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  4. June 2006
  5. A Review of Steven Shavell's Foundations of Economic Analysis of Law

Journal of Economic Literature

ISSN 0022-0515 (Print) | ISSN 2328-8175 (Online)

A Review of Steven Shavell's Foundations of Economic Analysis of Law

  • Richard A. Posner
Journal of Economic Literature
vol. 44, no. 2, June 2006
(pp. 405–414)
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Abstract

Steven Shavell's Foundations of Economic Analysis of Law (Harvard University Press, 2004) is a major theoretical contribution to "law and economics," the applied field of economics that studies the economic properties and consequences of legal doctrines and institutions. It is a field of immense practical importance, but unfamiliar to many economists--a situation that Shavell's book bids fair to rectify. This review essay situates Shavell's book in the history of economic scholarship about law and uses the book as a springboard for speculation about new directions in that scholarship.

Citation

Posner, Richard, A. 2006. "A Review of Steven Shavell's Foundations of Economic Analysis of Law." Journal of Economic Literature, 44 (2): 405–414. DOI: 10.1257/jel.44.2.405

JEL Classification

  • K00 Law and Economics: General