Economic Foundations of Private Law

Edited by Richard A. Posner, retired Judge, United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit and formerly Senior Lecturer, University of Chicago Law School, US and Francesco Parisi, Oppenheimer Wolff and Donnelly Professor of Law, University of Minnesota Law School, US and Professor of Economics, University of Bologna, Italy

• Contents:AcknowledgementsThe Economic Foundations of Private Law: An Introduction Richard A. Posner and Francesco ParisiPART ITHE METHODOLOGY OF LAW AND ECONOMICS 1. Richard A. Posner (1987), ‘The Law and Economics Movement’2. Guido Calabresi (1980), ‘About Law and Economics: A Letter to Ronald Dworkin’3. Louis Kaplow and Steven Shavell (1994), ‘Why the Legal System is Less Efficient than the Income Tax in Redistributing Income’4. Richard A. Posner (1985), ‘Wealth Maximization Revisited’PART IITHE EFFICIENCY OF THE COMMON LAW HYPOTHESIS 5. William M. Landes (1971), ‘An Economic Analysis of the Courts’6. Isaac Ehrlich and Richard A. Posner (1974), ‘An Economic Analysis of Legal Rulemaking’7. Paul H. Rubin (1977), ‘Why is the Common Law Efficient?’8. George L. Priest (1977), ‘The Common Law Process and the Selection of Efficient Rules’9. Robert D. Cooter and Daniel L. Rubinfeld (1989), ‘Economic Analysis of Legal Disputes and Their Resolution’PART IIITHE COASE THEOREM AND THE ECONOMICS OF PROPERTY RIGHTS 10. R.H. Coase (1960), ‘The Problem of Social Cost’11. Harold Demsetz (1972), ‘When Does the Rule of Liability Matter?’12. Harold Demsetz (1967), ‘Toward a Theory of Property Rights’13. Guido Calabresi and A. Douglas Melamed (1972), ‘Property Rules, Liability Rules, and Inalienability: One View of the Cathedral’PART IVTHE ECONOMICS OF CONTRACT LAW14. John H. Barton (1972), ‘The Economic Basis of Damages for Breach of Contract’15. Anthony T. Kronman (1978), ‘Mistake, Disclosure, Information, and the Law of Contracts’16. Alan Schwartz (1979), ‘The Case for Specific Performance’17. Charles J. Goetz and Robert E. Scott (1980), ‘Enforcing Promises: An Examination of the Basis of Contract’18. Steven Shavell (1980), ‘Damage Measures for Breach of Contract’19. Ian Ayres and Robert Gertner (1989), ‘Filling Gaps in Incomplete Contracts: An Economic Theory of Default Rules’PART VTHE ECONOMICS OF TORT LAW AND LIABILITY SYSTEMS 20. William M. Landes and Richard A. Posner (1981), ‘The Positive Economic Theory of Tort Law’21. Steven Shavell (1980), ‘Strict Liability Versus Negligence’22. Steven Shavell (1984), ‘Liability for Harm Versus Regulation of Safety’23. Robert D. Cooter (1982), ‘Economic Analysis of Punitive Damages’Name Index