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Omri Ben-Shahar

Academic Faculty

Full Time Teaching Faculty

Omri Ben-Shahar

Leo and Eileen Herzel Distinguished Service Professor of Law, Kearney Director of the Coase-Sandor Institute for Law and Economics

Biography

Omri Ben-Shahar earned his PhD in Economics and SJD from Harvard in 1995 and his BA and LLB from the Hebrew University in 1990. Before coming to Chicago, he was the Kirkland & Ellis Professor of Law and Economics at the University of Michigan. Prior to that, he taught at Tel-Aviv University, was a member of Israel's Antitrust Court, and clerked at the Supreme Court of Israel. He teaches contracts, sales, trademark law, insurance law, consumer law, sales law, e-commerce, food law, law and economics, and game theory and the law. He writes primarily in the fields of contract law and consumer protection. He is the co-author of Personalized Law: Different Rules for Different People (Oxford 2021, with Ariel Porat) and More Than You Wanted to Know: The Failure of Mandated Disclosure (Princeton 2014, with Carl Schneider). Professor Ben-Shahar is the Kearney Director of the Coase-Sandor Institute for Law and Economics. He is also the Co-Reporter for the American Law Institute’s Restatement of Consumer Contracts.

Education and Experience

Education

Harvard University

SJD, 1999
PhD in economics, 1995
LLM, 1991

Hebrew University

BA in economics, 1989
LLB,1989 

Experience

The University of Chicago Law School

Leo and Eileen Herzel Distinguished Service Professor of Law, 2023-present
Leo and Eileen Herzel Professor of Law, 2012-2023
Kearney Director of the Coase-Sandor Institute for Law and Economics, 2011-present
Frank and Bernice Greenberg Professor of Law, 2008-2012
Visiting Professor, winter 2006

University of Michigan

Kirkland and Ellis Professor of Law and Economics, 2006-2008
Professor of Law and Economics, 2001-2006
Assistant Professor of Law and Economics, 1999-2001
Founder and Director, Olin Center for Law and Economics, 1999-2008

Tel-Aviv University

Assistant Professor of Law and Economics, 1995-1998

Israeli Democracy Institute

Fellow, 1995-1998 

Supreme Court of Israel

Law Clerk, Justice Yaakov Maltz, 1989-1990

Publications

Books (Author)

  • Restatement of the Law, Consumer Contracts (ALI, Tentative Draft No.2)2022) (with Oren Bar-Gill & Florencia Marotta-Wurgler).
  • Personalized Law: Different Rules for Different People (Oxford University Press, 2021) (with Ariel Porat).www
  • Restatement of the Law, Consumer Contracts (ALI, Tentative Draft)2019).
  • More Than You Wanted to Know: The Failure of Mandated Disclosure (Princeton University Press, 2014) (with Carl E. Schneider).cu

Books (Editor)

  • Fault in American Contract Law. (Cambridge University Press, 2010) (edited with Ariel Porat). cu www
  • Boilerplate: The Foundation of Market Contracts. (Cambridge University Press, 2007). cu www

Journal Articles

  • "Personalized Law and the Problem of Misinformation," 29 Jerusalem Review of Legal Studies 91 (2024) (with Ariel Porat). www
  • "Misprioritized Information: A Theory of Manipulation," 52 Journal of Legal Studies 305 (2023) (with Oren Bar-Gill). www
  • "Nonparty Interests in Contract Law," 171 University of Pennsylvania Law Review 1095 (2023) (with David Hoffman & Cathy Hwang). www
  • "Privacy Protection, At What Cost? Exploring the Regulatory Resistance to Data Technology in Auto Insurance," 15 Journal of Legal Analysis 129 (2023). www
  • "Data Pollution," 16 Russian Journal of Economics and Law 136 (2022).
  • "Personalized Class Actions," 100 Texas Law Review Online 162 (2022). www
  • "Personalized Elder Law," 28 Elder Law Journal 281 (2021).
  • "Rethinking Nudge: An Information-Costs Theory of Default Rules," 88 University of Chicago Law Review 531 (2021) (with Oren Bar-Gill). www
  • "Reforming the IRB in Experimental Fashion," The Regulatory Review __ (2019). www
  • "The American Law Institute's Restatement of Consumer Contracts: Reporters' Introduction," 15 European Review of Contract Law 91 (2019) (with Oren Bar-Gill & Florencia Marotta-Wurgler).
  • "Personalizing Mandatory Rules in Contract Law," 86 University of Chicago Law Review 255 (2019) (with Ariel Porat). ssrn cu www
  • "Personalizing Mandatory Rules in Contract Law," 86 University of Chicago Law Review 255 (2019). cu
  • "The American Law Institute's Restatement of Consumer Contracts: Reporters' Introduction," 15 European Review of Contract Law 91 (2019). www
  • "Data Pollution," 11 Journal of Legal Analysis 104 (2019). www
  • "The Restoration Remedy in Private Law," 119 Columbia Law Review 1901 (2018) (with Ariel Porat). ssrn cu
  • "Interpreting Contracts via Surveys and Experiments," 92 New York University Law Review 1753 (2017) (with Lior J. Strahilevitz). ssrn cu
  • "Searching for the Common Law: The Quantitative Approach of the Restatement of Consumer Contracts," 84 University of Chicago Law Review 7 (2017) (with Oren Bar-Gill & Florencia Marotta-Wurgler). cu
  • "Searching for the Common Law: The Quantitative Approach of Restatement of Consumer Contracts," 84 University of Chicago Law Review 7 (2017).
  • "The Paradox of Access Justice, and Its Application to Mandatory Arbitration," 83 University of Chicago Law Review 1755 (2016). cu
  • "Simplification of Privacy Disclosures: An Experimental Test," 45 Journal of Legal Studies S41 (2016) (with Adam Chilton). ssrn cu
  • "Optimal Defaults in Consumer Markets," 45 Journal of Legal Studies S137 (2016) (with Oren Bar-Gill). cu
  • "Personalizing Negligence Law," 91 New York University Law Review 627 (2016) (with Ariel Porat). cu
  • "Contracting over Privacy: Introduction," 45 Journal of Legal Studies S1 (2016) (with Lior J. Strahilevitz). ssrn cu
  • "The Perverse Effects of Subsidized Weather Insurance," 68 Stanford Law Review 571 (2016) (with Kyle D. Logue). cu
  • "The Unintended Effects of Government-Subsidized Weather Insurance," 38 Regulation 24 (2015) (with Kyle D. Logue). cu www
  • "Preface to Symposium on Law and Economics of Consumer Protection," 14 Law and Social Sciences 1 (2015) (with Ruoying Chen). cu
  • "Regulation of Food Safety by Insurance," 14 Law and Social Sciences 47 (2015). cu
  • "Coping with the Failure of Mandated Disclosure," 11 Jerusalem Review of Legal Studies 83 (2015) (with Carl E. Schneider). cu
  • "Introduction: Rational Choice Approach to Judicial Behavior," 44 Journal of Legal Studies S1 (2015) (with Thomas J. Miles). cu www
  • "Exit from Contract," 6 Journal of Legal Analysis 151 (2014) (with Oren Bar-Gill). cu www
  • "The Futility of Cost Benefit Analysis in Financial Disclosure Regulation," 43 Journal of Legal Studies S253 (2014) (with Carl E. Schneider). cu
  • "Regulation Through Boilerplate: An Apologia (reviewing Margaret Jane Radin, Boilerplate: The Fine Print, Vanishing Rights, and the Rule of Law (2013))," 112 Michigan Law Review 883 (2014). ssrn cu
  • "Tribute to Thomas J. Miles," 43 Journal of Legal Studies 207 (2014). cu
  • "Contract versus Property Damages," 12 Academia Sinica Law Journal 1 (2013). cu
  • "Introduction: A Law and Economics Approach to European Contract Law," 50 Common Market Law Review 3 (2013). cu
  • "Regulatory Techniques in Consumer Protection: A Critique of European Consumer Contract Law," 50 Common Market Law Review 109 (2013) (with Oren Bar-Gill). ssrn cu
  • "Reversible Rewards," 15 American Law and Economics Review 156 (2013) (with Anu Bradford). cu
  • "Outsourcing Regulation: How Insurance Reduces Moral Hazard," 111 Michigan Law Review 197 (2012) (with Kyle D. Logue). ssrn cu
  • "Protección al Consumidor sin el Derecho," 10 Revista de Economía y Derecho 7 (2012). cu
  • "Efficient Enforcement in International Law," 12 Chicago Journal of International Law 375 (2012) (with Anu Bradford). cu
  • "The Right to Withdraw in Contract Law," 40 Journal of Legal Studies 115 (2011) (with Eric A. Posner). cu
  • "Licensing of Intellectual Property," 78 University of Chicago Law Review 1 (2011) (with Richard A. Epstein & Jonathan S. Masur). cu
  • "The Failure of Mandated Discourse," 159 University of Pennsylvania Law Review 647 (2011) (with Carl E. Schneider). cu
  • "The Failure of Mandated Disclosure," 159 University of Pennsylvania Law Review 647-749 (2011). www
  • "Damages for Unlicensed Use," 78 University of Chicago Law Review 7 (2011). cu
  • "Fixing Unfair Contracts," 63 Stanford Law Review 869 (2011). ssrn cu
  • "Pre-Closing Liability," 77 University of Chicago Law Review 977 (2010). ssrn cu
  • "One-Way Contracts: Consumer Protection Without Law," 6 European Review of Contract Law 221 (2010). cu
  • "Fault in American Contract Law," 107 Michigan Law Review 1341 (2009) (with Ariel Porat). cu
  • "The Myth of 'Opportunity to Read' in Contract Law," 5 European Review of Contract Law 1 (2009). cu
  • "The Prisoners' (Plea Bargain) Dilemma," 1 Journal of Legal Analysis [i] (2009) (with Oren Bar-Gill). cu
  • "A Bargaining Power Theory of Default Rules," 109 Columbia Law Review 396 (2009). cu
  • "Foreword: Fault in Contract Law," 107 Michigan Law Review 1341 (2009) (with Ariel Porat). cu
  • "How Bad are Mandatory Arbitration Terms?," 41 University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform 777 (2008). cu
  • "Partially Odious Debts?," 70 Law and Contemporary Problems 47 (2007) (with G. M. Gulati). ssrn cu
  • "Against Irreparable Benefits," 116 The Yale Law Journal Pocket Part 381 (2007). cu
  • "Foreword to Boilerplate: Foundations of Market Contracts Symposium," 104 Michigan Law Review 821 (2006). cu
  • "On the Stickiness of Default Rules," 33 Florida State University Law Review 651 (2006) (with John A. Pottow). ssrn cu
  • "Boilerplate and Economic Power in Auto Manufacturing Contracts," 104 Michigan Law Review 953 (2006) (with James J. White). cu
  • "More Options, Less Freedom (reviewing Ian Ayres, Optional Law: The Structure of Legal Entitlements (2005))," 44 Journal of Economic Literature 444 (2006). cu
  • "The Legal Value of Chance: Distorted Measures of Recovery in Private Law," 7 American Law and Economics Review 484 (2005) (with Robert A. Mikos). ssrn cu
  • "An Ex-Ante View of the Battle of the Forms: Inducing Parties to Draft Reasonable Terms," 25 International Review of Law and Economics 350 (2005). cu
  • "Legal Durability," 1 Review of Law and Economics 15 (2005). cu www
  • "Credible Coercion," 83 Texas Law Review 717 (2005) (with Oren Bar-Gill). cu
  • "'Agreeing to Disagree': Filling Gaps in Deliberately Incomplete Contracts," 2004 Wisconsin Law Review 389 (2004). cu
  • "Foreword to Freedom from Contract Symposium," 2004 Wisconsin Law Review 261 (2004). cu
  • "Contracts without Consent: Exploring a New Basis for Contractual Liability," 152 University of Pennsylvania Law Review 1829 (2004). cu
  • "The Law of Duress and the Economics of Credible Threats," 33 Journal of Legal Studies 391 (2004) (with Oren Bar-Gill). cu
  • "The Uneasy Case for Comparative Negligence," 5 American Law and Economics Review 433 (2003) (with Oren Bar-Gill). ssrn cu
  • "Threatening an Irrational Breach of Contract," 11 Supreme Court Economic Review 143 (2003) (with Oren Bar-Gill). cu
  • "Precontractual Reliance," 30 Journal of Legal Studies 423 (2001) (with Lucian A. Bebchuk). ssrn cu
  • "The Secrecy Interest in Contract Law," 109 Yale Law Journal 1885 (2000) (with Lisa Bernstein). ssrn cu
  • "The Tentative Case Against Flexibility in Commercial Law," 66 University of Chicago Law Review 781 (1999). ssrn cu
  • "The Erosion of Rights by Past Breach," 1 American Law and Economics Review 190 (1999). ssrn cu
  • "Should Products Liability Be Based on Hindsight?," 14 Journal of Law, Economics and Organization 325 (1998). ssrn cu
  • "The Regulation of the Licensing of Professional Occupations," 1998 Economic Quarterly 18 (1998) (also published in Hebrew, 1998). cu
  • "Playing Without a Rulebook: Optimal Sanctions When Individuals Learn the Penalty Only by Committing the Crime," 17 International Review of Law and Economics 409 (1997). cu
  • "The Economics of the Law of Criminal Attempts: A Victim-Centered Perspective," 145 University of Pennsylvania Law Review 299 (1996) (with Alon Harel). ssrn cu
  • "Blaming the Victim: Optimal Incentives for Private Precautions against Crime," 11 Journal of Law, Economics and Organization 434 (1995) (with Alon Harel). cu
  • "Blaming the Victims: Optimal Incentives for Private Precautions Against Crime," 11 Journal of Law, Economics and Organization 434 (1995) (with Alon Harel). cu
  • "Informed Courts, Uninformed Individual and the Economics of Judicial Hindsight," 151 Journal of Institutional and Theoretical Economics 613 (1995). cu

Book Sections

  • "Personalizing Negligence Law," in Algorithmic Regulation and Personalized Law: A Handbook, Christoph Busch & Alberto De Franceschi eds. (C.H.Beck/Nomos/Hart Publishing, 2021) (with Ariel Porat).
  • "Foreword," in Le Big Data Et Le Droit, Florence G'sell ed. (Dalloz, 2020).
  • "L’interprétation des contrats grâce aux sondages et aux expérimentations," in Le Big Data Et Le Droit, Florence G'sell ed. (Dalloz, 2020) (with Lior J. Strahilevitz).
  • "Searching for the Common Law: The Quantitative Approach of Restatement of Consumer Contracts," in Consumer Law, Thomas Wilhelmsson & Geraint Howells eds. (Edward Elgar, 2019) (with Oren Bar-Gill & Florencia Marotta-Wurgler).
  • "The Failure of Mandated Disclosure," in Consumer Law, Thomas Wilhelmsson & Geraint Howells eds. (Edward Elgar, 2019) (with Carl E. Schneider).
  • "The Invention of Simplicity," in Ronald H. Coase (University of Chicago Law School, 2014). cu
  • "An Information Theory of Willful Breach," in Fault in American Contract Law, Omri Ben-Shahar & Ariel Porat eds. (Cambridge University Press, 2010). cu
  • "Threatening an Irrational Breach of Contract," in The Law and Economics of Irrational Behavior, Francesco Parisi & Vernon L. Smith eds. (Stanford University Press, 2004). cu
  • "Causation and Foreseeability," in II Encyclopedia of Law and Economics., Boudewijn Bouckaert & Gerrit De Geest eds. 2000). cu
  • "Criminal Attempts," in 1 The New Palgrave Dictionary of Economics and the Law.1998). cu
  • "The Economics of the Law of Criminal Attempts: A Victim-Centered Perspective," in Criminal Law: Cases and Materials, John Kaplan, Robert Weisberg & Guyora Binder eds. (Little Brown and Co., 1996) (with Alon Harel). cu

Other Publications

  • "Towards the End of Normative Interpretation of Contracts (review of David A. Hoffman and Yonathan A. Arbel, Generative Interpretation)," JOTWELL, November 2, 2023. www
  • "Personalized Law and Social Media," Verfassungsblog: On Matters Constitutional, May 17, 2023. www
  • "Bang For The Buck: How To Compensate Without Money (review of Sadie Blanchard's Nominal Damages As Vindication)," JOTWELL, October 27, 2022. www
  • "What is Personalized Law?," Oxford Business Law Blog, June 27, 2022. www
  • "How to Evaluate Personalized Law," University of Chicago Law Review Online, March 9, 2022 (with Ariel Porat). www
  • "Tailored Standard Form Contracts and Inequality," JOTWELL, November 2, 2021. www
  • "Who Should Be Liable When Uber Cars Crash?," JOTWELL, June 1, 2020. www
  • The Elusive Pursuit of Comprehensibility, The Regulatory Review. April 6, 2020 www
  • "Fine Print Subservience," JOTWELL, July 30, 2019. www
  • "Data Driven Contract Interpretation: Discovering "Plain Meaning" Through Quantitative Methods," JOTWELL, June 13, 2018. www
  • "Google Is Polishing The Most Important Consumer Contract Ever," Forbes, May 16, 2018. www
  • "How to Interpret a Contract? Ask Those Who’d Sign It," Law360, March 21, 2018 (with Lior J. Strahilevitz, Duo Jiang, Kristina Shampanier & Rebecca K. Fair). www
  • "How Chicago can Lure Amazon: Ban Employment Noncompete Agreements," Chicago Tribune, September 12, 2017. www
  • "More Failed Nudges: Evidence of Ineffective "Behaviorally Informed" Disclosures," JOTWELL, August 10, 2017. www
  • "David Dao Versus United: What Does The Airline Contract Say?," Forbes, April 4, 2017 (with Lior J. Strahilevitz). www
  • "Vermont's GMO Labeling Law Violates The First Amendment," Forbes, June 1, 2016. www
  • "CFPB Gets Ready To Prohibit Arbitration Agreements-And It Wouldn't Help Consumers," Forbes, May 5, 2016. www
  • "Add-On Airline Fees Actually Make Flying Cheaper," Forbes, May 3, 2016. www
  • "The Surprising Failure Of Food Labeling," Forbes, April 18, 2016. www
  • "Our Interdisciplinary Legacy: The University Of Chicago At 125," University of Chicago Law School Record, April 2016 (with Martha C. Nussbaum & Alison L. LaCroix ).
  • "Privacy Is The New Money, Thanks To Big Data," Forbes, April 1, 2016. www
  • "Apple's Crocodile Tears," Huffington Post, February 26, 2016. www
  • "Veto the Privacy Bill," Chicago Tribune, August 19, 2015. www
  • "Love Your Frequent-Flier Program? Let It Go," Bloomberg View, June 13, 2014 (with Oren Bar-Gill). www
  • "How Insurance Substitutes for Regulation," Regulation, March Spring 2013 (with Kyle D. Logue). cu www
  • "The Prisoners' (Plea Bargain) Dilemma," Regulation, Spring 2010 (with Oren Bar-Gill). ssrn www
  • "Consumer Protection without Law Consumer Protection," Regulation, 2010. ssrn www
  • "The (Legal) Pains of Vioxx," Economists' Voice, 2006. www

Additional Activities

Events

  • Organizer, Personalized Law, University of Chicago Law Review (with Tony Casey, Ariel Porat, and Lior Strahilevitz), 2018
  • Organizer, Contracting Over Privacy, Journal of Legal Studies (with Lior Strahilevitz), 2015
  • Organizer, Consumer Protection in China: A Law and Economics Approach, Law and Social Science Review (in Chinese), 2014
  • Organizer, Summer Schools in Law and Economics, Coase-Sandor Institute, 2012-2019
  • Organizer, European Contract Law: a Law-and-Economics Perspective, Common Market Law Review, 2012
  • Co-Organizer, Regulatory Techniques in Consumer Protection Law, American Law Institute (with Oren Bar-Gill), 2012
  • Co-Organizer, Licensing of Intellectual Property, University of Chicago Law Review (with Richard Epstein and Jonathan Masur), 2010
  • Co-Organizer, Fault in Contract Law, Michigan Law Review and Cambridge University Press (with Ariel Porat), 2008
  • Organizer, How Bad Are Mandatory Arbitration Terms in Contract? AALS Annual Meeting, Michigan Journal of Law Reform, 2007
  • Organizer, Boilerplate: Foundations of Market Contracts, Michigan Law Review and Cambridge University Press, 2005
  • Organizer, Freedom From Contract, Wisconsin Law Review (with Stuart Macaulay and William Whitford), 2004
  • Organizer, The Economics of Contract Law (Tel-Aviv), 1998

Other Activities

  • Reporter, Restatement of the Law (Third), Consumer Contract (2012-2022)
  • Columnist, Forbes.com (2016-2018)
  • Editor, Journal of Legal Studies (2008-2016)
  • Chair, Section on Contracts, Association of American Law Schools (2007-2008)
  • Founding Director, Olin Center for Law and Economics, University of Michigan (1999-2008)
  • Chair, Section on Law and Economics, Association of American Law Schools (2002-2003)
  • Founding President, Israeli Law and Economics Association (2001-2002)
  • Judicial Panel Member, Israeli Antitrust Court (1997-1999)