Public Choice Book Beta
posted by Frank Pasquale
I recently heard from a colleague of Maxwell L. Stearns that he and Todd J. Zywicki are seeking comments on their draft of a new cousebook, Public Choice Concepts and Applications in Law (which is presently scheduled for publication in the fall 2009 with West Publishing). Here’s an excerpt of a letter they’ve sent out:
The book is designed for classroom instruction either as a complete course in public choice and the law or as a complement to, or substitute for, a traditional course in law and economics. Because we have one full year prior to submission to the publisher (the manuscript is due in late March 2009), we are writing now to see if you might be interested in a pre-publication adoption of the present manuscript, either to teach in the fall 2008 or spring 2009 term (essentially either term in the upcoming academic year).
Dean Saul Levmore has also just completed a course using these materials at University of Chicago School of Law. Each of us has thoroughly enjoyed teaching with these materials and is enthusiastic about the book and the value of using it in the classroom. Given that this will be the only book of its type in the market, we are very interested finding professors willing to teach with these materials prior to publication and to provide us with valuable feedback on such matters as scope, organization, and presentation. . . . Even if you choose not to teach this course at this time, we still encourage your review of the materials and any comments that you are able to provide
I think it’s a very good idea to make texts like these “open to comment” from members of the broader legal community. I look forward to the further development of web based “communities of interest” around coursebooks, where profs can share teaching tips, illustrative materials, and other instructional materials. More details on this particular project below the fold. . .
More from the letter:
The book project presently has three parts. Part I of the book contains four chapters, which together introduce the basic concepts of public choice theory, including a general introduction to economic reasoning (with an appendix on elementary price theory); interest-group theory and rent-seeking; social choice theory; and elementary game theory. Each chapter includes clear presentations of the underlying concepts and a series of discussion points and case applications of covered concepts. Part II then applies these combined tools to analyze collective decision-making in four institutional settings: the legislature, the judiciary, the executive branch, and constitutions and constitutional design. Each chapter analyzes the incentives of decision-makers within each institutional setting and the implications of public choice and social choice for decision-making within each of these contexts. As in Part I, each chapter in this part provides several applications, including primary legal materials, that encourage students to apply the insights of public choice theory to concrete legal settings.
Part III applies the frameworks developed in parts I and II to a broad range of specific substantive areas of law. These include such areas as the commerce clause (affirmative and dormant), standing, proposals for constitutional reform, environmental law and policy, methods of constitutional interpretation, bankruptcy and corporate law, and corruption and the rule of law. Part III is designed to allow professors to select from a menu of different topical areas and thus to teach to their particular areas of interest. While this aspect of the book is still in development, we are contemplating having Part III take the form of a web interface through which professors can download particular chapters to supplement the bound materials, which would then include parts I and II. [emphasis added]
At the current time we have completed drafts of Parts I and II of the book and we can send these parts to you for your review. We also have a list of the readings that will provide the basis for the chapters in Part III and a prototype chapter on the commerce clause.
We hope that you will consider requesting that your law school allow you to teach a course on “Public Choice and the Law” this coming academic year and that you will eventually make such a course a permanent part of your curriculum. Even if you choose not to teach this course at this time, we still encourage your review of the materials and any comments that you are able to provide. Because the book is broad in scope, we would also appreciate your willingness to review specific chapters of interest to you. Most importantly, we would also be greatly appreciative if you could suggest other professors who might be interested in such a potential pre-adoption, either at your own institution or elsewhere. You may also feel free to forward this letter to such colleagues. If you are interested in reviewing the chapters that we have at the current time, please contact Maxwell Stearns at mstearns AT law.umaryland.edu or Todd Zywicki at tzywick2 AT gmu.edu.
March 26, 2008 at 11:12 am
Posted in: Economic Analysis of Law
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Responses (1)
Danielle Citron - March 26, 2008 at 7:34 pm
I strongly recommend checking out the beta version of this book. I had the great pleasure of auditing Max’s class and really enjoyed the first edition. With all of the hard work that Max and Todd are pouring into this next edition, it will no doubt be fantastic. The prior version has such thoughtful comments and notes after readings; the selected articles offered wide-ranging perspectives on judicial, legislative, and agency decision-making. It sounds like a great opportunity to comment on the book as Max and Todd are still in the editing process.
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