Case Study 2
3 years ago
40
EC337Oct302023-2.pdf
23FaEC337Syllabus3.pdf
EC337Oct302023-2.pdf
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CASE STUDY 2
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23FaEC337Syllabus3.pdf
Economic Analysis of Legal Issues CAS EC 337 (A1) Fall 2023 Boston University
CAS 216 M W F 12:20 - 1:10 pm
Dr. Ben Koskinen Office: 270 Bay State Rd.
Economics Department, Room 429 Office Hours: F 10:00 - 11:00 am (337 only)
Tu 12:00 - 2:00 pm and by appointment.
e-mail: [email protected]
T.A.: Laura Aquino Office: 270 Bay State Rd. B30B Office Hours: W 10:00 - 11:00 am e-mail: [email protected]
Course Description
This course examines the importance of law to economic analysis, that is, consider how legal arrangements enable, impede, and alter the functioning of markets. Using microeconomic theory from other courses, we will show how choices of individuals, firms, and organizations (including government) are affected by legal rules. The focus will be on changes economic welfare (consumer and producer surpluses, plus other actors where relevant), as opposed to fairness or morality, through a common law system: property, contract, and tort law. We will also discuss criminal law, and use the same economic tools in a slightly different manner to analyze optimal punishment for crimes, and optimal deterrence.
This course is heavy in qualitative economic analysis, and there is an expectation that students have strong writing skills. No new economic models will be formulated, everything will be built on microeconomic models developed in EC201.
Success in this four-credit course is based on the expectation that students will spend a minimum of 9 hours of work per week in preparation for class.
N.B. I am not a lawyer. The course does not provide any legal training.
HUB Learning Outcomes
This class will fulfill the • Ethical Reasoning I component of the Hub’s Diversity, Civic Engagement, and Global Citizenship
Capacity, • Writing component of the Communication Capacity, • Writing, Research, and Inquiry component, of the Intellectual Toolkit Capacity,
Inquiry in the social sciences examines the interplay of factors driving outcomes in the social world. Students will identify and apply major concepts used in economics to explain individual and collective human behavior in the legal world, and using this knowledge will explore the factors that shape the creation, adoption, and modification of laws.
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Ethical Reasoning I
This course discusses legal remedies for environmental externalities specifically, and more generally harm to third parties, through liability laws and regulations. There is focus on how to use financial incentives to align legality and morality, as well as its shortcomings. The latter portion of the course discusses heavily criminal justice and the role of for-profit punitive measures and incentive abuses.
Writing
Four case studies are assigned which tasks students to read actual court filings, find supporting documents and materials, and qualitatively assess the economic impacts of particular rulings and hypothetical alter- natives. Case studies are designed to be persuasively written with heavy economic theory about welfare effects, individual incentive effects, and to consider any unintended consequences of a ruling or policy change.
Research and Information Literacy
Students are assigned case studies on real legal issues analyzing the economic effects. Students must argue with economic language on the impacts of a court’s ruling, as well as research supplemental information.
Prerequisites
CAS EC 201 (Intermediate Microeconomics Analysis).
Required Textbooks & Material
Cooter, Robert and Ulen, Thomas, “Law and Economics, 6th edition” (2016). Berkeley Law Books. 2. Online version 6.0 originally posted July 2016. Print edition published 2012.
Available at: https://lawcat.berkeley.edu/record/1127400
Grading
Homework: 10% Case Studies: Property, contract, tort 60% (20% each)
Crime and punishment 30%
Blackboard
Zoom links, announcements, course changes, class materials, and grades will all be posted to Blackboard. Login at http://learn.bu.edu/.
Attendance Policy
You are only responsible for the material in this course. Any missed classes is your responsibility alone.
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Homework
Homework assignments will be select questions from the text book, and will be graded on a scale from 0-3 (none, poor, good, error-free). Homework are to be submitted independently, but you may consult with other students. Identical assignments will not be accepted, and will result in a zero grade. Homework scores are not calculated raw, and adjusted relative to the class (scores are roughly equivalent to 0%, 80%, 90%, 100%). Homework assignments must be submitted through Blackboard as a PDF by 11:59 pm on the due date. Due dates are listed on the course outline below. No late assignments will be accepted.
Case Studies
There will be 4 case studies assigned, each of which looks at a specific legal case or ruling that requires comprehensive economic analysis. The report should take the evidence from the case as fact, and assume the law has been ruled on correctly. The report is to provide analysis of the ruling from an economist’s point of view, with the fundamental goal of economic efficiency trying to be attained. Your primary job will be to provide evidence to support your economic claims. Please do not reach out to the TA regarding case studies.
Case studies may be done in groups of up to five students, composed of a well-balanced mix of students with different strengths in mathematics, writing, and analytic skills. Groups will compose a report of around 2,000 words. Ensure that all the questions asked are thoroughly answered.
Reports should be free of grammatical errors, typos, spelling mistakes, and poor formatting. Failure to meet professional standards of organization, composition, editing, and proofreading can result in up to a 10% grade deduction. You must cite all external sources! Any data, numbers, or facts must be cited so that I can verify them! Failure to do so is plagiarism, and will be penalized accordingly (see next page for rubric). You may reach out to the TA regarding questions
Case studies must be submitted on Blackboard as a PDF as a group. Please format file as (last names alphabetically) (space) CS#.pdf, and title the paper with all contributors listed in alphabetical order. For instance, if Steve Rogers, Clint Barton, Tony Stark, and Natasha Romanova work together on case study 2, please submit the file as Barton Rogers Stark Romanova CS2.pdf, and the heading of the paper should look like the sample below. This will ensure that all students in the group are credited.
Tentative due dates are listed on the outline below and on Blackboard. No late case studies will be ac- cepted.
Formatting sample:
Barton Rogers Romanova Stark CS2.pdf
Clint Barton Steve Rogers Natasha Romanova Tony Stark
Question 1: Hi, I’m Captain America here to talk to you about one of the most valuable traits a soldier or student can have. Patience. Sometimes patience is the key to victory. Sometimes it leads to very little, and it seems like it’s not worth it, and you wonder why you waited so long for something so disappointing.
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Case Study Rubric
There is no need to explain basic economic theory. You may assume the reader understands basic economic terminology and theory.
Poor Acceptable Excellent Economic Analysis Welfare Misunderstanding or incorrect
application of individual’s val- uation, surplus or economic profit. Ignores a relevant party in calculation of social welfare.
All relevant parties correctly identified and sources of valu- ation/surplus recognized (per- haps incomplete).
All relevant parties correctly identified and all sources of val- uation/surplus accounted for properly. Shows understanding of the difference between social welfare and individual welfare.
Incentives Incorrectly identifies what each party is seeking to maximize, and how law changes affect be- havior. Assumes individuals can be told what to do and they do it.
Demonstrates understanding that laws are not followed because they are the law, but individuals make cost-benefit decisions.
Recognizes each individual’s utility or profit function components, recognizes that individuals optimize where marginal cost is equal to marginal benefit. Shows un- derstanding of social versus individual optimal choice.
Inefficiency Claims zero of anything is effi- cient; does not demonstrate un- derstanding of the source of the inefficiency.
Can show source of inef- ficiency, and understands how a law may promote efficiency/inefficiency. Cites social marginal cost does not equal social marginal benefit.
Fully sources the cause of in- efficiency and identifies how to reduce it. Able to identify marginal costs and benefits and show why inequality exists.
Legal Analysis Law Applies irrelevant legal rules,
cites irrelevant cases. Does not demonstrate understanding how the law affects economic incentives. Misidentifies proper plaintiff and defendant.
Applies proper legal rules, un- derstands relevant parties. Un- derstands how the law is ap- plied.
Applies proper legal rules, un- derstands relevant parties. Un- derstands how the law is ap- plied, connection between law and economic incentives.
Facts Argues findings of the case, ar- gues ruling of the court, incon- sistent analyses with facts of case.
Understands all facts of case. Understands all facts of case, and why particular rulings are of importance.
Writing Grammar Typos, poor sentence struc-
ture and paragraph organiza- tion. Excessively wordy.
Free of typos, well-written. Free of typos, well-written. Concise.
Flow Reads like each group member wrote a separate section. Ex- cessively wordy. Redundant.
Reads as if there is one author. Reads easily. Concise.
Tables & Figures
Poorly aligned, no title or cap- tion. Not references in body of text.
Fits in with text, includes at least a title. Is referred to in body of text.
Looks like part of the report. Is a self-contained part of the pa- per (descriptive title and cap- tion). Makes text abundantly more clear.
Citations No citations (plagiarism): au- tomatic zero.
All facts and quotes cited. Ref- erences page.
All facts and quotes cited using MLA, APA, or Chicago style. References page.
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Learning Assistance
If you have a documented disability on record with Boston University that may have some impact on your work for which you may require accommodations, please contact me immediately. No class material can be retroactively graded.
Academic Conduct
Students are responsible for understanding and adhering to the CAS Academic Conduct Code (available in room CAS 105 and online at http://www.bu.edu/academics/cas/policies/academic-conduct/). Cases of misconduct will be referred to the Dean’s Office. Plagiarism and cheating will be penalized with a failing grade.
Classroom Behavior
I reserve the right to dismiss any student who is disruptive from the class. As a courtesy to your fellow students and your professor, please turn off all cell phones and mute all laptops prior to the beginning of class.
Calendar & Outline
Below is a tentative guideline for the material we will be covering. All dates subject to change. Any changes will be announced during the lectures.
Monday Wednesday Friday
Sep. 4th Sep. 6th 1
Ch. 2 Micro Review
Bargaining theory & externalities
Sep. 8th 2
Ch. 2 Micro review
Game Theory & Uncertainty
Sep. 11th 3
Ch. 3 Legal systems
Civil & Common Law
Sep. 13th 4
Ch. 3 Legal systems
U.S. legal process
Sep. 15th 5
Ch. 4 Economic Theory of Property
Objectives & legal terminology
Sep. 18th 6
Ch. 4 Property Rights
Assignment of rights
Sep. 20th 7
Ch. 4 Property Rights
Coase theorem HW1 due
Sep. 22nd 8
Ch. 5 Property Rights
Coase theorem
Sep. 25th 9
Ch. 5 Property Rights
Verification and enforcement
Sep. 27th 10
Ch. 5 Property Rights
Use of private property HW2 due
Sep. 29th 11
Ch. 5 Property Rights
Collectively held rights
5
Monday Wednesday Friday Oct. 2nd 12
Ch. 5 Property Rights
Eminent domain: legal theory
Oct. 4th 13
Ch. 5 Property Rights
Eminent domain: means-ends economic justification
Oct. 6th 14
Ch. 5 Property Rights
Remedies and protection of prop. rights
Oct. 9th 15
Indigenous Peoples’ Day no class
no office hours
Tuesday (Monday schedule)
Oct. 10th
Ch. 8 Economic Theory of Contract Law
Objectives & legal terminology
Oct. 11th 16
Ch. 9 Contract Law
Invalidating contracts
HW3 due
Oct. 13th 17
Ch. 9 Contract Law
Information disclosure Case study 1 due
Oct. 16th 18
Ch. 8 Contract Law
Efficient breach
Oct. 18th 19
Ch. 8 Contract Law
Efficient reliance HW4 due
Oct. 20th 20
Ch. 8 Contract Law
Optimal reliance
Oct. 23rd 21
Ch. 8 Contract Law
Damages and rational breach
Oct. 25th 22
Ch. 9 Contract Law
Rational gaps
Oct. 27th 23
Ch. 9 Contract Law
Default rules
Oct. 30th 24
Ch. 9 Contract Law
Efficient default rules
Nov. 1st 25
Ch. 6 Economic Theory of Tort Law
Objectives & legal terminology
Nov. 3rd 26
Ch. 6 Tort Law
Economic model of accidents
Nov. 6th 27
Ch. 6 Tort Law
Unilateral & bilateral precaution
Nov. 8th 28
Ch. 7 Tort Law
Computing damages HW5 due
Nov. 10th 29
Ch. 7 Tort Law
Value of statistical Life Case study 2 due
Nov. 13th 30
Ch. 7 Tort Law
Liability & negligence Rules
Nov. 15th 31
Ch. 7 Tort Law
negligence Rules
Nov. 17th 32
Ch. 7 Tort Law
Punitive damages
Nov. 20th 33
Ch. 10 Economic Theory of Legal Process
Class action suits
Nov. 22nd
Thanksgiving recess no class
no office hours
Nov. 24th
Thanksgiving recess no class
no office hours
6
Monday Wednesday Friday Nov. 27th 34
Ch. 11 Economic Theory of Crime & Punishment
Legal procedure
Nov. 29th 35
Ch. 11 Crime & Punishment
Theory and objectives HW6 due
Dec. 1st 36
Ch. 11 Crime & Punishment
Economic theory of rational crime Case study 3 due
Dec. 4th 37
Ch. 11 Crime & Punishment
Efficient crimes
Dec. 6th 38
Ch. 12 Crime & Punishment
Efficient punishment
Dec. 8th 39
Ch. 12 Crime & Punishment
Addictive goods & bads HW7 due
Dec. 11th 40
Ch. 12 Crime & Punishment
Drugs or guns
Dec. 13th
—— Study Period ——
Dec. 15th
Dec. 18th Dec. 20th
Case Study 4 due
Dec. 22nd
7
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