The application of economics to the study and practice of law began in the early 1930s at the UChicago Law School, and since then it has become a central part of law curriculum as well as transformed the entire body of jurisprudence in the United States. Ben-Shahar said the program is part of the Law School’s effort to transform legal systems around the world, and push the frontiers of knowledge forward.
“In many countries, laws are enacted and are studied using strictly legal methodology, without asking questions about whether they are meeting their goals in any measurable way,” said Ben-Shahar, the Kearney Director of the Coase-Sandor Institute for Law and Economics. “Since laws aim to design the rules for society, it makes sense to use social science methods to evaluate their effect. It is quite astonishing that in many countries, including well-developed countries, law and economics as a methodology is not practiced in the mainstream.”
In China’s case, Ben-Shahar said the methodology would improve policymaking and contribute to a much more efficient market system, with sensible and effective regulations to prevent environmental degradation and achieve more equitable distribution of national income, and hence, more sustainable economic growth.
The summer program, inaugurated in July 2012, immediately attracted top legal scholars from mainland China, Hong Kong and Taiwan. Since then, as the program’s international visibility rose, applicants have poured in from Japan, South Korea, Thailand, Vietnam, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, France, Israel, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates.
This year, more than 70 international scholars from Asia (mostly mainland China), South America and Europe completed the courses in mid-July. The curriculum included law and property markets, taught by Lee Fennell; law and capital markets, taught by Douglas Baird; anti-trust laws, taught by Randal Picker; intellectual property, taught by Jonathan Masur and consumer contracts, taught by Ben-Shahar.
Richard L. Sandor, chairman and CEO of Environmental Financial Products LLC and lecturer at the Law School, delivered a keynote speech on how markets can help resolve the problems of emissions and climate change. Sandor’s financial support in the past has enabled the Coase-Sandor Institute to fulfill its mission of transforming legal systems around the world with the Chicago methodology and pushing the frontiers of knowledge forward. Martha Nussbaum, the Ernst Freund Distinguished Service Professor of Law and Ethics, presented an extracurricular lecture on “Human Development and the Capabilities Approach” that touched upon issues of social justice, which, according to participants, was an “explosive” issue confronting their countries.