Eric A. Posner is Kirkland and Ellis Professor of Law at the University of Chicago Law School.

Eric Posner wishes to improve the economic analysis of law by incorporating into it a more rigorous understanding of the impact on behavior of the social meaning of action. In his lucidly written and sharply argued book on the relation between law and 'non-legal mechanisms of cooperation,' Posner contends that many conceptual confusions and embarrassing puzzles that have been generated by the economic analysis of law can be cleared up, and the research paradigm as a whole can be advanced, by taking account of the pervasive and powerful role of social norms."

• 1. Introduction: Law and Collective Action I. Models of Nonlegal Collective Action 2. A Model of Cooperation and the Production of Social Norms 3. Extensions, Objections, and Alternative Theories II. Legal Applications 4. Gifts and Gratuitous Promises 5. Family Law and Social Norms 6. Status, Stigma, and the Criminal Law 7. Voting, Political Participation, and Symbolic Behavior 8. Racial Discrimination and Nationalism 9. Contract Law and Commercial Behavior III. Normative Implications 10. Efficiency and Distributive Justice 11. Incommensurability, Commodification, and Money 12. Autonomy, Privacy, and Community Notes References Acknowledgments Index

Eric A. Posner is Kirkland and Ellis Professor of Law at the University of Chicago Law School.

Eric Posner wishes to improve the economic analysis of law by incorporating into it a more rigorous understanding of the impact on behavior of the social meaning of action. In his lucidly written and sharply argued book on the relation between law and 'non-legal mechanisms of cooperation,' Posner contends that many conceptual confusions and embarrassing puzzles that have been generated by the economic analysis of law can be cleared up, and the research paradigm as a whole can be advanced, by taking account of the pervasive and powerful role of social norms."

• 1. Introduction: Law and Collective Action I. Models of Nonlegal Collective Action 2. A Model of Cooperation and the Production of Social Norms 3. Extensions, Objections, and Alternative Theories II. Legal Applications 4. Gifts and Gratuitous Promises 5. Family Law and Social Norms 6. Status, Stigma, and the Criminal Law 7. Voting, Political Participation, and Symbolic Behavior 8. Racial Discrimination and Nationalism 9. Contract Law and Commercial Behavior III. Normative Implications 10. Efficiency and Distributive Justice 11. Incommensurability, Commodification, and Money 12. Autonomy, Privacy, and Community Notes References Acknowledgments Index

Eric A. Posner is Kirkland and Ellis Professor of Law at the University of Chicago Law School.

Eric Posner wishes to improve the economic analysis of law by incorporating into it a more rigorous understanding of the impact on behavior of the social meaning of action. In his lucidly written and sharply argued book on the relation between law and 'non-legal mechanisms of cooperation,' Posner contends that many conceptual confusions and embarrassing puzzles that have been generated by the economic analysis of law can be cleared up, and the research paradigm as a whole can be advanced, by taking account of the pervasive and powerful role of social norms."

• 1. Introduction: Law and Collective Action I. Models of Nonlegal Collective Action 2. A Model of Cooperation and the Production of Social Norms 3. Extensions, Objections, and Alternative Theories II. Legal Applications 4. Gifts and Gratuitous Promises 5. Family Law and Social Norms 6. Status, Stigma, and the Criminal Law 7. Voting, Political Participation, and Symbolic Behavior 8. Racial Discrimination and Nationalism 9. Contract Law and Commercial Behavior III. Normative Implications 10. Efficiency and Distributive Justice 11. Incommensurability, Commodification, and Money 12. Autonomy, Privacy, and Community Notes References Acknowledgments Index