The Geography of American Poverty: Is There a Need for Place-Based Policy?
inqumes into the field trace at least to Adam Smith. The Chicago approach, exemplified by Judge Richard A. Posner's 1973 first edition of Economic Analysis of Law, appears as but one of a series of approaches to the topic. Precursors to Chicago included the institutionalism of Commons, Veblen, and Ayres, a tradition that has been continued and expanded most notably by Professor Warren J. Samuels. Movements that postdate Chicago include the wedding of the law and society insights into the realm of economic analysis and the "New Chicago School" championed most notably by Professor Cass R. Sunstein. The book is unabashedly a recounting of prior scholarship. Hence, for a reader well versed in a given area, there is little new. Nonetheless, if a well-versed reader needs to find a qUick citation to a topic or a brief discussion of a concept one is trying to recall, then one will find it here. The book is very well organized and all the familiar material is present. In this sense, the book provides an excellent reference to oft-cited works even for seasoned scholars. Perhaps the chief value of the book is to provide an introduction to topics to which the reader is relatively unfamiliar. The topic of law and economics has interfaces with political science, sociology, anthropology and other social sciences. It impacts legislation, administrative rules, and court opinions. Within this broad context, one is likely to find something new and unfamiliar. For example, this reviewer found the material on Civic Republicanism to be particularly interesting. The republican movement offers a counterbalance to Public Choice Theory. Whereas Public Choice offers a somewhat cynical view of public actors solely interested in self gain, the republican movement emphasizes public virtue and suggests that public officials often seek the common good. As with scores of other topics, Mercuro and Medema map the differences between the two approaches complete with histories of the intellectual movements and clear expositions of the competing views.