Economic Analysis of Law
Description
What effects do laws have? Given those effects, which legal rules best promote social well-being? This course introduces the economic approach to analyzing legal problems and examines how economic reasoning has shaped our understanding of the legal system.
Students will learn the core tools economists use to study law, including the concepts of trade-offs, opportunity costs, incentives, prices, and efficiency. The course draws on both theoretical models and empirical evidence to explore how legal rules influence behaviour and outcomes.
Topics include contracts, torts, property, criminal law, game theory, uncertainty, imperfect information, and behavioural economics.
No prior background in economics is required.
Note: Students who have taken the graduate course in Economic Analysis of Law in the Economics Department may not take this course. Students in the JD/MA (Economics) combined program are not eligible to enrol except with special permission from the instructor, in consultation with the Director of the combined program.
Evaluation
There are three components to the course evaluation. Students will be required to write a final, 2-hour limited open-book exam (60%) and write 6 short responses (250-500 words each) answering questions about the reading (30%). There is also a 10% participation grade, based on student input into class discussions.
At a Glance
- Academic Year:2026-2027
- Course Session:Winter Session
- Credits:3
- Hours:3
Enrollment
- Maximum Enrollment:85
- JD Students:75
LLM/SJD/MSL/SJD U: 5
Graduate students in Economics: 5