Academic

Vatiero on the Law & Economics of State Power

By Lawrence Solum

Massimiliano Vatiero (University of Siena - Department of Economics) has posted A Note Upon Law and Economics of "State Power" on SSRN.  Here is the abstract:

A tangible treatment of the emergence of State power must rest on a positive transaction costs framework and, then, on managing strategic and opportunistic behaviours by individuals. This task is the main explanation of the role of State as an order-maker. But, as well as individuals, even the opportunity for the order-maker to act strategically and opportunistically may be prevented, setting non-violent mechanisms. Within this framework, we reformulate certain legal tools for restricting the order-maker's conduct. They range from the enlargement of alternatives (denoted as freedoms by Commons and liberty of alternatives by Sen), to the implementation of fairer procedures (called liberties in accordance with Commons' terminology and liberty of procedures with Sen's one) for private individuals, both allowing a more complex, but still more precise, representation of the State-citizens relationship.

Full post as published by Legal Theory Blog on December 02, 2008 (boomark / email).