ABSTRACT
Most scholars interested in law and economics take a particular view of economics for granted and they build their analyses of law and economics on that view. Today, the version of economics that dominates analyses of law and economics is neo-classical economics. But what if this portrait of economics is flawed? Would not this mean that legislation concerned with taxation or trade for instance, and any studies of legislation, grounded on such a view will also be flawed? The purpose of this chapter is to make the point that the field of legisprudence must take into account the ground of particular pieces of legislation. Our focus is law and economics. This chapter contains four sections. A first section provides a broad context of discussion, a context which goes to the root of present confusion regarding the meshing of law and economics. The second section gives an outline of a missing economic analysis: the startling fact of the absence of such an analysis is becoming clearer as the dysfunctions of present economic and legal performances reveal themselves in First, Second and Third Worlds. The third section presents some current speculations that help grasp the problem of the ungroundedness of most present thinking on the topic of law and economics. The fourth section draws some elementary conclusions.
