9780230354944

0230354947

9781349320318

1283360799

9781283360791

Cover; Contents; List of Figures; List of Tables; Preface; What Makes This Book Different?; Acknowledgements; 1 Introduction; 1.1 The legal foundations of markets; 1.2 Competitive markets and efficiency; 1.3 Key assumptions of the invisible hand theorem; 1.4 Notes; 1.5 Exercises; 2 Courts, Legal Rules, and Markets; 2.1 Introduction; 2.2 Legal rules and law enforcement: Private or public goods?; 2.3 The normative approach to legal decision making; 2.4 Courts as interpreters of evidence: The economics of updating of information; 2.5 Courts as biased policy makers.

2.6 Aggregation of individual judicial or juror decisions2.7 Notes; 2.8 Appendix; 2.9 Exercises; 3.2 Externalities, the Coase Theorem and theEdgeworth Box; 3.3 Efficiency; 3.4 Legal rules in the Edgeworth Box; 3.5 The Coase Theorem and the role of transaction costs; 3.6 The Coase Theorem with more than two parties; 3.7 Notes; 3.8 Exercises; 4 Accident Law and Markets, Part I: The Unilateral Care Model; 4.1 Introduction; 4.2 The unilateral care model; 4.3 Extending the unilateral care model to a market setting: Liability rules in competitive markets.

4.4 Legal rules in competitive markets: The case of two industries4.5 Extending the unilateral care model to other market situations: Liability rules in imperfectly competitive markets; 4.6 Liability rules versus taxes and quantity regulation; 4.7 Notes; 4.8 Exercises; 5 Accident Law and Markets, Part II: The Bilateral Care Model; 5.1 Introduction; 5.2 The basic bilateral approach; 5.3 Legal rules in the bilateral care model; 5.4 The bilateral care model in a market setting; 5.5 Other legal rules in the bilateral care model; 5.6 Notes; 5.7 Exercises.

6 Markets for Potentially Harmful Goods

The Economics of Product Liability Rules6.1 Introduction; 6.2 Efficiency when goods are potentially harmful; 6.3 Consumer misperceptions of harm; 6.4 Product liability rules in perfectly competitive markets; 6.5 Product liability rules in imperfectly competitive markets: The case of Cournot oligopoly; 6.6 Application: Employment law; 6.7 Notes; 6.8 Appendix; 6.9 Exercises; 7 The Economics of Property Rights; 7.1 Introduction; 7.2 Property rights versus liability rules; 7.3 Overlapping and conflicting property rights.

7.4 The economics of insecure property rights7.5 The economics of intellectual property rights; 7.6 Notes; 7.7 Exercises; 8 Contract Law and Markets; 8.1 Introduction; 8.2 Breach of contract in competitive markets; 8.3 Market forces, reputation, and contractual performance; 8.4 Damage measures for breach of contract; 8.5 Notes; 8.6 Exercises; 9 Crime, Punishment and Deterrence

Markets for Illegal Activities and the Economics of Public Law Enforcement; 9.1 Introduction; 9.2 The economic approach to crime: A general analytical framework; 9.3 Markets for illegal goods.