Economic Analysis for Lawyers

Economic Analysis for Lawyers offers a thorough introduction to the tools and methods used in economic analysis of the law. This book presumes no prior training in economics and uses the same building block approach that is found in most microeconomics principles textbooks that are used in undergraduate economics classes. It includes excerpted cases and seminal articles from economic journals and law reviews to illustrate the applicability of the economic principles to both public and private law. Core principles of law and economics are introduced in the first three chapters. Subsequent chapters build on these fundamentals by adding a detailed and sophisticated analysis in the general areas of externalities, information, risk and torts, crime, antitrust and industrial organization, labor markets, and financial economics.

The fourth edition represents a major revision. Most significantly, Chapter 2—which presents fundamental microeconomic theory—has been significantly reworked and expanded to provide a deeper treatment of consumer and producer behavior, including new cases and several new examples. Chapter 3 is new, offering a deeper examination of the role of property rights in market exchange and intellectual property. Additionally, Chapter 5 includes a richer discussion of the economics of information, and Chapter 1 provides a more streamlined introduction to the material. In addition to these major changes, the fourth edition includes new cases and notes throughout.