Syllabus
Title
Subjects
Suggested reading
Main concepts in law and economics
- Overview of the course
- Negative externalities
- Transaction costs
- Property and liability rules
Coase (1960)
Calabresi & Melamed (1972)
Full internalization
- Unilateral accident model
- Negligence and strict liability
- Specific causation
- Harm assessment
Khan (1989)
Shavell (2004, pp. 177-182, 193-199)
Bilateral accidents
- Least cost avoider
- Bilateral accident model
- Activity level and care
- First-party and third-party insurance
Shavell (2004, pp. 182-193, 199-206)
Partial internalization
- The judgment proof problem
- Proportional liability
- Proportional internalization
Shavell (2004, pp. 230-236)
Pelled (2019)
Porat (2011)
Annotation
This short course offers students an overview of the important insights from the economic analysis of tort law. Students will first learn about basic concepts in law and economics, such as externalities, transaction costs, and the distinction between property rules and liability rules as ways to protect entitlements.
These concepts are then used to explain, from an economic perspective, the structure of liability regimes, concepts of causation and harm, proportional liability and the effects of first and third-party insurance.