The uneasy case for parsimony in (law and) economics: conceptual, empirical and normative arguments

Cserne, Péter

Abstract

Taking Guido Calabresi’s discussion of preferences and value judgements in The Future of Law and Economics as a starting point, this paper analyses some conceptual difficulties, epistemic benefits and normative uses of parsimonious economic analyses of “tastes and values.” First, the paper shows that it is not only possible to analyse and model all the richness of “tastes and values” in terms of rational choice theory with intellectual honesty and epistemic benefit. In fact, economists and economically inspired legal scholars have been doing this for a while. Second, it discusses three arguments that economists can mount in support of parsimonious models. Third, it shows that in spite of these benefits the merits of such an exercise in parsimony do not always clearly outweigh its drawbacks. In doing so, the paper distinguishes three types of limits of such parsimonious modelling.

Citation

Cserne, P. (2019). The uneasy case for parsimony in (law and) economics: conceptual, empirical and normative arguments. Global jurist, 19(3), https://doi.org/10.1515/gj-2019-0001

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Apr 26, 2019
• Publication Date: Oct 25, 2019
• Deposit Date: May 8, 2019
• Publicly Available Date: Oct 26, 2020
• Journal: Global Jurist
• Print ISSN: 1934-2640
• Electronic ISSN: 1934-2640
• Publisher: De Gruyter
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 19
• Issue: 3
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/gj-2019-0001
• Keywords: law and economics: methodology; values and morality in economic theory; Guido Calabresi; parsimony in economic theory; law
• Public URL: https://hull-repository.worktribe.com/output/1756253
• Publisher URL: https://www.degruyter.com/view/journals/gj/19/3/article-20190001.xml
• Contract Date: Nov 20, 2019