Keywords
torts, regulation, anti-trust, tax, legal profession, legal history, property rights, economics, market behaviour
Abstract
Prior to 1960, most North American law schools paid attention only to anti-trust, public utility regulation, and perhaps tax policy from a law and economics perspective (sometimes referred to as the "old" law and economics). However, beginning in the early 1960's with pioneering articles by Guido Calabresi on tort law and Ronald Coase (the 1991 recipient of the Nobel Prize in Economics) on property rights, followed by prolific writings and a comprehensive text by Richard Posner on a vast range of legal issues, the field of law and economics has burgeoned with many lawyers and economists around the world now exploring the economic implications of almost every aspect of the legal system. The "new" law and economics is often as much interested in non-market as market behaviour to which the "old" law and economics largely confined itself. This development has been accompanied by the initiation of a number of specialized law and economics oriented scholarly journals, and the appointment or cross-appointment of professional economists to the faculties of many North American law schools. The law schools at the University of Chicago, Harvard, Yale, Virginia, Stanford, George Mason, Northwestern, and Berkeley have particularly strong concentrations of scholars in various aspects of law and economics. In Canada, the Law and Economics Programme at the University of Toronto Law School was founded in 1976. Currently six scholars in the Law School have major interests in law and economics, and four economists are cross-appointed to the Faculty.
Recommended Citation
Michael J. Trebilcock, "Law and Economics" (1993) 16:2 Dal LJ 360.
