Volume 2002

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OCTOBER 2001

Number 13

SOCIO-ECONOMICS AND LAW TEACHING

ANNUAL MEETING PROGRAM

THURSDAY, JANUARY 3, 2002, NEW ORLEANS

P r o g r a m    O v e r v i e w

8:30 - 8:45 am Introduction

8:45 - 9:20 am Behavioral Economics

9:20 - 9:55 am Ethics and Markets

9:55 - 10:30 am Families and Markets

10:30 - 10:45 am Break

10:45 - 11:20 am Corporate Social Responsibility

11:20 - 11:55 am Globalization

12:00- 1:30 pm Luncheon Speaker (Daniel B. Rodriguez, Dean and

Professor, University of San Diego)

"Political Theory and Public Law Through the Lens of

Socio-Economics"

1:30 - 2:05 pm Binary Economics

2:05 - 2:40 pm Regulation and Deregulation

2:40 - 3:05 pm Developing Market Economies

3:05 - 3:15 pm Break

3:15 - 4:25 pm Concurrent Sessions

(1) Contracts, (2) Corporations, (3) Family Law, (4)

International Business Transactions, (5) Law and Economics, (6) Professional

Responsibility, (7) Property Law, (8) Securities Regulation, (9) Tax Policy

and (10) Torts.

4:30- 5:00 pm Future of Socio-Economics in Legal Education

8:00 - 10:00 pm Section on Socio-Economics Reception

In this issue ..........

Program Description.................................................................................................... 2

Annual Meeting Program................................................................................................ 3-5

What is Socio-Economics?.............................................................................................. 6

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AALS Section on Socio-Economics Newsletter

Page 2

P r o g r a m    D e s c r i p t i o n

    The 2001 Annual Meeting Program of the AALS Section on Socio-Economics is

offered to encourage and facilitate the inclusion of socio-economic analysis

in law teaching by way of (1) courses in law and socio-economics, (2)

enriched courses in law and economics, and (3) course segments in other

traditional courses. After an introductory overview, eight half-hour plenary

sessions follow: (1) Behavioral Economics, (2) Ethics and Markets, (3)

Families and Markets, (4) Corporate Social Responsibility, (5) Globalization,

(6) Binary Economics, (7) Regulation and Deregulation and (8) Developing

Market Economies. The program is intended for generalists as well as those

conversant in neoclassical economics.

    This division of topics is based on chapters in teaching materials

prepared by Professor Lynne Dallas (San Diego) and offered by her in the

first course in Law and Socio-Economics. It reflects recurrent themes in

socio-economic programs and literature and is consistent with the definition

of socio-economics upon which the Section was founded. (A paraphrase of a

portion of the Section's founding petition reads as follows: Mindful that the

neoclassical paradigm has a pervasive and powerful influence on contemporary

thought, and recognizing that people first adopt paradigms of thought and

then perform their inductive, deductive, and empirical analyses,

socio-economists seek to examine the assumptions of the neoclassical

paradigm, develop a rigorous understanding of its limitations, improve upon

its application, and develop alternative, perhaps complementary, approaches

that are predictive, exemplary, and morally sound.)

    Participants will explore the session topics, related research,

experiences in teaching these topics and other topics for inclusion in a Law

and Socio-Economics Course.

    After the plenary sessions, ten concurrent sessions (one hour and ten

minutes in length) will explore ways to introduce socio-economics into

traditional courses including: (1) Contracts, (2) Corporations, (3) Family

Law, (4) International Business Transactions, (5) Law and Economics, (6)

Professional Responsibility, (7) Property Law, (8) Securities Regulation, (9)

Torts, and (10) Tax Policy. The participants and attendants are encouraged to

suggest specific teaching materials for use in such courses.

The program will conclude with a thirty-minute session on the future of

socio-economics in legal education. In total, the program will feature

seventy-five participants (including seven economists) from sixty-four law

schools and seven other schools.

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AALS Section on Socio-Economics Newsletter

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SOCIO-ECONOMICS AND LAW TEACHING

ANNUAL MEETING PROGRAM

Thursday, January 3, 2002, New Orleans

8:30 - 8:45 am Introduction - Lynne Dallas (San Diego)

8:45 - 9:20 am Behavioral Economics

    Ed Rubin (Penn) (Moderator)

    Morris Altman (University of Saskatchewan; Editor, Journal of

    Socio-Economics.)

    Roger Dennis (Provost, Rutgers University)

    Thomas Ulen (Illinois)

9:20 - 9:55 am Ethics and Markets

    Terry O'Neill (Tulane) (Moderator)

    Neil Buchanan (Michigan 3L)

    Rodney Peffer (San Diego, Department of Philosophy)

9:55 -10:30 am Families and Markets

    June Carbone (Santa Clara) (Moderator)

    Martha Fineman (Cornell)

    Joan Williams (American)

10:30 - 10:45 am Break

10:45 - 11:20 am Corporate Social Responsibility

    Lyman Johnson (Washington and Lee) (Moderator)

    David Millon (Washington and Lee)

    Cheryl Wade (St. Johns)

11:20 - 11:55 am Globalization

    Claire Dickerson (Rutgers - Newark) (Moderator)

    Timothy A. Canova (New Mexico)

    Katherine Van Wesel Stone (Cornell)

12:00 - 1:30 pm Luncheon (Daniel B. Rodriguez, Dean and Professor,

    University of San Diego)

    "Political Theory and Public Law Through the Lens of

    Socio-Economics"

1:30 - 2:05 pm Binary Economics

    Robert Ashford (Syracuse) (Moderator)

    Richard Hattwick (Western Illinois University; Founding Editor,

    Journal of Socio- Economics)

    Demetri Kantarelis (Assumption College)

    D. Michael Risinger (Seton Hall)

    Charles Whalen (Business Week)

2:05 - 5:00 pm Program continues next page.

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AALS Section on Socio-Economics Newsletter

Page 4

2:05 - 2:40 pm Regulation and Deregulation

    Ellen Dannin (Cal. Western - Michigan, Visitor)

    Russell Korobkin (California - Los Angeles)

    Charles Pouncy (Temple)

2:40 - 3:05 pm Developing Market Economies

    Lynne Dallas (San Diego) (Moderator)

    Jim Angresano (Albertson College of Idaho)

    Paul Brietzke (Val Pariso)

3:05 3:15 pm Break

3:15 - 4:25 pm Concurrent Sessions: (See * below)

(1) Contracts, (2) Corporations, (3) Family Law, (4)

International Business Transactions, (5) Law and Economics, (6) Professional

Responsibility, (7) Property Law, (8) Securities Regulation, (9) Tax Policy

and (10) Torts.

4:30 - 5:00 pm Future of Socio-Economics in Legal Education

    Robert Ashford (Syracuse), Lynne Dallas (San Diego), Richard

    Hattwick (Western Illinois University; Founding Editor, Journal of Socio-

    Economics), Daniel B. Rodriguez, Dean and Professor, University of San

    Diego), and Edward Rubin (Penn)

* Concurrent Sessions:

1. Contracts

    Kellye Y. Testy, Seattle University School of Law (Moderator)

    Erica Beecher-Monas, University of Arkansas at Little Rock

    Mark Drumbl, University of Arkansas, and Washington & Lee Law School (visiting)

    Shubha Ghosh (SUNY - Buffalo)

    David W. Gruning, Loyola, New Orleans and University of Montreal (visitor)

    Allen Kamp, John Marshall Law School

2. Corporations

    Kent Greenfield (Boston College) (Moderator)

    Roger Dennis (Provost, Rutgers University)

    Jill R. Horwitz (Harvard University)

    Peter Kostant (Roger Williams)

    Theresa Maynard (Loyola - Los Angeles)

    Adam Winkler (Southern California)

3. Family Law

    Margaret Brinig (Iowa) (Moderator)

    June Carbone (Santa Clara)

    Sara Ramsey (Syracuse)

Program continues next page.

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AALS Section on Socio-Economics Newsletter

Page 5

4. International Business Transactions

    Timothy A. Canova (New Mexico) (Moderator)

    Jeffery Atik (Loyola, Los Angeles)

    Lan Cao (William and Mary)

    William S. Dodge (Hastings)

    Chantal Thomas (Fordham)

5. Law and Economics

    James Hackney (New England) (Moderator)

    Paul Brietzke (Val Pariso)

    Peter Huang (Pennsylvania, Chicago-Visitor)

    Demetri Kantarelis (Assumption College)

    Russell Korobkin (California - Los Angeles)

    Elbert Robertson (Suffolk)

6. Professional Responsibility

    Robert Ashford (Syracuse)

    Ernest Lidge (Memphis)

    Amy Mashburn (Florida)

    Thomas D. Morgan (George Washington)

    Burnele Powell (Dean, Missouri - K.C.)

7. Property Law

    Reginald Leamon Robinson (Howard) (Moderator)

    Keith Aoki (Oregon)

    David Baron (Harvard).

    Berta Hernandez-Truyol (Florida)

    Audrey Mc Farlane (Baltimore)

    Florence Roisman (Indiana - Indianapolis)

    Jeffrey Stake (Indiana - Bloomington)

8. Securities Regulation

    Margaret V. Sachs (Georgia) (Moderator)

    Robert W. Hillman (Davis)

    Kimberly D. Krawiec (North Carolina)

    Donna M. Nagy (Cincinnati)

    Professor Richard W. Painter (Illinois)

    Professor Hillary A. Sale (Iowa)

9. Tax Policy

    Richard Gershon (Professor and Dean, Texas Wesleyan)

    Neil Buchanan (Michigan 3L)

    Marjorie E. Kornhauser (Tulane)

    Daniel M. Schneider (Northern Illinois)

    Nancy Staudt (Washington University-St. Louis)

10. Torts

    Jeffrey Thomas (Missouri - Kansas City) (Moderator)

    Rhonda Andrews (San Francisco)

    Lucinda M. Finley (SUNY - Buffalo)

    Ellen Pryor (Southern Methodist)

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AALS Section on Socio-Economics Newsletter

Page 6

What Is Socio-Economics?

    Socio-economics begins with the assumption that economics is not a

self-contained system, but is embedded in society, polity, culture, and

nature. Drawing upon economics, sociology, political science, psychology,

anthropology, biology and other social and natural sciences, philosophy,

history, law, management, and other disciplines, socio-economics regards

competitive behavior as a subset of human behavior within a societal and

natural context that both enables and constrains competition and cooperation.

Rather than assume that the individual pursuit of self-interest

automatically or generally tends toward an optimal allocation of resources,

socio-economics assumes that societal sources of order are necessary for

people and markets to function efficiently. Rather than assume that people

act only rationally, or that they pursue only self-interest, socio-economics

seeks to advance a more encompassing interdisciplinary understanding of

economic behavior open to the assumption that individual choices are shaped

not only by notions of rationality but also by emotions, social bonds,

beliefs, expectations, and a sense of morality.

    Socio-economics is both a positive and a normative science. It is

dedicated to the empirical, reality testing approach to knowledge. It

respects both inductive and deductive reasoning. But it also openly

recognizes the policy relevance of teaching and research and seeks to be

self-aware of its normative implications rather than maintaining the mantle

of an exclusively positive science. Although it sees questions of value

inextricably connected with individual and group economic choices,

socio-economics does not entail a commitment to any one paradigm or

ideological position, but is open to a range of thinking that treats economic

behavior as involving the whole person and all facets of society within a

continually evolving natural context.

    Unique among interdisciplinary approaches, however, socio-economics

recognizes the pervasive and powerful influence of the neoclassical paradigm

on twentieth century thought. Recognizing that people first adopt paradigms

of thought and then perform their inductive, deductive, and empirical

analyses, socio-economists seek to examine the assumptions of the

neoclassical paradigm, develop a rigorous understanding of its limitations,

improve upon its application, and develop alternative, perhaps complementary,

approaches that are predictive, exemplary, and morally sound. With modest

amendment, this description of was the substance of the petition signed by

more than one hundred twenty law professors from over fifty AALS member

schools, to establish the AALS Section on Socio-Economics. It serves as the

constitution of the section.

Introductory References on Socio-Economics:

1. Richard Coughlin, "Whose Morality? Which Community? What Interests?

    Socio-economic and Communitarian Perspectives," The Journal of

    Socio-Economics, Volume 25, 1996, pp. 135-55).

2. Paul Stern, "The Socio-Economic Perspective and its Institutional

    Prospects," The Journal of Socio-Economics, Volume 22, No. 1, 1993, pp.

    1-11).

3. Robert Ashford, "Socio-Economics: What Is Place in Law Teaching?,"

    Wisconsin Law Review Vol 1997, pp. 611-623.)

4. Jeffrey L. Harrison, "Law and Socio-Economics" 49 Journal of Legal

    Education, 224 (1999)