Econ 522 – Economics of Law – Fall 2013

 

 
 
Lectures:
 
Mondays and Wednesdays, 2:30-3:45 p.m., 5106 Social Science
 
 
 
 
 
Professor:
 
Dan Quint, dquint@ssc.wisc.edu
6444 Social Science, 263-2515
 
 
 
 
 
Teaching Assistant:
 
Nathan Yoder, ndyoder@wisc.edu
6413 Social Science
 
 
 
 
 
Exam Dates:
 
Two in-class midterms October 23 and November 20, in Education L196
Final exam Saturday December 21, 7:45-9:45 a.m., in Bascom 165
 
 
 
 
 
Office hours before final exam:
 
Prof. Quint:             Tuesday Dec 17, 2-4, and Thursday Dec 19, 2-4
Nathan:                   Wednesday Dec 18, 1-3, and Friday Dec 20, 10-12
 
 
 
Syllabus
 
Sample exam questions from past semesters, and a solution to one of them
 
 
Homework 1 – due online (via Learn@UW) Thursday, September 19 at 11:59 p.m.
Homework 2 – due online (via Learn@UW) Thursday, October 10 at 11:59 p.m.
Homework 3 – due online (via Learn@UW) Thursday, November 7 at 11:59 p.m.
Homework 4 – due online (via Learn@UW) Thursday, December 12 at 11:59 p.m.
 
 
Lecture slides/notes
 
Introductory material
 
Lecture #1 – introduction, the Common and Civil Law traditions, whales and baseballs
Lecture #2 – efficiency – what is it, do we want it and why?
               “fake homework” for lecture #3 – why are broad-based taxes preferable to narrow ones?
Lecture #3 – efficiency as a normative goal; intro to static game theory
 
Property Law
 
Lecture #4 – intro to static game theory; motivation for property law; the Coase Theorem
Lecture #5 – foxes; threat points and bargaining; when will property rights expand; transaction costs
Lecture #6 – how should we deal with transaction costs? what does the efficient property law system look like?
Lecture #7 – more on designing the efficient property law system; sequential rationality
Lecture #8 – sequential rationality and intellectual property
Lecture #9 – limitations and exceptions to property rights
Lecture #10 – eminent domain; regulation; timing of transactions and the need for contracts
 
Contract Law
 
Lecture #11 – why contracts, the Bargain Theory, and incentives for efficient breach
Lecture #12 – incentives for reliance; default rules and penalty defaults
Lecture #13 – penalty defaults, ways to get out of a contract (and why)
Lecture #14 – impossibility, bad information, and other ways out of a contract
Lecture #15 – remedies for breach of contract, more on incentives
Lecture #16 – wrapping up contract law – more examples and repeated interactions
 
Tort Law
 
Lecture #17 – introducing torts and our basic model of precaution
Lecture #18 – precaution and activity levels under various liability rules
Lecture #19 – due care and the hand rule, the effects of errors on liability rules
Lecture #20 – relaxing the assumptions of our “basic” torts model
Lecture #21 – other extensions of tort law
 
Other
 
Lecture #22 – criminal law
Lecture #23 – more criminal law
Lecture #24 – behavioral economics and the law
Lecture #25 – efficiency revisited, unenforced laws, and what to remember after December 21
 
 
Section notes
 
Section #1 (September 13)
Section #2 (September 20)
Section #3 (September 27)
Section #4 (October 4)
Section #5 (October 11)
Midterm 1 Review
Section #7 (October 25)
Section #8 (November 1)
Section #9 (November 8)
Midterm 2 Review
Section #11 (Tort Law, Part 2)
 
 
Solving the In-Class Mathematical Examples
 
 
 
 
Also feel free to check out last semester’s course materials, as the course this fall will be very similar.