An Introduction To Law And Economics

Distinguished by brevity, lucid writing, and well-chosen examples, An Introduction to Law and Economics, now in its Fifth Edition, focuses on a set of core topics that include property, contracts, torts, criminal law, and litigation. Avoiding specialized jargon and mathematics, Polinsky teaches students how to think like an economist and understand legal issues from an economic perspective. New to the Fifth Edition: A streamlining of the products liability chapter A revised discussion of the redistributive effects of legal rules to reflect more recent scholarship on this topic The addition of several other refinements in the text and in new footnotes An updated bibliography Professors and students will benefit from: Solid coverage of relevant economic principles A normative approach that illustrates how to assess legal rules and policies in terms of economic and social goals Clear explanations of concepts

Provides students with a method for applying economic analysis to the study of legal rules and institutions. Four key areas of law are covered: property; contracts; torts; and crime and punishment. Added examples and cases help to clarify economic applications further.

This is a new and significantly updated edition of a standard text for the field of Law and Economics. Taking a straightforward approach and written in an accessible manner without reliance on mathematical modelling, it is aimed at Law and Economics students in law schools as well as economics departments. New to this edition is new and substantially increased coverage of more contemporary fields of vision in the Law and Economics paradigm, such as Intellectual Property, Family Law, and Behavioural Economics. With an array of exercises and questions throughout the book, and extensive references to further reading, this text reflects the way Law and Economics is taught in a contemporary context.

This book uses game theory to explain conflict between individual self-interested behavior and cooperation in economic markets, lawsuits, and legislative bodies. It demonstrates the need for social regulation in addition to free markets and judicial decisions in common law cases.

Examines the fundamental principles of our legal system from a public choice perspective and compares its efficiency and accuracy with other systems. It presents in full two controversial works by Gordon Tullock, 'The Logic of the Law' and 'The Case against the Common Law', as well as chapters from his 'Trials on Trial' and other innovative articles. Highly critical of the US common law system, Tullock argues for various reforms, even for its replacement with a civil code system.

This book addresses the increasing demand for a logical understanding of how framework agreement should be used and implemented.

The economic analysis of legal and regulatory issues need not be limited to the neoclassical economic approach. The expert contributors to this work employ a variety of heterodox legal-economic theories to address a broad range of legal issues. They demonstrate how these various approaches can lead to very different conclusions concerning the role of the law and legal intervention in a wide array of contexts. The schools of thought and methodologies represented here include institutional economics, new institutional economics, socio-economics, social economics, behavioral economics, game theory, feminist economics, Rawlsian economics, radical economics, Austrian economics, and personalist economics. The legal and regulatory issues examined include anti-trust and competition, corporate governance, the environment and natural resources, land use and property rights, unions and collective bargaining, welfare benefits, work-time regulation and standards, sexual harassment in the workplace, obligations of employers and employees to each other, crime, torts, and even the structure of government. Each contributor brings a different emphasis and provides thoughtful, sometimes provocative analysis and conclusions. Together, these heterodox insights will provide valuable supplementary reading for courses in law and economics as well as public policy and business courses at both the graduate and undergraduate levels.