Truth or Economics
On the Definition, Prediction, and Relevance of Economic Efficiency
- 520 pages
- English
- PDF
- Available on iOS & Android
Truth or Economics
On the Definition, Prediction, and Relevance of Economic Efficiency
About this book
Is economic efficiency a sound basis upon which to make public policy or legal decisions? In this sophisticated analysis, Richard S. Markovits considers the way in which scholars and public decision-makers define, predict, and assess the moral and legal relevance of economic efficiency.
The author begins by identifying imperfections in the traditional definition of economic efficiency. He then develops and illustrates an appropriate response to Second-Best Theory and investigates the moral and legal relevance of economic-efficiency analyses. Not only do virtually all economic, legal, and public policy thinkers misdefine economic efficiency, the author concludes, they also ignore or respond inadequately to Second-Best Theory when analyzing the economic efficiency of public choices and misassess the relevance of economic-efficiency conclusions both for moral evaluations and for the answer to legal-rights questions that is correct as a matter of law.
Richard S. Markovits is the holder of the John B. Connally Chair in Law at The University of Texas Law School. He teaches and writes in the areas of antitrust, law and economics, constitutional law, and jurisprudence.
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Table of contents
- Contents
- Acknowledgments
- Introduction
- Part One. The Definition of Economic Efficiency
- Chapter 1. The Correct Definition of the Impact of a Choice on Economic (Allocative) Efficiency
- Chapter 2. A Critique of the Definitions of and Tests for Economic Efficiency That Economists and Law and Economics Scholars Use
- Conclusion to Part I
- Part Two. The Assessment of Economic Efficiency
- Chapter 3. The Distortion-Analysis Approach to Economic-Efficiency Assessment
- Chapter 4. Some Second-Best-Theory Critiques of Canonical Allocative-Efficiency Analyses and of the Standard Justifications for Ignoring Second Best
- Part Three. The Relevance of Allocative-Efficiency Conclusions
- Chapter 5. The Prescriptive-Moral and Legal Relevance of Allocative-Efficiency Conclusions
- Chapter 6. A Critique of Various Relevance Arguments Made by Economists and Law and Economics Scholars
- Conclusion
- Notes
- Glossary of Frequently Used Symbols and the Concepts for Which They Stand
- Index