Instructor: Robin D. Hanson, Assoc. Professor, Economics (rhanson@gmu.edu, http://hanson.gmu.edu)
Office Hours:Tu/Th 1:30-3pm, or email me to suggest day/time 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 2000, ISBN 0691090092. Free online here.

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. Free online here

David D. Friedman, Legal Systems Very Different From Ours, 1793386722. Free here

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.
• Quizzes Three in-class quizzes will given. Each quiz only takes up half of a lecture period. Each quiz will emphasize the lectures and text readings since the previous quiz. Quizzes are open book, open notes, close communication.
• 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 (including LLMs) have said. Limit your writing to two pages, and all the words shoulld be your own. I will grade on how many relevant points you can make clear.

1. Who Gets What Orbits, Asteroids, and Sunlight?
2. What remedy for husband unknowingly raising kid not his?
3. Should everyone be required to buy insurance that pays if they commit a tort or crime?

• Quizes: 15Sep,8Oct,5Nov
• Defended Opinions: 8Oct,5Nov,3Dec
• Final: Dec 10, 1:30-4:15pm

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