Law and Economics

Online
Essay
Automation Rights: How to Rationally Design Humans-Out-of-the-Loop Law
Orly Lobel
Orly Lobel is the Warren Distinguished Professor of Law and Director of the Center for Employment and Labor Policy (CELP) at the University of San Diego.

She graduated from Tel-Aviv University and Harvard Law School. Named as one of the most cited legal scholars in the United States, and specifically the most cited scholar in employment law and one of the most cited in law and technology, she is influential in her field. Professor Lobel has served on President Obama’s policy team on innovation and labor market competition, has advised the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), and has published multiple books to critical acclaim. Her latest book, The Equality Machine, is an Economist Best Book of the Year.  

This Essay argues for the development of more robust—and balanced—law that focuses not only on the risks, but also the potential, that AI brings. In turn, it argues that there is a need to develop a framework for laws and policies that incentivize and, at times, mandate transitions to AI-based automation. Automation rights—the right to demand and the duty to deploy AI-based technology when it outperforms human-based action—should become part of the legal landscape. A rational analysis of the costs and benefits of AI deployment would suggest that certain high-stakes circumstances compel automation because of the high costs and risks of not adopting the best available technologies. Inevitably, the rapid advancements in machine learning will mean that law soon must embrace AI; accelerate deployment; and, under certain circumstances, prohibit human intervention as a matter of fairness, welfare, and justice.

Best Practices Law and Economics Machine Learning Oversight Regulation
Online
Essay
Evaluating Mistakes of Law: Objective Reasonableness Under Title VII
Gabrielle Dohmen
Gabrielle Dohmen is a J.D. Candidate at the University of Chicago Law School, Class of 2023.

She thanks Matthew Makowski, Abigail Barney, Annie Kors, and Maggie Niu for their very helpful comments.

Title VII’s anti-retaliation provision is clear: if an employee complains about employment discrimination, it is illegal for an employer to retaliate against them.

Law and Economics
Online
Essay
Small Arms Races
Guha Krishnamurthi
Guha Krishnamurthi is an Associate Professor of Law at the University of Oklahoma College of Law.
Peter N. Salib
Peter N. Salib is an Assistant Professor of Law at the University of Houston Law Center and an Associated Faculty Member at the University of Houston Hobby School of Public Affairs.

The authors thank Jacob Charles, Charanya Krishnaswami, and Alex Platt for insightful comments and suggestions.

On November 19, 2021, Kyle Rittenhouse was acquitted of homicide charges stemming from his killing of two people—Anthony Huber and Joseph Rosenbaum—at a protest of police violence in Kenosha, Wisconsin. Rittenhouse had armed himself and traveled to the protest, purportedly to defend Kenoshans’ property against looting.

Law and Economics Second Amendment
2
Book review
75.1
Economics as Context for Contract Law
George S. Geis
Associate Professor of Law, University of Alabama School of Law; Visiting Associate Professor, University of Virginia School of Law, 2007–2008

Thanks to Victor Goldberg, Jody Kraus, Darian Ibrahim, and Eric Posner for helpful comments.

Contract Law Law and Economics
2
Essay
75.1
Privacy, Surveillance, and Law
Richard A. Posner
Judge, United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit; Senior Lecturer in Law, The University of Chicago

This is a revised draft of my talk at The University of Chicago Law School’s Surveillance Symposium, June 15–16, 2007. I draw heavily on my books Not a Suicide Pact: The Constitution in a Time of National Emergency ch 6 (Oxford 2006) and Countering Terrorism: Blurred Focus, Halting Steps ch 7 (Rowman & Littlefield 2007).

Law and Economics National Security Privacy
2
Article
76.1
A Market in Litigation Risk
Jonathan T. Molot
Professor of Law, Georgetown University Law Center

My thanks to Michael Abramowicz, Brad Clark, John Duffy, Howell Jackson, Geoffrey Miller, Richard Nagareda, Robert Rhee, Bill Rubenstein, Anthony Sebok, Mark Spindel, and participants in faculty workshops at Harvard Law School, Georgetown University Law Center, and George Washington University Law School.

Business Organizations Insurance Law and Economics Risk
2
Article
76.1
Public Ownership, Firm Governance, and Litigation Risk
Eric L. Talley
Professor of Law and Co-director, Berkeley Center in Law, Business and the Economy, UC Berkeley School of Law; Robert B. and Candice J. Haas Visiting Professor of Law, Harvard Law School; Senior Economist (Adjunct), RAND Corporation

Thanks to Robert Bartlett, Alicia Davis-Evans, Todd Henderson, Kim Hogrief, Arthur Levitt, Patrick McGurn, Nell Minow, Maureen Mulligan, Adam Pritchard, Robert Reville, two anonymous referees, and conference participants at The University of Chicago Law School, University of Michigan, and the American Bar Association Tort Trial & Insurance Practice Section for helpful comments and discussions, and to the RAND Corporation Institution for Civil Justice for generous support. Many thanks as well to the Corporate Library for granting me access to their data. All errors are mine.

Business Organizations Corporate Governance Law and Economics

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