Economics of Edwin Chadwick

Robert B. Ekelund Jr., Professor and Eminent Scholar Emeritus in Economics, Auburn University, US and Edward O. Price III, Professor Emeritus, Oklahoma State University, US

• Contents: Preface Part I: Introduction 1. Who was Edwin Chadwick? 2. Chadwick’s Modernity Part II: The Regulation of Markets 3. Managing Contracts: A Means to Social Welfare 4. Railways: The National Franchising Alternative 5. Urban Externalities: Funeral and Burial Markets Part III: Law, Sociology, and Economics 6. Chadwick on Labor, Education, and the Business Cycle 7. Criminal Justice Institutions, Police, and the Common Pool 8. The Economics of Sanitation and the Utilitarian Agenda 9. If Markets Fail: Chadwick and Contemporary Society Bibliography Index

'Economists owe a great debt to Ekelund and Price for making us aware of Edwin Chadwick's seminal contributions. Chadwick lived in the middle of the 19th century, but he anticipated many of the theoretical and practical advances that culminated in the law and economics revolution of the late 20th century. These include Coase's analysis of social cost and Demsetz's proposal for franchise bidding in natural monopolies. Read the summary of Chadwick's ideas about railroads and consider that Britain adopted many of them but only more than a century later (while the US continues to wallow in ignorance). The book is full of similar examples where Chadwick's prescience is extraordinary. Economists, legal scholars and practitioners, especially those working at the intersection of law and economics, will want to read this book.'--Sam Peltzman, University of Chicago, US