Experimental Law and Economics focuses on experimental and empirical investigations into both the economic effects of the law and how economic theories can explain the behavior of individuals within a legal system.

During the last two decades researchers in the field of experimental law and economics have made significant contributions to our knowledge of human behaviour and its interaction with legal and regulatory environments. This collection of previously published papers examines the use of laboratory experiments to test and develop these theories about how people behave, including their responses to legal rules. An important resource for judges, policymakers and scholars alike, the articles presented are drawn from diverse disciplines such as economics, law and psychology. The editors' comprehensive introduction provides expert analysis and insightful discussion of new directions in the field. Also included is an extended bibliography of additional articles to further aid readers' study.

Experimental Law and Economics focuses on experimental and empirical investigations into both the economic effects of the law and how economic theories can explain the behavior of individuals within a legal system.

Over the past two decades, experimental economics has moved from a fringe activity to become a standard tool for empirical research. With experimental economics now regarded as part of the basic tool-kit for applied economics, this book demonstrates how controlled experiments can be a useful in providing evidence relevant to economic research. Professors Jacquemet and L'Haridon take the standard model in applied econometrics as a basis to the methodology of controlled experiments. Methodological discussions are illustrated with standard experimental results. This book provides future experimental practitioners with the means to construct experiments that fit their research question, and new comers with an understanding of the strengths and weaknesses of controlled experiments. Graduate students and academic researchers working in the field of experimental economics will be able to learn how to undertake, understand and criticise empirical research based on lab experiments, and refer to specific experiments, results or designs completed with case study applications.

While the field of economics makes sharp distinctions and produces precise theory, the work of experimental economics sometimes appears blurred and may produce uncertain results. The contributors to this volume have provided brief notes describing specific experimental results.

This entry reviews experimental economics research relevant to law and economics. The introduction includes a brief discussion of experimental methodology and a survey of the categories of experiments relevant to law and economics, with citations to other reviews and compilations. The entry then reviews two series of economics experiments particularly important to law: those relating to the Coase theorem and those relating to pre-trial bargaining and settlement.

Jeremy Bentham and Gary Becker established the tradition of analyzing criminal law in utilitarian and economic terms. This seminal book continues that tradition with specially commissioned, original papers that span the philosophical foundations of the use of economics in criminal law, both traditional economic perspectives and behavioral and experimental approaches to the discipline. The contributors examine and evaluate the optimal design of criminal law norms as well as the ideal structure of law enforcement institutions. They delineate what wrongs ought to be criminalized, identify the boundaries between criminal law and tort, and determine the optimal size of sanctions given the differential vulnerability of victims. They also analyze the special considerations that apply to the regulation of corporate crime, the effects of technology on crime, and the effects of the distribution of wealth on sentencing. This essential Handbook provides students and scholars of criminal law and law and economics the opportunity to explore the diversity of contemporary approaches to the economics of crime. Criminologists, sociologists and policymakers will also find it a valuable addition to their collections.