Encyclopedia of Law and Economics
This Encyclopedia offers a concise introduction to law and economics, a thriving and continuously evolving field. While other valuable resources already provide numerous essays on specific topics, this encyclopedia is original, differing from—and complementing—existing encyclopedias and companions in four respects. First, to cover as many aspects and dimensions of law and economics as possible, it includes a large number of relatively short chapters. Second, many of these chapters explore the boundaries between law and economics and related fields such as public choice, institutional economics, transaction cost economics, and industrial economics. Third, the encyclopedia allocates space for historical and methodological chapters focusing on the founders of the field and on important scholars who, directly or indirectly, contributed to shaping law and economics as it is today. This new edition aims to expand these distinctive features. Its goal is to cover even more areas within law and economics—particularly by addressing issues raised by big data and new technologies—to deepen the interdisciplinary dimension of the field and to include additional historical and methodological chapters. The second edition includes 150 additional entries compared to the first edition, with most of the existing chapters updated. This results in a broader and more up-to-date coverage of law and economics.
Alain Alain Marciano is full professor of economics at the University of Torino, Visiting Professor at the University of Johannesburg, (Karl Mittermaier Centre for Philosophy of Economics) and Distinguished Affiliated Fellow at F. A. Hayek Program for Advanced Study in Philosophy, Politics, and Economics (Mercatus Center). His research focuses on law and economics and the history of political economy. His work has been published in leading journals, including History of Political Economy, Journal of Economic Literature, Journal of Economic Perspectives, Journal of the History of Economic Thought, European Journal of the History of Economic Thought, Kyklos, Public Choice, Review of Austrian Economics, International Review of Law and Economics, Journal of Institutional Economics, and Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization. His latest book is James Buchanan and Peaceful Cooperation: From Public Finance to a Theory of Collective Action (Cambridge University Press, 2024). He is Co-Editor-in-Chief of the European Journal of Law and Economics, and series Editor of Palgrave Studies in Institutions, Economics and Law (Palgrave Macmillan).
Giovanni Battista Ramello is a Full Professor of Economics at the University of Torino and currently serves as President of the Italian Society for Law and Economics (SIDE). He also chairs the IEL International PhD Program in Comparative Analysis of Institutions, Economics and Law.
His teaching focuses on industrial economics and law and economics, while his research spans a range of topics including industrial organization, antitrust and regulation, intellectual property rights, market structure, and the economic analysis of litigation and judicial systems.
Professor Ramello has published in several leading international journals, a number of books and has served as an advisor to ministries and international institutions across the globe.
He is Co-Editor-in-Chief of the European Journal of Law and Economics, Editor of the European Journal of Comparative Economics. In addition, he is Series Editor of Palgrave Studies in Institutions, Economics and Law (Palgrave Macmillan).
