Accident law, if properly designed, is capable of reducing the incidence of mishaps by making people act more cautiously. Scholarly writing on this branch of law traditionally has been concerned with examining the law for consistency with felt notions of right and duty. Since the 1960s, however, a group of legal scholars and economists have focused on identifying the effects of accident law on people's behavior. Steven Shavell's book is the definitive synthesis of research to date in this new field.

What effects do laws have? Do individuals drive more cautiously, clear ice from sidewalks more diligently, and commit fewer crimes because of the threat of legal sanctions? Do corporations pollute less, market safer products, and obey contracts to avoid suit? And given the effects of laws, which are socially best? Such questions about the influence and desirability of laws have been investigated by legal scholars and economists in a new, rigorous, and systematic manner since the 1970s. Their approach, which is called economic, is widely considered to be intellectually compelling and to have revolutionized thinking about the law. In this book Steven Shavell provides an in-depth analysis and synthesis of the economic approach to the building blocks of our legal system, namely, property law, tort law, contract law, and criminal law. He also examines the litigation process as well as welfare economics and morality. Aimed at a broad audience, this book requires neither a legal background nor technical economics or mathematics to understand it. Because of its breadth, analytical clarity, and general accessibility, it is likely to serve as a definitive work in the economic analysis of law.

First published in 1999. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

This book looks at the negligence concept of tort law and studies the efficiency issue arising from the determination of negligence. It does so by scrutinizing actual court decisions from three common law jurisdictions – Britain, India and the United States of America. This volume fills a very significant gap, scrutinizing 52 landmark judgments from these three countries, by focussing on the negligent affliction of economic loss determined by common law courts and how these findings relate to the existing theoretical literature. By doing so, it examines the formalization of legal concepts in theory, primarily the question of negligence determination and liability, and their centrality in theories concerning tort law. This book will be very helpful for students, professors and practitioners of law, jurisprudence and legal theory. It will additionally be of use to researchers and academics interested in law and economics, procedure and legal history.

This book focuses on the analysis of liability rules of tort law from an efficiency perspective, presenting a comprehensive analysis of these rules in a self-contained and rigorous yet accessible manner. It establishes general results on the efficiency of liability rules, including complete characterizations of efficient liability rules and efficient incremental liability rules. The book also establishes that the untaken precaution approach and decoupled liability are incompatible with efficiency. The economic analysis of tort law has established that for efficiency it is necessary that each party to the interaction must be made to internalize the harm resulting from the interaction. The characterization and impossibility theorems presented in this book establish that, in addition to internalization of the harm by each party, there are two additional requirements for efficiency. Firstly, rules must be immune from strategic manipulation. Secondly, rules must entail closure with respect to the parties involved in the interaction giving rise to the negative externality, i.e., the liability must not be decoupled.

In this book, after an analysis of the liability system, we analyzed the effects of law enforcement by the courts and by insurers with respect to claims for damages arising from road accidents, in particular, the effects due to the variability of tort awards granted by courts for similar cases, as well as the effects due to judicial delay, which combined with the variability of tort awards granted by courts for similar cases, wich tend to decrease efficiencyleading to a lower level of care, especially for drivers, with consequences on a larger number of accidents and therefor in more deaths and injuries. This study seeks to highlight the importance of law enforcement, to the functioning of society in general and for the reduction of road accidents in particular. The tort system is an important instrument that can affect the number of accidents. A viable tort system should be able to contribute towards general deterrence while providing equitable compensation to accident victims.

This book is an exemplary multi-disciplinary and multi-institutional study of contemporary Chinese law. A collective effort by a group of European and Chinese scholars, it skillfully tests the relationships between law and economics in the Chinese context. The China Journal This is an extremely valuable collection of essays on modern Chinese law viewed through the lens of the law and economics movement. China is developing very rapidly and law is now understood to provide the essential framework for economic development provided the law itself is economically rational. The essays in this volume are excellent examples of how economics can be used to clarify and guide the law applicable to the essential dimensions of the economy. I recommend it wholeheartedly and without reservations. Richard A. Posner, United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit and University of Chicago Law School, US This book brings together important applications of law and economics to China and covers a wide range of issues, including such basic concerns as property rights, intellectual property, and taxation, as well as competition law and corporate and securities law. Because of its breadth of coverage, its focus on the particulars of Chinese law, and the expertise of its scholars both Western and Chinese it should serve as a valuable reference work for years to come. Steven Shavell, Harvard Law School, US This book is an important step toward a Chinese scholarship in law and economics, written by leading law and economics researchers from China and Europe. Hans-Bernd Schaefer, Universität Hamburg, Germany In China everything is different, you cannot apply ordinary economics and the legal framework is idiosyncratic. In the course of time, such statements turned out to be prejudices, and the Eger/ Faure/ Zhang volume makes perfectly clear that, for instance, a law and economics approach can shed new light into the intricacies and complexities of Chinese institutional arrangements. Indeed, China creates new puzzles for economic and legal analysis. On the other hand, however, the Chinese need not invent the wheel anew and they do not try it. The book shows instances where a sophisticated law and economics approach can help to develop the legal framework which is appropriate for the transition from a planned into a market economy. The Chinese economic system is not (yet) a normal capitalist market economy, neither is the legal system adapted to a normal private property economy. Nevertheless the chapters of the book apply fruitfully law and economics theories and thus prove their general applicability. One of the outstanding achievements of the volume can be seen in the fact that it recruited more than half of its contributors with a Chinese background. They learn eagerly western approaches and they learn fast. And, of course, they have no problems with understanding Chinese culture and society. So the book combines most profitably the look from the outside and the look from within with a common theoretical framework. Hans-Jürgen Wagener, Europa Universität Viadrina, Germany This book comprises contributions on recent developments in China from a law and economics perspective. For the first time Chinese and European scholars jointly discuss some important attributes of China s legal and economic system, and some recent problems, from this particular viewpoint. The authors apply an economic analysis of law not only to general characteristics of China s social order, such as the specific type of federal competition, the efficiency of taxation and regulation, and the importance of informal institutions (Guanxi), but also to distinct areas of Chinese law such as competition policy, professional regulation, corporate governance and capital markets, oil pollution, intellectual property rights and internet games. The contributors discuss to what extent the law and economic models that have so far been employed within the context of deve

Lucid, comprehensive, and definitive in its field, this text covers every aspect of economic analysis of the law. Features: Two new chapters, one on intellectual property, one on international and comparative law, both exploding fields of great importance. Earlier editions' questions have been converted to answers, making the book more accessible and informative. Revised to be clearer and less technical. More eclectic, reflecting recent criticisms of "rational choice" theory, in particular the need to supplement it with insights from psychology. Greater attention paid to judicial behavior, realistically modeled and explained in economic terms. Incorporates insights from the veritable explosion of books and articles published in the last few years on economic analysis of law.

This book covers diverse themes, including institutions and efficiency, choice and values, law and economics, development and policy, and social and economic measurement. Written in honour of the distinguished economist Satish K. Jain, this compilation of essays should appeal not only to students and researchers of economic theory but also to those interested in the design and evaluation of institutions and policy.

The relationship between economic growth and the environment is at the forefront of public attention and poses serious challenges for policymakers around the world. Economic Analysis of Environmental Policy, a textbook for advanced undergraduate and graduate courses, provides a rigorous and thorough explanation of modern environmental economics, applying this exposition to contemporary issues and policy analysis. Opening with a discussion of contemporary pollution problems, institutional players and the main policy instruments at our disposal, Ross McKitrick develops core theories of environmental valuation and optimal control of pollution. Chapters that follow cover issues like tradable permits, regulatory standards, emission taxes, and polluter liability as well as advanced topics like trade and the environment, sustainability, risk, inequality, and self-monitoring. Throughout, McKitrick uses clear, intuitive, and coherent analytical tools, so that students, academics, and practitioners can develop their policy analysis skills while comprehending the debates and challenges at the frontier of this exciting and rapidly-developing field.