Econ 522 – Economics of Law – Fall 2011

 

 
 
Lectures:
 
Mondays and Wednesdays, 2:30-3:45 p.m., Social Science 5206
 
 
 
 
 
Professor:
 
Dan Quint, dquint@ssc.wisc.edu
 
 
 
7428 Social Science, 263-2515
Office hours: Tuesdays, 2-4 p.m.
 
 
 
 
 
Teaching Assistant:
 
Fran Flanagan, fflanagan@wisc.edu
6443 Social Science
Office hours: Mondays, 12:15-2:15 p.m.
 
 
 
 
 
Exam Dates:
 
Two in-class midterms scheduled for Oct 12 and Nov 9
Final exam Thursday, Dec 22, 12:25-2:25 p.m., Social Science 6210
 
 
 
Syllabus
 
 
Homework 1 – Efficiency (due 11:59 p.m., Thursday September 22)
Homework 2 – Property Law (due 11:59 p.m., Thursday October 6)
Homework 3 – Contract Law (due 11:59 p.m., Thursday November 3)
Homework 4 – Tort Law, Legal Process, Criminal Law (due 11:59 p.m., Thursday December 8)
 
 
Here are some exam questions from past semesters, and a solution to one of them (the shoe factory question), to give you an idea of what the exams will look like.
 
 
Slides/lecture notes
 
 
Preliminaries
 
Lecture 1 – preliminaries, history, whales and baseballs
Lecture 2 – all about efficiency: what is it, and do we want it?
               ungraded optional homework problem for Wed 9/14
Lecture 3 – a little game theory (static games); motivating property law
 
Property Law
 
Lecture 4 – foxes, the Coase theorem, bargaining, Demsetz
Lecture 5 – transaction costs; Calabresi and Melamed and choosing the efficient remedy
Lecture 6 – designing the efficient system for property law; sequential rationality and dynamic games
Lecture 7 – intellectual property
Lecture 8 – more applications of property law
Lecture 9 – eminent domain and regulation
 
Contract Law
 
Lecture 10 – motivating contract law; the bargain theory; breach
Lecture 11 – reliance, gaps, and default rules
Lecture 12 – regulations; ways to get out of a contract
Lecture 13 – more ways out of a contract; remedies for breach
Lecture 14 – incentives revisited, repeated interactions
 
Tort Law
 
Lecture 15 – motivating tort law; harm, causation, breach of duty; precaution
Lecture 16 – incentives for precaution and activity levels under various liability rules
Lecture 17 – more incentives for precaution and activity; Hand Rule; effect of errors
Lecture 18 – complications/extensions to the basic model; what’s a life worth?
Lecture 19 – punitive damages; torts in the U.S.
 
Other
 
Lecture 20 – thinking about the legal process itself
Lectures 21-22 – criminal law
Lecture 23 – behavioral economics and the law
Lecture 24 – efficiency revisited/what to remember after December 22
 
 
TA session handouts
 
Section 1 handout
Section 2 handout
Section 3 handout
Contract Law 1 handout
Contract Law 2 handout
Tort Law 1 handout
Tort Law 2 handout
Criminal Law handout
Fran’s review problems and solutions
 
 
You can also look at the course materials from Spring 2011, as the course will be very similar.