FAIRNESS IN LAW AND ECONOMICS

Fairness in Law and Economics

Lee Anne Fennell & Richard H. McAdams, eds. (Edward Elgar, 2013)

ABOUT (PUBLISHER’S PAGE) / CONTENTS & CONTRIBUTORS / READ THE INTRO

 

Although the relationship between fairness and the economic concept of efficiency is usually cast as an adversarial one, this collection demonstrates the robust and diverse ways in which economics engages – and cannot avoid engaging – with fairness. This volume begins by papers presenting positive analyses of fairness preferences and beliefs, which are fundamental means through which fairness matters for economic models, and then turns to normative analysis and the broad question of how law should reconcile fairness and efficiency considerations. It then provides a sampling of legal and policy applications in which both fairness and efficiency considerations prove important. Throughout, economics engages with fairness, challenging the idea that the two concepts are alien to each other. 

 

All of the works in this collection were previously published. The contents list below includes the year of original publication. You can read brief overviews of these works and their connection to the theme of fairness in law and economics in our introduction.     

Contents

Introduction / Lee Anne Fennell and Richard H. McAdams

PART I FAIRNESS PREFERENCES AND CONSEQUENCES: POSITIVE ANALYSIS

A Fairness Preferences and Beliefs

  • Matthew Rabin (1993), ‘Incorporating Fairness into Game Theory and Economics’
  • Joseph Henrich, Robert Boyd, Samuel Bowles, Colin Camerer, Ernst Fehr, Herbert Gintis and Richard McElreath (2001), ‘In Search of Homo Economicus: Behavioral Experiments in 15 Small-Scale Societies’
  • Pamela Jakiela (2011), ‘Social Preferences and Fairness Norms as Informal Institutions: Experimental Evidence’
  • Armin Falk and Urs Fischbacher (2006), ‘A Theory of Reciprocity’
  • Jeffrey P. Carpenter (2007), ‘The Demand for Punishment’
  • Armin Falk, Ernst Fehr and Urs Fischbacher (2008), ‘Testing Theories of Fairness—Intentions Matter’
  • Alberto Alesina and George-Marios Angeletos (2005), ‘Fairness and Redistribution’

B Consequences of Fairness and Unfairness

1. Effects on Prices, Bargaining and Settlement

  •  Daniel Kahneman, Jack L. Knetsch and Richard Thaler (1986), ‘Fairness as a Constraint on Profit-Seeking: Entitlements in the Market’
  • Linda Babcock, George Loewenstein, Samuel Issacharoff and Colin Camerer (1995), ‘Biased Judgments of Fairness in Bargaining’
  • Amy Farmer and Paul Pecorino (2004), ‘Pretrial Settlement with Fairness’

2. Effects on Legal Compliance

  • Tom R. Tyler (1997), ‘Procedural Fairness and Compliance with the Law’
  • Bruno S. Frey, Matthias Benz and Alois Stutzer (2004), ‘Introducing Procedural Utility: Not Only What, but Also How Matters’
  • Marius van Dijke and Peter Verboon (2010), ‘Trust in Authorities as a Boundary Condition to Procedural Fairness Effects on Tax Compliance’
  • Richard H. McAdams (2010), ‘Economic Costs of Inequality’

PART II. RECONCILING FAIRNESS AND EFFICIENCY: NORMATIVE ANALYSIS

A. Frameworks and Tradeoffs

  • Amartya Sen (1996), ‘On the Foundations of Welfare Economics: Utility, Capability, and Practical Reason’
  • Kenneth J. Arrow (1979), ‘The Trade-off Between Growth and Equity’
  • Elizabeth Anderson (2008), ‘How Should Egalitarians Cope with Market Risks?’

B The ‘Fairness versus Welfare’ Debate

  • Louis Kaplow and Steven Shavell (1999), ‘The Conflict between Notions of Fairness and the Pareto Principle’
  • Louis Kaplow and Steven Shavell (2001), ‘Any Non‐Welfarist Method of Policy Assessment Violates the Pareto Principle’
  • Richard Craswell (2003), ‘Kaplow and Shavell on the Substance of Fairness’
  • Jeremy Waldron (2003), ‘Locating Distribution’
  • Lewis A. Kornhauser (2003), ‘Preference, Well‐Being, and Morality in Social Decisions’
  • Louis Kaplow and Steven Shavell (2003), ‘Fairness versus Welfare: Notes on the Pareto Principle, Preferences, and Distributive Justice’
  • Gillian K. Hadfield (2005), ‘Feminism, Fairness, and Welfare: An Invitation to Feminist Law and Economics’

C Redistributing Through Taxes versus Legal Rules

  • Louis Kaplow and Steven Shavell (1994), ‘Why the Legal System is Less Efficient than the Income Tax in Redistributing Income’
  • Christine Jolls (1998), ‘Behavioral Economics Analysis of Redistributive Legal Rules’
  • Chris William Sanchirico (2000), ‘Taxes versus Legal Rules as Instruments for Equity: A More Equitable View’
  • Louis Kaplow and Steven Shavell (2000), ‘Should Legal Rules Favor the Poor? Clarifying the Role of Legal Rules and the Income Tax in Redistributing Income’

PART III. SELECTED APPLICATIONS

A. Fairness and Efficiency in Policy Design

  • H. Peyton Young (1995), ‘Dividing the Indivisible’
  • Matthew D. Adler (2008), ‘Risk Equity: A New Proposal’
  • David Weisbach and Cass R. Sunstein (2009), ‘Climate Change and Discounting the Future: A Guide for the Perplexed

B. Fairness and Efficiency Across Doctrinal Areas

  •  Tax Policy
    • Boris I. Bittker (1979), ‘Equity, Efficiency, and Income Tax Theory: Do Misallocations Drive Out Inequities?’
  • Property
    • Frank I. Michelman (1967), ‘Property, Utility, and Fairness: Comments on the Ethical Foundations of “Just Compensation” Law
  • Contracts
    • Ernst Fehr, Oliver Hart and Christian Zehnder (2011), ‘Contracts as Reference Points – Experimental Evidence’
  • Torts
    • Henrik Lando (1997), ‘An Attempt to Incorporate Fairness into an Economic Model of Tort Law’
  • Criminal Law
    • A. Mitchell Polinsky and Steven Shavell (2000), ‘The Fairness of Sanctions: Some Implications for Optimal Enforcement’
  • Family Law
    • Jon Elster (1987), ‘Solomonic Judgments: Against the Best Interests of the Child’