Methodological Individualism and the Foundations of the "Law and Economics" movement

Jean-Baptiste Fleury (1) , Alain Marciano (2)

1 HDEA - Histoire et Dynamique des Espaces Anglophones
2 MRE - Montpellier Recherche en Economie

The purpose of this paper is to discuss the methodological foundations of the law and economics movement, with a special emphasis on the role and place of individuals within their framework. Reviewing the works of the main contributors-the founders, indeed-to the law and economics movement, we show that all of them considered that the analysis of legal phenomena had to start from individual behavior, even as these very behaviors were embedded, to various degrees, though not determined, in legal and institutional frameworks. The all use social, systemic, institutional and anti-reductionist individualistic methodology. This is not inconsistent or contradictory. Indeed, methodological individualism does not imply to conceive human beings as (isolated) atoms living as if they were suspended in a social vacuum.

Mots clés: Law and economics; economic analysis of law; methodological individualism

Domaines: Economies et finances

Jean-Baptiste Fleury, Alain Marciano. Methodological Individualism and the Foundations of the "Law and Economics" movement. Palgrave Handbook of Methodological Individualism, inPress. ⟨hal-03820441⟩