There are different explanations for the Banco Espírito Santo conglomerate’s fall in 2014. These explanations range from bad luck (a consequence of the financial meltdown in 2008) to some sort of last-minute regulatory failure and/or capture. Our empirical findings are consistent with a...

The present article intends to assess, in a systematic and critical way, what has been done in Portugal regarding the so-called Regulatory Impact Assessment (RIA), while at the same time, contributing to its development and maturity. A careful and in depth analysis of the Portuguese...

This article summarizes the comparative law and economics literature on the behavior of prosecutors. We propose that relevant differences concerning prosecutorial functions across the world deserve more serious consideration by law and economics. We start by looking at preferences and how they...

The law of restitution and unjust enrichment has emerged as an important and independent branch of private law. However, it has attracted relatively little economic analysis. The aim of this paper is to develop a general conceptual framework for the economic analysis of the core example of...

We consider the distortions that corruption generates in law enforcement. Corruption dilutes deterrence, and hence the government needs to adjust law enforcement activities appropriately. We argue that this distortion is not the only one taking place. A misalignment of goals between the...

EU competition appeals typically involve applications by private businesses to annul decisions made by the European Commission. Moreover, these appeals are first assigned at random to a chamber, with a judge then designated as the rapporteur who will be most closely involved with the case. Using...

It has been argued that, under certain conditions, judges are motivated to engage in strategic defection against their appointer once they perceive the latter to be losing effective power. This behaviour should generate a clustering of decisions unfavourable to the incumbent administration at...