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Parisi, Francesco; Luppi, Barbara --- "Comparative Law and Economics: Accounting for Social Norms" [2012] ELECD 762; in Clark, S. David (ed), "Comparative Law and Society" (Edward Elgar Publishing, 2012)

Book Title: Comparative Law and Society

Editor(s): Clark, S. David

Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing

ISBN (hard cover): 9781849803618

Section: Chapter 5

Section Title: Comparative Law and Economics: Accounting for Social Norms

Author(s): Parisi, Francesco; Luppi, Barbara

Number of pages: 13

Extract:

5 Comparative law and economics: accounting for
social norms
Francesco Parisi and Barbara Luppi*


1 COMPARATIVE LAW AND ECONOMICS1

Unlike prior methodological trends in comparative law, the methodology of comparative
law and economics is here to stay.2 The findings of comparative law and economics are
increasingly influential among academics and policymakers alike. It is probably the most
successful example of the recent expansion of law and economics into areas that were
once considered beyond the realm of economic analysis. In an historical perspective, law
and economics has affected legal studies beyond its planned ambitions. The introduction
of economics into the study of law has irreversibly transformed traditional legal method-
ology. Contrary to the Langdellian law school tradition, which developed a self-contained
framework of case analysis and classification, law and economics examined legal rules as
a working system. Economics complemented legal analysis, by providing the analytical
rigor necessary for the study of the vast body of legal rules present in a modern legal
system.
As pointed out by Francesco Parisi and Barbara Luppi (2012), comparative law and
economics has also attracted several criticisms and generated academic skepticism. The
critiques point to the many misuses of economic analysis in comparative law. In Section 1
of this chapter, we wish to shed some light on the multi-faceted structure of the compara-
tive law and economics method, providing an assessment of the debate on the merits of
this methodology.

1.1 Theory

Much of the work in comparative law and economics ...