1.3 The primacy of efficiency over distribution in analyzing private law

Economists are experts on 2 fiels:
1. efficiency
2. distribution

A possible way to pursue redistribution is through private law- the law of property, contracts, and torts.

Economists disagree about redistribute ends, but agree on redistributive means.

By avoiding waste, 2 effects:
1. Efficient redistribution benefits everyone relative to inefficient redistribution
2. Efficient distribution buils support for redistribution

Several reasons why reshuffling private legal rights resembles giving the ice cream to a slow runner:
1. Income tax precisely targets inequality, whereas redistribution by private legal rights relies on crude averages.
2. The distributive effects of reshuffling private rights are hard to predict.
3. The transaction costs of redistribution through private legal rights are typically high.
4. Redistribution by private law distorts the economy more than progressive taxation does. In general, relying on broad-based taxes, rather than narrowly focused laws, reduces the distorting effects of redistributive policies.

For these reasons and more, economists who favor redistribution and economists who oppose it ca agree that private legal rights are usually the wrong way to pursue distributive justice.