Law and Socio-Economics in Legal Education

Abstract

The objective of this Article is to provide an introduction to law and socio-economics ("LSOC") in legal education. LSOC studies the interrelationship between law and economic/social processes. It is interdisciplinary, drawing on a number of disciplines, such as psychology, sociology, anthropology, political science, and economics. It encompasses diverse perspectives, which include a number of schools of economic thought, such as behavioral, neo-institutional, feminist, binary, traditional institutional, and post-Keynesian economics.

This Article discusses aspects of neoclassical economics with which some heterodox approaches (within the LSOC umbrella) disagree. Particular attention is given to traditional institutional economics (hereinafter "institutional economics") which differs on many dimensions from neoclassical economics. Part I of this Article gives an overview of the LSOC approach mainly from an institutional economic perspective and compares this LSOC approach with neoclassical economics in terms of their views of markets and economics as a discipline. Part II is devoted to LSOC and human behavior and provides an overview of the different methodologies and perceptions of human behavior utilized in neoclassical economics and LSOC. Part III gives examples of two LSOC approaches drawing on institutional and feminist economics.

JEL Classification: K00