“Law and Economics” is only apparently a well-defined field of research. According to the JEL classification, “Law and Economics” research covers a number of topics like the economic analysis of contract law, property law and torts, criminal law, competition law and corporate governance. However law and economics researchers would also include in the list the theory of the firm, the theories of institutions and regulation, the evolution of norms and behavior and so on. One possible way to overcome discussion on what law and economics is or should be is to isolate a specific method of investigation. Finding a unique method of research in law and economics is however a titanic task.

The workshop will thus distinguish several approaches to law and economics outlining the main feature of each: (i) Chicago Law and Economics; (ii) New Institutionalism and Transaction Costs Economics; (iii) Public Choice Theory; (iv) Critical Legal Studies; (v) Institutionalism; (vi) Behavioral Law and Economics; (vii) Economics of Institutional Complementarities.

The resulting picture will outline the complexity surrounding current methods and approaches to law and economics and will stress the need to go beyond the Chicago tradition in order to assess the full range of interdependencies between legal rules, economic behaviors and institutional change.