The Legal-Economic Nexus

This book examines the legal-economic process in which the body of law in continually evolving. Combining a selection of old and new essays, Warren J. Samuels addresses the role of manufactured belief, power, the nature and sources of rights, the construction of markets by firms and by governments and the problem of continuity and change in the form of the question of the selectively defined status quo and its status. Samuels questions both the absolutist character of government,...
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This book examines the legal-economic process in which the body of law in continually evolving. Combining a selection of old and new essays, Warren J. Samuels addresses the role of manufactured belief, power, the nature and sources of rights, the construction of markets by firms and by governments and the problem of continuity and change in the form of the question of the selectively defined status quo and its status. Samuels questions both the absolutist character of government, rights, markets and legal principles as well as the accepted ideational structure of law. In examining the processes through which economies and economists work out results, he demonstrates how policy is structured and manipulated by human social construction. The final chapter argues against policy advocacy by professionals qua professionals and for a practice of policy diffidence. The Legal-Economic Nexus would be of interest to both economists and legal professionals as well as researchers in the history of economic thought and the social construction of law.