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 Classification: K00, K22, N00, N40