scholarly journals Comparative institutional law and economics: reclaiming economics for socio-legal research

2019 ◽  
Vol 26 (3) ◽  
pp. 372-393
Author(s):  
Lyubomira Gramcheva

Law and economics is a controversial method of legal research, increasingly popular among some legal scholars but disliked by many others. The author discusses some of the objections raised by lawyers (as well as some economists) and argues that most of these are caused by the employment of the wrong economics on the respective side of the conjoined field. She contrasts neoclassical economics, made extremely popular by the Chicago school and Professor Richard Posner in particular, with New Institutional Economics and argues that the latter can overcome the difficulties presented by the former. While neoclassical economics seems to introduce additional problems to legal scholarship, New Institutional Economics neatly matches law’s own methodological tenets. However, the analysis will remain incomplete unless a third element is added to the mix: comparative law. Thus, the author calls for the development of Comparative Institutional Law and Economics, which provides an improved explanatory methodology.

Author(s):  
Arild Vatn

- Analyzing environmental governance implies foremost to analyze institutional structures and their implications. In doing so, the present paper utilizes insights primarily from the tradition of classical institutional economics. The paper is divided in three. In the first part I describe the main features of the classical position and compare it briefly with that of neoclassical economics and the tradition of new institutional economics. In the second part I clarify what is considered the main aspects of governance as seen from an institutional perspective. In part three I move to the more specific area of environmental governance. The concept of resource regimes is defined. Moreover I analyze how different regimes influence which environmental problems appear and how they can be treated. I discuss how institutions influence the formation and articulation of knowledge and values, how they form and protect interests, how they influence the level of transaction costs and hence the possibilities for coordination, and finally how they form the motivations underlying human choices in concrete contexts. Given that all these variables are shown to be endogenous to the institutional system, the use of comparative analysis in the assessment of various governance options is emphasized.Keywords: classical institutional economics, interdependence, resource regimes, value articulation, interest protection, transaction costs, plural rationalities.JEL classifications: B52; Q50; D02; D70.


2014 ◽  
Vol 10 (4) ◽  
pp. 541-565 ◽  
Author(s):  
CLAUDE MÉNARD ◽  
MARY M. SHIRLEY

Abstract:The trajectory of institutional economics changed in the 1970s when new institutional economics (NIE) began to take shape around some relative vague intuitions which eventually developed into powerful conceptual and analytical tools. The emergence of NIE is a success story by many measures: four Nobel laureates in less than 20 years, increasing penetration of mainstream journals, and significant impacts on major policy debates. This rapid acceptance is remarkable when we consider that it was divided from birth into distinct schools of thought. What will be the future of NIE? Will it be quietly absorbed by mainstream theory, or will it radically transform neoclassical economics into a new paradigm that includes institutions? To address these questions, we follow the sometimes-bumpy road to NIE's current successes and ponder the challenges that lie ahead.


Author(s):  
Ulrich Blum ◽  
Leonard Dudley

SummaryThe rise of the East-German economy in the 1950s and 1960s and its decline in the 1970s and 1980s is difficult to explain by neoclassical economics. However; the observed life cycle may be explained by the inclusion of concepts from old and new institutional economics and from functional economics. Three distinct periods may be identified. During the “blood” period of forced development and autocratic rule, the information system and the system of property rights were roughly compatible with the economic structure. Then, in the “sweat” period, an attempt to overtake the capitalistic societies failed. Finally, in the “tears” period, economic decline could only be disguised by unsustainable inflows of foreign capital. This institutional explanation of the East-German collapse is tested with data for the period 1949-1988 and cannot be rejected.


2014 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 227-244 ◽  
Author(s):  
MARY M. SHIRLEY ◽  
NING WANG ◽  
CLAUDE MÉNARD

AbstractRonald Coase had a profound impact on scholarship worldwide, and not for his ideas alone. Coase's ideas about transaction costs, the nature of the firm, the role of government, and the problem of social cost have been hugely influential. Throughout his long life, he also worked to change the conduct of economics, urging economists to ground their conclusions in careful study of empirical reality rather than theories that work only on the blackboard. Less well known, perhaps, is his work to nurture and shape the emerging fields of law and economics and new institutional economics, or his support to young scholars studying institutional issues around the world. In his final years, he was preoccupied by the rapid transformation of China and the institutional structure of production. This article summarizes Coase's significant intellectual contributions to economics, pointing out along the way some of the traits that made him such a powerful thinker and exceptionally influential scholar.


1983 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 53-60
Author(s):  
Giuseppe Dallera

Abstract This is a survey of the literature on law and economics, taking occasion from the recent publication of a book of readings (The Economic Approach to Law, ed. by P. Burrows and C.G. Veljanovski, Butterworths, London, 1981, pp. 343).A short review is offered of the main streams of thought in this field (welfare economics, common law, institutional economics, new institutional economics, public choice, and so on).Finally, an analysis is also included about the future prospects of this approach, both from a theoretical viewpoint and from the viewpoint of its fitting into the Italian academic system.


2011 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 119-142
Author(s):  
Aleksandra Jovanović ◽  
Aleksandar Stevanović

The research “Transfer and Reception of New Institutional Economics: An Example of Two Universities in Serbia” was conducted in 2005/2006. In order to achieve the goals of the Serbian team of the DIOSCURI project, the main aim of the case study is analysis of the influence of Western institutions in the light of transfer and reception of new institutional economics in two academic institutions in Serbia: The Faculty of Law (The Department of Law and Economics) of the University of Belgrade, and The Faculty of Management of BK University. The title of the case study illustrates the focus of the entire research: analysis of Western influence, namely transfer and reception of new institutional economics, on the two institutions and possible obstacles caused by old-fashioned stakeholders and informal institutions. Bearing in mind that the Department of Law and Economics is the leader in the reception of the new institutional economics (NIE) in Serbia, the case study will be mostly about it. The Faculty of Management was chosen because of its “greenfield” character and the fact that from its very beginning it followed the experiences of North American universities. The research investigates whether and how the transfer and reception of the Western ideas and economic theory, particularly the NIE, is affected by the difference between an institution with a two-hundred-year tradition and a newly established one. The question is how a traditionalist institution like the Faculty of Law communicated Western economic thought and whether endurance in teaching the exclusively Marxian paradigm up until the 1990s, was an obstacle to the reception of Western economic thought, particularly NIE.


2003 ◽  
pp. 34-49
Author(s):  
N. Pakhomova ◽  
K. Richter

The basic concepts and the application potential of the new scientific direction – "law and environmental economics" – are considered in the paper. This area is closely related to the broader scientific discipline "law and economics". The authors study the results reached by the main scientific schools in that area: the Chicago school of law and economics, the school of law reformism and neo-institutional economics, and discuss the possibilities of their use in the ecological sphere. Special attention is paid to the field of social monitoring and control of the implementation of the state ecological policy by the civil society.


2015 ◽  
Vol 33 (5) ◽  
pp. 412-429 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alirat Olayinka Agboola

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine the provisions of both the neoclassical economics and new institutional economics theses and assesses the implications of their methodologies for property market analysis. Design/methodology/approach – This research is based on secondary literature review and desk-based study. Findings – It is argued that new institutional economics, grounded on firmer foundations of human behaviour, offers an analytical approach to the study of the property market which emphasizes the institutionally contingent nature of real estate exchange, thus placing real estate within its socio-economic context. Originality/value – In-depth examination and juxtaposition of the provisions, assumptions, philosophical orientations and limitations of these main traditions of economic thought towards the achievement of a representative study of the workings of the property market.


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