The purpose of Harvard Law School's John M. Olin Center for Law, Economics, and Business is to further student understanding of law and economics, promote faculty research in the area, and help make the bar and the public better aware of the economic approach. The center supports a variety of activities including fellowships for students at Harvard Law School, research assistantships, prizes for the best student papers in law and economics, a seminar series in which invited speakers present works in progress to students and interested faculty, curriculum development, conferences, empirical and theoretical research, and the Harvard Law School Discussion Papers in Law and Economics.
The center's director is Steven Shavell and the assistant director is Louis Kaplow. For further information, contact Karl Coleman, Administrative Director ().
Submissions from 2006
Not-so-Ordinary Judges in Ordinary Courts: Teaching Jordan v. Duff & Phelps, J. Mark Ramseyer
Managed Courts Under Unstable Political Environments: Recruitments and Resignations in the 1990's Japanese Judiciary, J. Mark Ramseyer and Eric B. Rasmusen
Improving Medical Malpractice Liability by Allowing Insurers to Take Charge, Kenneth S. Reinker and David Rosenberg
Legal Origins and Modern Stock Markets, Mark J. Roe
Contracts, Holdup, and Legal Intervention, Steven Shavell
Do Excessive Legal Standards Discourage Desirable Activity?, Steven Shavell
On Optimal Legal Change, Past Behavior, and Grandfathering, Steven Shavell
A Costly Signaling Theory of Hard Look Theory, Matthew C. Stephenson
Bureaucratic Decision Costs and Endogeneous Agency Expertise, Matthew C. Stephenson
Toward a True Corporate Republic: A Traditional Response to Lucian's Solutions for Improving Corporate America, Leo E. Strine Jr.
Bargaining in the Shadow of PeopleSoft's (Defective) Poison Pill, Guhan Subramanian
Regulation of Health, Safety, and Environmental Risks, W. Kip Viscusi
Hyperbolic Discounting of Public Goods, W. Kip Viscusi and Joel Huber
Submissions from 2005
The Business Roundtable's Untenable Case Against Shareholder Access, Lucian Bebchuk
Executive Compensation at Fannie Mae: A Case Study of Perverse Incentives, Nonperformance Pay, and Camouflage, Lucian Bebchuk and Jesse Fried
Pay Without Performance: Overview of the Issues, Lucian Bebchuk and Jesse M. Fried
Firm Expansion and CEO Pay, Lucian Bebchuk and Yaniv Grinstein
The Growth of Executive Pay, Lucian Bebchuk and Yaniv Grinstein
Putting Executive Pensions on the Radar Screen, Lucian Bebchuk and Robert Jackson
One-Sided Contracts in Competitive Consumer Markets, Lucian Bebchuk and Richard A. Posner
Corporate Governance Changes in the Wake of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act: A Morality Tale for Policymakers, Robert Charles Clark
Smoking Restrictions as a Self-Control Mechanism, Joni Hersch
Paying for Climate Change Policies in Europe, Joni Hersch and W. Kip Viscusi
Accounting for Social Security Benefits, Howell E. Jackson
An American Perspective on the U.K. Financial Services Authority: Politics, Goals, & Regulatory Intensity, Howell E. Jackson
Variation in the Intensity of Financial Regulation: Preliminary Evidence and Potential Implications, Howell E. Jackson
Choosing Expensive Tastes, Louis Kaplow
Income Taxation and Optimal Government Policy, Louis Kaplow
Pareto Principle and Competing Principles, Louis Kaplow
Value of a Statistical Life: Relative Postition vs. Relative Age, Thomas J. Kniesner and W. Kip Viscusi
How Unobservable Productivity Biases the Value of a Statistical Life, Thomas J. Kniesner, W. Kip Viscusi, Christopher Woock, and James P. Ziliak
Liberty Takings: A Framework for Compensating Pretrial Detainees, Jeffrey Manns
The Good Occupation, Yoshiro Miwa and J. Mark Ramseyer
Trade Credit, Bank Loans, and Monitoring: Evidence from Japan, Yoshiro Miwa and J. Mark Ramseyer
Economic Analysis of Law, A. Mitchell Polinsky and Steven Shavell
The Theory of Public Enforcement of Law, A. Mitchell Polinsky and Steven Shavell
The Case for Managed Judges: Learning from Japan After the Political Upheaval of 1993, J. Mark Ramseyer and Eric B. Rasmusen
Delaware's Politics, Mark J. Roe
A Simple Proposal to Halve Litigation Costs, David Rosenberg and Steven Shavell
Coordinating Private Class Action and Public Agency Enforcement of Antitrust Laws, David Rosenberg and James P. Sullivan
Economics and Liability for Accidents, Steven Shavell
Is Breach of Contract Immoral?, Steven Shavell
Liability for Accidents, Steven Shavell
Optimal Discretion in the Application of Rules, Steven Shavell
Specific Performance versus Damages for Breach of Contract, Steven Shavell
Legislative Allocation of Delegated Power: Uncertainty, Risk, and the Choice Between Agencies and Courts, Matthew C. Stephenson
The Value of Life, W. Kip Viscusi
The Generational Divide in Support for Climate Change Policies: European Evidence, W. Kip Viscusi and Joni Hersch
The Perception and Valuation of the Risks of Climate Change: A Rational and Behavioral Blend, W. Kip Viscusi and Richard J. Zeckhauser
Submissions from 2004
Age Variations in Workers' Value of Statistical Life, Joseph E. Aldy and W. Kip Viscusi
Credible Coercion, Oren Bar-Gill and Omri Ben-Shahar
Law and Preferences, Oren Bar-Gill and Chaim Fershtman
Public Policy with Endogenous Preferences, Oren Bar-Gill and Chaim Fershtman
Plea Bargains Only for the Guilty, Oren Bar-Gill and Oren Gazal
Intellectual Property Law and the Boundaries of the Firm, Oren Bar-Gill and Gideon Parchomovsky
Price Considerations in the Market for Corporate Law, Michal Barzuza
Designing a Shareholder Access Rule, Lucian Bebchuk
The Case for Increasing Shareholder Power, Lucian Bebchuk
The Costs of Entrenched Boards, Lucian Bebchuk and Alma Cohen
What Matters in Corporate Governance?, Lucian Bebchuk, Alma Cohen, and Allen Ferrell
Stealth Compensation via Retirement Benefits, Lucian Bebchuk and Jesse M. Fried
Damages Caps, Insurability, and the Performance of Medical Malpractice Insurance, Patricia H. Born and W. Kip Viscusi
The Effect of Automobile Insurance and Accident Liability Laws on Traffic Fatalities, Alma Cohen and Rajeev Dehejia
The Real Difference in Corporate Law between the United States and Continental Europe: Distribution of Powers, Sofie Cools
The Case for Mandatory Disclosure in Securities Regulation Around the World, Allen Ferrell
The Rationality of Automobile Seatbelt Usage: The Value of a Statistical Life and Fatality Risk Beliefs, Jahn K. Hakes and W. Kip Viscusi
The Class Action as a Financial Call Option, Guy Halfteck
Agreeing Now to Agree Later: Contracts That Rule Out But Do Not Rule In, Oliver Hart and John Moore
Identifying the Effects of the American with Disabilities Act Using State-Law Variation: Preliminary Evidence on Educational Participation Effects, Christine Jolls
On Law Enforcement with Boundedly Rational Actors, Christine Jolls
The Role and Functioning of Public-Interest Legal Organizations in the Enforcement of the Employment Laws, Christine Jolls
Disaggregating Employment Protection: The Case of Disability Discrimination, Christine Jolls and J. J. Prescott
Debiasing Through Law, Christine Jolls and Cass R. Sunstein
On the Desirability of Commodity Taxation Even When Income Taxation is Not Optimal, Louis Kaplow
On the (Ir)Relevance of Distribution and Labor Supply Distortion to Government Policy, Louis Kaplow
Any Non-Welfarist Method of Policy Assessment Violates the Pareto Principle: Reply, Louis Kaplow and Steven Shavell
Notes on Welfarist Versus Deontological Principles, Louis Kaplow and Steven Shavell
Life-Cycle Consumption and the Age-Adjusted Value of Life, Thomas J. Kniesner, W. Kip Viscusi, and James P. Ziliak
Solving the Nuisance-Value Settlement Problem: Mandatory Summary Judgment, Randy J. Kozel and David Rosenberg
When Should Contracts Be Assignable? An Economic Analysis, Jared G. Kramer
How Do Consortia Organize Collaborative R&D? Evidence from the National Cooperative Research Act, Suzanne E. Majewski
Deregulation and Market Response in Contemporary Japan: Administrative Guidance, Keiretsu, and Main Banks, Yoshiro Miwa and J. Mark Ramseyer
Industrial Finance Before the Financial Revolution: Japan at the Turn of the Last Century, Yoshiro Miwa and J. Mark Ramseyer
The Fable of the Keiretsu, and Other Tales of Japan We Wish Were True, Yoshiro Miwa and J. Mark Ramseyer
Toward a Theory of Jurisdictional Competition: The Case of the Japanese FTC, Yoshiro Miwa and J. Mark Ramseyer
Can European Companies Escape U.S. Listings?, Robert C. Pozen
The Inevitable Instability of American Corporate Governance, Mark J. Roe
The Institutions of Corporate Governance, Mark J. Roe
A Solution to the Problem of Nuisance Suits: The Option to Have the Court Bar Settlement, David Rosenberg and Steven Shavell
Minimum Asset Requirements and Compulsory Liability Insurance as Solutions to the Judgment-Proof Problem, Steven Shavell
The Appeals Process and Adjudicator Incentives, Steven Shavell
Fixing Freezeouts, Guhan Subramanian
Post-Siliconix Freeze-Outs: Theory, Evidence and Policy, Guhan Subramanian
The Blockbuster Punitive Damages Awards, W. Kip Viscusi
The Value of Regional Water Quality Improvements, W. Kip Viscusi, Joel Huber, and Jason Bell
Hindsight-Choice Bias in Combating Terrorism, W. Kip Viscusi and Richard J. Zeckhauser
Submissions from 2003
Victim Offender Settlements, General Deterrence, and Social Welfare, Jeremy D. Andersen
Overcoming Impediments to Information Sharing, Amitai Aviram and Avishalom Tor
The Value of Giving Away Secrets, Oren Bar-Gill and Gideon Parchomovsky
Shareholder Access to the Ballot, Lucian Bebchuk