In 1964, Buchanan wrote an article in which he criticized the definition of economics given by Robbins in his Essay on the Nature and Significance of Economic Science. This article is remarkable because it represents Buchanan's attempts to redefine economics, that is, not only to propose his own...

Meir Kohn’s Exchange and Value claims that economics can be characterised around two opposed paradigms, the exchange and the value paradigms. In this paper, we apply this dichotomy to characterise the analyses proposed by economists in the field known as “law and economics”. We compare and...

This article proposes to reassess Hayek’s theory of cultural evolution in the light of Darwin’s Descent of Man. It is shown that Hayek and Darwin refers to the same theory of human nature which is borrowed from the founding fathers of political economy, Hume and Smith. Their respective...

This article proposes to reassess Hayek's theory of cultural evolution in the light of Darwin's Descent of Man. It is shown that Hayek and Darwin refer to the same theory of human nature, which is borrowed from the founding fathers of political economy, Hume and Smith. Their respective...

The article examines the issue of free speech in a law and economics perspective. The property rights approach is contrasted with the common law and constitutional standpoints. Consequentialist and market efficiency may not provide adequate criteria for judging limitations to freedom of speech....

Provides a discussion of the spontaneous order approach to the making of the future European constitution. We thus investigate the normative content of collective decisions in the Scottish Enlightenment tradition. Conditions of rightness depend on very strong assumptions. They shape a system of...

This paper discusses the thesis that in Arrow’s Possibility Theorem the dictator (merely) serves as a solution to the logical problem of aggregating preference while Machiavelli’s dictator, the Prince, has the historical function to bring order into a world of chaos and thus make society...