Home | Databases | WorldLII | Search | Feedback Edited Legal Collections Data

Caterina, Raffaele --- "Comparative law and economics*" [2012] ELECD 977; in Smits, M. Jan (ed), "Elgar Encyclopedia of Comparative Law, Second Edition" (Edward Elgar Publishing, 2012) 191

Book Title: Elgar Encyclopedia of Comparative Law, Second Edition

Editor(s): Smits, M. Jan

Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing

ISBN (hard cover): 9781849804158

Section: Chapter 15

Section Title: Comparative law and economics*

Author(s): Caterina, Raffaele

Number of pages: 17

Abstract/Description:

It has been observed that ‘current comparative law on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean is almost completely devoid of economics’ (Michaels, 2009a, p. 793). On the other hand, comparative law is substantially absent from the mainstream law and economics movement. ‘Perhaps early law and economics scholars were not very interested in comparative law, possibly because their aprioristic approach to legal problems – in this respect not unlike that of natural lawyers – had little use for the actual content of, and differences among, existing legal systems’ (Michaels, 2009b, p. 199). This chapter will focus on two of the most significant attempts at crossfertilization between the two fields. The first (which goes under the label of ‘comparative law and economics’) has been developed by legal scholars, and is essentially an attempt to explain legal change through economic analysis. The second (the so-called ‘legal origins’ literature) has been developed by economists, and is an attempt to explain economic outcomes through comparative legal analysis.