Economics

Law and economics has become a central course in U.S. legal education and for students majoring in topics like economics, political science, and philosophy. With the Fifth Edition of their best-selling text, Cooter and Ulen provide a clear introduction to economic analysis and its application to legal rules and institutions that is accessible to any student who has taken principles of microeconomics.

The book’s structure is flexible, beginning with an introductory overview of economic tools followed by paired chapters in five core areas of law: property, contracts, torts, legal process, and crime. Students leave the course understanding how microeconomic theory can be used to critically evaluate law and public policy.

• As the best-selling text in the market, the level and structure are accessible for most undergraduate courses. Two introductory chapters help orient students who have not taken microeconomics recently.
• Chapter 2 offers a brief review of microeconomics theory.
• Chapter 3 is an introduction to the law and the legal process for those who have had no formal legal training.
• Five key areas of the law are covered: property, contracts, torts, legal process, and crime.
• The unique paired-chapter organization lends flexibility to professors. Each pair of chapters has one chapter that introduces an economic model and one chapter that applies the model to a specific area of law.
• Chapters 4 and 5 focus on property law, including material on intellectual property and organizations-as-property.
• Chapters 6 and 7 discuss contracts, covering incentives and the agency problem.
• Chapters 8 and 9 on torts incorporate material on damages for incompensable losses.
• Chapters 11 and 12 discuss crime and punishment with topics such as overcoming weakness of will and coordinating powers of criminal law.
• Coverage of recent developments is expanded, including that of law and social norms, efficiency vs. equity, private disputes vs. tax-and-transfer, and behavioral law and economics.
• Empirical literature and data expose students to the latest research in the field.
• A clear writing style and extensive collection of applications, both in the text and on the Companion Website, allow for flexibility in level and teaching styles.
• Web Notes in each chapter closely link the text with relevant content on the Companion Website.
• Questions are distributed throughout each chapter, testing students’ understanding as they move through the material.
• Boxes provide real-world situations that illustrate key topics and connect students’ learning to everyday life.

• Tables and graphs are updated to include current data.
  
• New boxes and suggested readings are added throughout the text.
• Web Notes are updated and new Web Notes are added to the text for students to link to the Companion Website.
• Chapter 5, Topics in the Economics of Property Law, includes new material on intellectual property, which includes a discussion on patents and copyrights with new examples and footnotes.
• Chapter 6, An Economic Theory of Contract, contains expanded coverage of liability and customs in trade.
• New sections entitled “Unverifiable Acts and Anti-insurance,” “Time,” and “Indefinite or Vague Promises” have been added to Chapter 7, Topics in the Economics of Contract Law.
• Chapter 9, Topics in the Economics of Tort Liability, incorporates new information on lapses that includes a figure and examples, additional text regarding vicarious liability, incomprehensible harms, punitive damages, and new sections on mass torts and medical malpractice.
• Chapter 10, An Economic Theory of the Legal Process, contains an extensive new section on the empirical assessment of the legal process, as well as new information on decision trees with new figures.
• Chapter 12, Topics in the Economics of Crime and Punishment, is revamped by the addition of new examples, updated statistics, and a new section about the decline in crime in the U.S. that includes two tables.

1. An Introduction to Law and Economics
2. A Review of Microeconomic Theory
3. An Introduction to Law and Legal Institutions
4. An Economic Theory of Property
5. Topics in the Economics of Property Law
6. An Economic Theory of Contract
7. Topics in the Economics of Contract Law
8. An Economic Theory of Tort Law
9. Topics in the Economics of Tort Liability
10. An Economic Theory of the Legal Process
11. An Economic Theory of Crime and Punishment
12. Topics in the Economics of Crime and Punishment

Law and Economics  [CORE TEXTS]   (Economics)

Robert Cooter, a pioneer in the field of law and economics, began teaching in the Department of Economics at UC Berkeley in 1975 and joined the Boalt faculty in 1980. He has been a visiting member of the Institute for Advanced Study at Princeton and a recipient of various awards and fellowships, including Guggenheim, the Jack N. Pritzker Visiting Research Professorship at Northwestern Law School, and, most recently, the Max Planck Research Prize. He was an Olin visiting professor at the University of Virginia Law School and lectured at the University of Cologne in 1989. He is coeditor of the International Review of Law and Economics. He is one of the founders of the American Law and Economics Association and served from 1994 to 1995 as its president. In 1999 he was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. 

Professor Ulen received a bachelor’s degree from Dartmouth College, a master’s from St. Catherine’s College, Oxford, and a Ph.D. in Economics from Stanford University. He holds a Swanlund Chair, one of the highest endowed titles on the Urbana-Champaign campus, and is Director of the College’s Program in Law and Economics. In addition, he is a research affiliate of the Environmental Council, a member of the Campus Honors faculty, and holds positions in the Department of Economics and the Institute for Government and Public Affairs. Recently, Professor Ulen served as a Visiting Professor at the University of Bielefeld, and as the Foreign Chair in International and Comparative Law at the University of Ghent, Belgium. He has previously been a Visiting Professor in Belgium, Germany, Slovenia, and a Ford Foundation Professor in Shanghai, China. Professor Ulen was a member of the founding Board of Directors of the American Law and Economics Association and has served as a member of the editorial board of several professional journals. He is also a co-organizer, with Professor Tom Ginsburg and Professor Richard McAdams, of the Midwest Law and Economics Association Annual Meeting at the College of Law.

Companion Website for Law and Economics, 5/E
Cooter & Ulen
©2008 | Prentice Hall | On-line Supplement | Estimated Availability : 08/13/2007
ISBN-10: 0321412176 | ISBN-13: 9780321412171
URL:  http://www.aw-bc.com/cooter_ulen

Professional Copy for Law and Economics, 5/E
Cooter & Ulen
©2008 | Prentice Hall | Cloth; 592 pp | Instock
ISBN-10: 0321498763 | ISBN-13: 9780321498762

Companion Website for Law and Economics, 5/E
Cooter & Ulen
©2008 | Prentice Hall | On-line Supplement | Estimated Availability : 08/13/2007
ISBN-10: 0321412176 | ISBN-13: 9780321412171
URL:  http://www.aw-bc.com/cooter_ulen

Online Instructor's Manual for Law and Economics, 5/E
Cooter & Ulen
©2008 | Prentice Hall | Electronic Supplement | Instock
ISBN-10: 0321397517 | ISBN-13: 9780321397515
  View Downloadable Files

PowerPoint with Art, Figures, & Lectures Notes for Law and Economics, 5/E
Cooter & Ulen
©2008 | Prentice Hall | On-line Supplement | Instock
ISBN-10: 0321556542 | ISBN-13: 9780321556547
  View Downloadable Files

Companion Website for Law and Economics, 5/E
Cooter & Ulen
©2008 | Prentice Hall | On-line Supplement | Estimated Availability : 08/13/2007
ISBN-10: 0321412176 | ISBN-13: 9780321412171
URL:  http://www.aw-bc.com/cooter_ulen

Companion Website for Law and Economics, 5/E
Cooter & Ulen
©2008 | Prentice Hall | On-line Supplement | Estimated Availability : 08/13/2007
ISBN-10: 0321412176 | ISBN-13: 9780321412171
URL:  http://www.aw-bc.com/cooter_ulen

Pearson Higher Education offers special pricing when you choose to package your text with other student resources. If you're interested in creating a cost-saving package for your students, browse our available packages below, or contact your Pearson Higher Education representative to create your own package.

Package ISBN-10: 0321631129 | ISBN-13: 9780321631121
©2008 | Not Yet Published | Suggested retail price: $144.60 | Buy from myPearsonStore
This package contains:

Package ISBN-10: 0321551168 | ISBN-13: 9780321551160
©2008 | Instock | Suggested retail price: $185.33 | Buy from myPearsonStore
This package contains: