Law and Economics – HP_612 & HP_613

Josef Šíma

sima@vse.cz

 

The course introduces students to the history and current approaches of law&economics. It explains the interconnections of the theory of economics and the theory of  law. It explores the possibility to extend the logic and deduction of economics to the study of law and studies economic consequences of different legal arrangements for economic wellbeing.

 

The goal of the course is to understand and analyze in detail the interconnections of the science of law and economics.

 

General reading:

Šíma, Josef : Introduction to the Logic of Social Action:Law&Economics Primer

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Murray Rothbard: Law, Property Rights, and Air Pollution

Rizzo, Mario: “The Mirage of Efficiency”, Hofstra Law Review, vol. 8, no. 3, Spring 1980

Boettke, Peter: “The New Comparative Political Economy”, Forum Series on the Role of Institutions in Promoting Economic Growth – Forum 6, April 4, 2003

Frédéric Bastiat: The Law

Crespi, Gregory Scott: “Exploring the Complicationist Gambit: An Austrian Approach to the Economic Analysis of Law“, Notre Dame Law Review, vol. 73, no. 2, January 1998

 

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Bouckaert, Boudewijn and De Geest, Gerrit (eds.), Encyclopedia of Law and Economics, Volume I. The History and Methodology of Law and Economics , Cheltenham, Edward Elgar, 2000

 

1. The role of property in economic thought

Mises, Ludwig: “Harmony and conflict of interest”, Human Action, Fox & Wilkes, 1966

Armen A. Alchian: Property Rights

Hayek, F. A.: “The Challenge to Property”, The Fatal Conceit, The University of Chicago Press, pp. 48–52

Rothbard, Murray: Economic Thought before Adam Smith and Classical Economics, Edward Elgar, 2 volumes, 1995

Clark Nardinelli: Industrial Revolution and the Standard of Living

Todd J. Zywicki: The Rule of Law, Freedom, and Prosperity

North, Douglass C.: Institutions, Institutional Change and Economic Performance, Cambridge University Press, 1990

Coase, Ronald: Essay on Economics and Economists, University of Chicago Press, 1994

 

2. Origin of law&economics.

Mackaay, Ejan: “History of Law and Economics“ in Bouckaert, Boudewijn and De Geest, Gerrit (eds.): Encyclopedia of Law and Economics, vol. I, Edward Elgar, 2000

Coase, Ronald H.: “The Problem of Social Cost“, Journal of Law and Economics, vol. III, October 1960

Coase, Ronald H.: “The Institutional Structure of Production”, Nobel Lecture

 

3. The Coase theorem and its application.

Looking for Results: Nobel laureate Ronald Coase on rights, resources, and regulation“, Reason Magazine, January 1997

Coase, Ronald H.: The Firm, the Market and the Law, University of Chicago Press, 1990

Medema, Steven G and Zerbe, Richard O. Jr.: “The Coase Theorem” in Bouckaert, Boudewijn and De Geest, Gerrit (eds.): Encyclopedia of Law and Economics, vol. I, part 0730, Edward Elgar, 2000

 

4. Coase, Posner, Calabresi and their approaches to law&economics.

Walter Block: „Ethics, Efficiency, Coasian Property Rights, and Psychic Income: A Reply to Harold Demsetz“, Review of Austrian Economics, vol. 8, no. 2, 1995

Demsetz, Herold: „Block's Erroneous Interpretations,  Review of Austrian Economics, vol. 10, no. 2, 1997

Walter Block: „Private-Property Rights, Erroneous Interpretations, Morality, and Economics: Reply to Demsetz“, The Quarterly Journal of Austrian Economics, vol. 3, no. 1, Spring 2000

Walter Block: "O.J.'s Defense: A Reductio Ad Absurdum of the Economics of Ronald Coase and Richard Posner," European Journal of Law and Economics, 1996, Vol. 3, pp. 265-286

Edward Stringham: Kaldor-Hicks Efficiency and the Problem of Central Planning” Quarterly Journal of Austrian Economics, Vol. 4, No. 2 (Summer 2001) 41-50

 

5. Legal-economic nexus

Frédéric Batiat: Economic Harmonies, chap. 1. “Natural and Artificial Social Order

Randy Barnett: Toward a Theory of Legal Naturalism, Journal of Legal Studies, 1978

Edward Stringham: “Economic Analysis of Tort Law: Austrian and Kantian Perspectives” (with Mark White) in Law and Economics: Alternative Economic Approaches to Legal and Regulatory Issues, Margaret Oppenheimer and Nicholas Mercuro (eds.) New York: M.E. Sharpe, forthcoming.

 

6. Property I – human bodies

7. Property II – ownership of non-human entities

Hans-Hermann Hoppe: The Theory of Socialism and Capitalism, An Economico-Philosophical Treatise, Kluwer Academic Publishers, 1989 (chap. 2)

Frédéric Bastiat: Selected Essays on Political Economy, Foundation for Economic Education, 2001, chap. Property and Law

Garrett Hardin: The Tragedy of the Commons

Ludwig Mises: Human Action, chap. “The Limits of Property Rights and the Problems of External Costs and External Economies

 

8. Entrepreneurship and efficiency

Paul Heyne: Efficiency

Hayek, F. A.: “Competition as a Discovery Procedure”, Quarterly Journal of Austrian Economics, vol. 5, no. 3, Fall 2002

Bruno S. Frey - A Utopia? Government Without Territorial Monopoly, The Independent Review: A Journal of Political Economy, Volume 6, Number 1, Summer 2001

Tom W. Bell - Privately Produced Law, Libertarian Alliance, Legal Notes, 16, 1991

Tom W. Bell - The Jurisprudence Of Polycentric Law, Unpublished Manuscript, Chicago, Illinois, August, 1992

Tom W. Bell - Polycentric Law in the New Millennium, Essay submitted to the Mont Pelerin Society, 1998

O’Hara, Erin A. and Ribstein, Larry E.: “From Politics to Efficiency in Choice of Law“, Working Paper GMU School of Law, December 1999

Edward Stringham: “Market Chosen Law” Journal of Libertarian Studies Vol. 14, No.1 (Winter 1998-1999) 53-77

George H. Smith - Justice Entrepreneurship in a Free Market,  Journal of Libertarian Studies, Vol. 3, No. 4, 1979
 Randy E. Barnett - Comment on Smith
 Steven Strasnick - Comment on Smith
 Robert L. Formaini - Comment on Smith
 George H. Smith - Reply to Critics

 

9. Efficiency and coordination

F.A. Hayek: "The Use of Knowledge in Society"

David Friedman - Anarchy and Efficient Law, For and Against the State (ed. John T. Sanders and Jan Narveson),Rowman & Littlefield, 1996, p. 235-253

 

10. Law and the State

T. L. Anderson & P.J. Hill - An American Experiment in Anarcho-Capitalism: The Not So Wild, Wild West Journal of Libertarian Studies, Vol. 3, no. 1, 1979

David Friedman - Private Creation and Enforcement of Law: A Historical Case
Journal of Legal Studies 8, 1979

Stephen Davies - The Private Supply of `Public Goods' in Nineteenth Century Britain (pdf)
Libertarian Alliance, Historical Notes, 03, 1988

Edward Stringham: “The Extralegal Development of Securities Trading in Seventeenth Century Amsterdam” Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance, Vol. 43, No. 2 (Summer 2003) 321-344.

Edward Stringham: “The Emergence of the London Stock Exchange as a Self-Policing Club” Journal of Private Enterprise, Vol. 17, No. 2 (2002) 1-19.

Bruce L. Benson - Enforcement of Private Property Rights in Primitive
Societies: Law without Government
, Journal of Libertarian Studies, Vol. 9, Num. 1, 1989

Bruce L. Benson - Customary Law With Private Means of Resolving Disputes and Dispensing Justice: A Description Of a Modern System of Law and Order Without State Coercion, Journal of Libertarian Studies, Vol. 9 Num. 2, 1990

Bruce L. Benson - Reciprocal Exchange as the Basis for Recognition Of Law: Examples from American History,
Journal of Libertarian Studies, Vol. 10, Num. 1, 1991

John D. Sneed - Order without Law: Where will Anarchists Keep the Madmen ?, Journal of Libertarian Studies, Vol. 1, No. 2, 1977

 


11. Law and legislation

Tom Palmer: „Freedom and the Law: A Comment on Professor Aranson's Article," with Leonard P. Liggio, Harvard Journal of Law & Public Policy

Stephan N. Kinsella - Rationalism, Legislation, and Law, Journal of Libertarian Studies, Vol. 11, Num. 2, 1995

Benson, Bruce L.: “The Impetus for Recognizing Private Property and Adopting Ethical Behavior in a Market Economy: Natural Law, Government Law, or Evolving Self-Interest”, The Review of Austrian Economics, vol. 6, no. 2, 1993.

 

11. Real-world legal systems

Environment

Roger E. Meiners and Bruce Yandle: The Common Law: How it Protects the Environment

Block, Walter, "Environmentalism and Freedom: The Case for Private Property Rights," Journal of Business Ethics, Vol. 17, No. 6, December 1998, pp. 1887-1899

Anderson, Terry L. and Huggins, Laura E.: Property Rights: A Practical guide to Freedom and Prosperity, Hoover Institutions Press Publications, 2003

 

IP

Palmer, Tom G.: „Intellectual Property: A Non-Posnerian Law and Economics Approach“, Hamline Law Review, vol. 12, no. 261, 1989

Kinsella, Stephan N.: „Against Intellectual Property“, Journal of Libertarian Studies, vol. 15, no. 2, Spring 2001

 

Punishment and Restitution

Stephan N. Kinsella - Punishment and Proportionality: the Estoppel Approach, Journal of Libertarian Studies, Vol. 12, Num. 1, 1996
Bruce L. Benson - Restitution in Theory and Practice, Journal of Libertarian Studies, Vol. 12, No. 1, 1996

12. What should lawyers do?

Bryan Caplan - The Economics of Non-State Legal Systems, Libertarian Alliance, Legal Notes, 26, 1997

John Hasnas: Once More unto the Breach: The Inherent Liberalism of the Criminal Law and Liability for Attempting the Impossible

Michael I. Krauss:  Restoring the Boundary Tort Law and the Right to Contract



 

Further Reading:

Murray Rothbard: For a New Liberty: The Libertarian Manifesto, chap. 11  (The Public Sector, III: Police, Law, and the Courts. 219)

Gustave de Molinari: Private Production of Security
Murray Rothbard's introduction

David Friedman - Police, Courts, and Laws-on the Market, in The Machinery of Freedom: Guide to A Radical Capitalism, Open Court, 1973 (1989 second edition)

Anthony de Jasay: The State

Hayek, F. A., The Road to Serfdom. Chicago, 1944, 56-100; 134-152.

Hayek, F. A., Law, Legislation and Liberty. Chicago, 1973, 1-54; 94-144.

Hernando de Soto, The Other Path. Harper and Row, 1989,  131-187.

Bruce Benson, Customary Law With Private Means of Resolving Disputes and Dispensing Justice: A Description Of a Modern System of Law and Order Without State Coercion, Journal of Libertarian Studies, sv. 9, č. 2 (www.mises.org)

Friedman, David: Law’s Order, What Economics Has To Do With Law And Why It Matters, Princeton University Press, 2000

Alchian, Armen A. and Demsetz, Harold: „The Property Right Paradigm“, The Journal of Economic History, vol. 33, no. 1, March 1973

Barnett, Randy E.: The Structure of Liberty, Clarendon Press, 1998

Berman, Harold J.: Law and Revolution, Harvard University Press, 1983

Bethell, Tom: The Noblest Triumph, Property and Prosperity through the Ages,  St. Martin’ Press, 1998

Šíma, Josef: “Intelektuální vlastnictví”, Politická ekonomie (forthcoming)

Šíma, Josef: „Spor o metodu uvnitř ekonomie a práva“, Filosofické základy metodologie ekonomických věd II, VŠE, 2003

Šíma, Josef: “Francouzský harmonismus jako jednota ekonomie a práva”, Introductiion to Salin, Pascal: Ekonomická harmonizace, Liberální institut, 2003

Ellickson, Robert C.: Order without Law, Harvard University Press, 1991

Benson, Bruce: The Entreprise of Law, Pacific Research Institute for Public Policy, 1990

Epstein, Richard A.: Simple Rules for a Complex World, Harvard University Press, 1995

Medema, Steven G. (ed.): The Legacy of Ronald Coase in Economic Analysis, vol. I and II, Edward Elgar Publishing, 1995

Pipes, Richard: Property and Freedom, Alfred A. Knopf, 1999

Rizzo, Mario J.: „Law Amid Flux: The Economics of Negligence and Strict Liability in Tort“, Journal of Legal Studies, vol. IX, no. 2, March 1980

Rizzo, Mario J.: „Rules versus Cost-Benefit Analysis in the Common Law“ in Dorn, James A. a Manne, Henry G.: Economic Liberties and the Judiciary, George Mason University Press, 1987

Rizzo, Mario J.: „Uncertainty, Subjectivity, and the Economic Analysis of Law“ in Rizzo, Mario J. (ed.): Time, Uncertainty, and Disequilibrium, LexingtonBooks, 1979

 

Personal Webpages:

Bruce Benson

Randy Barnett

Walter Block

David Friedman

Hans Hoppe

Stephan Kinsella

Ludwig Mises & Murray Rothbard