This seminar offers an introduction to comparative law and economics. The course will survey the two main legal families, civil and common law, from the perspective of law and economics. It looks at recent developments in comparative law and economics, namely the legal origins literature and the relationship between law and development.
By the end of the seminar, you should understand the main differences between the civil law and the common law legal families from an economic perspective. You should also have a sense of where comparative law is going, namely the extent to which there is convergence or divergence across developed economies. Finally, you should be able to identify the impact of the legal origins literature in legal policymaking.
