Skip Navigation

This Article
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to My Personal Archive
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrow Search for citing articles in:
ISI Web of Science (1)
Right arrowRequest Permissions
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Avio, K. L.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
Related Collections
Right arrow P16 - Political Economy
Right arrow A10 - General
Right arrow B25 - Historical; Institutional; Evolutionary; Austrian
Right arrow K00 - [Law and Economics] General
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us  
What's this?

Cambridge Journal of Economics 26:501-520 (2002)
Copyright © 2002 Cambridge Political Economy Society

Article

Three problems of social organisation: institutional law and economics meets Habermasian law and democracy

Kenneth L. Avio *

*University of Victoria, Canada

Address for correspondence: Kenneth L. Avio, Department of Economics, University of Victoria, Victoria, BC Canada V8W 2Y2; email: kla{at}uvvm.uvic.ca

Abstract

This paper attempts to identify certain implications of Habermasian ethics for the economic analysis of law. It does so by demonstrating a complementarity between the Habermas of Between Facts and Norms and the Veblen–Ayres–Commons tradition(s) of economic analysis. Three unresolved problems of social organisation raised by the institutionalists are addressed: the legitimacy of the status quo ante (Buchanan/Schmid), the legitimacy of society's transaction structure (Klevorick) and the problem of social order (Hobbes/Platteau). Discourse ethics demonstrates how these problems may be resolved. The model of human agency adopted in institutional law and economics permits an easier fit with discourse ethics than would be possible with the neoclassical traditions.

Key Words: Discourse ethics • Habermas • Institutional law and economics • Social choice


Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us    What's this?




Disclaimer:
Please note that abstracts for content published before 1996 were created through digital scanning and may therefore not exactly replicate the text of the original print issues. All efforts have been made to ensure accuracy, but the Publisher will not be held responsible for any remaining inaccuracies. If you require any further clarification, please contact our Customer Services Department.