Symposium
Last updated on Apr 03, 2013
Free to Choose Symposium
A Symposium on Behavioral Law and Economics
In This Symposium
Reminder: TOTM Symposium on Behavioral Law and Economics Next Week
Free to Choose? A Symposium on Behavioral Law and Economics December 6-7, 2010 Truthonthemarket.com Come check it out. In addition to the TOTM bloggers, here is the list of confirmed participants (with more TBA …): Stephen Bainbridge (UCLA) Thomas Brown (O’Melveney & Myers) Christopher Buccafusco (Chicago-Kent) Richard Epstein (University of Chicago) David Friedman (Santa Clara) ... Reminder: TOTM Symposium on Behavioral Law and Economics Next Week
Welcome to “Free to Choose?: A Symposium on Behavioral Law and Economics”
Welcome! The rise of behavioral economics, and in turn, behavioral law and economics, has been one of the most significant developments in either field in a remarkably short period of time. In 2010, Nudge is a household name, “libertarian paternalism” is (a hotly debated) a term of art, and behavioral economics has taken made its ... Welcome to “Free to Choose?: A Symposium on Behavioral Law and Economics”
David Friedman on Behavioral Economics: Intriguing Research Project, with Reservations
David D. Friedman is Professor of Law at Santa Clara University 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 ... David Friedman on Behavioral Economics: Intriguing Research Project, with Reservations
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 Levine on Behavioral Economics: The Good, the Bad and the Middle Ground
David K. Levine is John H. Biggs Distinguished Professor of Economics at Washington University in St. Louis. 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 ... David Levine on Behavioral Economics: The Good, the Bad and the Middle Ground
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
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
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
Sprigman and Buccafusco on Valuing Intellectual Property
Christopher Sprigman is Professor or Law at the University of Virginia Christopher J. Buccafusco is Assistant Professor of Law at Chicago-Kent College of Law 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 ... Sprigman and Buccafusco on Valuing Intellectual Property
Judd Stone on Misbehavioral Economics: The Misguided Imposition of Behavioral Economics on Antitrust
Judd E. Stone is law clerk to the Honorable Daniel E. Winfree of the Supreme Court of Alaska and formerly Research Fellow of the International Center for Law & Economics. 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 ... Judd Stone on Misbehavioral Economics: The Misguided Imposition of Behavioral Economics on Antitrust
Ronald Mann on Nudging from Debt
Ronald Mann is a Professor of Law at Columbia Law School 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 ... Ronald Mann on Nudging from Debt
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
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
Claire Hill on The Promise of Behavioral Law and Economics
Claire Hill is a Professor of Law at University of Minnesota. 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 ... Claire Hill on The Promise of Behavioral Law and Economics
Kevin McCabe on Behavioral Economics and the Law
Kevin McCabe is a Professor of Law at George Mason University and holds appointments at George Mason’s Interdisciplinary Center for Economic Science, the Mercatus Center, and Krasnow Institute. Having started my career as an experimental economist I probably have a little different, but I hope complimentary, perspective on behavioral economics and other experimental programs in ... Kevin McCabe on Behavioral Economics and the Law
Tom Brown on Camel Spotting — Is Behavioral Economics Really Beyond Redemption?
Tom Brown is a partner at O’Melveny and Myers and Lecturer at UC Berkeley School of Law. At the outset let me thank our hosts for inviting me to participate in what I have come to think of as Truth On The Markets’ annual symposium on topics of particular interest to me. Last year at ... Tom Brown on Camel Spotting — Is Behavioral Economics Really Beyond Redemption?
Sprigman and Buccafusco on Behavioral Law and Economics and the Road from Lab to Law
Christopher Sprigman is Professor of Law at the University of Virginia Christopher J. Buccafusco is Assistant Professor of Law at Chicago-Kent College of Law In our second post, we want to discuss some of the implications of the study (the details of which we described in our first post). One of the consistent concerns about ... Sprigman and Buccafusco on Behavioral Law and Economics and the Road from Lab to Law
Stephen Bainbridge on Mandatory Disclosure: A Behavioral Analysis
Stephen Bainbridge is the William D. Warren Professor of Law at UCLA School of Law. Mandatory disclosure is a—maybe the—defining characteristic of U.S. securities regulation. Issuers selling securities in a public offering must file a registration statement with the SEC containing detailed disclosures, and thereafter comply with the periodic disclosure regime. Although the New Deal-era ... Stephen Bainbridge on Mandatory Disclosure: A Behavioral Analysis
Erin O’Hara on The Free Market Side of Behavioral Law and Economics
Erin O’Hara is FedEx Research Professor at Vanderbilt University School of Law. Behavioral law and economics (“BLE”) can influence legal policy analysis and regulation in many ways. On balance, it is not at all clear that this new paradigm undermines a policy commitment to markets. From one vantage point, the BLE movement can be said ... Erin O’Hara on The Free Market Side of Behavioral Law and Economics
Todd Henderson on Project Behavior: What the Battle is Really About
Todd Henderson is a Professor of Law at the University of Chicago Law School. Lying in bed for the past day with a stomach bug, I’ve enjoyed reading the contributions of my friends and colleagues. Perhaps the wisest course would be to, like Leonardo DiCaprio’s character pretending to be a doctor in “Catch Me If ... Todd Henderson on Project Behavior: What the Battle is Really About
Judd Stone on Behavioral Economics, Administrative Agencies, and Unintended Consequences
Professors Henderson and Ribstein touch on two theoretical failures of the behavioralist movement which both reveal the prematurity of ‘behaviorally-informed’ regulatory proposals: the behavioralist assumptions that (1) behavioral biases theoretically necessitate, or at least enable, public intervention, and (2) governmental entities can net improve individual outcomes over the status quo of unfettered, if limited, human ... Judd Stone on Behavioral Economics, Administrative Agencies, and Unintended Consequences
Ginsburg and Wright on A Taxonomy of Behavioral Law and Economics Skepticism
Douglas Ginsburg is Circuit Judge, U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia. Joshua Wright is Associate Professor, George Mason University School of Law. The behavioral economics research agenda is an ambitious one for several reasons. The first reason is that behavioral economics requires a theory “true” preferences aside from – and in opposition ... Ginsburg and Wright on A Taxonomy of Behavioral Law and Economics Skepticism
Ginsburg and Wright on Behavioral Law and Economics: the Never-Ending Quest for a Third Way
Douglas Ginsburg is Circuit Judge, U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia. Joshua Wright is Associate Professor, George Mason University School of Law. In the brave new world contemplated by the advocates of government policies informed by behavioral law and economics, many more aspects of each individual’s life will be regulated, or more ... Ginsburg and Wright on Behavioral Law and Economics: the Never-Ending Quest for a Third Way
Free to Choose Wrapup
Thanks to all of the participants for the excellent posts over the last two days. There are a couple of excellent comment threads where the conversation continues, and I hope that over the next few days participants and readers will get a chance to comment on the posts. Indeed, if any of the participants feel ... Free to Choose Wrapup
Richard Thaler’s Rejoinder to the TOTM Free to Choose Symposium
Editor’s Note: I invited Professor Thaler to respond to the TOTM Free to Choose Symposium, and he graciously accepted and offered the following response. Richard Thaler is the Ralph and Dorothy Keller Distinguished Service Professor of Behavioral Science and Economics at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business. I have now had a chance ... Richard Thaler’s Rejoinder to the TOTM Free to Choose Symposium
No, Nudge Was Not on Trial
Slate’s David Weigel ran an otherwise informative piece on Cass Sunstein’s testimony, as head of OIRA, at a recent House Energy and Commerce Committee. The headline? Nudge on Trial: Cass Sunstein Defends the White House Against a Republican Attack. From Weigel’s description of the hearing, there was some general hand wringing about whether there is ... No, Nudge Was Not on Trial
Kahneman’s Time Interview Fails to Allay Concerns About Behavioral Law and Economics
TOTM alumnus Todd Henderson recently pointed me to a short, ten-question interview Time Magazine conducted with Nobel prize-winning economist Daniel Kahneman. Prof. Kahneman is a founding father of behavioral economics, which rejects the rational choice model of human behavior (i.e., humans are rational self-interest maximizers) in favor of a more complicated model that incorporates a number ... Kahneman’s Time Interview Fails to Allay Concerns About Behavioral Law and Economics
Free to Err? An Exchange on Behavioral Law and Economics at the Liberty Forum
Douglas Ginsburg and I have posted “Free to Err: Behavioral Law and Economics and its Implications for Liberty” on the new and very good Liberty Forum. Our contribution is based upon a more comprehensive analysis of the implications of behavioral law and economics for both economic welfare and liberty forthcoming in the Northwestern Law Review. ... Free to Err? An Exchange on Behavioral Law and Economics at the Liberty Forum