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The Great Recession and the Rhetorical Canons of Law and Economics

2012; Loyola Marymount University; Volume: 58; Issue: 2 Linguagem: Inglês

0147-9857

Michael D. Murray,

Canadian Policy and Governance

The Great Recession of 2008 and onward has drawn attention to the American economic and financial system, and has cast a critical spotlight on the theories, policies, and assumptions of the modern, neoclassical school of law and economics—often labeled the School—because this school of legal economic thought has had great influence on the American economy and financial system. The Chicago School's positions on deregulation and the limitation or elimination of oversight and government restraints on stock markets, derivative markets, and other financial practices are the result of decades of neoclassical economic assumptions regarding the efficiency of unregulated markets, the near-religious-like devotion to a hypersimplified conception of rationality and self-interest with regard to the persons and institutions participating in the financial system, and a conception of laws and government policies as incentives and costs in a manner that excludes the actual conditions and complications of reality. * Associate Professor of Law, Valparaiso University School of Law. Grad. Cert., Fudan University, 1986; B.A. (summa cum laude), Loyola University, 1987; J.D., Columbia Law School, 1990. Professor Murray previously taught at the University of Illinois College of Law and Saint Louis University School of Law. Professor Murray thanks Professors Linda Edwards (UNLV), Thomas Ginsburg (Chicago), and Terri LeClercq (Texas) for their comments on this Article, and he thanks the participants in the How Rhetoric Shapes the Law Conference at American University, Washington College of Law, especially Professors Linda Berger (UNLV) and Terry Phelps (American), for their comments on the presentation of this Article. Professor Murray gratefully acknowledges the comments and input of Professor Thomas Ulen (Illinois) on the research leading up to this version of the Article, and he thanks his colleagues at Valparaiso, especially Professors Robert Blomquist, Paul Brietzke, David Herzig, JoEllen Lind, and Alan White, for their comments in two workin-progress workshops. He thanks Professors Christy DeSanctis (George Washington), Michael Frost (Southwestern), James Levy (Nova Southeastern), and Mark Wojcik (John Marshall) for their comments on the earlier version of this Article posted on SSRN, and he thanks Jenna Throw (J.D., 2011, Valparaiso) for her research assistance with this Article.