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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 04 August 2017
Summary
Calabresi, Guido (1932–): considered one of the founders of the field of law and economics. He received his undergraduate education at Yale University, from which he received his B.S. in economics in 1953. He attended Magdalen College, Oxford, in 1955 as a Rhodes scholar. He received his law degree in 1958 from Yale Law School, graduating first in his class. Soon thereafter, in 1961, Calabresi published “Some thoughts on risk distributions and the law of torts” in the Yale Law Journal, the results of which he incorporated into his book The Cost of Accidents: A Legal and Economic Analysis (1970), which pioneers the economic analysis of tort law. In The Cost of Accidents, Calabresi argues that the minimization of the cost of accidents, rather than the compensation of victims, should be the primary objective of tort law. In his analysis he introduces the concept of the “cheapest cost avoider,” which argues that liability should be the responsibility of the actor in the best position to make the cost–benefit analysis and to take cost-effective preventive measures. In 1972 he published his most influential paper, co-authored with Douglas Melamed, “Property rules, liability rules and inalienability: one view of the cathedral” in the Harvard Law Review. The paper develops the most important normative corollary to the Coase theorem, introducing a framework for assessing the efficiency of property rules and liability rules in the presence of transaction costs. This approach has become one of the most prominent tools for analyzing the protection of entitlements in various fields of law. In addition to his foundational work in the field of law and economics, Calabresi served as the dean of the Yale Law School from 1985 until his appointment to the United States Court of Appeals by President Bill Clinton in 1994. He is the recipient of the 2012 Ronald H. Coase medal for his lifetime work in law and economics. See also Yale school, Ronald H. Coase medal, normative Coase theorem, and cathedral.
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- Information
- The Language of Law and EconomicsA Dictionary, pp. 35 - 74Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2013