Institutional Analysis
Introductory
Information Costs
The costs of obtaining, verifying, processing, and communicating information relevant to a legal or economic decision.
Why It Matters
Information costs shape disclosure rules, property recording systems, contract design, litigation discovery, gatekeeper duties, and securities-market regulation.
Selected Literature
A short list of directly relevant archive entries.
1979
Advanced
Transaction-Cost Economics: The Governance of Contractual Relations
Oliver E. Williamson
Journal of Law and Economics
1984
Intermediate
Mandatory Disclosure and the Protection of Investors
Frank H. Easterbrook and Daniel R. Fischel
Virginia Law Review
1984
Intermediate
Market Failure and the Economic Case for a Mandatory Disclosure System
John C. Coffee Jr.
Virginia Law Review
2016
Advanced
The Economics of Disclosure and Financial Reporting Regulation: Evidence and Suggestions for Future Research
Christian Leuz and Peter D. Wysocki
Journal of Accounting Research
Related Cases
1854
Foundations of Law and Economics
Hadley v. Baxendale
9 Exch. 341, 156 Eng. Rep. 145 (1854)
Foreseeability, information disclosure, and limits on consequential damages for breach of contract.
1879
Foundations of Law and Economics
Sturges v. Bridgman
11 Ch. D. 852 (1879)
Nuisance, coming to the nuisance, and reciprocal conflicts over incompatible land uses.
1939
Corporate Law
Guth v. Loft, Inc.
5 A.2d 503 (Del. 1939)
Duty of loyalty and a corporate officer's appropriation of an opportunity connected to the corporation's business and resources.
1946
Securities Regulation
SEC v. W.J. Howey Co.
328 U.S. 293 (1946)
Definition of an investment contract under the federal securities laws.