ABSTRACT

Legal academics study the law extensively, but the great bulk of this research dwells upon the analysis of particular laws or doctrines as judged by standards of justice or individual liberty or simple positive formalism. While such research is unquestionably valuable, law professors have fallen far short when it comes to the study of the effect of law and laws on the economic welfare of nations. The now-flourishing law and economics movement has stepped into this void, but even much of that movement’s research has focused on particularized doctrines and micro-level theoretical analyses of efficiency rather than empirical studies of the structural features that conduce to growth. There remains a relative paucity of academic legal research on the big picture – what particular laws and legal institutions are conducive to the overall economic welfare of society.