LW 7620 — Human Behavior, Legal Doctrine, and Policy Design
3 semester hoursGraduateLecture
Compares accounts of human behavior, including the utilitarian/law and economics view of man as a rational calculator of his self-interest, with classical and contemporary alternatives to that description, including behavioral economics. Evaluates the reasons for doubting or crediting these competing accounts and considers their implications for determining appropriate legal doctrines and regulatory approaches. Addresses issues such as whether the views of human behavior that shape consumer protection case law and the Supreme Court's commercial speech doctrine are justified and whether, and in what circumstances, regulations may appropriately seek to help people by prescribing, proscribing, or "nudging" their behavior.