Third term (April - July)
The third term offers students a choice of nine universities, all offering different courses. There is less teaching in order to give students time to work on their thesis.
Students can also be selected to study in Berkeley, USA. In this case they will automatically be allocated to Rotterdam for the third term.
Aix-en-Provence - Centre d'Analyse Economique
Bologna (University of Bologna - Faculty of Economics)
Haifa (University of Haifa - Law Faculty)
- Introduction to the Behavioral Analysis of Law
- A Research Colloquium in Behavioral and Economic Analysis of Law
Hamburg (University of Hamburg - Law Faculty)
Manchester (University of Manchester - Faculty of Law)
Rotterdam (Erasmus University Rotterdam - Law Faculty)
(Also applies to students selected for the cooperation agreement with University of California, Berkeley School of Law)
- Advanced Topics of Competition Law and Economic Regulation
- replaced in Berkeley by: Seminar in Law and Economics
- Law and Economics in the Courts
Vienna
- Seminar: Recent Research in Law and Economics
- Seminar: Less and Better Regulation: Why and How?
- Colloquium
Detailed Course Descriptions
All information is subject to change.Aix-en-Provence - Centre d'Analyse Economique
Law and Economics and Social Changes
Lecturer: Prof. Dr. Pierre Garello
Contents and purpose of the courses
Law and Economics is traditionally based on general equilibrium analysis and Pareto optimality. In this course we investigate to what extent those tools are appropriate for an understanding of a world characterized by permanent changes. Do other tools exist? How would these tools be applied to contract law, property law and competition law?
Literature
Epstein, R.A., Simple Rules for a Complex World, Harvard University Press, 1995
Cordato, R., Welfare Economics in an Open Ended World, Routledge
Hayek, F., Law, Legislation and Liberty, University of Chicago Press
Hours: 20h
New Trends in Law and Economics
Lecturer: Dr. Elisabeth Krecké
Contents and purpose of the courses
This course discusses the different directions in which the discipline of Law and Economics is likely to move in the near future, how it responds to the critical attacks addressed on its behalf since the early eighties, what are actually the major debates and controversies, etc.
Literature: To be announced later. It is recommended to check the Encyclopaedia of Law and Economics, for instance on the Internet at http://inprem.rug.ac.be/~gpremer/encyc/.
Hours: 20h
Bologna (University of Bologna - Faculty of Economics)
Securities Law and Economics
Lecturers: Prof. Marco Lamandini, Prof. Marco Bigelli
Contents and purpose of the course
This course examines the regulation of financial markets in the context of economic theory relating to such markets. For those students who are not yet familiar with securities, an overview of the relevant corporate law principles concerning the regulation
of corporate finance shall be given in the first lectures. The course shall then focus on the regulation of public offerings of securities, take over bids, disclosure of material information, and insider trading, both from a legal and economic perspective.
Special emphasis shall be given to the European and comparative regulation, within the frame of the competition among legal systems. A thorough comparison with the U.S regulations shall be also offered. During the course students will be asked to comment upon a number of controversial issues and to examine relevant European and US case law.
Literature: Readings will be provided
Hours: Lectures: 8 x 3 hours
Law and Economics of Taxation
Lecturer: Chris Sanchirico
Course outline
1) Introduction
2) A framework for evaluating policy changes
a) The optimal taxation framework
b) Discrete tax changes
i) Decomposition of revenue effects into fixed behavior effects and behavioral adjustment effects
ii) Measuring the burden of a tax change—discrete compensating and equivalent variations
iii) The relationship between the fixed-behavior revenue effect and burden
iv) Social welfare effects
(1) Social welfare functions
(a) Pareto optimality, equity-regard and the Pigou-Dalton condition
(2) Social welfare weight
(3) The covariance between social welfare weight and burden
v) Example: pure head taxes
c) Marginal tax changes
i) The linearity of directional derivatives
ii) The envelope theorem and the relationship between burden and fixed-behavior revenue effects
d) Relationship of framework to:
i) Diagrammatic explanations—consumer surplus, deadweight loss, distortion
ii) Optimal tax conditions
(1) Ramsey rule
(2) Diamond covariance formula
3) Arguments for redistributing solely through a tax on labor earnings
a) Informal arguments
b) Formal arguments—the tax substitution argument
i) homogeneous population—the pure efficiency argument
ii) heterogeneous population—efficiency and equity
iii) The versatility of tax substitution logic
c) Applications
i) Redistributional legal and administrative rules
ii) Consumption taxation (inclusive of VAT) versus income taxation
iii) Basing taxation on “tags”
4) An optimal tax argument for tax base eclecticism
a) The revenue price of redistribution of a taxable attribute
b) Conditions for optimal inclusion of a new base item
c) Implications for our conception of the optimal tax base
i) What is the rule, what is the exception
ii) Indicator goods, within income group differences, distortion etc…
d) Applications--revisited
i) Redistribution legal and administrative rules
ii) Consumption taxation (inclusion of VAT) versus income taxation
iii) Basing taxation on “tags”
5) Policy uncertainty
a) Equity regarding social welfare functions and policy uncertainty
i) Ex ante and ex post social welfare
ii) Time consistency and the “sure thing principle”
b) The effect of policy uncertainty on optimal redistributive policy
Literature
Adler, Matthew D. and Sanchirico, Chris William, Inequality and Uncertainty: Theory and Legal Applications. University of Pennsylvania Law Review, Vol. 155, p. 279, 2006; Available at SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=886571.
Sanchirico, Chris William, Deconstructing the New Efficiency Rationale. Cornell Law Review, Vol. 86, p. 1003, 2001, Available at SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=198912 or DOI: 10.2139/ssrn.198912.
Sanchirico, Chris William, A Critical Look at the Economic Argument for Taxing Only Labor Income (March 4, 2009). Tax Law Review, Forthcoming; Available at SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=1353322.
Sanchirico, Chris William, Taxes Versus Legal Rules as Instruments for Equity: A More Equitable View. Journal of Legal Studies, June 2000. Available at SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=47400.
Sanchirico, Chris William, Tax Eclecticism (October 19, 2009). U of Penn, Inst for Law & Econ Research Paper No. 09-38; U of Penn Law School, Public Law Research Paper No. 09-29. Available at SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=1491130.
Hours: Lectures: 8 x 3 hours.Haifa (University of Haifa - Law Faculty)
Introduction to the Behavioral Analysis of Law
Lecturer: Dr. Avishalom Tor
Contents and purpose of the course
This course will introduce students to the new behavioral analysis of law.
A behavioral approach to legal analysis asserts that the efficacy of the law depends on its understanding of relevant patterns of human behavior. We will examine the ways in which the scientific study of human judgment and decision making can inform the creation and modification of legal rules and institutions. The behavioral approach differs from both its economic counterpart and traditional legal scholarship: From the former, in recognizing the decision makers are neither strictly rational nor the maximizers of their own utility alone; from the latter, in proposing an empirically-based view of human behavior as the foundation of relevant analyses. We will examine critically how behavioral findings on systematic patterns of behavior that deviates from strictly rational utility maximization are applied to various legal rules domains, recognizing the unique promise of this approach as well as its limitations.
Literature: To be announced
Hours: To be announced
A Research Colloquium in Behavioral and Economic Analysis of Law
Lecturer: Dr. Oren Gazal, Dr. Alan Miller
Contents and purpose of the course
The research colloquium is aimed at deepening students' understanding of economic and behavioral analysis of law and to improve their ability to critically review current studies in the field. Every second class, scholars from around the world will present current research in the economic analysis of law. In the remaining classes, participants will critically discuss the research presented in the previous class, and the instructors will give introductory comments about the paper which will be presented in the following meeting. Students will be required to present their written comments for each of the papers presented in the colloquium.
Literature: To be announced
Hours: To be announced
Hamburg (Universität Hamburg - Fachbereich Rechtswissenschaft)
Colloquium and Thesis Seminar
Lecturer: Prof. Dr. Thomas Eger / Dr. Patrick Leyens
Contents and purpose of the course
New literature on law and economics is discussed in this colloquium. Moreover, each participant should give an oral presentation of the outline of the thesis which will be discussed by the participants.
Hours: 2 hours
International Law and Economics
Lecturer: Prof. Dr. Stefan Voigt
Contents and purpose of the course
In most standard models of international trade, legislation and other institutions do not occupy center stage. Yet, persistent inconsistencies between the predictions of standard models and empirically observed trade patterns give ample reason to suspect that a number of potentially important factors determining trade (and other international transactions) have not been sufficiently taken into account. In this course, the potential role that law and other institutions play in determining trade are discussed.
Literature:
A recent survey of (almost) the entire literature is:
Belloc, M. (2006); Institutions and International Trade: A Reconsideration of Comparative Advantage, Journal of Economic Surveys, 20(1):3-26.
Some more relevant literature includes:
Beck, T. (2003); Financial dependence and international trade. Review of International Economics 11:296-316.
Greif, A. (1993); Contract enforceability and economic institutions in early trade: the Maghribi traders’ coalition. American Economic Review 83:525-48.
Greif, A., P. Milgrom and B. Weingast (1994); Coordination, commitment, and enforcement: the case of the merchant guild, Journal of Political Economy 102:745-76.
Guiso, L., P. Sapienza, and L. Zingales (2004); Cultural Biases in Economic Exchange, Working Paper.
Markusen, J. (1995); The boundaries of multinational enterprises and the theory of international trade. Journal of Economic Perspectives 9:169-89.
McCallum, J. (1995); National Borders Matter: Canada-U.S. Regional Trade Patterns, American Economic Review 85(3):615-23. Voigt, S. (2002); Institutionenökonomik, München: W. Fink (UTB)
Hours: 2 hours per week
Law and the Poverty of Nations
Lecturer: Prof. Dr. Hans-Bernd Schäfer
Contents and purpose of the course
Development economics has traditionally disregarded the role of institution such as law and the rule of law for the process of economic development. It concentrated on macroeconomic variables like savings and investment and on policies like export orientation and import substitution to understand and influence economic growth in poor countries. It missed some of the most important factors. This has not always been the case. The French Physiocrats in the 18th century analysed the institutional shortcomings of the French legal system and proposed far reaching legal reforms. Many of them were introduced during the French revolution. Adam Smith underlined the role of institutions and the German historical school including Max Weber as well as the Italian institutional school of the 19th century stressed the role of law for economic development. In recent years the law and economics movement has shed new light on the role of law for economic development starting with the seminal work of Douglas North and others. This lecture aims at presenting the most important and spectacular findings, which have begun to influence not only academic thinking about development but also the strategy and policy of international organisations such as the World Bank and development agencies. I have been working on this subject since for several years with my co-author Robert D. Cooter from Berkeley School of Law. I would like to share and discuss some of our ideas and insights with you.
Literature:
Robert D. Cooter and Hans-Bernd Schäfer (2010): "Solomon's Knot: How Law Can End the Poverty of Nations" Manuscript available at http://works.bepress.com/robert_cooter/151/
Angara V. Raja and Hans-Bernd Schäfer (ed.) (2004) "Law and Economic Development" Edward Elgar, London
Hours: 2 hours per week
Manchester (University of Manchester - Faculty of Law)
The Economics of Intellectual Property and Information Technology Law
Lecturer: Dr. Dennis Khong
Content and purpose of the course: To be announced
Hours: to be announced
Economics of Regulation
Lecturers: Prof. Frank Stephen, Dr. Emilios Avgouleas, Dr. Lindsay Stirton
Content and purpose of the course: To be announced
Hours: to be announced
Rotterdam (Erasmus University Rotterdam - Law Faculty)
Advanced Topics of Competition Law and Economic Regulation
Lecturers: Prof. Dr. Roger Van den Bergh, Dr. Alessio Pacces
Course aims
This course aims at providing students with specialized knowledge in topical fields of competition policy and economic/social regulation. To this purpose, the course is taught by experts in each field, who are either members of the teaching staff or invited lecturers. The topics currently include recent developments of competition law and economics, regulation of healthcare, financial regulation (banking and securities), competition and regulation in the liberal professions. The contents of the course are updated yearly.
Law and Economics in the Courts
Lecturers: Prof. Dr. Roger Van den Bergh, Dr. Alessio Pacces
Course aims
This course is designed in order for the students to develop advanced skills concerning the enforcement of law. In particular, students will learn how to use economic arguments and economic evidence in real-life court cases. To this purpose, the course is organized in a 'moot court' format.
Students must take the role of plaintiffs, defendants, and judges, and they are supposed to base their arguments and decisions on economic
Seminar in Law and Economics
Two or three Erasmus students will be selected to spend a period of one month at the University of Berkeley, USA. They will receive an invitation from Prof. Robert Cooter to become 'visiting scholars' in April 2001. During their visit, the students will participate in the Law and Economics workshop, which is a weekly seminar where papers are presented by prominent scholars from different universities. The students will be required to write comments on the seminar papers. In addition, EMLE students can attend other classes after asking the consent of the teacher. The students will have full privileges to use the library and other research facilities at Berkeley. During their visit, each student will be assigned a Berkeley professor for purposes of consulting on the master thesis.
Vienna
Seminar: Recent Research in Law and Economics
Lecturers: Dr. Martin Gelter and Prof. Wolfgang Weigel
Course aims
To make students familiar with the functions, strengths and weaknesses of soft law
Contents
Codes of conduct, ethical rules and the like are resounding throughout the land. They appear in connection with administrative reforms in the public sector as well as corporate governance. Essentially they form part of what is known as “soft law”.
The seminar will address the notion of soft law and the rationale behind codes of conduct and the like in particular from the law and economics perspective. Specifically it will be investigated to what extent such codes are complements or substitutes of governance in the public as well as in the private sector
Literature: Gersen, Jacob E. and Posner, Eric A.,Soft Law. Stanford Law Review, Forthcoming; U of Chicago, Public Law and Legal Theory Working Paper No. 213. Available at SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=1113537
Materials will be distributed to participants at the beginning of the seminar
Seminar: Less and Better Regulation: Why and How?
Lecturer: Prof. Dr.Wolfgang Weigel
Course aims
To enable students to understand and assess the underpinnings of the worldwide call for “less but better regulation”
Contents:
The role of regulation in public sector policies, cost-benefit-analysis and cost-effectiveness-analysis as tools of regulatory impact assessment. Theory and applications of regulatory impact analysis. Complementary methods and alternatives (as e.g. the “Standard Cost Model”)
Literature: Kirkpatrick, Colin and Parker, David (eds.), Regulatory Impact Assessment, Cheltenham 2007
Materials will be distributed to participants at the beginning of the seminar
Colloquium
During the stay of EMLE students, every Tuesday there will be a business meeting from 11 to 12.30 hours – the colloquium. Here students get the opportunity to report on their work in progress, gather information, ask questions and discuss problems of all kinds.
