American Law and Economics Association

The American Law and Economics Association (ALEA) was formed in 1991. Its purposes are to encourage research and scholarship in law and economics, to conduct conferences for the presentation and discussion of papers on law and economics, and to publish and distribute these and related papers. At the initial ALEA meeting at the University of Illinois, approximately two hundred attendees feted four important contributors to the growth of law and economics—Guido Calabresi, Ronald Coase, Richard Posner, and Henry Manne. The four honorees, and (at a later date) Nobel Prize winner Gary Becker, were given lifetime memberships in the Association.

Since its inception, the ALEA has welcomed as members any individuals, regardless of their substantive field of expertise or geographic location. The primary function of the Association ...