The Roundabouts of European Law and Economics

1 Introduction 7

2 The “Wild Years”: The Start of European Law and Economics in the 1980s-1990s 9
2.1 There Is No Ideological Bias in Law and Economics 9
2.2 The Choice of Assumptions Is Unavoidable But
Should Be Well-Informed 11
2.3 Counter-Intuitive Insights Are the Lifeblood of Law and Economics 12

3 The “Golden Years” of European Law and Economics at the Turn of the Millennium 15
3.1 The Benefits of the Success Story 15
3.2 The Costs of the Success Story 21

4 The Challenge from Behavioural Approaches: A “Mid-Life Crisis’? 29
4.1 The Benefits of the Behavioural Revolution 30
4.2 The Costs of the Behavioural Revolution 33

5 The 2018 Roundabout: Will All Roads Lead to Law and Economics? 43
5.1 The Current Trouble with Policy-Oriented Research: A Transgender Dream? 43
5.2 Why Crisis Managers Should Meet: The Critical Years of European Law and Economics and the Crisis of the European Union 47

6 Conclusions 55