Instructor: Robin D. Hanson, Assoc. Professor, Economics (rhanson@gmu.edu, http://hanson.gmu.edu)
Office Hours: Email me to arrange a video-chat meeting; suggest a day/time you'd like to meet.

Catalog Entry:

Econ 415 Law and Economics. Credits 3 Prerequisite: ECON 306 or permission of instructor. An economic analysis of the law. Topics include an introduction to legal institutions and legal analysis; application of economic concepts to the law of property, contracts and torts, criminal law, and constitutional law; the economic efficiency of the common law; and a public choice perspective on the evolution of the law.

David D. Friedman, Law's Order: What Economics Has to Do with Law and Why It Matters, Princeton Univ. Press 2001, ISBN 9780691090092. Free online!

A. Mitchell Polinsky, Introduction To Law and Economics, 4th Edition Aspen Publishers, 2011, ISBN 9780735584488.

Robert Cooter and Thomas Ulen, Law and Economics, Sixth Edition, Addison Wesley 2013, ISBN 9780132540650. Online here

David D. Friedman, Legal Systems Very Different From Ours, unpublished. Free online!

Gain familiarity with basic facts and issues in the economics of law, and an ability to use basic economics to argue for particular legal outcomes.

• Class Participation Please contribute to class discussions.
• Quizes Three quizes will given; I'll email it to you at the end of class and you'll have 24 hours to email it back to me. Each quiz will emphasize the lectures and text readings since the previous quiz. Quizes are open book, open notes, but you may not communicate with others about it while you do it.
• Defended Opinions Three times you will write a defense of your opinions on a legal topic. The assigned topics will be unusual, in order to encourage you to think them through yourself, rather than looking up what others have said. Limit your writing to two pages. I will grade you on how many relevant points you can make clear.

1. Who Gets What Orbits, Asteroids, and Sunlight?
2. What remedy or damages for cuckoldry leading to kid?
3. As with cars, should everyone have to get a voucher to cover all legal liability, including crime?

• Quizes: Sep. 17, Oct. 15, Nov. 5.
• Defended Opinions: Oct. 15, Nov. 5, Nov. 24.
• Final: Dec 10, 7:30-10:10am.

Week	Text Chapters	Lecture Topics	Notes
25,27 Aug	F1-3, P1-2, C1-2	Law Intro, Econ Review
1, 3 Sep	F4,C3,4	Institutions and Coasean Analysis
8,10 Sep	F5,10,P4,C4	Property
15,17 Sep	F5,10,P4,C4	Property
15,17 Sep	F5,10,P4,C4	Property Continued	Quiz Thursday
22,24 Sep	F11, C5	Property Continued
29Sep,1Oct	F12, P5, C6	Contract
6,8 Oct	F13, P8, C7	Contract, Thursday Guest Lecture: Ben Schifman
13,15 Oct	F14, P6, C8	Tuesday Guest Lecture: John Fuisz	Quiz/Paper Thursday
20,22 Oct	F14, P7, C9	Tort
27,29 Oct	C10, P16	Legal Process	Thursday Guest Lecture: Justin Dillon
3,5 Nov	C10, P16	Legal Process Continued	No Class Tuesday, Quiz/Paper Thursday
10,12 Nov	F15, P10, C11	Crime
17,19 Nov	F18, P11, C12	Crime Continued
24,26 Nov		Crime Continued	No Class Thursday, Paper Due Tuesday
30Nov,2Dec	F17	Private Law
10 Dec		Final Exam, 7:30am-10:10am.