The Art of Law & Macroeconomics

Bruno Meyerhof Salama, Fundação Getúlio Vargas School of Law

Abstract

Effective macroeconomic intervention requires not only an understanding of the individuals, but of the structure of their interactions as well. In a constitutional democracy, this structure is largely established by the law. Accordingly, it is possible for legal scholars to contribute to macroeconomic policy based on their understanding of the internal rationality and structure of the legal system. They can do that most presciently by offering legal precepts – directions to policymakers – that are based on the premise that macroeconomic policies are part of a system of legal rules, principles and institutions. In so doing, legal scholarship will not be contributing to the science, but instead to the art economics. John Neville Keynes explained this fact most clearly when he distinguished the art of economics from science or ethics.