After an introductory session on the birth and evolution of law and economics, this year the course will be structured in 5 different modules.

Module 1: Property law and economics. This module starts from the Coase theorem and the contribution of Calabresi and Melamed (1972), and describes the new frontiers of optional law (Ayres 2005: Fennell 2004). Applications include spectrum policy, the Microsoft case, access policy in telecommunications, network neutrality and the fundamentals of the Google case.

Module 2: Contract law and economics. This module includes a description of the agency game and its relevance for contract law and damage calculation. Applications include the birth and evolution of consumer protection legislation, and abuse of economic dependence. 

Module 3: Tort law and economics. This module looks at the theory of optimal deterrence and at the cost of accidents as described in Cooter-Ulen. Applications cover private antitrust enforcement, environmental protection, critical infrastructure protection.  

—- a halfway take home exam will be distributed at the end of session 3 —-

Module 4: Regulatory Impact Analysis. This module looks at the birth of administrative law and economics and the successive evolution of regulatory impact analysis in the US and Impact assessment in the European Union. If we have enough time, we’ll also organize an impact assessment exercise in class, with a breakout session in which 3-4 groups will have to evaluate a given IA from the European Commission.

Module 5: the Google case. The last classes will be dedicated to a description of the main allegations in the Google case and previous antitrust decisions that are relevant for the European Commission’s investigation. On the last day of the course, a moot court will be organized with two groups of students, and a judge.

—- a final take home exam will be given to the students at the end of the course ––