Over four panels, participants discussed the changing role of economic rationalities in legal thought, both in conceptual terms and through manifold illustrations from fields as diverse as consumer law, sustainable finance, investment law, tax, and digital platforms. A definite highlight was a lunchtime conversation, moderated by Steven Medema (Duke U), between Peter Cserne (U Aberdeen) and Anna Chadwick (U Glasgow), both protagonists of ‘Law & Economics’ and, respectively, ‘Law & Political Economy’. The overarching theme of the workshop was the dialectic between two of the most prominent approaches to embedding economic reasoning in law, that is ‘Law & Economics’ and the recently burgeoning field of ‘Law & Political Economy’ (LPE), in particular in terms of how they play out the European context. The workshop created an opportunity to take stock of the state of Law & Economics in European scholarship and to investigate whether LPE ought to be understood as an immediate reaction to L&E in Europe, as it is by many constituencies in the U.S.

The full program is still available under this link and the organizers are happy to bring anyone interested in individual papers in touch with the speakers.