Encyclopedia of Law and Economics (eBook)

Law and Economics deals with the economic analysis of legal relations, legal provisions, laws and regulations and is a research field which has a long tradition in economics. It was lost after the expulsion of some of the leading economists from Germany during 1933 to 1938, but then revived in Chicago.  Both the subject of Law of Economics and the need for a concise Encyclopedia is particularly relevant in Europe today.  Currently in the European Union there are several different legal cultures: the Anglo-Saxon legal framework, the German legal framework, which for example also includes Greece, and the Roman legal family-three jurisdictions which have to be covered with one and the same theory. In the EU, the task of the European Commission to interact with the various European jurisdictions means different legal cultures collaborating and some degree of harmonization is necessary. The result is an immediate need, if only for the science, to show how a given problem is solved in each legal tradition and jurisdiction. This Encyclopedia provides both a common language and precise definitions in the field, which will be useful in the future to avoid misunderstandings during harmonization of EU Law

Jürgen G. Backhaus (*1950), JSD 1976, PhD (Econ) 1985, holds the Krupp Chair in Public Finance and Fiscal Sociology at Erfurt University since November 2000. Between 1986 and 2000, he has held the chair in Public Economics at Maastricht University. In 2006 he received the Cross of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany (Knight's Cross), in September 2004 he was awarded an honorary doctorate by the University of Thessaly (Greece). In 1994 he founded (with Frank H. Stephen) the European Journal of Law and Economics, which he co-edits with Alain Marciano and Giovanni Ramello' . He has published 60 books and monographs, about 200 articles in refereed journals and book chapters, 28 scholarly notes and 63 reviews. His research interests span economics, but also neighboring disciplines such as law, fiscal sociology and environmental sciences.

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Law and Economics deals with the economic analysis of legal relations, legal provisions, laws and regulations and is a research field which has a long tradition in economics. It was lost after the expulsion of some of the leading economists from Germany during 1933 to 1938, but then revived in Chicago.  Both the subject of Law of Economics and the need for a concise Encyclopedia is particularly relevant in Europe today.  Currently in the European Union there are several different legal cultures: the Anglo-Saxon legal framework, the German legal framework, which for example also includes Greece, and the Roman legal family-three jurisdictions which have to be covered with one and the same theory. In the EU, the task of the European Commission to interact with the various European jurisdictions means different legal cultures collaborating and some degree of harmonization is necessary. The result is an immediate need, if only for the science, to show how a given problem is solvedin each legal tradition and jurisdiction. This Encyclopedia provides both a common language and precise definitions in the field, which will be useful in the future to avoid misunderstandings during harmonization of EU Law.