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Article
The Evolution of Irrationality
Jurimetrics
  • Owen D. Jones
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
1-1-2001
Keywords
  • behavioral law and economics; evolution; evolutionary analysis in law; irrationality; rationality
Abstract

The place of the rational actor model in the analysis of individual and social behavior relevant to law remains unresolved. In recent years, scholars have sought frameworks to explain: a) disjunctions between seemingly rational behavior and seemingly irrational behavior; b) the origins of and influences on law-relevant preferences, and c) the nonrandom development of norms. This Article explains two components of an evolutionary framework that, building from accessible insights of behavioral biology, can encompass all three. The components are: "time-shifted rationality" and "the law of law's leverage."

Citation Information
Owen D. Jones. "The Evolution of Irrationality" Jurimetrics Vol. 41 (2001) p. 289 ISSN: 0897-1277
Available at: http://works.bepress.com/owen-jones/29/