Law and Economics (formerly Economic Analysis of Law)

People respond to incentives, and the law can be a powerful incentive. This course considers how human behavior is affected by laws - and how well laws are drafted (and cases decided to take account of human behavior. Do seatbelt laws reduce injuries? Do minimum habitability laws make housing more desirable? When does it make sense to impose consequential damages for a breach of contract? Is “polluter pays” the best way to reduce pollution? Given that our policy wishes always exceed our means to implement them, how should we make the required trade-offs between competing goals? In answering these and other questions we will consider (among other things): the problem of scarcity and the importance of marginal trade-offs; the role of property rights; the role of market exchange; consumer behaviior; and the Coase Theorem. And we will consider these concepts as they apply to various areas of the law including (among other things) contracts, torts, property, family law, environmental regulation, intellectual property law, and criminal law. The course neither presumes nor requires any background in economics.