Course Outline

LAW & ECONOMICS

I. INTRODUCTION to Law & Economics

Approaches to the Economic Analysis of Legal Issues

• Efficient Law--What law will lead to efficient outcomes?

• Evaluation of the Effects of Law on Behavior--What effect will increased prison terms have on the crime rate?

• Institutional and Comparative Institutional Analysis--What institution (e.g., the family, a firm, a not-for-profit institution, the government or the market) will carry out the task (e.g., production of electricity, provision of prisons, raising children, education) relatively more efficiently?

II. PROPERTY RIGHTS and PROPERTY LAW

1. Externalities-- Nuisances, pollution.

2. Transaction Costs--The cost of getting things done matters a lot!

3. Coase's Theorem--Private bargaining can lead to efficient outcomes. When?

4. Restrictions on Property Rights-- Restrictions on sales in bankruptcy, zoning and other restrictions on land use, you can't own such things as illegal drugs.

5. Some examples--Intellectual Property (e.g., Patents, Copyrights), Eminent Domain, Environmental Law, etc.

III. CRIME AND CRIMINAL LAW

1. How Do Crime Rates Differ Across Countries

2. What Do the Private and Public Sectors Do to Combat Crime?

3. How Effective in Crime Prevention? the Police?, Prisons?

4. Current Issues-- trafficking in human being, gun control, determinate sentencing and the rise of imprisonment, community policing, domestic violence.

IV. PRWORA With an Excursion on TAX  LAW

1. Welfare reform and the 'New Federalism'

2. Child Care Co-Payments as Taxes

3. The Base of Taxation-- e.g., income, consumption, wealth.

4. Adjustment, Exemptions, Deductions and Credits--narrowing the base.

5. Tax Rates--for example, progressive v. flat taxes.

6. Tax Administration--Paper trails, withholding, auditing, etc.

V. CONTRACTS

1. Neoclassical Analysis

2. Institutional and Comparative Institutional Approaches.

3. Empirical Research--Franchises (e.g, McDonald's, Holiday Inns), Microsoft contracts, employment contracts, oil & gas, etc.

V. LAW AND THE FAMILY

1.  Neoclassical Analysis--the father as a benevolent dictator.

2. Bargaining models of the family and the family as an institution.

3. Current Issues--who may marry, surrogacy, prenuptial agreements, divorce, rights of children, etc .

[ Home ] [ Description ] [ Readings ] [ Requirements ] [ Course Outline ]

 

---

• Ann Witte, AWitte@Wellesley.edu
• Economics
• Date Created: November 3, 1995
• Last Modified: August 28, 2003
• Expires: January 15, 2005

© Ann Dryden Witte, 1997, 1999, 2003