The Law and Economics approach to law dominates the intellectual discussion of nearly every doctrinal area of law in the US and its influence is growing steadily outside America as well. 2013 marked the fortieth anniversary of the publication of Richard Posner's Economic Analysis of Law, the book that launched the Law and Economics movement. The eighth edition of the book was published in 2011, this time competing against over twenty textbooks, collections and casebooks on law and economics. Although there (...) has been phenomenal growth in this area questions remain. Why has Law and Economics movement become so successful? What is the current status of the Chicago School? What are the alternative theories and how much influence do they exert? What can be considered mainstream today? What are the norms and values underlying this impressive body of research? These issues, amongst others, are thoroughly explored by the contributors. (shrink)

This is an expanded second edition of Nicholas Mercuro and Steven Medema's influential book Economics and the Law, whose publication in 1998 marked the most comprehensive overview of the various schools of thought in the burgeoning field of Law and Economics. Each of these competing yet complementary traditions has both redefined the study of law and exposed the key economic implications of the legal environment. The book remains true to the scope and aims of the first edition, but also takes (...) account of the field's evolution. At the book's core is an expanded discussion of the Chicago school, Public Choice Theory, Institutional Law and Economics, and New Institutional Economics. A new chapter explores the Law and Economics literature on social norms, today an integral part of each of the schools of thought. The chapter on the New Haven and Modern Civic Republican approaches has likewise been expanded. These chapters are complemented by a discussion of the Austrian school of Law and Economics. Each chapter now includes an "At Work" section presenting applications of that particular school of thought. By providing readers with a concise, noncritical description of the broad contours of each school, this book illuminates the fundamental insights of a field with important implications not only for economics and the law, but also for political science, philosophy, public administration, and sociology. (shrink)

The chapter sets forth a conceptual model of a comparative institutional approach to law and economics that can help make the meaningful alternatives known to society. The driving force behind such an approach is the need to come to grips with the interrelations between legal and economic processes. Consistent with the thrust of old and new institutional economics, institutional structure cannot merely be assumed away or taken as given; rather, institutions must be the subject of study involving a comparison of (...) the effects of institutional alternatives on our environment, natural resources, and use of land. The chapter includes a discussion of the i) constitutional, ii) institutional, and iii) economic-impact stages of choice, focusing on four different means of social control that serve to allocate society’s scarce resources, namely the market sector, the public sector, the communal sector, and the openaccess resource sector. Environmental, natural resource, and land-use examples are included in the analysis of each stage of choice in exploring the consequences of fashioning remedies within the market sector, the public sector, the communal sector, or leaving resources in the open-access resource sector. It presents a perspective that avoids the rhetorical policy stance of “government versus the market” by showing that economic performance is driven by i) law, ii) technology and iii) social norms. In this, the state stands as an essential complement to the market sector, the public sector, and the communal sector and not a substitute for them; each exists through the active role of government not by government forbearance.Ce chapitre présente un modèle conceptuel d’une approche institutionnelle comparative en analyse économique du droit, aidant à faire connaître d’autres alternatives à la société. Cette approche permettra d’approfondir, les interrelations entre les processus économiques et juridiques. Selon les principes de l’ancienne et de la nouvelle économie institutionnelle, la structure des institutions ne peut pas être supposée donnée ou absente de l’analyse. Plutôt, les institutions doivent être l’objet d’étude, et l’on doit s’attacher à comparer les effets des différentes alternatives sur l’environnement, les ressources naturelles et l’utilisation de la terre. Ce chapitre contient une discussion des étapes de choix constitutionnels, institutionnels et des impacts économiques. Il se concentre sur quatre moyens différents de contrôle social, qui servent à allouer des ressources rares de la société, notamment le marché, le secteur public, le secteur de communautés, le secteur des ressources d’accès libre. Les exemples environnementaux, ceux des ressources naturelles, et de l’utilisation des terres sont considérés dans l’analyse de chacune des étapes de choix, en analysant les conséquences de la confection de remèdes au sein respectivement, du secteur de marché, du secteur public, du secteur des communautés, ou lorsque l’on laisse libre les ressources du secteur d’accès libre. Il fournit une perspective qui évite les positions rhétoriques de politiques “Etat versus marché” en montrant que la performance économique est liée au droit, à la technologie et aux normes sociales. Dans cette perspective, l’Etat est considéré comme un complément essentiel du marché, du secteur public, du secteur communal et non comme un substitut; chacun de ces secteurs existe à travers le rôle actif de l’Etat. (shrink)