ABSTRACT
That researchers and practitioners in constitutional law, journalism, communications, political theory, and philosophy would have abiding interests in First Amendment policy and jurisprudence is to be expected. Economists, however, have not had a great deal to say about the First Amendment. This, might be a bit more surprising than First Amendment scholars and practitioners from traditionally associated disciplines might think. Our intellectual era has fostered the work of Gordon Tullock, Gary Becker, Richard Posner, and the rise of “economics imperialism.” The work of these writers and the scholars following in their wake has led to economic analyses of political institutions, marriage and the family, crime, jurispru-dence, and sex. The relative neglect of First Amendment issues suggests that they are less important than these other areas or less amenable to economic analysis.
