Abstract
In my original article, I observed that Law and Economics is influential in American legal scholarship, but not as much elsewhere and argued that the problems faced by law and economics outside of the United States were neither particular to the field nor to the local context. I offered an interpretation based on the similarities between legal parochialism and trade protectionism. In this updated version of my Article, I discuss recent developments and future trends.
This is a deeply revised version of an original article “The Law and Economics of Parochialism,” University of Illinois Law Review (2011). The usual disclaimers apply.
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Notes
- 1.
Nuno Garoupa & Thomas S. Ulen, The Market for Legal Innovation: Law and Economics in Europe and the United States, 59 ala. l. rev. 1555 (2008).
- 2.
See, e.g., Kenneth G. Dau-Schmidt & Carmen L. Brun, Lost in Translation: The Economic Analysis of Law in the United States and Europe, 44 colum. j. transnat’l l. 602 (2006); Alan J. Devlin, Law and Economics, 46 irish jurist 2 (2011); Oren Gazal-Ayal, Economic Analysis of “Law and Economics”, 35 cap. u. l. rev. 787 (2007); Oren Gazal-Ayal, Economic Analysis of Law in North America, Europe and Israel, 3 rev. l. & econ. 485 (2007); Kristoffel Grechenig and Martin Gelter, The Transatlantic Divergence in Legal Thought: American Law and Economics vs. German Doctrinalism, 31 hastings int’l and comp. l. rev. 295 (2008); Kilian Reber, Once Upon a Time in America: Barriers to the Diffusion of Law and Economics (July 17, 2008) (unpublished manuscript), available at http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1161129.
- 3.
See, e.g., Stephen J. Choi and G. Mitu Gulati, Mr. Justice Posner? Unpacking the Statistics, 61 n.y.u. ann. surv. am. l. 19, 20–21 (2005).
- 4.
Garoupa and Ulen, supra note 1, at 1574.
- 5.
See, e.g., neil duxbury, patterns of american jurisprudence 416–17 (1997); Robert Ellickson, Trends in Legal Scholarship: A Statistical Study, 29 j. legal stud. 517, 524–25 (2000); William M. Landes & Richard A. Posner, The Influence of Economics on Law: A Quantitative Study, 36 j.l. & econ. 385, 385 (1993); Richard A. Posner, Legal Scholarship Today, 115 harv. l. rev. 1314, 1316–17 (2002); Richard A. Posner, The Sociology of the Sociology of Law: A View from Economics, 2 european j. l. & econ. 265, 275 (1995); Thomas S. Ulen, A Crowded House: Socioeconomics (and Other) Additions to the Law School and Law and Economics Curricula, 41 san diego l. rev. 35, 35–37 (2004); Thomas S. Ulen, A Nobel Prize in Legal Science: Theory, Empirical Work, and the Scientific Method in the Study of Law, 2002 u. iii. l. rev. 875, 906–07; Thomas S. Ulen, The Impending Train Wreck in Current Legal Education: How We Might Teach Law as the Scientific Study of Social Governance, 6 university of st thomas law journal 303 (2009).
- 6.
Garoupa & Ulen, supra note 1, at 1573–74.
- 7.
There have been annual meetings of the European Association of Law and Economics since the early 1980s, the Latin American Law and Economics Association (ALACDE) since the mid-1990s, and the Asian Law and Economics Association since 2005.
- 8.
Garoupa & Ulen, supra note 1, at 1575–76.
- 9.
See, e.g., Brian R. Cheffins, The Trajectory of (Corporate Law) Scholarship, 63 cambridge l.j. 456, 461–62 (2004); R. Cooter & J. Gordley, Economic Analysis in Civil Law Countries: Past, Present, and Future, 11 int’l rev. l. & econ. 261, 262 (1991); Dau-Schmidt & Brun, supra note 2, at 617–18; Aristides N. Hatzis, The Anti-Theoretical Nature of Civil Law Contract Scholarship and the Need for an Economic Theory, 2 comments. on l. & econ. 1, 30–31 (2002); Richard A. Posner, Law and Economics in Common-Law, Civil-Law, and Developing Nations, 17 ratio juris 66, 76–77 (2004); Richard A. Posner, The Future of the Law and Economics Movement in Europe, 17 int’l rev. l. & econ. 3, 4–5 (1997); Hans-Bernd Schäfer, What Are the Practical Implications of Law and Economics Research in Germany?, in peter nobel and marina gets eds., new frontiers in law and economics (2006).
- 10.
See, e.g., Christopher McCrudden, Legal Research and the Social Sciences, 122 l.q. rev. 632, 639 (2006); A.I. Ogus, Law and Economics in the United Kingdom: Past, Present, and Future, 22 j.l. soc’y 26, 29–30 (1995).
- 11.
Recent developments include the annual meetings of the German Law and Economics Association (GLEA) since 2003, the Italian Society of Law and Economics (SIDE) since 2005, the Spanish Law and Economics Association (AEDE) since July 2010, and more recently the Polish Association of Law and Economics (PSEAP) since October 2012. Outside of Europe, we should notice the Brazilian Association of Law and Economics (ABDE) with meetings since October 2008. No such associations exist in the United Kingdom or in Ireland.
- 12.
See, e.g., Charles K. Rowley, An Intellectual History of Law and Economics: 1739–2003, in the origins of law & econ.: essays by the founding fathers 3, 11–12 (Francesco Parisi & Charles K. Rowley, eds., 2005).
- 13.
But See Steven G. Medema, Wandering the Road from Pluralism to Posner: The Transformation of Law and Economics, 3 hist. pol. econ. (supplement) 202, 204 (1998); Rowley, supra note 12, at 3–29.
- 14.
Dan-Schmidt & Brun, supra note 2, at 616; Garoupa & Ulen, supra note 1, at 1578–79.
- 15.
See the debate by several scholars in Symposium: Calabresi’s The Costs of Accidents: A Generation of Impact on Law and Scholarship, 64 md. l. rev. 1 (2005), in particular, articles by Adam Benforado & Jon Hanson, The Costs of Dispositionism: The Premature Demise of Situationist Law and Economics, 64 md. l. rev. 31 (2005); Anita Bernstein, Whatever Happened to Law and Economics?, 64 md. l. rev. 303 (2005); and Ugo Mattei, The Rise and Fall of Law and Economics: An Essay for Judge Guido Calabresi, 64 md. l. rev. 220 (2005).
- 16.
See Garoupa & Ulen, supra note 1, at 1579–82.
- 17.
See Catherine Valcke, The French Response to the World Bank’s Doing Business Reports, 60 u. toronto l.j. 197 (2010).
- 18.
See Nuno Garoupa & Carlos Gómez Ligüerre, The Syndrome of the Efficiency of the Common Law, 29 b.u. int’l l. j. 287 (2011).
- 19.
See Cooter & Gordley, supra note 9, at 261–63.
- 20.
Contra Anthony Ogus, Law and Economics in the Legal Academy, or, What I Should Have Said to Discipulus, 60 u. toronto l.j. 169, 170 (2010); Dennis W.K. Khong, On Training Law and Economics Scholarship in the Legal Academia, 1 asian j. l. & econ., No. 2, 2010.
- 21.
Garoupa & Ulen, supra note 1, at 1603–04.
- 22.
Reber, supra note 2, at 12–15.
- 23.
Gazal-Ayal, Economic Analysis of “Law & Economics,” supra note 2, at 787–98.
- 24.
Garoupa & Ulen, supra note 1, at 1627–31.
- 25.
Id. at 1603–04.
- 26.
Id. at 1611–14.
- 27.
Id. at 1632.
- 28.
Marc Galanter & Mark Alan Edwards, Introduction: The Path of the Law Ands, 1997 wis. l. rev. 375, 381.
- 29.
For examples, see generally issues of the Journal of Empirical Legal Studies, as well as Theodore Eisenberg, The Origins, Nature, and Promise of Empirical Legal Studies and a Response to Concerns, 2011 U. lll. l. rev. 1713 (2011).
- 30.
See, e.g., mark kelman, a guide to critical legal studies (1987); roberto mangabeira unger, the critical legal studies movement (1986).
- 31.
See, e.g., judith a. baer, our lives before the law: constructing a feminist jurisprudence (1999); feminist jurisprudence (Patricia Smith ed., 1993); Gillian K. Hadfield, Feminism, Fairness, and Welfare: An Invitation to Feminist Law and Economics, 1 ann. rev. l. & soc. sci. 285 (2005); Ann C. Scales, The Emergence of Feminist Jurisprudence: An Essay, 95 yale l.j. 1373 (1986).
- 32.
See, e.g., richard a. posner, law and literature (1998); law and literature: current legal issues 2 (Michael Freeman & Andrew D.E. Lewis eds., 1999).
- 33.
See generally issues of the Journal of Law and Politics (University of Virginia) and the Texas Review of Law and Politics and more recently Journal of Law and Courts, as well as Keith E. Whittington et al., The Study of Law and Politics, in the oxford handbook of law and politics (Keith E. Whittington et al., eds., 2008).
- 34.
See generally issues of Law and Psychology Review and Psychology, Public Policy and the Law as well as behavioral law and economics (Cass R. Sunstein, ed., 2000) and Christine Jolls, Behavioral Economics and Its Applications, in behavioral law and economics 115 (Peter Diamond & Hannu Vartiainen eds., 2007) (providing an overview of the field).
- 35.
See, e.g., Matthias Mahlmann & John Mikhail, (2005).
- 36.
See, e.g., Owen D. Jones & Timothy H. Goldsmith (2005); Owen D. Jones, (2001).
- 37.
anthony g. amsterdam & jerome bruner, minding the law (2000); john m. conley & william m. o’barr, just words: law, language, and power (2005); between law and culture: relocating legal studies (David Theo Goldberg et al., eds, 2001); .inside and outside the law: anthropological studies of authority and ambiguity (Olivia Harris, ed. 1996.)
- 38.
See generally the Socio-Legal Studies Association and the issues of the Journal of Law and Society and Social & Legal Studies, as well as a. javier trevino, the sociology of law (2007) (summarizing the vast literature on socio-legal studies produced in the United Kingdom and other commonwealth jurisdictions).
- 39.
For examples, see generally the Association Internationale de Droit Économique and the issues of the Revue Internationale de Droit Économique as well as laurence boy et al., droit économique et droits de l’homme (2009) and jean-paul valette, droit public economique (2009) (providing general introductions to the field). Both French methods were deeply influenced by Marxism and Marxist legal scholars.
- 40.
See also reinhold zippelius, introduction to german legal methods (2008) (explaining German law and summarizing methodological developments in German legal scholarship).
- 41.
Many legal scholars of these movements attend the annual meeting of the Law and Society Association yet they seem to develop their legal methods largely independently. See generally issues of the Journal of Law and Society and Law and Society Review, as well as kitty calavita, invitation to law and society: an introduction to the study of real law (2010) (summarizing the American-based law and society scholarship) and mark kelman, supra note 30.
- 42.
David S. Clark, Development of Comparative Law in the United States, in the oxford handbook of comparative law 187 (Mathias Reimann and Reinhard Zimmermann, eds., 2006).
- 43.
For an introduction, see kyle bagwell & robert w. staiger, the economics of the world trading system (2002), and robert c. feenstra, advanced international trade: theory and evidence (2004).
- 44.
See Nuno Garoupa & Anthony Ogus, A Strategic Interpretation of Legal Transplants, 35 j. legal stud. 339 (2006); Anthony Ogus, The Economic Basis of Legal Culture: Networks and Monopolization, 22 oxford j. legal stud. 419 (2002).
- 45.
See feenstra, supra note 43, at 300–337.
- 46.
Id.
- 47.
Id.
- 48.
See Haim Sandberg, Legal Colonialism—Americanization of Legal Education in Israel, 10 global jurist, mar. 2010.
- 49.
For a more general discussion of successful American legal education in Asia, see Gail J. Hupper, The Academic Doctorate in Law: A Vehicle for Legal Transplants?, 58 j. legal. educ. 413 (2008).
- 50.
For example, as mentioned by Garoupa and Ulen, consider the following episode: “[I]n a letter to the President of France, [in December of 2006,] forty well-known French law professors … rejected EU law as law that deserves to be studied and analyzed. Only French law should be taught at French law schools, according to these law professors.” Garoupa & Ulen, supra note 1, at 1626 n.313.
- 51.
See Galit A. Sarfaty, Why Culture Matters in International Institutions: The Marginality of Human Rights at the World Bank, 103 am. j. int’l l. 647 (2009).
- 52.
These rents vary across fields of law. Presumably business law is more profitable than legal history.
- 53.
This effect could be reinforced if the outside market is dominated by legal scholars from the top universities who have no interest in sharing their rents with other legal scholars from lower ranked schools, let alone scholars with foreign methodologies or foreign legal education. In fact, if the outside market is dominated by a small handful of top law professors, politically and socially influent, the ideal conditions for cartel behavior are more likely to be satisfied.
- 54.
Such as the European Journal of Law and Economics, the Asian Journal of Law and Economics and the new Latin American Journal of Law and Economics.
- 55.
Supra note 29.
- 56.
See Emanuel V. Towfigh, Empirical Arguments in Public Law Doctrine: Should Empirical Legal Studies Make a Doctrinal Turn?, 12 int’l j. con. L. 670 (2014).
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Garoupa, N. (2016). Updating the Law and Economics of Legal Parochialism. In: Marciano, A., Ramello, G. (eds) Law and Economics in Europe and the U.S.. The European Heritage in Economics and the Social Sciences, vol 18. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-47471-7_10
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