Frank Easterbrook and Daniel Fischel

Abstract:     
This chapter in the book PIONEERS OF LAW AND ECONOMICS summarizes the role of Frank Easterbrook and Daniel Fischel in the development of modern law and economics. I first summarize their conceptual, methodological, and substantive innovations. I then discuss details of their work on hostile takeovers, disclosure regulation, and limited liability, and place their contribution in a broader context of prior and contemporaneous work. Finally, I discuss what we've learned about those subjects in more than 20 years since the publication of Easterbrook and Fischel's pioneering work; the areas where they turned out to be right or wrong; and the areas on which we still know very little.

Keywords: law and economics, Easterbrook, Fischel, takeovers, disclosure, limited liability

JEL Classifications: K00, K22, N00, N40

Accepted Paper Series