The term efficiency is used here in the sense it has in economic discourse. It is the economic an... more The term efficiency is used here in the sense it has in economic discourse. It is the economic analysis of law that has introduced it in the language of lawyers. The economic analysis of law was discovered somewhat fortuitously by economists venturing outside their usual turf and looking at legal institutions. Their ventures led to a striking discovery, to wit that most of the classical private law institutions looked framed as if their purpose was to propose efficient solutions to frictions arising in human interaction. Of particular interest to lawyers was the complementary discovery that the efficient solution often corresponds to what lawyers intuitively sense to be the just or fair solution. The economic analysis of law thus seemed to offer a grip on lawyers’ notoriously fleeting concept of justice. Whilst the economic analysis of law offers clarifying and sometimes surprising insights throughout the different fields of the law, it is not meant to replace legal reasoning or und...
Corporate Law: Corporate & Takeover Law eJournal, 2021
French Abstract: Parmi les sciences sociales, c'est la science économique qui a fait les prog... more French Abstract: Parmi les sciences sociales, c'est la science économique qui a fait les progrès les plus prometteurs pour le droit. Il y a plusieurs raisons à cela: elle dispose d'un cadre théorique bien développé (micro-économie); elle propose actuellement l'application la plus avancée du modèle de choix rationnel, qui est l'un des éléments unifiant les sciences sociales ; elle a donné lieu à des applications dans tous les domaines du droit et sa littérature scientifique continue de croître à un rythme rapide alimenté par de nouvelles générations de chercheurs succédant aux fondateurs. Deux découvertes remarquables ont suscité l'intérêt des juristes pour cette approche. La première est qu'en étudiant différentes institutions qui font partie de la common law américaine sous cet angle, les chercheurs ont constaté que presque toutes les règles semblaient formulées comme si l'objectif était de maximiser le bien-être social, la valeur cible à maximiser dans ...
L'introduction d'organismes genetiquement modifies dans l'agriculture a souleve des c... more L'introduction d'organismes genetiquement modifies dans l'agriculture a souleve des craintes, souvent appelees « perceptions negatives », relatives aux effets a long terme de leur consommation. Elle pose egalement le probleme de la coexistence avec les autres cultures, dites non-OGM. Ces craintes sont vehiculees par une pluralite de sources, dont les medias sociaux, largement repandues dans le public. Elles obligent les agriculteurs, selon les consommateurs cibles pour la vente de leurs recoltes, a instituer une separation rigoureuse entre les cultures comportant des elements genetiquement modifies et les autres cultures (conventionnelles et biologiques notamment), de meme qu'une information fiable sur la presence de produits OGM dans les intrants de l'agriculture et dans les produits de consommation. Les cultures conventionnelles, a leur tour, font l'objet de crainte du fait de l'utilisation de pratiques et de produits juges nocifs pour la sante, dont le...
La tradition civiliste se voit souvent reprocher une certaine sclérose résultant d’un nationalism... more La tradition civiliste se voit souvent reprocher une certaine sclérose résultant d’un nationalisme qui cherche trop à se mettre à l’abri d’idées venues d’ailleurs. Un code civil européen peut-il provoquer le renouveau ? Il importe d’en explorer les conditions, qui tiennent, d’une part, au caractère (con)fédéral de l’Union européenne et, d’autre part, à la dynamique même de l’innovation. Le succès relatif des fédérations comme mode de gouvernance est attribuable, comme les économistes l’ont montré, à la division des rôles — et donc de la souveraineté — entre les deux niveaux de gouvernement qui les composent. Il s’agit d’équilibres instables, mais dont les bienfaits proviennent notamment de ce que les États membres se trouvent en concurrence pour offrir la meilleure combinaison de biens collectifs moyennant contribution fiscale. Comme le droit civil fait partie de ces biens collectifs, il importe de transposer la concurrence interétatique sur ce terrain également : la concurrence est...
This process of designating property rights is far from static. It encompasses a fluid and ever-c... more This process of designating property rights is far from static. It encompasses a fluid and ever-changing attempt to define new property rights, in order to accommodate new cost-benefit possibilities. Frankel Paul, Ellen (1987), Property Rights and Eminent Domain, New ...
The publication of Professor Jerome Reichman's paper Legal Hybrids Between the Patent and Cop... more The publication of Professor Jerome Reichman's paper Legal Hybrids Between the Patent and Copyright Paradigms, in definitive form, is a memorable event. Professor Reichman's ambition is to make sense out of the proliferation of existing intellectual property rights and ...
This article seeks to clarify the economic rationale for the civil law of mandate, corresponding ... more This article seeks to clarify the economic rationale for the civil law of mandate, corresponding in the common law to the law of agency, but restricted to acts of legal representation by the agent. Earlier literature suggested that it can be explained as an ...
The term efficiency is used here in the sense it has in economic discourse. It is the economic an... more The term efficiency is used here in the sense it has in economic discourse. It is the economic analysis of law that has introduced it in the language of lawyers. The economic analysis of law was discovered somewhat fortuitously by economists venturing outside their usual turf and looking at legal institutions. Their ventures led to a striking discovery, to wit that most of the classical private law institutions looked framed as if their purpose was to propose efficient solutions to frictions arising in human interaction. Of particular interest to lawyers was the complementary discovery that the efficient solution often corresponds to what lawyers intuitively sense to be the just or fair solution. The economic analysis of law thus seemed to offer a grip on lawyers’ notoriously fleeting concept of justice. Whilst the economic analysis of law offers clarifying and sometimes surprising insights throughout the different fields of the law, it is not meant to replace legal reasoning or und...
Corporate Law: Corporate & Takeover Law eJournal, 2021
French Abstract: Parmi les sciences sociales, c'est la science économique qui a fait les prog... more French Abstract: Parmi les sciences sociales, c'est la science économique qui a fait les progrès les plus prometteurs pour le droit. Il y a plusieurs raisons à cela: elle dispose d'un cadre théorique bien développé (micro-économie); elle propose actuellement l'application la plus avancée du modèle de choix rationnel, qui est l'un des éléments unifiant les sciences sociales ; elle a donné lieu à des applications dans tous les domaines du droit et sa littérature scientifique continue de croître à un rythme rapide alimenté par de nouvelles générations de chercheurs succédant aux fondateurs. Deux découvertes remarquables ont suscité l'intérêt des juristes pour cette approche. La première est qu'en étudiant différentes institutions qui font partie de la common law américaine sous cet angle, les chercheurs ont constaté que presque toutes les règles semblaient formulées comme si l'objectif était de maximiser le bien-être social, la valeur cible à maximiser dans ...
L'introduction d'organismes genetiquement modifies dans l'agriculture a souleve des c... more L'introduction d'organismes genetiquement modifies dans l'agriculture a souleve des craintes, souvent appelees « perceptions negatives », relatives aux effets a long terme de leur consommation. Elle pose egalement le probleme de la coexistence avec les autres cultures, dites non-OGM. Ces craintes sont vehiculees par une pluralite de sources, dont les medias sociaux, largement repandues dans le public. Elles obligent les agriculteurs, selon les consommateurs cibles pour la vente de leurs recoltes, a instituer une separation rigoureuse entre les cultures comportant des elements genetiquement modifies et les autres cultures (conventionnelles et biologiques notamment), de meme qu'une information fiable sur la presence de produits OGM dans les intrants de l'agriculture et dans les produits de consommation. Les cultures conventionnelles, a leur tour, font l'objet de crainte du fait de l'utilisation de pratiques et de produits juges nocifs pour la sante, dont le...
La tradition civiliste se voit souvent reprocher une certaine sclérose résultant d’un nationalism... more La tradition civiliste se voit souvent reprocher une certaine sclérose résultant d’un nationalisme qui cherche trop à se mettre à l’abri d’idées venues d’ailleurs. Un code civil européen peut-il provoquer le renouveau ? Il importe d’en explorer les conditions, qui tiennent, d’une part, au caractère (con)fédéral de l’Union européenne et, d’autre part, à la dynamique même de l’innovation. Le succès relatif des fédérations comme mode de gouvernance est attribuable, comme les économistes l’ont montré, à la division des rôles — et donc de la souveraineté — entre les deux niveaux de gouvernement qui les composent. Il s’agit d’équilibres instables, mais dont les bienfaits proviennent notamment de ce que les États membres se trouvent en concurrence pour offrir la meilleure combinaison de biens collectifs moyennant contribution fiscale. Comme le droit civil fait partie de ces biens collectifs, il importe de transposer la concurrence interétatique sur ce terrain également : la concurrence est...
This process of designating property rights is far from static. It encompasses a fluid and ever-c... more This process of designating property rights is far from static. It encompasses a fluid and ever-changing attempt to define new property rights, in order to accommodate new cost-benefit possibilities. Frankel Paul, Ellen (1987), Property Rights and Eminent Domain, New ...
The publication of Professor Jerome Reichman's paper Legal Hybrids Between the Patent and Cop... more The publication of Professor Jerome Reichman's paper Legal Hybrids Between the Patent and Copyright Paradigms, in definitive form, is a memorable event. Professor Reichman's ambition is to make sense out of the proliferation of existing intellectual property rights and ...
This article seeks to clarify the economic rationale for the civil law of mandate, corresponding ... more This article seeks to clarify the economic rationale for the civil law of mandate, corresponding in the common law to the law of agency, but restricted to acts of legal representation by the agent. Earlier literature suggested that it can be explained as an ...
Of various initiatives to reach a better understanding of the law by drawing on neighbouring scie... more Of various initiatives to reach a better understanding of the law by drawing on neighbouring sciences, law and economics, though a latecomer, is clearly the current front-runner. What law and economics contributes to the law is not insights that replace traditional legal scholarship, but a way to track the social effects of legal rules, as they exist or might be adopted. That is relevant because ultimately law is to be judged by the quality of guidance it provides to the society it governs. The law and economics approach is applicable across all fields of law. Traditional legal scholarship focuses on the interpretation of law texts. Reliance on texts makes economic sense, in that it economises on information costs. Advances in information technology allow us to master ever greater volumes of legal texts at affordable cost. As the cost comes down, more legislation and other law texts are produced, exacerbating the problem of volume (normative inflation). Normative inflation may make us push into the background the social function of the law. Law and economics can alert us to situations where law texts fall seriously out of line with their social function. Where they do, it can help us identify reforms that would correct this. Law and economics connects to research on the broader question of what makes society wealthy, now and in the past, and what law can contribute to it. Law can define the institutions conducive to a good business or economic growth climate. When one looks at what caused growth in the past, in particular the massive growth, by a factor of 30 to 100, unique in human history, that took place in North-Western Europe from the beginning of the nineteenth century on and continues, law can supply the legal infrastructure required. But institutions alone cannot explain the jump growth, because it would have occurred earlier in history and elsewhere. The unique triggering factor pointed to in very recent work by McCloskey is a change in public discourse or ideology, in ethics, in what it is worthwhile for citizens to strive for. This "soft" factor could evolve in North-Western Europe, because public debate could not be stifled due to the fragmented political power and other fortuitous circumstances. Its end result is a form of egalitarian liberalism based on bourgeois (as opposed to aristocratic or religious) values. This philosophy allowed huge numbers of citizens to gamble on innovative ventures many of which were successful and led to the explosive growth rates just mentioned. The formula is exportable. If that theory is correct, the changed ideology or public discourse is essential for growth promoting institutions in developing countries as well as developed countries to be exploited. Besides the business-friendly institutions stressed in World Bank reports, the legal community also needs to pay attention to what promotes the ideology or public discourse just mentioned: public debate, made possible by freedom of expression and of religion; open access to the world of ideas in which they are discussed. Growth theory thereby acquires a soft or ideological dimension which so far was considered to lie outside the purview of economics. This new broader perspective may become a rallying point for what different social sciences can jointly contribute to our understanding of the law
ABSTRACT
Intellectual property is meant to stimulate creativity by promising creators a right to ... more ABSTRACT Intellectual property is meant to stimulate creativity by promising creators a right to seek reward for their creative efforts, while ensuring that the ideas thus found circulate as freely as possible. Does it fulfil this mission? Does it do it better than other means of stimulation? Is it indispensable as a means of stimulation? The article provides a quick overview of empirical research over the past half-century aimed at answering these questions. It points to many areas where “IP without IP” (open content, open science, open source, creative commons) is working well, yet outlines the ongoing debate on the limits of the formula. It then discusses research on prizes and supply contracts as stimuli of creativity as against intellectual property. Prizes and supply contracts presuppose that one can specify in advance the creation that one seeks to bring about. Historically, prizes have often been used as enticement by the elite for the elite, to the detriment of non-elite creative craftsmen. Intellectual property stands out on these two levels, being decentralised and open as to the creators targeted (non-elitist), as to the creation aimed for (no predetermination) and as to the creator's reward (market test). Is intellectual property fulfilling its mission? Historical research touching on copyright shows a clear stimulating effect at the time when it was first instituted, but no effect or even a slowdown following the strengthening of the right subsequently. Very recent research on music shows an increased stimulatory effect just when rampant "piracy" had effectively weakened copyright. This suggests that consideration needs to be given to whether we have pushed the scope and breadth of intellectual property too far, causing a slowdown in creativity that is difficult to detect so long as the legal regime remains unchanged.
RÉSUMÉ La propriété intellectuelle vise à stimuler la créativité en promettant aux créateurs un droit permettant de chercher récompense de leurs efforts, tout en assurant que les idées ainsi trouvées circulent aussi librement que possible. Remplit-elle cette mission ? Le fait-elle mieux que d’autres moyens de stimulation ? Est-elle indispensable comme moyen de stimulation? L’article propose un aperçu des recherches empiriques au cours du dernier demi-siècle visant à répondre à ces questions. Il fait état de nombreux domaines où la « pi sans pi » (contenu ouvert, science ouverte, open source, creative commons) fonctionne bien, tout en exposant le débat en cours sur les limites de la formule. Il aborde ensuite les recherches sur les prix et les contrats d’approvisionnement comme moyens de stimuler la créativité par rapport à la propriété intellectuelle. Les prix et les contrats d’approvisionnement présupposent que l’on puisse préciser d’avance la création que l’on cherche à faire surgir. Historiquement, les prix ont souvent été utilisés comme appâts par l’élite pour l’élite, au détriment des artisans créateurs non-membres de l’élite. La propriété intellectuelle se distingue sur ces deux plans, étant décentralisée et ouverte quant aux créateurs visés (non élitiste), quant à la création suscitée (pas de prédétermination) et quant à la récompense du créateur (test du marché). La propriété intellectuelle remplit- elle bien sa mission ? Des recherches historiques touchant le droit d’auteur montrent un net effet stimulateur lors de la première institution, mais un effet moindre, ou même un freinage, lors du renforcement du droit subséquemment. Des recherches tout récentes dans le domaine de la musique montrent un effet stimulateur accru au moment même où le « piratage » rampant avait affaibli le droit d’auteur dans les faits. Une réflexion s’impose sur la question de savoir si nous n’avons pas poussé trop loin la portée et l’étendue de la propriété intellectuelle, provoquant ainsi un ralentissement de la créativité difficile à déceler tant que le régime juridique demeure inchangé.
Parmi les sciences sociales, c'est la science économique qui a fait les progrès les plus promette... more Parmi les sciences sociales, c'est la science économique qui a fait les progrès les plus prometteurs pour le droit. Il y a plusieurs raisons à cela: elle dispose d'un cadre théorique bien développé (micro-économie); elle propose actuellement l'application la plus avancée du modèle de choix rationnel, qui est l'un des éléments unifiant les sciences sociales ; elle a donné lieu à des applications dans tous les domaines du droit et sa littérature scientifique continue de croître à un rythme rapide alimenté par de nouvelles générations de chercheurs succédant aux fondateurs. Deux découvertes remarquables ont suscité l'intérêt des juristes pour cette approche. La première est qu'en étudiant différentes institutions qui font partie de la common law américaine sous cet angle, les chercheurs ont constaté que presque toutes les règles semblaient formulées comme si l'objectif était de maximiser le bien-être social, la valeur cible à maximiser dans l'analyse économique. La deuxième découverte, connexe, est que les règles formulées comme si elles visaient à maximiser le bien-être social, qualifiées d'efficientes dans le langage économique, correspondent souvent à ce que l'intuition des juristes considérerait comme des règles justes. Ces résultats s'avèrent tout aussi pertinents en dehors des États-Unis, dans les systèmes de droit civil ainsi que dans d'autres systèmes de common law. La pratique du droit demande quelles règles juridiques sont applicables à une affaire donnée, comment les règles s'articulent de manière cohérente et, éventuellement, quelle règle serait souhaitable. L'analyse économique du droit demande quels sont les effets sociaux des règles applicables, et recherche leur justification et leur désirabilité en termes de ces effets. En un mot, c'est la différence entre les deux, mais aussi leur complémentarité. Mots-clés : analyse économique du droit; méthodologie; droit civil
Amongst the social sciences, it is economics that has made the most promising advances for law. There are several reasons for this: it has a well-developed theoretical framework (microeconomics); it provides currently the most advanced application of the rational choice model, which is one of the elements unifying the social sciences; it has given rise to applications in all fields of law and its scientific literature continues to grow at a rapid pace fed by new generations of scholars taking over from the founders. Two remarkable discoveries have fired the interest of lawyers in this approach. The first is that, in studying different institutions that are part of American common law in this light, researchers found that nearly all of the rules looked formulated as if the purpose was to maximise social welfare, the target value to be maximised in economic analysis. The second, related discovery is that rules formulated as if aimed at maximising social welfare, called efficient in economic parlance, often correspond to what lawyers’ intuition would consider fair or just rules. These findings are no less relevant outside the United States, in civil law systems as well as in other common law systems. Law practice asks what legal rules are applicable to a given case, how rules hang together consistently and, possibly, what rule would be desirable. Law and economics asks what are the social effects of the applicable rules, and looks for their justification and desirability in terms of those effects. In a nutshell, that is the difference between the two but also their complementarity.
Amongst the social sciences, it is economics that has made the most promising advances for law. T... more Amongst the social sciences, it is economics that has made the most promising advances for law. There are several reasons for this: it has a well-developed theoretical framework (microeconomics); it provides currently the most advanced application of the rational choice model, which is one of the elements unifying the social sciences; it has given rise to applications in all fields of law and its scientific literature continues to grow at a rapid pace fed by new generations of scholars taking over from the founders. Two remarkable discoveries have fired the interest of lawyers in this approach. The first is that, in studying different institutions that are part of American common law in this light, researchers found that nearly all of the rules looked formulated as if the purpose was to maximise social welfare, the target value to be maximised in economic analysis. The second, related discovery is that rules formulated as if aimed at maximising social welfare, called efficient in economic parlance, often correspond to what lawyers’ intuition would consider fair or just rules. These findings are no less relevant outside the United States, in civil law systems as well as in other common law systems. Law practice asks what legal rules are applicable to a given case, how rules hang together consistently and, possibly, what rule would be desirable. Law and economics asks what are the social effects of the applicable rules, and looks for their justification and desirability in terms of those effects. In a nutshell, that is the difference between the two but also their complementarity.
"Le populisme et la dynamique économique" (Populism and Economic Dynamics), 2019
This paper, in French, investigates what is populism and why currently a populist wave is occurri... more This paper, in French, investigates what is populism and why currently a populist wave is occurring throughout the developed world, even though even 10 years ago nothing seemed to announce it. Populism appears to be a reaction to an economic and social crisis of which one believe oneself to be unfairly victim, without understanding its origin and perhaps in reliance on very fragmentary information. It is linked to strong concerns, or even fears, and advocates, in response, remedies that may appear seductive at first blush, but are in reality ill suited to correct the problem and often quite damaging to the established order. Thanks to social media and the internet, those tempted by such perspectives can readily find others who share their viewpoint and thus form significant political forces. The thesis put forth in the paper is that populist waves are not a random phenomenon, but are linked to the long-term economic cycles (50-70 years) highlighted in the work of Carlota Perez. These waves occur, within these cycles, at the precise moment when a flood of inventions and innovation has led to a speculative bubble which bursts, harming numerous persons who are in no way linked to that speculation, as happened in 1929, and again in 2000 and 2008. Historically, the effects of the bubbles bursting are progressively absorbed and corrected with a good bit of government intervention, and society then enters into the last phase of the cycle, in which the new technologies are extended to all reaches of industry and markets, benefiting the vast majority of citizens. The paradox is that we desire the waves of innovation for the benefits they procure (human welfare multiplied thirty-fold over the past 250 years amongst today’s developed nations), but have to accept the price they impose in provoking crises that create great harm, in particular to persons in no way responsible for them. This dynamic suggests that the State can usefully intervene by softening and shortening the crises, ensuring in particular that a change of mood provoked by such crises does not lead people to vote for or otherwise adopt policies that will destroy the very machine that generates the spectacular welfare gains we have experienced. We must continue to let ourselves be guided by the values that have led us since the Enlightenment: reliance on science, humanism and rationality.
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Papers by Ejan Mackaay
Traditional legal scholarship focuses on the interpretation of law texts. Reliance on texts makes economic sense, in that it economises on information costs. Advances in information technology allow us to master ever greater volumes of legal texts at affordable cost. As the cost comes down, more legislation and other law texts are produced, exacerbating the problem of volume (normative inflation).
Normative inflation may make us push into the background the social function of the law. Law and economics can alert us to situations where law texts fall seriously out of line with their social function. Where they do, it can help us identify reforms that would correct this.
Law and economics connects to research on the broader question of what makes society wealthy, now and in the past, and what law can contribute to it. Law can define the institutions conducive to a good business or economic growth climate. When one looks at what caused growth in the past, in particular the massive growth, by a factor of 30 to 100, unique in human history, that took place in North-Western Europe from the beginning of the nineteenth century on and continues, law can supply the legal infrastructure required.
But institutions alone cannot explain the jump growth, because it would have occurred earlier in history and elsewhere. The unique triggering factor pointed to in very recent work by McCloskey is a change in public discourse or ideology, in ethics, in what it is worthwhile for citizens to strive for. This "soft" factor could evolve in North-Western Europe, because public debate could not be stifled due to the fragmented political power and other fortuitous circumstances. Its end result is a form of egalitarian liberalism based on bourgeois (as opposed to aristocratic or religious) values. This philosophy allowed huge numbers of citizens to gamble on innovative ventures many of which were successful and led to the explosive growth rates just mentioned. The formula is exportable.
If that theory is correct, the changed ideology or public discourse is essential for growth promoting institutions in developing countries as well as developed countries to be exploited. Besides the business-friendly institutions stressed in World Bank reports, the legal community also needs to pay attention to what promotes the ideology or public discourse just mentioned: public debate, made possible by freedom of expression and of religion; open access to the world of ideas in which they are discussed. Growth theory thereby acquires a soft or ideological dimension which so far was considered to lie outside the purview of economics.
This new broader perspective may become a rallying point for what different social sciences can jointly contribute to our understanding of the law
Intellectual property is meant to stimulate creativity by promising creators a right to seek reward for their creative efforts, while ensuring that the ideas thus found circulate as freely as possible. Does it fulfil this mission? Does it do it better than other means of stimulation? Is it indispensable as a means of stimulation? The article provides a quick overview of empirical research over the past half-century aimed at answering these questions. It points to many areas where “IP without IP” (open content, open science, open source, creative commons) is working well, yet outlines the ongoing debate on the limits of the formula. It then discusses research on prizes and supply contracts as stimuli of creativity as against intellectual property. Prizes and supply contracts presuppose that one can specify in advance the creation that one seeks to bring about. Historically, prizes have often been used as enticement by the elite for the elite, to the detriment of non-elite creative craftsmen. Intellectual property stands out on these two levels, being decentralised and open as to the creators targeted (non-elitist), as to the creation aimed for (no predetermination) and as to the creator's reward (market test). Is intellectual property fulfilling its mission? Historical research touching on copyright shows a clear stimulating effect at the time when it was first instituted, but no effect or even a slowdown following the strengthening of the right subsequently. Very recent research on music shows an increased stimulatory effect just when rampant "piracy" had effectively weakened copyright. This suggests that consideration needs to be given to whether we have pushed the scope and breadth of intellectual property too far, causing a slowdown in creativity that is difficult to detect so long as the legal regime remains unchanged.
RÉSUMÉ
La propriété intellectuelle vise à stimuler la créativité en promettant aux créateurs un droit permettant de chercher récompense de leurs efforts, tout en assurant que les idées ainsi trouvées circulent aussi librement que possible. Remplit-elle cette mission ? Le fait-elle mieux que d’autres moyens de stimulation ? Est-elle indispensable comme moyen de stimulation? L’article propose un aperçu des recherches empiriques au cours du dernier demi-siècle visant à répondre à ces questions. Il fait état de nombreux domaines où la « pi sans pi » (contenu ouvert, science ouverte, open source, creative commons) fonctionne bien, tout en exposant le débat en cours sur les limites de la formule. Il aborde ensuite les recherches sur les prix et les contrats d’approvisionnement comme moyens de stimuler la créativité par rapport à la propriété intellectuelle. Les prix et les contrats d’approvisionnement présupposent que l’on puisse préciser d’avance la création que l’on cherche à faire surgir. Historiquement, les prix ont souvent été utilisés comme appâts par l’élite pour l’élite, au détriment des artisans créateurs non-membres de l’élite. La propriété intellectuelle se distingue sur ces deux plans, étant décentralisée et ouverte quant aux créateurs visés (non élitiste), quant à la création suscitée (pas de prédétermination) et quant à la récompense du créateur (test du marché). La propriété intellectuelle remplit- elle bien sa mission ? Des recherches historiques touchant le droit d’auteur montrent un net effet stimulateur lors de la première institution, mais un effet moindre, ou même un freinage, lors du renforcement du droit subséquemment. Des recherches tout récentes dans le domaine de la musique montrent un effet stimulateur accru au moment même où le « piratage » rampant avait affaibli le droit d’auteur dans les faits. Une réflexion s’impose sur la question de savoir si nous n’avons pas poussé trop loin la portée et l’étendue de la propriété intellectuelle, provoquant ainsi un ralentissement de la créativité difficile à déceler tant que le régime juridique demeure inchangé.
Amongst the social sciences, it is economics that has made the most promising advances for law. There are several reasons for this: it has a well-developed theoretical framework (microeconomics); it provides currently the most advanced application of the rational choice model, which is one of the elements unifying the social sciences; it has given rise to applications in all fields of law and its scientific literature continues to grow at a rapid pace fed by new generations of scholars taking over from the founders.
Two remarkable discoveries have fired the interest of lawyers in this approach. The first is that, in studying different institutions that are part of American common law in this light, researchers found that nearly all of the rules looked formulated as if the purpose was to maximise social welfare, the target value to be maximised in economic analysis. The second, related discovery is that rules formulated as if aimed at maximising social welfare, called efficient in economic parlance, often correspond to what lawyers’ intuition would consider fair or just rules. These findings are no less relevant outside the United States, in civil law systems as well as in other common law systems.
Law practice asks what legal rules are applicable to a given case, how rules hang together consistently and, possibly, what rule would be desirable. Law and economics asks what are the social effects of the applicable rules, and looks for their justification and desirability in terms of those effects. In a nutshell, that is the difference between the two but also their complementarity.
Two remarkable discoveries have fired the interest of lawyers in this approach. The first is that, in studying different institutions that are part of American common law in this light, researchers found that nearly all of the rules looked formulated as if the purpose was to maximise social welfare, the target value to be maximised in economic analysis. The second, related discovery is that rules formulated as if aimed at maximising social welfare, called efficient in economic parlance, often correspond to what lawyers’ intuition would consider fair or just rules. These findings are no less relevant outside the United States, in civil law systems as well as in other common law systems.
Law practice asks what legal rules are applicable to a given case, how rules hang together consistently and, possibly, what rule would be desirable. Law and economics asks what are the social effects of the applicable rules, and looks for their justification and desirability in terms of those effects. In a nutshell, that is the difference between the two but also their complementarity.
Populism appears to be a reaction to an economic and social crisis of which one believe oneself to be unfairly victim, without understanding its origin and perhaps in reliance on very fragmentary information. It is linked to strong concerns, or even fears, and advocates, in response, remedies that may appear seductive at first blush, but are in reality ill suited to correct the problem and often quite damaging to the established order. Thanks to social media and the internet, those tempted by such perspectives can readily find others who share their viewpoint and thus form significant political forces.
The thesis put forth in the paper is that populist waves are not a random phenomenon, but are linked to the long-term economic cycles (50-70 years) highlighted in the work of Carlota Perez. These waves occur, within these cycles, at the precise moment when a flood of inventions and innovation has led to a speculative bubble which bursts, harming numerous persons who are in no way linked to that speculation, as happened in 1929, and again in 2000 and 2008. Historically, the effects of the bubbles bursting are progressively absorbed and corrected with a good bit of government intervention, and society then enters into the last phase of the cycle, in which the new technologies are extended to all reaches of industry and markets, benefiting the vast majority of citizens.
The paradox is that we desire the waves of innovation for the benefits they procure (human welfare multiplied thirty-fold over the past 250 years amongst today’s developed nations), but have to accept the price they impose in provoking crises that create great harm, in particular to persons in no way responsible for them.
This dynamic suggests that the State can usefully intervene by softening and shortening the crises, ensuring in particular that a change of mood provoked by such crises does not lead people to vote for or otherwise adopt policies that will destroy the very machine that generates the spectacular welfare gains we have experienced. We must continue to let ourselves be guided by the values that have led us since the Enlightenment: reliance on science, humanism and rationality.
Keywords: long-wave economic cycles, innovation, speculation, crises, populism