Abstract:Much ink has been spilled on the contrast between the striking success of economic analysis of law in the United States and the more modest influence of law and economics in European legal systems. Sc...Much ink has been spilled on the contrast between the striking success of economic analysis of law in the United States and the more modest influence of law and economics in European legal systems. Scholars have attributed the different reception to law and economics to the distinctive roles of judges in common and civil law systems, path dependence, distinctive philosophical foundations of legal thought, and institutional academic incentives.
In this Essay we note that many of the methodological objections to law and economics in Europe rest upon outdated assumptions on the neoclassical version of law and economics. Advances in economic theory have long updated the abstract,
perfectly rational model of human behavior to include fallibility, emotions and other human traits that lawyers encounter in everyday practice. This Essay invites European legal scholars to revisit the value of law and economics by acquainting
themselves with recent advances in economic science. We believe that these advances will be intuitively appealing also in areas where the rational choice models have traditionally been met with resistance.
This Essay proceeds as follows. In Section II we review some common methodological objections to law and economics in Europe. Section III provides an overview of cognitive and motivational updates of the neoclassical version of law and
economics. In Section IV we offer a few examples of the implications for legal scholarship in light of the advancements in behavioral science, social norms scholarship, experimental economics, and neuro-economics.Read More
Publication Year: 2014
Publication Date: 2014-01-01
Language: en
Type: book-chapter
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