A list of possible topics for your research paper follows. It should stimulate your thinking. You are in no way limited to the topics listed here. By clicking on a topic, you will be taken to a list of library and web material available on the topic. Where possible, general references for each topic have been listed for your further exploration.
Betty Febo the Economics Librarian at Clapp Library has put together an excellent Course Page for the Econ325. Click here to go to the site. You should look over this site carefully for possible paper topics.
B. Bouckaert and G. De Geest of the University of Ghent in Belgium have spent five years compiling, THE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF LAW AND ECONOMICS (click on the title to go to the Encyclopedia's web site). All articles and a searchable bibliography are available on the web. The hard copy of the Encyclopedia is available at Clapp. You may also want to consult the New Palgrave Dictionary of Economics and the Law which is also available in Clapp.
Click here to go to a web portal for law and economics, here to go to Cornell's excellent Legal Information Institute or here to go to Becker's (a Nobel prize winner) & Posner's (a founding father of law & economics & Federal Circuit Court Judge) blog. When using web based materials, it is important that you know that the site is of high quality or that it expresses a position that you are trying to represent. I have evaluated all sites hyperlinked to the Econ325 web site & Bety has evaluated all sites linked to the Course Page for Econ325. There is no need for you to evaluate any of these sites or sites where it is obvious that there is a particular source for the material (e.g. the SEC for regulations on the security industry). However, you should evaluate all other types of sites that you use in your work for the course.
A list of the major journals in law & economics follows. Students often identify a topic for their term papers by skimming recent issue of these journals. Recent issues of these journals can also help you complete Assignment 2.
Criteria for Evaluating Law
A. Lowenfeld, International Economic Law, (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2008).
J. Bhandari and A. Sykes, Economic Dimensions in International Law, 1997
Contracts
Landlord-Tenant
laws
Tort
G. Dari-Mattiacci & Francesco Parisi, "The Economics of Tort Law: A Precis," The Elgar Companion to Law and Economics (2nd ed.) (2006), Edward Elgar Publishing. Available at SSRN
Crime
Family Law
Tax Law
Other Ideas
© Ann Dryden Witte, 1997