In the last fifteen years or so, lawyers working in law and economics and economists with an interest in legal matters have turned their attention to the topic of bankruptcy. A large amount of work has resulted, both theoretical and empirical, some of which has been concerned with the...

This paper develops a typology of different behaviors that might be viewed as outrageous by a jury and subjected to punitive damages. The paper derives the level of punitive damages for achieving economic efficiency in four different situation - malice and three settings where a jury might find...

Punitive damages deter and punish. Using a social welfare function that incorporates both economic efficiency and a desire for retribution, this paper explores the effects of punitive damages in situations of reckless disregard that might be vie wed as outrageous.

We consider an economy where property rights are necessary to ensure sufficient rewards to ex ante investments. Because enforcement of property rights influence the ex post distribution of rents, there is room for corruption. We characterize the optimal organization of the society and optimal...