The Law of The Market

23 Pages Posted: 30 Jan 2020

See all articles by Hanoch Dagan

Hanoch Dagan

University of California, Berkeley - School of Law; Berkeley Law School

Avihay Dorfman

Tel Aviv University - Buchmann Faculty of Law

Roy Kreitner

Tel Aviv University - Buchmann Faculty of Law

Daniel Markovits

Yale Law School

Date Written: January 9, 2020

Abstract

Much contemporary discussion of “the market” assumes that markets have a true nature or immanent logic. In fact, however, markets arise and operate through law, so that no particular market structure is inevitable and every market order is the result of a complex set of legal and political choices. This introductory Essay organizes the Articles that comprise this Issue of Law and Contemporary Problems, in the light of the legal construction of markets and offers an intellectual roadmap for a legally informed study of the market. Drawing on the insight that markets are plural and open to variable design, we reflect on both the options and constraints faced by law’s architects. We discuss certain risks in market design, including the familiar dangers of unjust distribution and excessive commodification, and the less familiar danger that markets might prove self-undermining. In order to understand the risks and rewards of market orderings and to take on the responsibility of market design, we close by identifying three ideal-typical visions of markets – as efficient, democratic, and liberal – and summarizing the values that these ideal-types deploy to addresses these challenges.

Suggested Citation

Dagan, Hanoch and Dorfman, Avihay and Kreitner, Roy and Markovits, Daniel, The Law of The Market (January 9, 2020). Law and Contemporary Problems, Forthcoming, Yale Law School, Public Law Research Paper Forthcoming, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3516796

Hanoch Dagan (Contact Author)

University of California, Berkeley - School of Law ( email )

215 Law Building
Berkeley, CA 94720-7200
United States

Berkeley Law School ( email )

890 simon hall
215 Bancroft way
berkeley, CA 94720
United States

Avihay Dorfman

Tel Aviv University - Buchmann Faculty of Law ( email )

Ramat Aviv
Tel Aviv, 69978
Israel

Roy Kreitner

Tel Aviv University - Buchmann Faculty of Law ( email )

Ramat Aviv
Tel Aviv, 69978
Israel
+972 3 6406505 (Phone)
+972 3 6409576 (Fax)

Daniel Markovits

Yale Law School ( email )

P.O. Box 208215
New Haven, CT 06520-8215
United States

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