Includes bibliographical references and index.

Introduction / Hugo M. Mialon and Paul H.Rubin -- The economics of the First Amendment : the market for goods and the market for ideas / R. H. Coase -- An economic analysis of the law of false advertising / Ellen R. Jordan and Paul H. Rubin -- Freedom of speech vs. efficient regulation in markets for ideas / Albert Breton and Ronald Wintrobe -- A free press is bad news for corruption / Aymo Brunetti and Beatrice Weder --The market for news / Sendhil Mullainathan and Andrei Shleifer --The impact of gun laws : a model of crime and self defence / Hugo M. Mialon and Thomas Wiseman -- Crime, deterrence, and right-to-carry concealed handguns / John R. Lott and David B. Mustard --The effect of concealed handgun laws on crime : beyond the dummy variables / Hashem Dezhbakhsh and Paul H. Rubin -- Effects of criminal procedure on crime rates : mapping out the consequences of the exclusionary rule / Raymond A. Atkins and Paul H. Rubin -- An economic theory of the Fifth Amendment / Hugo M. Mialon -- The effects of a right to lence / Daniel J. Seidmann -- Noisy juries and the choice of trial mode in a sequential signalling game : theory and evidence / Gerald D. Gay, Martin F. Grace, Jayant R. Kale, and Thomas H. Noe -- Runaway judges? selection effects and the jury / Eric Helland and Alexander Tabarrok -- Reasonable doubt and the optimal magnitude of fines : should the penalty fit the crime / James Andreoni --The deterrent effect of capital punishment : a question of life and death / Isaac Ehrlich -- Does capital punishment have a deterrent effect? new evidence form postmoratorium panel data / Hashem Dezhbakhsh, Paul H. Rubin, and Joanna M. Shepherd.

This is the first book to examine individual rights from an economic perspective, collecting together leading articles in this emerging area of interest and showing the vibrant and expanding scholarship that relates them. Areas covered include The implications of constitutional protections of individual rights and freedoms, including freedom of speech and of the press, The right to bear arms, The right against unreasonable searches, The right against self-incrimination, The right to trial by jury, The right against cruel and unusual punishment, including capital punishment. The focus of these papers is both theoretical and empirical, examining how economics can illuminate the entire sequence of crime and punishment, from the decision to commit a crime, to police methods for apprehending and arresting criminals, to the rules used in trials to the scope of punishment for the convicted.