About

Law & Economics

“Law & Economics” is the economic analysis of the law. As Kaplow and Shavell state: «Economic analysis of law seeks to answer two basic questions about legal rules. Namely, what are the effects of legal rules on the behaviour of relevant actors? And are these effects of legal rules socially desirable?».

The interface between law and economics, entrenched since the ’70s in the U.S. scientific and professional culture, stands nowadays as the new frontier of social sciences in Europe. Economic models do not really interpret or predict human actions; yet, they retain intuitive appeal because they display a “scientific” version of normal psychology. In a sense, the “discovery” that the law appears to be driven by an underlying economic logic may appear all too obvious. Given that the vocation of law is to provide general rules to govern human behavior, it is no surprise that law and economics was such a fruitful match; the only real question is why it took so long for the two to find each other.

LUISS “Guido Carli” has been over time in the forefront of the offer of interdisciplinary approaches, as witnessed by the comprehensive training programme in Law and Economics for Ph.D. students, operative since the end of the last millennium. This endeavor aims to further implement the wariness about the necessity to understand law through the lens of economics, and to realize that “legal rules do matter”, even from a strictly economic perspective. The ultimate goal is create a multi-faceted competence, for which there exists a growing demand in both the professional market and the academic environment.

 

Law & Economics LAB

Created in 2003, Law & Economics LAB (L&E LAB) promotes the research and teaching of law and economics, stimulating the debate on the prospective application of such interdisciplinary approach to a wide number of topics, ranging from competition policy to intellectual property protection, from the economic analysis of civil law to the regulation of high-tech markets. L&E LAB is not entirely a brand-new entity: our research staff includes lawyers and economists with significant experience both from an academic and a professional standpoint.

L&E LAB offers a unique mix of professional experiences in law and economics, and aims at offering ‘state of the art’ legal and economic analyses addressed to a wide audience of academic scholars, practitioners and policymakers. The main activities at L&E LAB are research, teaching and consulting. Our collection of Working Papers shows L&E LAB’s approach to complex and highly debated issues in the fields of law and economics. On our web-site, experts and practitioners will find legal resources and short commentaries aimed at matching their need to remain up to date in their daily work.

Our newsletter offers an update on the most interesting events and publications in the field of law and economics. The direct link with EU and US universities and research centers allow us to offer high-quality research and to constantly update our approach and theoretical background.

The staff welcomes you to L&E LAB. We hope you will find surfing on our web-site stimulating and useful, and we invite you to subscribe to our newsletter. All comments and suggestions are welcome. Enjoy!

Prof. Roberto Pardolesi
L&E LAB Director