Journal article
Are Norms Efficient? Pluralistic Ignorance, Heuristics, and the Use of Norms as Private Regulation
Alabama Law Review, v 57, pp 1-30
01 Oct 2005
Abstract
I. Introduction In a recent article in the National Law Journal, Richard Epstein argued that fear of social ostracism would effectively constrain lawyers in small communities from behaving unethically toward clients in the majority of situations. 1 Epstein's embrace of norms as a "private" constraint on socially destructive behavior reflects a growing reliance, in law and economics, on social norms as an alternative or supplement to law. The belief that norms effectively limit negative externalities is itself based on a model that conceives of norms as arising from the cooperation of rational, self-interested individuals. 2 While the basic model of norms as facilitators of cooperation lends itself to the current optimism regarding norm efficiency within the law and economics community, the question of norm efficiency or, more specifically, when norms are preferable to law as a means of regulating behavior, remains an open one. 3 One of the main reasons why the question of efficiency remains unanswered is the inability of models, such as the iterated prisoner's dilemma, to describe comprehensively how norms form and develop. Surprisingly, although norms by definition are social, 4 there has been little effort by law and economics scholars to supplement the economics of norms with the sociology or social psychology of norms. This Article attempts to bridge this gap. It employs the need reinforcement model of norms developed by social psychologists and a number of other theories derived from cognitive and social psychology to provide a more complete understanding of the formation of efficient ...
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Details
- Title
- Are Norms Efficient? Pluralistic Ignorance, Heuristics, and the Use of Norms as Private Regulation
- Creators
- Alex Geisinger - Drexel University, Thomas R. Kline School of Law
- Publication Details
- Alabama Law Review, v 57, pp 1-30
- Publisher
- Alabama Law Review
- Number of pages
- 30
- Resource Type
- Journal article
- Language
- English
- Academic Unit
- Thomas R. Kline School of Law
- Other Identifier
- 991020542442704721