Written by a lawyer and an economist, this is the first full-length economic study of tort law--the body of law that governs liability for accidents and for intentional wrongs such as battery and defamation. Landes and Posner propose that tort law is best understood as a system for achieving an efficient allocation of resources to safety--that, on the whole, rules and doctrines of tort law encourage the optimal investment in safety by potential injurers and potential victims. 
 The book contains both a comprehensive description of the major doctrines of tort law and a series of formal economic models used to explore the economic properties of these doctrines. All the formal models are translated into simple commonsense terms so that the "math less" reader can follow the text without difficulty; legal jargon is also avoided, for the sake of economists and other readers not trained in the law. 
 Although the primary focus is on explaining existing doctrines rather than on exploring their implementation by juries, insurance adjusters, and other "real world" actors, the book has obvious pertinence to the ongoing controversies over damage awards, insurance rates and availability, and reform of tort law-in fact it is an essential prerequisite to sound reform. Among other timely topics, the authors discuss punitive damage awards in products liability cases, the evolution of products liability law, and the problem of liability for "mass disaster" torts, such as might be produced by a nuclear accident. More generally, this book is an important contribution to the "law and economics" movement, the most exciting and controversial development in modern legal education and scholarship, and will become an obligatory reference for all who are concerned with the study of tort law.

The Economic Structure of Tort Law

Business & Money

RICHARD A. POSNER

William M. Landes

Economics

Harvard University Press

Law and Economics: Theory, Cases, and Other Materials is a comprehensive introduction to the subject area of law and economics, with stimulating in depth discussion of actual case law by two leading scholars in the field. It provides a clear description of the key points of law and economics across various substantive areas of law, combining the traditional approach to the study of law and economics with new important insights from behavioral economics and competing theories. Importantly, Law and Economics artfully introduces and connects theory to practice to provide a coherent picture rather than a patch-like studying experience. Using detailed case-notes, comments and examples, Law and Economics explains why future lawyers should care about economic analysis of the law and how economics can and should play a role in litigation and conflict resolution. This important new casebook not only makes law and economics accessible to students but also indubitably establishes the importance of law and economics in a globalized world. Highlights of the First Edition: <ul> <li>Introduces students to basic tools (e.g., game theory and decision theory) and concepts (e.g., efficiency criteria) using simple and innovative methods</li> <li>Facilitates the understanding of complicated concepts by providing the theoretical backgrounds as well as clear explanations, examples, exercises, and comprehensive comments and notes that do not require any background in math or economics</li> <li>Allows readers to test their understanding by providing practice questions with full answers</li> <li>Carefully selected cases, with discussion emphasizing the economic rationales underlying decisions and demonstrating how these rationales impact decisions</li> <li>Marries the virtues of a textbook (explaining the theoretical underpinning of different economic notions and how they relate to different legal doctrines) to those of a casebook by tying concepts to actual decisions</li> <li>Adopts a modern approach that covers competing theories as they relate to specific decisions and theories</li> <li>Includes methodology chapters where the same methodology (e.g., decision making, game theory, supply and demand) is used to analyze different areas of the law, as well as subject matter chapters in which specific areas of the law (e.g., property) are analyzed using different methodologies</li> <li>A modular structure, allowing the professor to pick and cover materials in almost any order, to skip certain materials and to focus on court decisions, the theory, or both</li> </ul> Professors and students will benefit from: <ul> <li>The use of alternative intuitive methods to explain theories</li> <li>The use of simple algebra to teach the most complex subjects</li> <li>The artful combination of theory with a practical approach that ties the economic concepts (including game theory and decision theory) to specific subject matters, legal rules and specific decisions</li> <li>In-depth discussion of decisions and how they could they be explained or argued differently in light of the theoretical concepts reviewed</li> <li>The use of summary boxes to recap complicated concepts</li> <li>Fantastic notes and practical questions following cases</li> </ul>

Law and Economics: Theory, Cases, and Other Materials [Connected eBook] (Aspen Casebook) (Aspen Casebook Series)

J. Shahar Dillbary

Aspen Publishing

Law and Economics

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Books by William M. Landes