Daniel Schaffa
Daniel Schaffa is a professor of law at the University of Richmond School of Law, where his research focuses on tax law, tax policy, and law & economics. His work examines how tax systems can be designed to achieve socially desirable outcomes, as well as the economic principles underlying criminal punishment.
Schaffa’s tax research explores tax-system complexity, the use of tax-return information in policy design, corrective taxation to address harmful activities, and the taxation of wealth and corporate income. His law & economics scholarship examines how related criminal offenses should be punished.
Schaffa joined the University of Richmond faculty in 2017 and was promoted to professor of law with tenure in 2025. Before entering academia, he worked as an investment-banking analyst at CIBC World Markets and as a legal intern at the Internal Revenue Service.
Schaffa is a member of the American Law and Economics Association, the International Institute of Public Finance, and the National Tax Association. He previously served as an articles editor of the University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform.
Schaffa earned his Ph.D. in economics, J.D., and bachelor’s and master’s degrees in economics, accounting, and mathematics from the University of Michigan.
Daniel Schaffa
Nov 02, 2026
In “Production, Information Costs, and Economic Organization,” Armen Alchian and Harold Demsetz ask when joint production works better inside a firm than across markets, and what form that firm takes. Their answers turn on a measurement problem: When people produce together, total output doesn’t reveal what each person contributed. Measuring individual contributions is costly, and ... ‘Production, Information Costs, and Economic Organization,’ by Armen Alchian & Harold Demsetz
Daniel Schaffa
Dec 02, 2025
David Weisbach and Jacob Nussim’s 2004 paper “The Integration of Tax and Spending Programs” marked an important law & economics contribution to the tax-policy literature. The paper argues that, given a particular policy, the part of the government best suited to implement that policy should be tasked with doing so. Government Program Implementation Choices Weisbach ... ‘The Integration of Tax and Spending Programs,’ by David Weisbach & Jacob Nussim
