Law and Economics II

Empirical Law and Economics

Abstract: The theory of law and economics exploded in the 1970s and 1980s and today is a well accepted approach to law adopted by all the major law schools in the United States.  In the past 15 years greater attention has focused on testing, illustrating and expanding the theory with empirical methods. In this class we will do two things.  First, we will review and explain some important techniques in econometrics that are widely used in empirical law and economics.  Second we will exame empirical studies of property law, divorce, torts, crime, discrimination, and the effect of law on freedom and economic growth.  Attention will be paid to research methods as well as to substantive conclusions and open areas for more research.

Syllabus

Stata Resources

NCVS Homework

Matching homework

Data for Figure One in Ho et al. in Stata format

IV Homework

Data for IV Homework (dta format)

Manski Bounds Homework

Powerpoints

The Measure of Vice and Sin (intro to crime data)
Race and Poverty
The Fugitive - Econ Version (bounty hunters paper)
Fundamental Problems of Causal Inference
Instrumental Variables

Difference in Difference Estimators

Synthetic Control

Regression Discontinuity Design
Coase Theorem and Divorce
Manksi Bounds notes
Manski Mechanism Specific

Crime and Tort Data

Harvard Law School Data Directory

Inter-University Consortium for Political and Social Research

National Archive of Criminal Justice Data (subset of ICPSR)

National Center for State Courts

Bureau of Justice Statistics

FBI: Uniform Crime Reports

Federal District-Court Civil Cases: Online Database Access

National Incident Based Reporting System (NIBRS)

National Practiontiers Data Bank (Medical Malpractice, Doctors)

Database of State Tort Law Reforms

Other Places to find Interesting Data

Resources for Economists

Dataverse

Development Data Sets

Random Stuff: Data360.

National and State Accounts Data:  Bureau of Economic Analysis

Labor Market and Price Data:  Bureau of Labor Statistics

International Data:  NationMaster.com, Doing Business, The World Bank

Census Data:  U.S. Census Bureau

Data Clearing House: Stat USA; Fedstats, Statistical Abstract of the United States

World Data including Population Data:  CIESIN

Political and Social Data:  ICPSR

Campaign Finance Data:  Federal Election Commission

Health Data:  Centers for Disease Control and CDC Wonder System

Voting/Ideology Data:  Poole and Rosenthal Roll Call Data

Crime Data:  Bureau of Justice Statistics

Education Statistics:  National Center for Education Statistics

Legislative Data:  Library of Congress -- Thomas

Environmental Data:  EPA

Religion Data:  American Religion Data Archive

Financial Data:  Financial Data Finder

Political Speculation Data:  Iowa Electronic Markets

Opinions: General Social SurveyCharitable Contribution Data:  The Urban Institute

County and City Data Book

Univesity of Texas Inequality Project

Data on Congress

OECD: Statistics Portal (also here)

Social Explorer: U.S. Demographics and Maps

World Historical Statistics Collection

CDC Wonder: US Births/Deaths

Mexican Migration to the U.S.

Barro-Lee World Education Data

World Health Metrics

Geo-Spatial Data

World Bank: Enterprise Surveys

Washington, DC, GIS Data

Roper Survey Data