The Collected Works of Henry G. Manne

Book excerpt: "Professor Henry G. Manne is one of the founding scholars of the influential discipline of law and economics, as well as founder of the Law and Economics Center at George Mason University and dean emeritus of the George Mason School of Law. Among the first to apply economic analysis to concepts of corporations and corporate law, Manne developed a comprehensive theory of the modern corporation that has provided a framework for legal, economic, and financial analysis of the corporate firm for more than forty years. The works in this three-volume collection, selected by Professor Fred S. McChesney of the Northwestern University School of Law and introduced by leading academics in the field, span nearly half a century of Manne scholarship. Each volume covers a different aspect of Henry Manne's large body of scholarly works. Volume 1, The Economics of Corporations and Corporate Law, includes Manne's seminal writings on corporate law and economics. Manne's theory of the market for corporation control revolutionized thinking about the nature of corporations and the shareholder-corporation relationship. Challenging the accepted wisdom of his time, Manne insisted that market forces could help constrain corporate managers to act in shareholders' interests. Volume 2, Insider Trading, gives not only a retrospective on Manne's innovative contributions to insider trading but also a context for understanding the complex world of corporate law and securities regulation. Manne's proposal to deregulate insider trading shocked the academy and forced a reevaluation of long-held views on the subject. The works included here, which range from scholarly papers to newspaper columns, span forty years and demonstrate the evolution of his understanding of insider trading. Volume 3, Liberty and Freedom in the Economic Ordering of Society, explores Manne's philosophy on corporate social responsibility in modern society and his views on corporate philanthropy. This volume also contains works on the regulation of capital markets and securities offerings; the role of the law school in the modern university; and the relationships between law, regulation, and the free market." -- Back cover.