Claire Hill on The Promise of Behavioral Law and Economics
I want to challenge what seems to be a premise of this symposium: that much of the behavioral “contribution” to economics is about people’s “mistakes” (either cognitive mistakes or “weakness of the will”) and the consequent need for paternalistic intervention. I think the behavioral perspective has much more to offer; I also think that the ... Claire Hill on The Promise of Behavioral Law and Economics
Free to Choose: Day 1 Wrapup
I’ve compiled links to the excellent posts from day 1 in here, or you can go to the Free to Choose Symposium tab at the top of the blog. Tomorrow’s lineup should be more of the same, including posts from Claire Hill, Erin O’Hara, Todd Henderson, Tom Brown, Kevin McCabe, Steve Bainbridge, Christopher Sprigman & ... Free to Choose: Day 1 Wrapup
Richard Epstein on The Dangerous Allure of Behavioral Economics: The Relationship between Physical and Financial Products
Richard A. Epstein is the Laurence A. Tisch Professor of Law, New York University School of Law, The Peter and Kirsten Bedford Senior Fellow, The Hoover Institution, and the James Parker Hall Distinguished Service Professor of Law, The University of Chicago. Few academic publications have had as much direct public influence on the law as ... Richard Epstein on The Dangerous Allure of Behavioral Economics: The Relationship between Physical and Financial Products
Ronald Mann on Nudging from Debt
The idea that the regularity of behavioral departures from full rationality justifies regulatory intervention has rarely gained more credence than in the context of consumer finance. The Credit CARD Act of 2009 rests on nothing so much as the supposition that cardholder decisions about spending and repayment reflect systematic misapprehension of the likely patterns of ... Ronald Mann on Nudging from Debt
Judd Stone on Misbehavioral Economics: The Misguided Imposition of Behavioral Economics on Antitrust
Behavioral law and economics has arisen to international prominence; between Cass Sunstein’s appointment to head the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs the United Kingdom’s appointment of a “nudge” bureau, behavioralism has enjoyed a meteoric impact on policymakers. Thus far, behavioral economists have almost exclusively focused on the myriad foibles or purported cognitive errors which ... Judd Stone on Misbehavioral Economics: The Misguided Imposition of Behavioral Economics on Antitrust
Sprigman and Buccafusco on Valuing Intellectual Property
We would like to start by thanking Josh for inviting us to participate in what promises to be a fascinating discussion on an important subject. We’re looking forward to engaging with the other members of the symposium. To begin with, we would like to talk about some of our own experimental research on the valuation ... Sprigman and Buccafusco on Valuing Intellectual Property
Thom Lambert on Behavioral Law and Economics and the Conflicting Quirks Problem: A “Realist” Critique
Thom Lambert is Associate Professor of Law at the University of Missouri Behavioralism is mesmerizing. Ever since I took Cass Sunstein’s outstanding Elements of the Law course as a 1L at the University of Chicago Law School, I’ve been fascinated by studies purporting to show how humans are systematically irrational. It is, of course, the “systematic” part that’s ... Thom Lambert on Behavioral Law and Economics and the Conflicting Quirks Problem: A “Realist” Critique
Geoffrey Manne on Interesting doesn’t necessarily mean policy relevant
Geoffrey A. Manne is Executive Director of the International Center for Law & Economics and Lecturer in Law at Lewis & Clark Law School The problem with behavioral law and economics (and its behavioral economics cousin) is not that it has nothing interesting to say, but rather that the interesting things it has to say ... Geoffrey Manne on Interesting doesn’t necessarily mean policy relevant
Henry Manne on Behavioral Overreach
Henry G. Manne is Dean Emeritus at George Mason University School of Law Behavioral Economics, like so many efforts previously to upend the hegemony of the neo-classical market model, will leave some footprints on the intellectual sands of time. However, there is no way that it can accomplish what many of its disciples seem, subliminally ... Henry Manne on Behavioral Overreach
David Levine on Behavioral Economics: The Good, the Bad and the Middle Ground
Behavioral economics: love it or hate it – there seems to be no middle ground. Lovers take the obvious fact people are not frictionless maximizing machines together with the false premise that economists assume that they are to conclude that all of economics must be wrong. The haters take the equally obvious fact that laboratories ... David Levine on Behavioral Economics: The Good, the Bad and the Middle Ground
Larry Ribstein on Free to Lose?
Larry E. Ribstein is the Mildred Van Voorhis Jones Chair in Law and the associate dean for Research, University of Illinois College of Law I thought I’d aim my opening post at the question that motivated my interest in this symposium: is behavioral economics leading us to the end of free markets and the takeover ... Larry Ribstein on Free to Lose?
David Friedman on Behavioral Economics: Intriguing Research Project, with Reservations
I have long argued that the economic assumption of rationality is useful not because it is a complete and correct description of real world behavior but because it describes that part of behavior that is predictable. If half the time an individual takes the actions that best achieve his goals and half the time he ... David Friedman on Behavioral Economics: Intriguing Research Project, with Reservations
