Wellesley College

LAW & ECONOMICS

Course Description

Professor: Ann Dryden Witte	Office Hours: 2:-2:40PM & 4-5PM M & Th
Phone: 781 283-2163	Office: 401 Pendleton East
E-Mail: Ask-Ann-Econ325	Web Page: www.wellesley.edu/Economics/witte

What Will You Learn?

How economics can be used to understand the nature and effects of laws

For example, what is US copyright law and how does it affect what you can do with your media?

What effect did the Digital Millennium Copyright Act have on the recording industry, programmers and internet service providers? Could you go to jail for downloading music?

What are the relative merits of alternative laws and institution?

How does the private, for-profit firm that runs London's Heath Row Airport handle terrorist crises. Would such crises be handled differently if the airport was run by the government or a not-for-profit institution? Click here for an economists opinion.

Is is better to have publicly provided prisons or to have the government contract with private firms to run prisons?

What Topics Will We Cover in Class?

Property Law

What is the effect of patent law on the drug industry?

What effects do zoning ordinance have on the development or urban areas?

Contract Law

How do major companies like McDonald's structure the franchise contracts that they have with people who operate their restaurants?

Should couples be able to contract with a surrogate mother to have a baby for them?

What should you look for when you receive a job offer (an employment contract)?

	How Is Legislation Implemented ?
	How Does the Structure of a Tax Affects What People Consume & How Much People Work?
	Family Law

What effect does allowing no-fault divorce have on divorce rates?
What are the effects of joint custody on children?

Crime & Criminal Law

Why are most crimes in Japan punished by fines while many crimes in the US result in imprisonment?

Does capital punishment deter crime?

What Will You Have to Do?

Read and be able to discuss the assigned readings

Your textbook for the course is Stephen Spurr's Economic Foundations of Law. Spurr's book is a very readable & has just been updated. It is also at least as good as other texts and less expensive than most of the other texts available for the course.

Complete a series of assignments related to the topics covered in class

Present material related to these assignments

Comment on Presentations of Other Students
Make a Final Presentation on a Law and Economics Topic

What Will Classes Be Like?

	Active--You will have to participate! It is he only way to learn.
	Make Extensive Use of the Web, FirstClass and Digitized Materials

My draft Power Point presentations will be available in the class's First Class conference, Econ325-01-F10. I will try to have the drafts available the evening before class days; so you can download and print out the presentations. This is a good way of organizing your notes and keeping them together with the presentations.

	Hands on--You will have to use your economics and econometrics to understand law and legal issues!
	Classroom Without Walls--You will attend at least one lecture on law & economics. There will be guest lecturers during the semester.

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