Law, Economics, and Inefficient Norms

The Economics of Inefficient Technology Use

The adoption and diffusion of technological knowledge is generally regarded as a key element in a country’s economic success. However, as is the case with most types of information, the transfer of technological knowledge is likely to be subject to adverse selection problems. In this paper we examine whether asymmetric information regarding who knows how to run a new technology efficiently can ...

A Law and Economics Approach to Norms in Transnational Commercial Transactions: Incorporation and Internalisation

In today’s global economy, a noticeable trend is that the traditional state-law-centred legal framework is increasingly challenged by self-regulatory private orders. Commercial norms, commercial arbitration and social sanctions at the international level have become important alternatives to national laws, national courts and legal sanctions at the national level. Consisting of transnational co...

Law and Behavioral Economics

Although the impact of economics on the analysis and practice of law is beyond any reasonable doubt, such impact and influence has been decreasing over time. This may be partly due to the fact that many economists seem to have forgotten the practical goals with which the field of law and economics was endowed. But it may also be due to the fact that researchers in behavioral economics found an ...

Expressive Law and Economics

This article develops an economic theory of expressive law. By expressing social values, law can tip a system of social norms into a new equilibrium. This process can create or destroy a social norm without changing individual values. In addition, law can change the individual values of rational people. Internalizing a social norm is a moral commitment that attaches a psychological penalty to a...

Empirical Law and Economics