Private Law Theory

Abstract:
This introduction, prepared for an edited volume, offers some observations on the importance — indeed, inescapability — of fairness concerns in law and economics. The relationship between fairness and the economic concept of efficiency is usually cast as an adversarial one. Rational choice economics typically describes human behavior as motivated by simple self-interest, rather than by concerns of morality, justice, or fairness. But we have found that the connections between concepts of fairness and the economic analysis of law are robust and diverse. After discussing some of these linkages, we describe the organization and content of the volume we have compiled. In it, economics engages with fairness, challenging the idea that the two concepts are alien to each other.

Fennell, Lee Anne and McAdams, Richard H, Fairness in Law and Economics: Introduction (August 29, 2013). Fairness in Law and Economics (Lee Anne Fennell and Richard H McAdams, eds) (Edward Elgar 2013); University of Chicago Coase-Sandor Institute for Law & Economics Research Paper No 704; U of Chicago, Public Law Working Paper No 489.

First posted 2014-10-06 05:43:17