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Article
A Law and Economics Perspective on Legal Families
European Journal of Legal Studies (2014)
  • Nuno Garoupa, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
  • Mariana Pargendler
Abstract
The relationship between comparative law and the field of economics is increasingly important, but controversial. In the legal origins literature, economists have drawn from comparative law scholarship to suggest that common-law systems may be more conducive to financial and economic development than civil-law systems. Yet comparativists have been skeptical of the use of legal families to explain economic outcomes. After reviewing the discussion of legal families in the disciplines of comparative law, on the one hand, and economics, on the other, we conclude that a more nuanced approach is advisable. At the same time, we urge comparativists to engage in this debate more actively.
Keywords
  • legal families,
  • legal origins theory
Disciplines
Publication Date
2014
Citation Information
Nuno Garoupa and Mariana Pargendler. "A Law and Economics Perspective on Legal Families" European Journal of Legal Studies Vol. 7 Iss. 2 (2014) p. 39 - 60
Available at: http://works.bepress.com/nunogaroupa/78/