Biography

A leading scholar of the economics and jurisprudence of contract law, Richard Craswell works at the intersections of law and economics and law and philosophy. He is an expert in all aspects of commercial law, including commercial paper and secured credit, as well as in antitrust and consumer protection law. Professor Craswell was the academic associate dean at Stanford Law School from 1999 to 2001. Before joining the Stanford Law School faculty in 1998, he was a professor at the University of Chicago Law School, and the University of Southern California School of Law, where he was an associate dean. Upon completion of his law degree, he was an attorney with the U.S. Federal Trade Commission in the Office of Policy Planning and the Bureaus of Competition and Economics.

Key Works

• Richard Craswell, Taking Information Seriously: Misrepresentation and Nondisclosure in Contract Law and Elsewhere, 92 Virginia Law Review 565 (2006).
• Richard Craswell, Against Fuller and Purdue, 67 University of Chicago Law Review 99-161 (2000).
• Richard Craswell, Deterrence and Damages: The Multiplier Principle and Its Alternatives, 97 Michigan Law Review 2185-2238 (1999).
• Richard Craswell, Passing on the Costs of Legal Rules: Efficiency and Distribution in Buyer-Seller Relationships, 43 Stanford Law Review 361-398 (1991).
• Richard Craswell, Contract Law, Default Rules, and the Philosophy of Promising, 88 Michigan Law Review 489-529 (1989).

In the News

• A Prof's Nightmare: My Student Is My Editor!
  Boston Globe, August 19, 2008

Courses & Programs

Courses

• Commercial Paper
• Contracts
• Secured Credit

Programs

• John M. Olin Program in Law and Economics, William F. Baxter-Visa International Professor of Law

Publications & Cases

Recent Publications View All

• Richard Craswell, When is a Willful Breach "Willful"? A Puzzle and Two Different Economic Solutions, Stanford Public Law Working Paper, No. 1153169 (July 2008).
• Richard Craswell, Benjamin E. Hermalin and Avery W. Katz, Contract Law, in Handbook of Law and Economics, A. Mitchell Polinsky and Steven Shavell, eds., Amsterdam: Elsevier, 2007.
• Benjamin E. Hermalin, Avery W. Katz, and Richard Craswell, The Law and Economics of Contracts, Columbia Law and Economics Working Paper, No. 296 (2007).
• Richard Craswell, Expectation Damages and Contract Theory Revisited, Stanford Public Law Working Paper No. 925980 (2006).
• Richard Craswell, Taking Information Seriously: Misrepresentation and Nondisclosure in Contract Law and Elsewhere, 92 Virginia Law Review 565 (2006).
• Richard Craswell, Taking Information Seriously: Misrepresentation and Nondisclosure In Contract Law and Elsewhere. Stanford Law and Economics Olin Working Paper, no. 314 (2005).
• Richard Craswell, The “Incomplete Contracts” Literature and Efficient Precautions, 56 Case Western Reserve Law Review 151 (2005).
• Richard Craswell, In That Case, What Is the Question? Economics and the Demands of Contract Theory, 112 Yale Law Journal 903-924 (2003).
• Richard Craswell, Instrumental Theories of Compensation: A Survey, 40 San Diego Law Review 1135-1180 (2003).
• Richard Craswell, Kaplow and Shavell on the Substance of Fairness (Sympoium on Louis Kaplow and Steven Shavell, Fairness versus Welfare), 32 Journal of Legal Studies 248-275 (2003).

Affiliations & Honors

Professional Affiliations

• Member, American Law and Economics Association
• Member, Board of Editors, Journal of Law, Economics, and Organization
• Member, Board of Editors, International Review of Law and Economics
• Member, Board of Editors, American Law and Economics Review