Law and Economics
Spring 2023 GMU Syllabus

Economics 415, meets Thursdays 1:30-4:10pm during Spring 2023, in Buchanan D5.

Instructor: Robin D. Hanson, Assoc. Professor, Economics (rhanson@gmu.edu, http://hanson.gmu.edu)
Office Hours: Email me to arrange a video-chat meeting; suggest a day/time you'd like to meet.

Catalog Entry:

Econ 415 Law and Economics. Credits 3 Prerequisite: ECON 306 or permission of instructor. An economic analysis of the law. Topics include an introduction to legal institutions and legal analysis; application of economic concepts to the law of property, contracts and torts, criminal law, and constitutional law; the economic efficiency of the common law; and a public choice perspective on the evolution of the law.
Required Text:
David D. Friedman, Law's Order: What Economics Has to Do with Law and Why It Matters, Princeton Univ. Press 2001, ISBN 9780691090092. Free online!
Recommended Texts:

A. Mitchell Polinsky, Introduction To Law and Economics, 4th Edition Aspen Publishers, 2011, ISBN 9780735584488.

Robert Cooter and Thomas Ulen, Law and Economics, Sixth Edition, Addison Wesley 2013, ISBN 9780132540650. Free here
David D. Friedman, Legal Systems Very Different From Ours, 1793386722. Free here!
Goal of Class
Gain familiarity with basic facts and issues in the economics of law, and an ability to use basic economics to argue for particular legal outcomes.
Assignments: Defended Opinion Topics
  1. Who Gets What Orbits, Asteroids, and Sunlight?
  2. What remedy for husband unknowingly raising kid not his?
  3. Use WTP/WTA experiments, lawsuit lotteries for verbal assault?
  4. Should we require all to get law voucher, where client-voucher contracts set premiums, punishments, freedoms, and co-liability?
Due Dates: Grade Weights: Class Participate 5%, 13% per Quiz and paper, 17% final.

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Week Text ChaptersLecture Topics Notes
26 JanF1-3, P1-2, C1-2 Law Intro, Econ Review
2 FebF4,C3,4 Institutions and Coasean Analysis
9 Feb No Class
16 FebF5,10,P4,C4Property
23 FebF11, C5 Property Continued Quiz, Paper
2 MarF12, P5, C6Contract
9 MarF13, P8, C7Contract continued
16 Mar Spring Recess
23 MarF14, P6, C8Tort Quiz/Paper
30 MarF14, P7, C9Tort, Legal Process
6 AprC10, P16 Legal Process
13 AprF15, P10, C11 Crime Quiz/Paper
20 AprF18, P11, C12 Crime Continued
27 AprF17 No Class
4 MayF17 Private Law Quiz,Paper
16 May Final Exam, 1:30-4:15pm.