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The Many Lives of the Efficiency of the Common Law Hypothesis: The Case of the Mixed Law Jurisdictions

Author(s):
Nuno Garoupa
Posted:
8-2023
Law & Economics #:
23-14

ABSTRACT:

In the first edition of his influential book, Posner developed what is known as the efficiency of the common law hypothesis. Since then, legal economists proposed different explanations to why the common law generates efficient rules. From that perspective, the prevalence of mixed law jurisdictions is puzzling. We illustrate the paradox by using simple non-cooperative game theory.

This is a pre-print version and will be published in the special issue of the History of Economic Ideas dedicated to Richard Posner's Economic Analysis of Law.