Economics and the Law - Softcover

Mercuro, Nicholas; Medema, Steven G.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0691005443 ISBN 13: 9780691005447

Publisher: Princeton University Press, 1998

Synopsis

The last several decades have witnessed the development of diverse approaches to the evolving field of Law and Economics. Each school of thought within Law and Economics has helped both to redefine the study of law and to expose the important economic implications of the legal environment. Here, Nicholas Mercuro and Steven Medema present a valuable, concise overview of the current perspectives and varied traditions that constitute the field. The authors make clear that Law and Economics is not a homogeneous movement by deftly illuminating the several competing and yet complementary traditions, including the Chicago School of Law and Economics, Public Choice Theory, Institutional and Neo-Institutional Law and Economics, the New Haven School, and Modern Civic Republicanism, as well as the challenge to Law and Economics posed by Critical Legal Studies. By providing readers with a noncritical description of the broad contours of each school of thought, Mercuro and Medema convey a strong sense of the important elements of each of these interrelated yet varied traditions.

The authors define Law and Economics broadly to include the application of economic theory (primarily microeconomics and the basic concepts of welfare economics) to the formation, structure, processes, and economic impact of law and legal institutions. Because the law and the economy interact across a variety of fronts, the fundamental insights of this burgeoning field have important implications, not only for economics and the law, but also for those in contiguous disciplines such as political science, public administration, and sociology.

About this title

About the Author

Nicholas Mercuro is University-wide Professor at Michigan State University. He is a coauthor of Law, Economics and Public Policy.
Steven G. Medema, is Professor of Economics at the University of Colorado at Denver and is the author of Ronald H. Coase.

Review

"`You can't tell the players without a scorecard,' or so vendors at a baseball game say, and the Mercuro and Medema book under review provides team scorecards and much more: intellectual histories and outlines of the dominant styles of play by the Chicago School and its New Haven opponents, the public choice school and its civic republican opposition, institutional and neoinstitutional economics, and critical legal studies as a postmodern counterweight to the various economics enterprises."---Paul H. Brietzke, Valparaiso University Law Review

"[This book] provides an excellent introduction to the broad contours of Law and Economics.... It can be especially recommended to readers interested in short but very informative overviews on different aspects of this discipline."---Hans-Bernd Schäfer, Journal of Institutional and Theoretical Economics

"The authors' primary goal, which they achieve admirably, is to provide a concise review of the major scholarly traditions that use economic analysis of the law. . . . [T]he descriptions of each tradition are clear and painstakingly evenhanded. . . . This brief volume provides a sound understanding of each tradition's virtues and weaknesses." (Constitutional Political Economy)

Edition details

• Publisher: Princeton University Press
• Publication date: 1998
• ISBN 10: 0691005443
• ISBN 13: 9780691005447
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 248