Group Projects for
Econ W4615
Listed below are possible
topics and some references for group projects. (You are encouraged to go beyond the references given
below.) Alternatively, you may
choose your own topic as long as it has some relevance to the course. On the date of presentation, you should
also turn in a 10-20page report (with references on a separate
page) containing your findings.
In preparing your
presentation, you may wish to
(1)
Summarize the facts and historical
background of the issue;
(2)
Survey different existing views on the
issues (if there exist ones);
(3)
Apply economics perspectives and
reasoning on the issues;
(4)
Try to develop your own views.
These are some
ingredients you may consider incorporating into your presentation and report;
but not all these ingredients may be relevant depending on the topic you
choose. With some topic,
informing the class of some facts or some views may be valuable by itself. You should therefore feel free to
organize the presentation/report the way you see fit.
Topics 1: “Commons Problems”
Hardin, G., “The Tragedy of
Commons,” Science,
1968, 162, 1243-1248.
Dietz, T., Ostrom, E., Stern, P.C., “The Struggle to Govern the
Commons,” Science,
2003, 302, 1907 – 1912.
Ostrom,
E. Governing the Commons: The Evolution of Institutions for Collective Action.
Cambridge and New York: Cambridge University Press, 1990.
Ostrom,
E., R. Gardner , and J. Walker . Rules,
Games, and Common-Pool Resources. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan
Press, 1994.
Topic 2: “Global climate control: treaty making and carbon trading”
Barrett, S., Environment &
Statecraft, 2003, Oxford Press.
The
Economists’ Voice, 2007, Vol. 4, Issue 3.
(Special Issue on Global Climate Change): http://www.bepress.com/ev/vol4/iss3/
The Economists’ Voice, 2007, Vol. 6, Issue 13: http://www.bepress.com/ev/vol6/iss13/
Tietenberg, T., Emissions Trading:
Principles and Practice. RFF Press, 2nd Ed., 2006.
Sandmo, A., The Public Economics
of the Environment, Oxford University Press, 2000.
Topic 3: “Should trade of human organs be
allowed? How should they be
distributed more efficiently?”
http://www.cooter-ulen.com/property.htm
- Organ Transplants
Radin,
M.J., Contested
Commodities:The Trouble with
Trade in Sex, Children, Body Parts, and Other Things, Harvard University
Press, 1996.
Arrow, K.,
“Invaluable Goods,” Journal of Economic Literature, 1997, 757-765.
Topic 4: “Reforms of the patent system and Its alternatives.”
Nancy Gallini and Suzanne Scotchmer,
“Intellectual Property:
When is it the Best Incentive System?” 2001,
UC-Berkeley Working Paper E01-303. (http://socrates.berkeley.edu/~scotch/G_and_S.pdf)
http://www.cooter-ulen.com/property.htm
- Social Costs of Patents
Topic 5: “The case for weakening intellectual
property right? Open source movement”
Lerner,
J. and Tirole, J., “Simple Economics of Open
Source,” (http://www.people.hbs.edu/jlerner/simple.pdf)
Bessen,
J. and Maskin, E., “Intellectual
Property on the Internet: What's Wrong with Conventional Wisdom?”
Topic 6: “Should eminent domain be allowed
for economic development? Can it be applied to the Columbia’s Manhattanville development?
NYT,
2004, “Connecticut
Homeowners Say Eminent
Domain isn’t a Revenue-Raising Device”
NYT, 2009, Dec., 3, “Court Bars New York’s
Takeover of Land for Columbia Campus” http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/04/nyregion/04columbia.html?_r=1&scp=4&sq=columbia+university%2C+eminent+domain&st=nyt
NYT, 2009, Dec. 14, EDITORIAL: Eminent
Domain in New York,
Topic 7: “Reforming executive pay systems”
Bebchuk, Lucian, and
Jesse Fried, Pay Without Performance: The
Unfulfilled Promise of Executive Compensation (Cambridge, MA:
Harvard University Press, 2004).
Topic 8: “Are rent-to-own business
contracts unconscionable?
Examining the economic rationale for unconscionability
doctrine”
Richard
A. Epstein, “Unconscionability:A
Critical Reappraisal,” 1975, Journal of Law and Economics, Vol. 18.
Paul
B. Marrow, 2000, “Contractual unconscionability:
identifying and understanding its potential elements.”
Topic 9: “Should the shrink-wrap licenses be
enforceable?”
http://www.cooter-ulen.com/contracts.htm
- Shrinkwrap Licenses
http://www.utsystem.edu/ogc/intellectualproperty/procd.htm
Frank Easterbrook’s
Opinion on ProCD v. Zeidenberg,
86 F.3e 1447 (7th Cir. 1996) (http://www.softwareindustry.org/issues/docs-htm/procd-op.html)
http://www.law.berkeley.edu/institutes/bclt/pubs/lemley/procdbrief.html
Che, Y.-K., and Choi, A., “Shrink Wraps: Who Should Bear the Cost of Communicating Mass-Market
Terms?” mimeo.
Topic 10: “Reforming Financial Markets”
Brunnermeier, M.
et al, “The Fundamental Principles
of Financial Regulation,” 2009, CEPR.
http://www.princeton.edu/~markus/research/papers/Geneva11.pdf
Warren,
E., "Unsafe at
Any Rate". Democracy Journal,
2007: http://www.democracyjournal.org/article.php?ID=6528
Krauss, M. “Restoring
the Boundary: Tort Law and the Right to Contract,” Policy Analysis,
1999. and the articles referenced in this paper.
Topic 12: “Controlling corporate misconduct
through vicarious liability.”
Hale
and Dorr,
“Government Investigations and Litigation Bulletin”
http://www.cooter-ulen.com/tort_liability.htm
- Split Awards
Polinsky,
M. and Shavell, S., “Punitive
Damages:an Economic
Analysis,” Harvard Law Review, 111:869-962, 1998.
Polinsky,
M., and Che, Y-K, “Decoupling Liability:Optimal
Incentives for Care and Litigation,” Rand Journal of
Economics, 22: 562-570, 1991.