This paper presents a model of public debate in which experts attempt to influence public policy by making recommendations about controversial issues. However the decision to become an expert is taken to be endogenous, and consequently depends on the potential expert's bias. Under certain...

Risk averse agents who engage in risky production activities frequently participate in some sort of arrangement to share risk. When there are issues of moral hazard, optimal risk sharing typically involves spreading risk over time as well as over space. Agents who suffer bad outcomes can spread...

We consider a model of crime with rational Bayesian Jurors. We find that if jurors are not perfectly informed, even when there is no limit to the size of the punishment that can be imposed, it is not possible to deter all crime. There is a finite lower bound on the crime rate which results from...

The debate over standards versus rules has been framed as a trade-off between the certainty and lower administrative costs of rules versus the greater flexibility to base decisions on case-specific evidence with standards. In this paper, we argue that even if judges have no ability to directly...

We build a model of innovation and patent adjudication under two forms of uncertainty; uncertainty regarding whether the original invention merits protection (non-obviousness), and uncertainty as to whether a particular competitor's product should be barred (infringement). We find that when it...

In liability insurance, the duty to defend is broader than the duty to cover. Thus it is possible that an insurer that has a duty to defend a suit may not have the duty to cover the policyholder's liabilities in the suit. However, if the penalty for a breach of the duty to defend is limited to...

Imagine a pedestrian and driver both approaching a crosswalk. Both parties can take actions to prevent an accident, and traditional economic analysis of tort law recognizes the importance of making sure that both parties have an incentive to do so. However, traditional negligence rules can...

When liability insurance carries a limit that is smaller than the potential claim of a third party plaintiff, the insurer and the insured can have a conflict of interest as to settlement. The majority of jurisdictions in the United States impose upon insurers a duty to ignore liability limits...