Wednesday, May 2, 2012

Law and Econ Project, Update VII

Now my worries, that in the absence of an externally-imposed deadline this commitment blog isn't a big help, are growing. But we press on. April 4 brought a new, bound version of the manuscript, this one even with a (half-baked) "Conclusions" chapter. The Table of Contents has not (otherwise) changed, though there was some upgrading of all of the chapters. Still haven't heard back from that university press that I sent the even worse draft to -- not a good sign.

I did indeed give the related talk on April 1, and that went pretty well. Afterwards, I wrote up a short talk (maybe 15 minutes) entitled "The Museum of Law of Economics," which I have had fun with. I hope to move that talk, as well as the new draft, into the "continuous improvement" mode. I don't much care for the current "Conclusions" to the draft manuscript, and may start that afresh as part of the improvement. For that matter, I don't like the Conclusions to the Museum talk, either. Conclusions are the bane of my existence.

Finished reading Willpower, which was easy reading and helpful for my Behavioral Econ class. Intended reading that I hope will be helpful for the L&E project includes Museums Matter, by James Cuno; How Judges Think, by Richard Posner; The Upside of Irrationality, by Dan Ariely (more for Behavioral Econ than for L&E); and possibly Loot, by Sharon Waxman. I have started reading all of them, but only Cuno and Ariely are on the front burners right now.

So, what to promise in a not-very-committed way? Next week, to have: (1) finished reading Museums Matter; (2) revised the first two chapters of the L&E manuscript; and (3) to have produced a new version of "The Museum of Law and Economics." Onwards...