Seminar on the Methods of Law & Economics

The Rules for Growth Institute (Droit & Croissance)

invites current PhD students from Europe

to attend a seminar on the ‘Methods of Law & Economics’,

to be held in person in Paris on 30 June & 1 July 2022

Applications are now closed

The aim of the seminar is to introduce PhD students to the fundamental theories and methods underpinning the law & economics approach, based on an analysis of private law (property, torts, contracts) and organization law. The seminar will provide the students with the basic tools required for them to meaningfully engage with economically informed legal scholarship.

LECTURERS

The seminar will be taught by Pr. Simone M. Sepe, Chester H. Smith Professor of Law and Finance at the James E. Rogers College of Law, University of Arizona. Professor Sepe is an internationally renowned expert of law and finance. His areas of expertise include business organizations, corporate finance, contract theory, law and economics, law and philosophy, and empirical methods. He holds doctoral degrees in both law and economics. The seminar will also feature interventions by Pr. Lucien Rapp, Affiliate Professor of Law & Tax at HEC Paris and one of the French leading experts on international business law and international regulatory matters.

The seminar will conclude with a lecture by Pr. Alan Schwartz, Sterling Professor of Law at Yale Law School and one of the leading experts on law & economics worldwide. Professor Schwartz’s academic specialties include corporate finance and corporate governance, mergers and acquisitions, bankruptcy, contracts, and commercial transactions.

PROGRAM

Thursday – 30 June 2022

9:15am Arrival of participants & Introduction

10am – 12am

Introduction – Legal Theories

• Legal Formalism
• Legal Realism
• Law and Economics: Positive and Normative Approaches

Theory of Markets

• Allocation of resources
• The Smith’s conjecture: the invisible hand
• General equilibrium theory (GET): price formation, preference relation axioms, and utility functions
• GET: historical considerations
• First and Second Welfare Theorems
• Theory of Incomplete Markets
  • The externality problem
  • Public goods
  • Market Power
  • Monopoly
  • Asymmetric information: moral hazard and adverse selection
  • Bounded rationality
  • General results on GET with incomplete markets

2pm – 4pm

Law and Economics of Private Law

• Property Law
  • Justification and Foundation
  • Coase Theorem
  • Property Rules v. Liability Rules
• Torts Law
  • Structure and Function
  • Strict Liability vs. Negligence
  • Defenses
• Contracts Law
  • Justification and Formation of Contracts
  • Mandatory vs. Default Rules (Freedom of Contract)
  • Remedies for Contractual Breaches
  • Contractual Interpretation

Friday – 1 July 2022

10am – 12am

L&E of Organizational Law

• Markets vs. Hierarchies
• Coase’s Conjecture
• The Corporate Form
• Agency Costs
• Corporate Law Models

Introduction to Empirical Methods in L&E

• • Correlation vs. Identification
  • Cross-section and Time-Series
  • Event-Studies
  • Matching

2pm – 4pm Concluding Lecture by Professor Alan Schwartz

SEMINAR PARTICIPATION

The participation to the ‘Methods of Law & Economics’ seminar is free of charge and reasonable travelling expenses of PhD students not based in France will be reimbursed for up to 300 euros / person (upon submission of proof of expenses).

Places are limited.

Current PhD students are invited to submit their applications via email

at vrotaru@droitetcroissance.fr and poudin@droitetcroissance.fr.

Candidates should include their CV and a short description of their PhD topic and explain in max. 200 words how law & economics methods are relevant for their research.

VENUE

The seminar will be held in the Paris office of Allen & Overy.

The ’Methods of Law & Economics’ seminar is organized with the support of Comgest, an independent, international asset management group, The Toulouse University Capitole and the Paris office of the law firm Allen & Overy