The John M. Olin Program in Law and Economics

Research

Conflict Avoidance in Constitutional Law
Charles Barzun

Michael D. Gilbert
Hard cases present a dilemma at the heart of constitutional law. Courts have a duty to decide them—to vindicate rights, to clarify law—but doing so... MORE
Protectionist Property Taxes
Andrew Hayashi

Rich Hynes
National restrictions on trade and immigration are the most salient illustrations of the current protectionist moment, but cities have played their... MORE
Do Good Citizens Need Good Laws? Economics and the Expressive Function
Andrew Hayashi

Michael D. Gilbert
We explore how adding pro-social preferences to the canonical precaution model of accidents changes either the efficient damages rule or the harm... MORE

Present Bias and Debt-Financed Durable Goods
Andrew Hayashi
Algorithmic Social Engineering
Megan T. Stevenson
We examine the microeconomics of using algorithms to nudge decision-makers towards particular social outcomes. We refer to this as "algorithmic... MORE
Sexual Privacy
Danielle K. Citron
Those who wish to control, expose, and damage the identities of individuals routinely do so by invading their privacy. People are secretly recorded... MORE

The Fiduciary Rule Controversy and the Future of Investment Advice
Quinn Curtis
One of the most disputed policy initiatives of the Obama administration was the Department of Labor’s fiduciary rule, which subjects brokers and... MORE
The Scale of Misdemeanor Justice
Megan T. Stevenson
This Article seeks to provide the most comprehensive national-level empirical analysis of misdemeanor criminal justice that is currently feasible... MORE
Deregulation and the Subprime Crisis
Paul G. Mahoney
Many popular and academic commentators identify deregulation as a cause of the 2007-08 financial crisis. Some argue that the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act... MORE

The Price of Abstraction
Gregory Mitchell
Behavioral Law and Economics’ effort to replace standard microeconomic assumptions with more realistic, yet still simple assumptions — without... MORE
Competing Sovereignty and Laws’ Domains
Paul B. Stephan
In the contemporary world, the domains of laws overlap a lot. With human activity (business, family, political, creative) unfolding at a greater... MORE
Distortion of Justice: How the Inability to Pay Bail Affects Case Outcomes
Megan T. Stevenson
This paper uses a natural experiment to analyze whether incarceration during the pretrial period affects case outcomes. In Philadelphia, defendants... MORE

About

The John M. Olin Program in Law and Economics at the University of Virginia School of Law supports faculty and student interests and research relating to the economic analysis of legal issues. The program stimulates discussions and debate through conferences, workshops and lectures. It encourages student research through colloquia.

The John M. Olin Foundation Inc. was established in 1953 by John Merrill Olin (1892-1982) — inventor, industrialist, conservationist and philanthropist. Olin was committed to the preservation of the principles of political and economic liberty as they have been expressed in American thought, institutions and practice.