We suggest that an approach based on behavioral economics will help with the three functions of any proposed legal approach: positive, prescriptive and normative. The positive task that is perhaps most central in the economic analysis of the law and our main objective here is to explain both the impact and the content of the law. How will the law affect human behavior? How is the individual likely to react to changes in the rules? Why does the law take the form it takes? The prescriptive task is to see how the law can be used to achieve certain goals, such as deterring socially undesirable behavior. The normative task is to assess the objectives of the legal system more broadly. Our goal in this chapter is to advance an approach to the economic analysis of law that is characterized by a more accurate conception of choice that reflects a better understanding of human behavior and its sources. We build on previous work in jurisprudence and seek to generalize it by taking the next two logical steps: proposing a systematic framework for a behavioral approach to the economic analysis of law, and using behavioral knowledge to develop specific models and approaches that address issues of enduring interest in law and economics. The analysis of these specific questions is preliminary and often has the character of a proposal for a research programme; We cover a wide range of topics to show the possible applications of behavioural knowledge. The economic analysis of the law usually proceeds with the behavioral assumptions of neoclassical economics. But empirical evidence gives us much reason to doubt these assumptions; People are infinitely rational and selfish without limit, and they have a limited will.

The result is to challenge many of the predictions and recipes of traditional law and economics. In this article, we offer a global view of how the analysis of law and economics can be improved by increasing the focus on knowledge about real human behavior. Our analysis is divided into three categories: positive, prescriptive and normative. A positive analysis of the law concerns the conduct of agents in response to legal regulations and how legal norms are created; We propose here that in many areas, a behavioral approach improves predictions about both the impact and the content of the law. The prescriptive analysis focuses on the question of what rules should be adopted to advance certain objectives; Here we offer alternatives (in areas such as information disclosure and criminal law) to the usual legal and economic regulations based on behavioral knowledge. Finally, normative analysis seeks to assess more broadly the objectives of the legal system: should the system always respect people`s choices? What is the appropriate area of paternalism? By drawing attention to cognitive and motivational problems, behavioural law and economics provide different answers than those offered by standard analysis. By addressing many specific questions in law, we try to provide answers and define an expanded research agenda for future work in behavioral law and economics. 79 John F. Kennedy StreetCambridge, MA 02138United States. 1050 Massachusetts AvenueCambridge, MA 02138United States 5807 pp.

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