Public Health Law Research

<p><i>Public Health Law Research: Theory and Methods</i> definitively explores the mechanisms, theories and models central to public health law research – a growing field dedicated to measuring and studying law as a central means for advancing public health.</p> <p>Editors Alexander C. Wagenaar and Scott Burris outline integrated theory drawn from numerous disciplines in the social and behavioral sciences; specific mechanisms of legal effect and guidelines for collecting and coding empirical datasets of statutory and case law; optimal research designs for randomized trials and natural experiments for public health law evaluation; and methods for qualitative and cost-benefit studies of law.. They also discuss the challenge of effectively translating the results of scientific evaluations into public health laws and highlight the impact of this growing field.</p> <p>“How exactly the law can best be used as a tool for protecting and enhancing the public’s health has long been the subject of solely opinion and anecdote.  Enter <i>Public Health Law Research</i>, a discipline designed to bring the bright light of science to the relationships between law and health.  This book is a giant step forward in illuminating that subject.” <i>– Stephen Teret, JD, MPH, Professor, Director, Center for Law and the Public’s Health, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health</i></p> <p>“Wagenaar and Burris bring a dose of much needed rigor to the empirical study of which public health law interventions really matter, and which don’t.” <i>– Bernard S. Black, JD, Chabraja Professor, Northwestern University Law School and Kellogg School of Management</i></p> <p>Companion Web site: www.josseybass.com/go/wagenaar</p>