Hon. Guido Calabresi, Second Circuit Unites States Court of Appeals and Former Dean, Yale Law School (Yale University Press, 1970)

A pioneer of law and economics along with Ronald Coase and Richard Posner, Guido Calabresi in 1970 wrote perhaps the most influential modern book on tort law. Calabresi, who is now a federal appeals judge on the Second Circuit, suggested an economic rationale for tort law to deter the cost of future accidents, which have social costs external to market exchange. Calabresi’s terminology is sometimes confused: he describes tort law as a vehicle for "market" as opposed to government decisionmaking, when in fact jury verdicts forcibly redistribute wealth relying on government power, albeit in decentralized fashion. Nevertheless, Calabresi's seminal book is a classic that anyone should read who wants to learn about law and economics and its influence on the law of torts.