Economic Analysis of the Law Selected Readings

by Wittman, Donald A.

• ISBN13: 9780631231585
• ISBN10: 0631231587
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2002-10-22
• Publisher: Wiley-Blackwell

Summary

Providing students with a solid grounding in the economic analysis of the law, this reader brings together edited versions of diverse and challenging journal articles into a unified collection. Chosen to provoke thought and discussion, these carefully streamlined articles apply economic theories to many aspects of the law, from intellectual property, corporate finance, and contracts to property rights, family law, and criminal law. Provides real-life examples and implications of economic theory. Creates a unified vision of the law, showing the interconnections between the various fields. Covers a broad range of topics, from intellectual property and corporate finance to family and criminal law. Encourages intuitive understanding and applications of the economic principles, due to reduced mathematical content.

Author Biography

Donald A. Wittman is Professor of Economics at the University of California, Santa Cruz. His articles have been published in top legal, economic, and political science journals, and he has published two books, The Myth of Democratic Failure (1995) and The Federalist Papers: The New Institutionalism and the Old (co-edited with B. Grofman, 1989).

Table of Contents

Preface	viii
Acknowledgments	x
Part I: Coase Theorem	1	(18)
The Problem of Social Cost	3	(11)
Ronald H. Coase
The Cost of Coase	14	(5)
Robert Cooter
Part II: Property Rights, Liability Rules, and Regulation	19	(50)
Property Rules, Liability Rules, and Inalienability: One View of the Cathedral	21	(13)
Guido Calabresi
A. Douglas Melamed
Economic Theory of Liability Rules	34	(8)
John P. Brown
Unity in Tort, Contract, and Property: The Model of Precaution	42	(11)
Robert Cooter
Coming to the Nuisance	53	(6)
Donald Wittman
Liability for Harm versus Regulation of Safety	59	(10)
Steven Shavell
Part III: Intellectual Property	69	(42)
Mistake, Disclosure, Information, and the Law of Contracts	71	(12)
Anthony T. Kronman
An Economic Analysis of Copyright Law	83	(14)
William M. Landes
Richard Posner
Authors' and Artists' Moral Rights: A Comparative Legal and Economic Analysis	97	(14)
Henry Hansmann
Marina Santilli
Part IV: Contracts and Warranties	111	(40)
A Theory of the Consumer Product Warranty	113	(9)
George L. Priest
Fixed-Price versus Spot-Price Contracts: A Study in Risk Allocation	122	(4)
A. Mitchell Polinsky
The Theory of the Firm and the Structure of the Franchise Contract	126	(7)
Paul H. Rubin
Transaction Cost Determination of ``Unfair'' Contractual Arrangements	133	(8)
Benjamin Klein
The Law and Economics Approach to Contract Theory	141	(10)
Alan Schwartz
Part V: Corporations and Corporate Finance	151	(72)
Limited Liability in the Theory of the Firm	153	(9)
Susan E. Woodward
Theory of the Firm: Managerial Behavior, Agency Costs, and Ownership Structure	162	(15)
Michael C. Jensen
William H. Meckling
State Law, Shareholder Protection, and the Theory of the Corporation	177	(15)
Ralph K. Winter
The Proper Role of a Target's Management in Responding to a Tender Offer	192	(9)
Frank H. Easterbrook
Daniel R. Fischel
The Regulation of Insider Trading	201	(11)
Dennis W. Carlton
Daniel R. Fischel
Corporate Reorganizations and the Treatment of Diverse Ownership Interests: A Comment on Adequate Protection of Secured Creditors in Bankruptcy	212	(11)
Douglas G. Baird
Thomas H. Jackson
Part VI: Family Law	223	(30)
The Economics of the Baby Shortage	225	(6)
Elisabeth M. Landes
Richard A. Posner
A Market for Babies	231	(10)
J. Robert S. Prichard
Marriage, Divorce, and Quasi Rents; Or, ``I Gave Him the Best Years of My Life''	241	(12)
Lloyd Cohen
Part VII: Crime and Criminal Law	253	(24)
Crime and Punishment: An Economic Approach	255	(11)
Gary S. Becker
Blackmail, Privacy, and Freedom of Contact	266	(11)
Richard A. Posner
Part VIII: Norms	277	(45)
Approximate Optimality of Aboriginal Property Rights	279	(7)
Martin J. Bailey
Property in Land	286	(20)
Robert C. Ellickson
Efficient Rules in Highway Safety and Sports Activity	306	(12)
Donald Wittman
Rings and Promises	318	(4)
Margaret F. Brinig
Index	322