MPE_LAWE Law & Economics

Faculty of Economics and Administration
Autumn 2023
Extent and Intensity
2/0/0. 4 credit(s). Type of Completion: zk (examination).
Teacher(s)
Jakub Čihák (lecturer)
Pavol Minárik (lecturer)
doc. Ing. Josef Montag, Ph.D. (lecturer)
doc. Ing. Rostislav Staněk, Ph.D. (lecturer)
Guaranteed by
doc. Ing. Rostislav Staněk, Ph.D.
Department of Economics – Faculty of Economics and Administration
Contact Person: Mgr. Jarmila Šveňhová
Supplier department: Department of Economics – Faculty of Economics and Administration
Timetable
Fri 29. 9. 10:00–13:50 S313, Fri 6. 10. 10:00–13:50 S313, Fri 13. 10. 10:00–13:50 S313, Fri 20. 10. 10:00–13:50 S313, Fri 27. 10. 10:00–13:50 S313, Fri 3. 11. 10:00–13:50 S313
Prerequisites
Prior knowledge of Intermediate Microeconomics (MPE_MIE2) is required and familiarity with Identification Strategies (MPE_APIS) is recommended. No prior training in law is required.
Course Enrolment Limitations
The course is offered to students of any study field.
Course objectives
Economic Analysis of Law (also known as Law and Economics) is microeconomics applied to legal phenomena, i.e., analysis of incentives and behavior under alternative legal rules. Put more broadly, it is a study of rules and institutions from the efficiency and social welfare point of view. Law and Economics is a dominating theory of law, at least in the US. The course will cover basic concepts and models of the economic analysis of law with main focus on several core areas: institutions and the long-run growth, property, contract, accidents, and crime.

Students will obtain a general overview of the field of Law and Economics. They will learn basic concepts and theories, read seminal papers, learn about influential authors, and receive a sample of more recent research papers in the field. Apart from textbook material, we will discuss classic papers as well as more recent (mostly empirical) ones.
Learning outcomes
Students will be able to:
- present basic concepts and theories in the field
- understand more recent research papers in the field
- apply those concepts to real-life problems and use them in analyzing legal rules and regulations
Syllabus
  • 1. Rights and Entitlements
  • 2. Institutions as the Fundamental Cause of Long-Run Growth
  • 3. Property: the economic theory of property, topics in the economic theory of property (establishment and verification, anticommons, takings), economics of the intellectual property
  • 4. Contract: opportunism, eelationship-specific investment, risk allocation, asymmetric information
  • 5. Accidents and liability: unilateral accidents, strict liability, negligence rule, bilateral accidents, pain and suffering
  • 6. Crime: traditional theory, topics in the economics of crime and punishment
  • 7. Regulatory impact assessment: regulation, risk compensation, moral Hazard, cost benefit analysis
Literature
    required literature
  • COOTER, Robert and Thomas ULEN. Law and economics. 6th ed. Harlow: Pearson, 2014, ii, 538. ISBN 9781292021843. info
Teaching methods
Teaching methods include lectures and reading of assigned papers. Lectures complement assigned literature, not vice versa. It is possible to take the course while studying abroad on an exchange program (e.g. Erasmus). Please contact the teacher before you leave for the exchange program.
Assessment methods
Term paper, open-book final exam
Language of instruction
English
Further Comments
Study Materials
The course is taught annually.
The course is also listed under the following terms Autumn 2021, Autumn 2022, Autumn 2024.
  • Enrolment Statistics (Autumn 2023, recent)
  • Permalink: https://is.muni.cz/course/econ/autumn2023/MPE_LAWE