Economic Analysis of the Law: Selected Readings - Paperback

by Donald A. Wittman (Editor)

Providing students with a solid grounding in the economic analysis of the law, this reader brings together edited versions of diverse and challenging journal articles into a unified collection. Chosen to provoke thought and discussion, these carefully streamlined articles apply economic theories to many aspects of the law, from intellectual property, corporate finance, and contracts to property rights, family law, and criminal law.

• Provides real-life examples and implications of economic theory.
  
• Creates a unified vision of the law, showing the interconnections between the various fields.
  
• Covers a broad range of topics, from intellectual property and corporate finance to family and criminal law.
  
• Encourages intuitive understanding and applications of the economic principles, due to reduced mathematical content.

Back Jacket

Providing students with a solid grounding in the economic analysis of the law, this reader brings together diverse and challenging journal articles into a unified collection. Chosen to provoke thought and discussion, these carefully streamlined articles apply economic theories to many aspects of the law, from intellectual property, corporate finance, and contracts to property rights, family law, and criminal law.

Most of the formal mathematics has been removed, allowing these articles to reach a student audience, while also encouraging an intuitive understanding and application of the economic principles. Brief introductions to each article explain their background and context. This collection will be a valuable addition to courses in both economics and law, providing economics majors with a respite from dry theory, and giving law students a broad, unified vision of the law.

Author Biography

Donald A. Wittman is Professor of Economics at the University of California, Santa Cruz. His articles have been published in top legal, economic, and political science journals, and he has published two books, The Myth of Democratic Failure (1995) and The Federalist Papers: The New Institutionalism and the Old (co-edited with B. Grofman, 1989).