Good Economics - Bad Law
![handle is hein.journals/valr60 and id is 495 raw text is: GOOD ECONOMICS-BAD LAW
James M. Buchanan*
O NE of the most interesting developments in American higher edu-
cation over the past decade has been the emerging recognition
by lawyers that an understanding of elementary economic principles
is a vital component in their professional equipment. This recognition
has prompted the current quest by law schools for economists close
enough to the institutional world to offer practical assistance. The Law
School of the University of Chicago occupies a unique place in this
development. Its heritage of resident economists-Henry Simons, Aaron
Director, Ronald Coase (along with their economics department col-
leagues, notably George Stigler and Gary Becker)-has begun to pay
dividends, and Chicago-trained lawyer-economists-Gordon Tullock,
Henry Manne, Richard Posner-have been in the forefront of the law-
economics intersection. Posner's Economic Analysis of Law' is the latest
and most comprehensive attempt to marry these two sometimes contrary
approaches to social interaction.
In assessing Posner's book, I have conducted the following mental ex-
periment. I assume that Posner's book is widely adopted as textual ma-
terial in first-year law school courses. (This is the author's purpose,
and textbookishness sometimes detracts from the argument.) I assume,
further, that the students are well-motivated, diligent, and intelligent,
and that they permanently retain the elementary economic principles
that Posner teaches .2 What will be the effects on those lawyers who
later find themselves in positions of decision-making power, as judges, as
* University Professor of Economics, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State Uni-
versity; General Director, Center for Study of Public Choice. B.S., 1940, Middle
Tennessee State College; M.A., 1941, University of Tennessee; Ph.D., 1948, University
of Chicago. The author is indebted to Winston Bush, Gordon Tullock, and Richard
Wagner for helpful suggestions.
1 (1973) [hereinafter cited as POSNER].
2 Empirical studies concerning post-university retention of economic principles sug-
gest that this is, indeed, a heroic assumption. These studies have suggested that ex-
posure to basic economics has little, if any, discernible effect on attitudes toward im-
portant economic issues only a few years after the learning experience. Perhaps it is
plausible to suggest that budding young lawyers would be more professionally motivated.
And, in addition, the elementary economics that they would learn from Posner would
be superior in content to that taught in the average university course in the subject.
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Good Economics - Bad Law
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