Seemingly, comparative law invites quantitative analysis: there are more than 200 sovereign states, and many of them are federations, which increases the number of jurisdictions. Yet actually, proving causal claims about the effect of some institutional detail on some outcome variable of...

Judicial decision making is not a mechanical activity. It requires a voluntary act. In the abstract, the judge must strike a balance between incompatible normative goals, like backward looking compensation and forward looking deterrence. In the concrete, the decision-maker must weigh conflicting...

The title of this chapter is deliberately provocative. Intuitively, many will be inclined to see conscious control of mental process as a good thing. Yet control comes at a high price. The consciously not directly controlled, automatic, parallel processing of information is not only much faster,...

Triggered by the concentration process in the electricity and gas markets, the land of Hesse proposes to give the German cartel office power to divest dominant firms or oligopolies if this is necessary to restore competition. The paper shows that the reform would be in line with constitutional...

Institutions are governance tools. They are useful only if they impact on behaviour: of citizens, and of those administering the legal system. Models of behaviour are therefore crucial for institutional analysis and design. In light of this, this paper draws lessons for institutional analysis...