soldiers' performance on sustained attention and working memory tasks was positively correlated with their performance on operationally relevant drills. Specifically, in both rounds, individuals with greater sustained attention task accuracy performed better on a Shoot/Do Not Shoot drill. Conclusion: The results indicate that laboratory-based attentional control tasks can serve as useful indicators of performance in military operationally relevant drills. Furthermore, these findings suggest that individual differences in attentional control may influence operationally relevant performance.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• <span>Systematic National Evidence of Steering by Real Estate Agents</span>

  SSRN Electronic Journal · 2025-01-01

  articleOpen access1st authorCorresponding
  PublisherDOI

• Mind wandering is associated with worsening attentional vigilance.

  Journal of Experimental Psychology Human Perception & Performance · 2024-08-22 · 12 citations

  articleOpen access

  = 730), we evaluated covariance between within-task change in rates of probe-caught mind wandering and patterns of worsening behavioral task performance that characterize the vigilance decrement. Bivariate growth curve models characterized patterns of intraindividual linear change in mind wandering alongside concomitant changes in task accuracy, response time (RT), and RT variability. Importantly, models assessing the covariance between intraindividual change in mind wandering and behavioral outcome measures confirmed that increases in mind wandering are associated with patterns of worsening behavioral performance with greater time-on-task. In addition, we investigated the role of several moderating factors associated with patterns of within-task change: self-reported task interest and motivation, and individuals' propensity for mind wandering, and mindfulness in their daily lives. These factors moderated either the overall level or rate of within-task change in mind wandering. Our results provide support for models of sustained attention that directly implicate mind wandering in worsening behavioral performance with greater time-on-task in continuous performance tasks requiring sustained attention. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

  PublisherDOI

• Et Tu, Agent? Commission-Based Steering in Residential Real Estate

  SSRN Electronic Journal · 2023-01-01 · 6 citations

  articleOpen access1st authorCorresponding
  PublisherDOI

• Tax and the Boundaries of the Firm

  SSRN Electronic Journal · 2023-01-01

  articleOpen access1st authorCorresponding
  PublisherDOI

• Investigating the protective effects of mindfulness-based attention training on mind wandering in applied settings

  Frontiers in Psychology · 2023-12-28 · 6 citations

  articleOpen access

  Introduction Mind wandering, a phenomenon in which attention drifts away from the task-at-hand, is associated with deleterious effects on performance and well-being. As such, efforts to curb mind wandering are warranted. Recently, mindfulness training (MT) has been found to protect against mind wandering. Yet, many MT programs are at risk of falling off the implementation cliff due to challenges implementing these programs in applied settings. To mitigate against this, early-stage research in small convenience samples may be necessary to spur stakeholder engagement and collaboration. Herein, the effects of MT on mind wandering were examined via an internal meta-analysis of early-stage studies of a manualized, context-adaptable short-form MT program, referred to as Mindfulness-Based Attention Training (MBAT). Methods Five longitudinal studies ( N = 304) were conducted in a variety of organizational cohorts. Self-reported mind wandering and meta-awareness, as well as accuracy ( A’ ) and response time variability (intra-individual coefficient of variation, ICV) during performance of the sustained attention to response task (SART) were assessed at baseline (T1) and 4 weeks later (T2) in MBAT and no-training participants. Results Standardized mean change (SMC) from T1 to T2 significantly differed between MBAT and no-training groups for mind wandering (ΔSMC = −0.387, p < 0.001), meta-awareness (ΔSMC = −0.374, p < 0.001), and ICV (ΔSMC = −0.376, p = 0.043), suggesting potential protective effects in self-reported and performance-based metrics of mind wandering. Discussion These results serve as preliminary proof-of-concept support for MBAT’s protective effects on mind wandering. Further, they suggest that MBAT is amenable to implementation across a variety of applied and organizational settings and warrants additional research employing larger sample sizes in randomized controlled designs.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Online mindfulness training for older adults during the COVID-19 pandemic: a randomized controlled trial using a multi-method assessment approach

  Aging & Mental Health · 2023-09-13 · 6 citations

  article

  OBJECTIVES: The COVID-19 pandemic drastically accelerated the need for studies examining the effectiveness of programs to bolster psychological well-being, particularly for at-risk groups, such as older adults (OAs). Mindfulness Training (MT) has been suggested as a well-suited program for this purpose. The present study examined the impact of a 4-week online, trainer-led MT course tailored for OAs during the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic. METHODS: Fifty-three OAs were randomly assigned to either Group A or Group B. Group A received the online MT course during the 4-week interval between the first (T1) and second (T2) testing sessions, while Group B received the same MT course during the interval between T2 and the third testing session (T3). The testing sessions included measures of mindfulness, emotional well-being, psychological health, and cognitive performance. In addition, a very brief survey was sent every week during the T1-T2 and T2-T3 intervals to assess weekly emotional well-being. RESULTS: The findings revealed that MT may improve some, albeit not all, aspects of mindfulness and well-being, while no significant results were noted for outcomes measuring psychological health and cognitive performance. CONCLUSIONS: These findings are discussed in the context of the evolving COVID-19 situation.

  PublisherDOI

• Chapter 5 Mindfulness Training in Organizational Settings: An Empirical Look at the Research

  2022-08-22 · 4 citations

  book-chapter

  The workplace is commonly conceptualized as a high-stress and high-demand environment. Work-related stressors may have deleterious effects on employees' cognitive functioning, well-being, and work productivity. One promising approach to mitigate such effects is mindfulness training (MT). Yet, there is a paucity of applied research on best practices for MT implementation in organizational settings. We present a proof-of-concept study that examined the efficacy of a contextualized MT program delivered by trained trainers who were embedded within an organization (i.e., Human Resources professionals). We propose that engaging in MT contextualized and delivered in this manner may benefit the very same domains reported to be negatively impacted by work-related stress and demands. Our proposal aligns with a leading organizational stress theory, the Job Demands-Resources (JD-R) theory and suggests that when offered by employers and embedded within organizational settings, MT may serve as a powerful organizational-level job resource targeting the strengthening of employees' personal resources.

  PublisherDOI

• To Thine Own Self Be True? Incentive Problems in Personalized Law

  eYLS (Yale Law School) · 2021-01-01

  article1st authorCorresponding

  Recent years have seen an explosion of scholarship on “personalized law.” Commentators foresee a world in which regulators armed with big data and machine learning techniques determine the optimal legal rule for every regulated party, then instantaneously disseminate their decisions via smartphones and other “smart” devices. They envision a legal utopia in which every fact pattern is assigned society’s preferred legal treatment in real time. But regulation is a dynamic process; regulated parties react to law. They change their behavior to pursue their preferred outcomes— which often diverge from society’s—and they will continue to do so under personalized law: They will provide regulators with incomplete or inaccurate information. They will attempt to manipulate the algorithms underlying personalized laws by taking actions intended to disguise their true characteristics. Personalized law can also (unintentionally) encourage regulated parties to act in socially undesirable ways, a phenomenon known as moral hazard. Moreover, regulators seeking to combat these dynamics will face significant constraints. Regulators will have imperfect information, both because of privacy concerns and because regulated parties and intermediaries will muddle regulators’ data. They may lack the authority or the political will to respond to regulated parties’ behavior. The transparency requirements of a democratic society may hinder their ability to thwart gamesmanship. Concerns about unintended consequences may further lower regulators’ willingness to personalize law. Taken together, these dynamics will limit personalized law’s ability to optimally match facts to legal outcomes. Personalized law may be a step forward, but it will not produce the utopian outcomes that some envision.

  Publisher

• Investigating the Impact of Peer-Trainer Delivered Mindfulness Training on Cognitive Abilities and Psychological Health

  Mindfulness · 2021 · 5 citations

  • Psychology
  • Clinical psychology
  • Psychiatry
  PublisherDOI

Frequent coauthors

• John William Hatfield

  15 shared

• Scott Duke Kominers

  13 shared

• John A. Swain

  Rogers (United States)

  8 shared

• Ekaterina Denkova

  University of Miami

  5 shared

• Anthony P. Zanesco

  University of Miami

  5 shared

• Amishi P. Jha

  University of Miami

  5 shared

• Scott L. Rogers

  University of Miami

  4 shared

• Kirk J. Stark

  4 shared

Awards & honors

• Thorsnes Prize for Excellence in Teaching (2011-12, 2018-19)
• Herzog Endowed Scholar (2014-15, 2015-16)
• University Professor (2019)
• Kaye and Richard Woltman Professor in Finance (2020)
• Top 10 Corporate and Securities Law Articles of 2017 by Corp…