Law & Economics LAB (L&E LAB) is an interdisciplinary centre at LUISS “Guido Carli” University of Rome, focused on research, teaching, and consulting in the areas of the economic analysis of law. Founded in 2003, with 12 affiliates (i.e., 1 scientific director, 6 senior research fellows, 3 research fellow, 2 honorary fellows, 1 general secretary), it is the largest research institute specialising
in law and economics in Italy. L&E LAB’s founder and scientific director is Roberto Pardolesi, Professor Emeritus of LUISS “Guido Carli” and pioneer in the introduction of interdisciplinary law and economics approaches in Italy during the 1970s. in law and economics; disseminates its research through the L&E LAB Working Paper Series, which counts more than 150 working papers available in free download and is structured according to five macro-categories; publishes articles and participates as board members and peer reviewers in more than 20 international and 30 national journals; and is author and editor of more than 40 monographs. Foreword
L&E LAB promotes the research and teaching of economic analysis of law, stimulating the debate on the prospective application of such interdisciplinary approach to a wide number of topics, ranging from competition policy to intellectual property protection, from the economic analysis of civil law to the regulation of high-tech markets. L&E LAB is not entirely a brand-new entity: our research team includes lawyers and economists with significant experience both from an academic and a professional standpoint. As a result, L&E LAB offers a unique mix of professional experiences in law and economics, and aims at offering ‘state of the art’ legal and economic analyses addressed to a wide audience of academic scholars, practitioners and policymakers. The direct link with EU and US universities and research centres allow us to offer high-quality research and to constantly update our practical approach and theoretical background. Our collection of working papers shows L&E LAB’s approach to complex and highly debated issues. On our website, experts and practitioners will find resources and short commentaries aimed at matching their need to remain up to date in their daily work. Our newsletter and social networks, which we invite you to subscribe, offer an update on the most interesting events and publications in the fields of law and economics. The staff welcomes you to L&E LAB. All comments and suggestions are welcome. We hope you will find surfing on our website stimulating and useful. Emeritus Roberto Pardolesi
L&E LAB Scientific Director
Law & Economics
Law and economics is the economic analysis of the law. As Kaplow and Shavell state: «economic analysis of law seeks to answer two basic questions about legal rules. Namely, what are the effects of legal rules on the behaviour of relevant actors? And are these effects of legal rules socially desirable?». The interface between law and economics, entrenched since the ‘70s in the US scientific and professional culture, stands nowadays as the new frontier of social sciences in the EU. Economic models do not really interpret or predict human actions; yet, they retain intuitive appeal because they display a “scientific” version of normal psychology. In a sense, the “discovery” that the law appears to be driven by an underlying economic logic may appear all too obvious. Given that the vocation of law is to provide general rules to govern human behavior, it is no surprise that law and economics was such a fruitful match; the only real question is why it took so long for the two to find each other. LUISS “Guido Carli” University of Rome has been over time in the forefront of the offer of interdisciplinary approaches, as witnessed by the comprehensive training programme in law and economics for Ph.D. students, operative since the end of the last millennium. This endeavor aims to further implement the wariness about the necessity to understand law through the lens of economics, and to realize that “legal rules do matter”, even from a strictly economic perspective. The ultimate goal is create a multi-faceted competence, for which there exists a growing demand in both the academic environment and the professional market.