Law, Coercion, and Expression: A Review Essay on Frederick Schauer's The Force of Law and Richard McAdams's The Expressive Powers of Law
Journal of Economic Literature
vol. 55,
no. 3, September 2017
(pp. 1098-1121)
Abstract
What is law and why do people obey it? This question from jurisprudence has recently been tackled using the tools of economics. The field of law and economics has long studied how fines and imprisonment affect behavior. Nobody believes, however, that all compliance is motivated by penalties, and it is questionable whether that is even the typical motivation. Two books published in 2015, Frederick Schauer's The Force of Law and Richard McAdams's The Expressive Powers of Law: Theories and Limits, consider alternative motivations--Schauer skeptically and McAdams more sympathetically. While coercion, either directly or in support of internalized norms, seems to dominate law qua law (and not as a mere expression of morality), a considerable portion of law serves other uses such as coordination, information provision, expression, and reduction of transaction costs.Citation
Rasmusen, Eric. 2017. "Law, Coercion, and Expression: A Review Essay on Frederick Schauer's The Force of Law and Richard McAdams's The Expressive Powers of Law." Journal of Economic Literature, 55 (3): 1098-1121. DOI: 10.1257/jel.20151374Additional Materials
JEL Classification
- C72 Noncooperative Games
- D23 Organizational Behavior; Transaction Costs; Property Rights
- D83 Search; Learning; Information and Knowledge; Communication; Belief; Unawareness
- K00 Law and Economics: General
- K40 Legal Procedure, the Legal System, and Illegal Behavior: General
- Z13 Economic Sociology; Economic Anthropology; Language; Social and Economic Stratification