Document Type
Article
Publication Title
Boston University Law Review
Abstract
In his latest article, Professor Robert Ahdieh takes a broad, open-handed swipe at conventional law and economics’ reliance on methodological individualism. He hits solidly and right on point at those many places where the discipline is vulnerable to this critique. But is the critique is too expansive? One might read in Professor Ahdieh’s article an assertion that methodological individualism has completely blinded, or at least distorted, the view of law and economics scholarship with respect to identity, culture, politics, norms, society, evolutionary processes, and history, among other considerations. If that is his assertion, a solution for these pervasive problems would seem a hopeless endeavor for the discipline. It is hard to imagine a law and economics framework that adequately addresses these concerns and remains recognizable. No elastic methodology could possibly encompass all these considerations and retain its disciplinary boundary. Professor Ahdieh does not, of course, argue that law and economics scholarship needs to incorporate every consideration (e.g., identity, history, culture, etc.) across the board, but rather only in those areas characterized significantly by interdependence. His claim is that salient aspects of interaction are lost in law and economics analyses characterized by interdependence, and he is surely correct. But now what? Is the solution found by simply calling for modest changes – a bit more awareness of identity, culture, history and the like – or even a mere acknowledgement of the limits of the conventional model in areas of interdependence? I do not believe that such modesty would satisfy the challenges the piece raises. Satisfaction would require a significant overhaul of the traditional approach, but at what cost? Can law and economics thrive as it has, or even survive, by broadening its reach to accommodate the omissions identified?
First Page
379
Volume
91
Publication Date
2011
Recommended Citation
Richard R. Brooks,
Response to Robert Ahdieh’s Beyond Individualism in Law and Economics,
91
Boston University Law Review
379
(2011).
Available at:
https://gretchen.law.nyu.edu/fac-articles/1353
